Images of Women in Literature

Literature is not simply a reflection of society; it is in actuality much more powerful. Literature draws upon society and creates its own meanings and images. It possesses the power to either nourish or discourage societal values and ideals. Hence, stereotypical views on gender relations in society are reinforced by literary depictions of men and women. The American literary canon is a collection of books that are widely accepted as influential in shaping Western culture. Stereotypes are evident throughout these texts, and often serve to justify the continuance of traditional roles. More specifically, women seem to be the target of cataloguing and other negative depictions. Classic books that are identified as part of the American literary canon tend to portray female characters in a way that emphasizes their inferiority. The depiction of females in classic American literature promotes a stereotypical view of women in American society.

Throughout history women have been depicted and treated as an inferior to the male all aspects of life. It is without debate, that to this day, like many other countries, the United States of America is a patriarchal society, valuing men over women and using various tactics to oppress women by constructing gender roles. These gender roles are thrust upon people before birth and are reinforced through society within the media. This object here is to provide an overview of the portrayal of women in magazines from the late 1800’s to present day. As the years progress, so do the number of women’s rights. While women are still fighting for equality, the birth of feminism has done much to close the gender gap. Mass media, magazines in particular, facilitated in fostering a stereotype which became the standard, and continues to be, used by society. A society that continues to oppress and suppress its women. However, as the mass media has the capability to demystify, or to bring down and/or destroy a particular group or person, they also have the ability of mystification, or emulating a person or group into society’s graces. I plan to review how women were portrayed since this country’s inception with an analysis of how gender equality might be possible today.

One of the greatest turning points in American history was the Progressive era due to the advancements and social responses led by women and people of color. Many depictions of this era through secondary sources can be used to see the conflicts faced by the individuals of the time period and the political movement that ensued right after. Many favorable outcomes resulted from this time period including the start of reformation from women and people of color, and new entertainment source being literature. The nineteenth century was coming to an end, and new obstacles were coming into play. Urban growth, mass migration, currency deflation, and social issues all led to the

The article that is of interest is “The Decline of the Date and the Rise of the College Hook Up” by Paula England. In this reading, the author is interested in understanding what relationships mean to college students at Stanford University. In this excerpt, England wanted to understand the hook up, which has become the most common trend on college campuses. The research deals with both males and females to show the commonality as well as differences based on gender. The students shape the research and define the ever changing terms. England argues that the gender revolution has not lead to equal treatment to men and women based on their sexual experiences when forming a reputation.

McClintock begins by telling her story of the first time she tries to find porn for women. McClintock walks into a magazine store looking for women’s porn magazine, but is left empty handed. McClintock sees many men leafing through magazines with “images of spread-eagled women” (111), but similar magazines for women aren’t found. McClintock doesn’t give up hope and asks the woman at the counter for help, and when the woman gives her a strange look she realizes that “the denial of female desire is…a global erasure” (111). This erasure of female desire is later furthered by a different experience she has in a sex emporium (McClintock). In this experience, the female dancer finishes her act, and approaches McClintock, the only woman in a room of males,

To do so, Levy turns to the experiences of several young women whom she interviews. From her interpretations of these experiences, Levy reaches the conclusion that these women’s sexual nature revolves around their need

In “Looking at Women” Scott Russell Sanders uses figurative language and advanced vocab to try to get his message to the reader. Sanders uses similes such as, “Only after much puzzling did it dawn on me that I must finally have drifted into the force-field of sex, as a space traveler who has lived all his years in free fall might rocket for the first time withing gravitational reach of a star” (180). This simile is targeted at the male audience as Sanders realizes many young boys dream of being an astronaut so the boys can relate better to the experience. Sanders also contrasts human sexuallity with the likes of billy goats, “Billy goats do not fret over how they should look at nanny

She shows how society has created a judgmental environment for many who feel that their sex, in reference to gender, doesn’t go by the typical definitions we see above, or how they choose to have sexual relations doesn’t fit the mold that has been created. For instance, with gender, a person with a penis may feel that they relate much more towards women than they would a typical man, or a person with a vagina feels that they relate more towards a man. We first see the example of negative judgment based on one’s sexuality through Oscar Wilde, a novelists and playwright, accused of being a homosexual, which is a word with a negative connotation for someone who has sexual relations with member(s) of the same sex (gender), who goes on to have his works discredited and lives poverty, based on who he decided to have sexual relations

The author opens up the story by describing a girl that he first noticed in a certain way that he had never experienced before, “The girl’s matching pink halter bared her stomach and clung to her nubbin breasts, leaving little to the imagination” (Sanders 115). This account was the first time he saw a girl from a “man’s” point of view, and he has never forgot that incident since. As the story goes on the author mentions women many times and how they are portrayed throughout our society, in this scenario he describes the posters that his dorm roommate had on his wall throughout college, “Free of sweat and scars and imperfections, sensual without being fertile, tempting yet impregnable, they were Platonic ideals of the female form, divorce from

When analyzing a piece of literature, it is easy to simply take it at face value. However, when you read between the lines you can often find subtle hints that tell you an even greater story. The Importance of Being Earnest is applicable to Gender and Queer Theories because it addresses past gender inequality, portrays women in a certain way, and is about people feeling like they need to hide their true selves from society.

In most early British literature a woman is often presented as only one thing: an object. They can be objects of desire, objects of beauty, or merely objects to be owned, but it is rare that a woman is anything more than that. It is even more uncommon to find a female character in literature that is presented as an equal to the men around her. In William Congreve's The Way of the World he plays on the similarities of both his female and male characters to establish just how much of an issue gender really is because though their actions might be similar, the consequences are not.

Genders in literary texts such as Death of a Salesman and Songs of innocence and experience are very significant because they determine the way women are perceived and how they are socially constructed or identified.    It is very important to note that the social construction of gender has being put into practice in literature, for example, stereotypes of women being sweet, nice and naïve, and men being a symbol of strength, being smart and intelligent.   For example, it is very common that parents dress their children in colors that are either considered “feminine or masculine’’, so as literary books intentionally or unintentionally imbibed these stereotypes.   In Salesman and SOIAE, men and women are presented in stereotypical construct of what

Throughout literature, the exploration of identity has been utilized to define the personal and behavioral characteristics that an individual contains as a member in a certain group. The subject: identity, can be found in modern works of literature such as The Hunger Games, Twilight, The Awakening, and Wuthering Heights. For example, in The Awakening, Edna’s husband looks at her as a possession but she fights against it and tries to find herself. She sees herself as a bird locked in a cage, and later talking about becoming free and breaking from the cage that holds her in.The book greatly shows the idea of feminism and the idea of breaking free from society. In the Victorian

Last semester’s Honors English lecture was on Sexual Identities in African American Literature. However, the topics often broadened to other areas, one of the most recurring being that of female sexuality and whether literature depicted it as pure and nearly asexual or tainted and virulent. I think this topic is a pressing issue in today’s culture; many states are fine-tuning abortion, rape, and gender-identification laws as I write this. I also saw much attention being paid to this topic in two of the novels we read this semester: Mary Wollstonecraft’s The Wrongs of Woman, or Maria, and Mary Robinson’s The Natural Daughter. However, I found the relationship between female sexuality and its relation to the concepts of sensibility or rationality

Representations of what is believed to be female characters holding weapons have been previously observed on the fragments of the Oseberg tapestry. The textile fragments show human-esque figures that appear to be either standing in front of spears or holding them and who wear clothing that is closely representative of long dresses which were worn by Viking Age women. Some apparently female figures are also holding swords. The Oseberg tapestry is difficult to interpret, but it has been suggested that its imagery may represent a procession of some sort, perhaps one that occurred as part of a funeral. Jesch has also speculated whether the female figures on the tapestry might be valkyrjur “choosing the slain for the honour of Valhall” . Jesch notes the variety of places that female Scandinavian graves can be found, from Iceland to Russia, yet she is hesitant about presenting this as evidence of female participation in Viking raids. She says, “In spite of the archaeological evidence that women from Scandinavia accompanied the men who went trading and adventuring in the east, we are never told this in the written sources.”