Jhumpa Lahiri This Blessed House

How do the gender roles present in society impact a person? There are many negative ways gender roles influence a person's mental and emotional state. In The Bell Jar, Silvia Plath presents Esther Greenwood, who struggles to fit into the traditional gender roles of the 1950s, and Doreen, who had the self-confidence to not let society bring her down. Throughout the book, specifically chapters seven through nine, Plath makes it clear that gender roles negatively impact a person's mental and emotional state through the use of many stylistic and persuasive elements.

In My Antonia Jim says, “It flashed upon me that if Mr. Shimerda’s soul were lingering about in our house”

Edelman makes some great points throughout her essay and while I do agree with most of them, I disagree with her stance on gender roles. Edelman says that she wanted to achieve a “shared responsibility” in her household, that way the husband and wife would do the same amount of household duties while keeping their full time jobs. I disagree with her view of this; I believe that if the husband is the one working extended hours during a week, trying to provide for his family, then the wife shouldn’t feel angered or annoyed at having to pick up the extra slack around the house. The wife is generally the one in the household who is known for being the care-taker, the cleaner, the cook, etc. The husband is generally looked at as the provider for the family, the head of the household, the authority figure, and it has always been that way. I understand there are circumstances where the husband can’t find work, or they get let go and

Traditional gender roles are typical roles for men and women based on biological and social differences. The book describes two benefits of traditional gender roles for males as: Higher Income and Other Job Related Advantages and Less Domestic Work and Marital Stress. Men are expected to always provide a stable income for the home. As personal experience in my household, my dad’s paychecks were always higher than my mom’s. He worked as head of security of a grade school making over $3,000+ a month, meanwhile my mom working as a homecare nurse made only $2,000. Because my dad’s income was higher, he was always expected to pay majority of the bills such as rent, cable, lights, car notes, and insurance. My mom paid for the smaller bills such

I think this proves that Antonia Shimerda has learned more throughout the course of her life than Jim Burden. She had a family at the end of the story, whereas Jim Burden, although he became successful materially, he had become depressed. When he grows up on the farm, although he seems to be jovially confronting these brand new experiences, he is shown to be growing arrogant. He is the one who starts pushing others away and becoming isolated in pursuit of materialism. Jim is a naive

decline into isolation as he is lost. Saroo explains to his friends, “I’m not from Calcutta, I’m lost.”

Gender roles is a problem that takes place in both the workplace, domestic conditions, and society. Often signified through the age-old stereotype. That men are required of the more "challenging" or more "advanced" jobs, while women restrict themselves to the less grueling and less beneficial positions. Terms such as "that 's a man 's job" is a leading cause of inequality in the workplace. Not to mention, gender roles and standards are set in the homes of many families everywhere. The so-called "picture perfect family" situation; the husband goes to work while the wife stays home to tend to the children. While romanticized as ideal, this concept is the very essence of a patriarchal society. Meanwhile, the brutally vicious society we live in often berates women 's self-esteems in more way than one. Stereotypes of beauty, or who are skinny, pretty, white, and wealthy, are unfortunately the ideal standard of women and

In the critique, From Doing to Undoing: Gender as We Know It, discussed how wives did most of the household work including cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children even if they were employed outside of the home. Whereas men only had to work outside. Household labour was seen as a female job and men did not take apart in it. However, in todays day and age this can be seen as undoing gender. Nowadays a lot of men take equal responsibility in doing the household work and it is split equally between the husband and wife. This shows how household work that was designated with only woman is now also associated with men. Barbara indicated that we should try to focus getting rid of sex categories but I believe this extremely difficult because everything around us is gender and to change that we would have to change people perspectives and everything they have been influenced by that has formed their definitions of

Once, the American Dream was about being able to achieve what made you happy. Mindsets have change. Due to written records (laws) one has the right to be equal as any other American and although it is not fully in practice many lack to acknowledge this. The simplicity of being equal is not a goto thought, power and money seems to make you equal to everyone else. Though ironic, many worry about what they have, material wise, than what they get, as in respect, equality, chance, etc. or obtain them by showing off what they own. The once practical American Dream has changed due to materialistic things becoming more important than the respect of being equal, happiness is found through the amount of money one makes, and one strives towards being seen as more, than to be satisfied with what one has achieved thus far.

Traditionally, an Indian woman had only four roles and those were; Her role as a daughter, wife, sister, and lastly, a mother. The women in today’s time however are experiencing far reaching changes and are entering into new fields that were unknown to them. They are actively participating in social, economic and political activities. Unlike the older times, women today have received higher education.

The definition of gender roles is a set of societal norms dictating what types of behavior is generally considered acceptable based on the gender of a person. Additionally, if you don’t seem to accept this standard, there can be huge consequences. For example, in India, women are viewed as a burden and a “extra mouth to feed.” Her status promotes the idea that men can treat them in a subdued manner. If they don’t comply to these requirements, then a woman is murdered by her husband or his family by being set alight by a flammable liquid, which is usually known as bride burning. Herland, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, also uncovers the harsh inequality of women. Gender roles shouldn’t be real and they were forced on us by society.

He's staying in his comfort zone. Sanjeev symbolizes Hindu culture in India. This culture follows the Vedas and is very strict. Women tend to the house and children and men like Sanjeev work and take care of things outside the home. Similarly, he tremendously differs from Twinkle.

When the tannery is first built, Rukmani, also known as Ruku, describes the moment by stating, “There was a silence. In the unwonted quiet we all wondered apprehensively what would happen next” (Markandaya 27). The intrusion of the tannery builders opens the citizens’ innocent and restricted eyes to the outside modern world. Once they figure out what occurs in a tannery Ruku is disgusted and yet Nathan tells her, “There is no going back. Bend like the grass, that you do not break” (28). In essence he is telling her simply to be flexible and not to pay the tannery any mind. Nathan finds this effortless to say at the moment; however, later on in the story when two of his sons inform him that instead of farming with him that they are going to work at the tannery, he does not take too well to this idea. Working for the tannery is a direct contradiction to their beliefs and Ruku is extremely opposed. With this being said, the family is in desperate need for money and food. With Arjun and Thambi working for the tannery, they make sufficient enough money to give some to their parents to supply for the family. Ruku responds by admitting, “Yet they were good sons, considerate for us, patient with others, always giving us a fair share of their earnings” (52). Hereto, Rukmani is playing an emotional tug-of-war due to her religious beliefs and her

8). The traditional views of gender roles are indeed quite different from the modern views. The men in society are the bread-winners where as the women take care of the children and home. There are basic and common work roles, however in terms of behaviour and involvement there are gender role distinctions. The sex roles generally play out in modern society as well, some sex roles and stereotypes for girls are that they are “nonaggressive, nonathletic, emotionally expressive, tender, domestic, and nurturing. Boys on the other hand are “aggressive, value achievement, attain goals through conflict, and work towards monetary success” (Whicker and Kronenfeld, 1986; pp. 8). The males in the society are “emotionally anesthetised, aggressive, physically tough and daring, unwilling or unable to give nurturance to a child” (Lewis and Sussman, 1986; pp. 1). These traits are carried out by this particular gender mostly outside the society to demonstrate their strength. Those individuals who ignore to carry out these personality traits are seen as weak and unmanly. The women on the other hand are given the responsibility of looking after the family and are supposed to have the opposite personality traits. For instance a woman can show emotions but not outside of the family because of the shame that would bring to the

One can also observe that men in the Indian culture are more dominant than women. In an article by Katrina Beedy, Indian men dictate the rules for relationships, especially when it comes to women, (Beedy). In addition according to an article by Asia society, the indian culture is very hierarchial, (Asia Society). With having such a culture, women have the role of maintaining the family. For example, in the movie, Jess’s entire family was at her house to celebrate her sister getting married, all of the women were asking Jess about when she’s going to settle down and marry a strong man, (Chadha, "Bend it like Beckham"). This shows the characteristics of a collectivistic culture because members of not just the immediate family but also the entire family are assumed to roles to keep the family functioning. The opposite can be assumed about the westerners (they are an individualistic culture) because the British girl called