Libba Bray Beauty Queens Analysis

pushes Asia to practise a routine one more time, for her Western Wear routine. The final scene also shows that the very next day after the pageant, Asia is practising and preparing for her very next pageant. This shows how she has obviously lost her childhood, and how the parents have a forceful attitude, having absolutely no break, even after such a large and significant pageant. Therefore further selection of images has positioned the viewer about the effects that beauty pageants and the participation in them can have.

Throughout American Literature, women have been depicted in many different ways. The portrayal of women in American Literature is often influenced by an author's personal experience or a frequent societal stereotype of women and their position. Often times, male authors interpret society’s views of women in a completely different nature than a female author would. While F. Scott Fitzgerald may represent his main female character as a victim in the 1920’s, Zora Neale Hurston portrays hers as a strong, free-spirited, and independent woman only a decade later in the 1930’s.

Analyzing the ways in which a piece of literature includes feminist ideologies can bring out the potential messages that the creators of these productions were attempting to portray, while allowing the reader to critique the literature from a feminist perspective.

The portrayal of many stereotypes in a cliche set of fake, made up, pageant girls within Libba Bray’s novel, Beauty Queens, surprisingly moves away from this idea of satire when looking at the bare bones of the storyline. It’s a simple story of women, moving past the patriarchy they’ve been raised where beauty is everything, growing into who they truly are and celebrating their differences as humans, all while surviving being stranded on an island.

Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women. New York, NY, Norton & Company, 1985.

Maya Angelou, William Faulkner, and Marge Piercy all came up with a common theme that society has so many expectations for women and sometimes they lead to terrible things such as insecurities and even death. In Piercy’s story, “Barbie Doll,” a girl is told she is ugly many times so she kills herself by cutting her legs and nose off. Once she is dead, everyone finally says that she is pretty. “A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner is about a woman that has always been overprotected by her father and when he dies, she goes crazy, leading the town to talk. Maya Angelou touches the subject of ugly woman with beautiful character when the men in the story cannot figure out why they like the woman in her story, “Phenomenal Woman.” These texts make use of imagery, irony, metaphors, and similes in order to communicate the theme.

When on the topic of feminist writing, understanding the time period in which the author’s writing takes place persists as vastly important. Historically speaking, western culture follows a model thoroughly dominated by men. That commonality remains

Within her collection of essays, Roxane Gay uses personal anecdotes that appeal to reader’s pathos, constructing her argument that women are misrepresented and generalized in popular culture by providing an emotional tether upon which readers can latch on. For example, Gay writes of her experiences as a struggling adolescent

The author implies that what they are doing to try to be flawless to themselves is getting out of hand and their strive is never going to be complete because it's so out of reach. Other than the idea goal of being flawless, pageants are also teaching these girls that the only thing that matters is how pretty you are. They are constantly getting judged who is the prettiest and that's causing a lack of confidence and it will also lower their self-esteem when they don't win because it's saying they're not pretty enough. "What they are learning basically is that they have one characteristic which is of total primary importance, and that is their body and their attractiveness"

with trends in girl culture and reveals insights into the ideologies about the construction and positions of female minors. The program shows that it is utilisable for the construction and positions of pageants obstinate certainty about girlhood identity. The girls on Toddlers & Tiaras are a component of a “docile-bodies” during the pageant makeover process. They are offered with inhibited power and must submit to the will of their parents and the pageant expert to become someone whom they are not supposed to be. The programs additional depicts an excruciating desire for fame and celebrity as demonstrated through their parent in an effort to make their

Beautiful is perhaps not how one might describe the lives of the main female characters of Absalom, Absalom! The term tragically beautiful is perhaps a more accurate description of Rosa Coldfield, Ellen Coldfield Sutpen, and Judith Sutpen. Their beauty is in the context of their struggle to live, much less thrive, in such a male-dominated environment. The excommunication from all reality is a fascinating way of building a stage on which to work notions of gender. There is, therefore, a great dichotomy of gender that emerges from two different understandings of personal relation to the surrounding world. Faulkner’s treatment of the female characters brings forth moving images and incredible social commentary. A stinging general statement about women is made by Mr. Compson: “Years ago we in the South made our women into ladies. Then the War came and made the ladies into ghosts" (7). It is in this realm that the women can be understood.

It is impossible to discuss the role of women in literature without mentioning the influence of feminism. The later in the timeline one reads, the more prominent it becomes. Each new wave of feminism brings with it its own goals, yet it also continues to strive for some of the same goals as past generations because not everything is accomplished all at once. Although “The Well of Loneliness” by Radclyffe Hall and “Rubyfruit Jungle” by Rita Mae Brown, are two starkly different texts that strongly reflect the feminist eras in which they were written, they have some similarities as well.

With as much attention as they get, these pageant girls begin to believe that the world revolves around them. It creates a selfish way of being, and having no concern for others unless the other interferes. If these girls can’t look perfect or get what they want, a tantrum will erupt.

The Beauty Myth, published by Doubleday in New York City, hit the shelves in 1992. Naomi Wolf wrote this 348-page book. Wolf attended Yale University and New College, Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. Her essays have been printed in many well-known magazines and newspapers, including Esquire and the New York Times. The Beauty Myth was Wolf’s first book. She has also written two other books, Fire With Fire and Promiscuities. Wolf is a recognized feminist. She has done a lot of writing and has spoken to many audiences about issues involving feminism.

To be feminine is to be pretty, sexualized, and passive. “Marked Women” by Deborah Tannen, “Sexism in English: Embodiment and Language” by Alleen Nilsen, and “A Woman’s Beauty: Put Down or Power Source?” by Susan Sontag are three essays that show these negative connotations of femininity. Together, they exemplify that females are “marked” as pretty, sexualized, and passive.