Essay about Madonna Kolbenschlag's Lost in the Land of Oz

Wilton later describes how, by turning away from the heterosexual male-female institution, women are taking a crucial step on the path of liberation. Although a woman may be content having relations with a male, the male’s dominant role in society should be enough persuasion for the former to leave such structured relationship so as to explore a freer partnership that goes against societal expectations.

Such circumstances, causes the woman to fall into a deeper depression because she feels trapped and lonely.

In order for a patriarch system to perpetuate male superiority, they must first create a space for male domination. This is accomplished by instilling feelings of self-hatred and unworthiness in females so that they accept their inferiority. In a patriarch society that facilitates female inferiority it seems that unification of women is the only way to achieve liberation. In Cherrie Moraga’s Loving in the War Years, the chapter entitled “From a Long Line of Vendidas” teaches that patriarch society negatively influences the way women feel about themselves, thus influencing the way women relate to each other. This cultural environment perpetuates gender hierarchy by both ruining the self-image of women and placing women in discord,

Loneliness is the sadness resulting from being isolated or abandoned. Being lonely is almost always directly connected to relations between people, or the lack there of. Mother Teresa once said “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” In John Steinbecks classic novel, Of Mice And Men, the three characters, Crooks, Curley’s wife and Candy struggle with loneliness in different forms because of characteristics that they can’t control. All three characters deal with their loneliness by searching for companionship with others on the ranch and this works out differently for each of them.

Nouwen (1975) describes loneliness as a universal experience that affects even the most intimate relationships. He identifies loneliness as one of the universal sources of human suffering. Some of the mental suffering in the

Above all, loneliness haunted them, especially the women who were cut off from human contact

The next requirement for being a “true woman” was submissiveness. According to society men were superior to women by “God’s appointment.” If they acted otherwise they “tampered with the order of the Universe” (Welter 105). A “true woman” would not question this idea because she already understands her place. Grace Greenwood explained to the women of the Nineteenth Century, “True feminine genius is ever timid, doubtful, and clingingly dependant; a perpetual childhood.” Even in the case of an abusive husband, women were sometimes told to stay quiet

The mind is shaped by those with which one surrounds him or herself. This is a result of the human desire to see oneself in others as a tactic to relate and discover commonalities. The inclination to build relationships and connect to other humans is so strong that people become dependent on external gratification, even in environments where acquaintances do not necessarily reflect a person on the most basic level: sex. Due to overpowering masculinity, women oftentimes submit to the ideals of their male counterparts and the societal expectations pushed onto them as women in a patriarchal society. Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones displays that the feminine inferiority complex is not innate, but rather is informed by external forces.

     In consequence of these bad treats, women try to find different ways that in their point of view were a way out to reveal their need and discontents with man. One way for women to express their dissatisfaction was become part to the Convent, it provided an especially opportunity to achieving self-expression and freedom from male domination and sexual exploitation for elite and middle-class women. In the convents women display their capacity for leadership in administration, management of resources, and a way to create a social life by receiving visitors. An example of these ways out to society is “Sor Juana,” according to Keen and Haynes’s book Sor Juana’s intellectual brilliance made it difficult for her to find a suitable marriage partner, in consequence she decide to become part of a Convent. This same experience was common for one or more daughters of an elite family in every day life

It must be said that men of power create the structure of life--which is not necessarily profitable or fitting to women, nor to the human race in its entirety. Women do not live in this structure:“They lead beautiful lives--women. Lives not only divorced from, but irrevocably excommunicated from, all reality” (156).

Throughout history, society often places women inferior to men, causing women to be predisposed to obeying their husband without a second thought. However, when a woman begins to question the idea of loyalty and obedience, her eyes are often opened to the mold that she is encased in and becomes determined to break through and develop her self-potential. In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, the main female character is put through a revelation that changes her life forever.

Furthermore, women are often seen as a symbol of cultural preservation and a measure of family honor. In conditions of war and colonial rule, which represents an attack on men’s honor and dignity, attention to women’s roles as prescribed by cultural tradition is often intensified. However, the unusual conditions of war and resistance to colonial rule also may provide openings for women to reconfigure their roles and rights, based on new needs of society.

Girls, young women, and mature mothers. Society has consistently given women strict guidelines, rules and principles on how to be an appropriate member of a man’s society. These rules are set at a young age and enforced thoroughly into adulthood. When not followed accordingly, women often times too many face reprimanding through means of verbal abuse, physical abuse, or social exile. In the midst of all these strict guidelines and social etiquette for girls, a social rebellion started among girls and women and gender roles were broken, however the social rebellion did not and does not affect all girls and women. For instance, in less socially developed places, young girls on the brink of womanhood are still strongly persuaded to be a man’s idea of a “woman”.

In many modern societies, a common belief is that women should have equal standing with men politically, socially, and in the workforce (Alesina, Guiliano, and Nunn 1). This support is generally associated with feminism, which advocates for equality between all genders (Issist). In other societies, women are unable to seek opportunities past traditional gender roles, such as domestication and childbearing (Alesina, Guiliano, and Nunn 1). This ideology is often referred to as patriarchy, which expects women to conform to stereotypes that are based on assumptions about femininity and maternal instinct. The influences of traditional gender roles revolve around conditioning, restraint, and submissive characteristics, which can result in women living in boredom and misery (Yildirim 47). To reveal the corrupt nature of the customary expectations of women living during the 1800s, the author illustrates Hedda’s marriage to George Tesman, as the husband expects his wife to devote her life solely to the wellbeing of her household and family. If Hedda decides to conform to the traditional gender roles of the Victorian era, she will not be able to express her individuality or intelligence. The only purpose that she will serve in society will be to raise children and attend to the needs of her husband. This imposes limitations on her basic human rights, as her society views her as inferior and

Children fairy tales are some of the first books we’re introduced to growing up. Typically, the princess is saved by the heroic prince and they lived “happily ever after”. Some may think our life should be like a fairy tales while others don’t. These tales created gender roles in which appeared to be very important. In the Grimm Brothers fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel”, the parents leave the children in the forest to starve due to not having enough money to buy food in order to sustain life. The children later find a house deep in the woods where an old, evil witch lures them in and tried to eat Hansel and Gretel. They eventually kill the witch and find their way home to their father with no stepmother to be found as she has died while the children were away. In the fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel” gender and feminist criticism are highlighted throughout the tale by defining characteristics, consequences from their actions, and societal roles and expectations that were both prominent in German history and modern society.