Masculine Mattie Vs. Hawthorne 's True Grit

Gender roles have been a hotly debated topic in the most recent years, especially the role of women in society. Women have had set expectations that they are believed to conform to, which is shown in many pieces of film and literature. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald describes the life of a man in the upper class in the 1920’s, as well as women in the 1920’s. The movie The Princess Bride, written by William Goldman, visually explains the treatment and expectations of women, and especially focuses on the “damsel in distress” stereotype.. Roxane Gay’s “Bad Feminist” explains the stereotypes against women and ways women can come together and fight these constraints. Based on these sources, societal expectations take away from each individual’s identity, forcing women to conform to society's standards. In order to fight against these expectations, women have banded together and formed movements against these standards.

As I mentioned before, the challenges of feminism made men uneasy and confused. Female took a lot of powers from men. Men had to face the fact that they don¡¯t have power over others, space, and self. Also men realized about self- contradiction. In terms of emotion, men denied that they have tenderness, kindness and wickedness. Emotion was the symbol of female that men supposed to rule. If men showed their emotion, it wasn¡¯t right thing to being men. But even though they did right thing, they felt self- contradiction and insecure about themselves. Why, because the society educated them that way.

Douglas’ humorous and well informed way of writing really inspired me. From examples of magazines, media, television shows, films, retail, and even in music she described and compared to us what is going on among these examples and how real women today are really living their lives. Douglas presents an analysis of how women are presented to the public and how we continue to be treated as inferior to men despite the strides of feminism. After reading this book, I even find myself reading or watching something and pretty much look to see if it is women friendly or not. This is something I really never done before until now. This book definitely got me to think about feminism and the role it plays in my life.

Throughout history, women’s rights have had less rights then men. In the short story “Trifles,” written by Susan Glaspell, there is a search for the victim of a murder case and the women are discriminated. In the “Yellow Wallpaper,” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a woman is in a limited lifestyle were her husband, and has to deal with having less of a say in conversation. Constant communication of feminism throughout the world will allow everyone in the world to realize that equal rights between genders are normal. Feminism is a necessary aspect of the human race until society gives equal rights to women so they can feel important when they give their opinion, can have a relationship that is not controlling, and get an occupation that men are controlling.

Women are often looked down upon or even portrayed as the weaker partner in a relationship or in society. However, there’s the idea of feminism: women having equal social, political, and economic power in relations to men. There are women who believe in equality between genders while there are those who are simply ashamed of their gender and in result try to take away others masculinity. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter includes an important feminist, who is characterized as a powerful female in literature with strong ideals based on feminism. In contrast, Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest includes a female character who does not seek equality between her and the men in the mental hospital. Hester Prynne of The Scarlet Letter

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (2013) and I am an emotional creature’ by Eve Ensler (2011) are works that have us question global gender inequality. Both Rowell and Ensler depict social expectations for teenage boys and girls and what is considered to be ‘normal’. In Eleanor and Park, Eleanor is expected to be nice and dress as a girl, while Park is mocked for not being manly enough. In I am an emotional creature the speakers tell us how girls are expected, by society, to have model like bodies, how they have to fight for their rights to make their own life decisions and how then strive to obtain education while their brothers go to school.

Feminists have fought for equality between men and women. They have raised awareness for all those women being degraded not only by society but by their families because everyone believes that it is the right thing to do, they did not know any other way and it took strong, independent women to open the eyes of society. Authors such as Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman communicated the struggle women went through and the agony they had to live with knowing that they were no one to society but a birth giver and a person to keep a man company and make him look good to society. The authors protagonists have rebelled and challenged the roles given to them in hopes to free themselves from the chains no one realized were there. Those chains were influenced by many things, but the most significant one being the social status men had to hold and the importance of caring what people had to say. Men had to ‘form’ their wives into women acceptable for society. This lead to women violating social laws and breaking everything they were ever told to do. In the end women till this day fight for equality in hopes to one day end patriarchy as a

Feminism, what is it? And how does it affect our society today? Feminist Emma Watson’s moving speech ‘Gender equality is your issue to’ tells us feminism isn't just a thought, it’s a true problem. Feminism is a topic known to many, but rejected by most of society. Watson shows her audience true emotion (Pathos), dedication, and love throughout her speech. She gives a clear aspect of feminism, making her listeners engaged into the topic, wanting to know more (Logos). She invites others into her ideas to ensure that she does not stand alone in this feminist movement (Ethos). Emma Watson is a true feminist trying to make a difference, persuading the audience, pouring her heart out, and believing in the world to join her in her free community.

Feminism is a women’s rights movement which originated during the 19th century to advocate for equality for both sexes. Women, as a whole, were oppressed by a patriarchal society where they had few opportunities to express themselves due to cultural roles and stereotypes surrounding their gender. Donald Hall claims, “... women have been denied social power and the right to various forms of self-expression...” in his Literary and Cultural Theory: Feminist Analysis to further prove the oppressed status of women. Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, two cultural feminist literary critics, allow their readers to view an oppressive, androcentric patriarchal society through the eyes of their characters in their stories. Chopin’s The Awakening and

The term ‘feminism’ and ‘feminist’ first started to gain popularity in the 1970s. Starting in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, continued into the 1960s and 1970s, then followed by the 1990s to the twentieth century, feminism and feminist grown across the nation. From clubs and organizations, to readings and speeches, feminist all across the nation, and world, have influenced aspects of our daily lives, including our literature. “Feminist criticism examines the ways in which literature reinforces or undermines the economic, political., social, and psychological oppression of woman” (Tyson 83). In simpler terms, feminist criticism is critiquing literary readings, through the mind of a woman’s opinion of structure and being.

This topic is extremely important as it revolves around the subject of feminism and sexualism, two topics that need to be taken more into consideration when reading a novel. The portrayal of female characters in novels that are read around the world are very impactful towards the female portion of the world as it places them in a spectrum of what they should act and look like to meet the standards of society. Focusing specifically on the development of the female characters and how they are just as powerful as men is an interesting idea to navigate around, focusing on the feminist portion of the novel. In current academic studies there has been substantial amount of works that are about women empowerment, with authors that believe the exact same, such as Purple Hibiscus and The Help.

    Feminism as we know it began in the mid 1960's as the Women's Liberation Movement. Among its chief tenants is the idea of women's empowerment, the idea that women are capable of doing and should be allowed to do anything men can do. Feminists believe that neither sex is naturally superior. They stand behind the idea that women are inherently just as strong and intelligent as the so-called stronger sex. Many writers have taken up the cause of feminism in their work. One of the most well known writers to deal with feminist themes is Margaret Atwood. Her work is clearly influenced by the movement and many literary critics, as well as Atwood herself, have identified her as a feminist writer.

The typical conventions of the western genre included a male lead that fought crime while simultaneously saving the hopeless damsel in distress. Novels comparable to “True Grit” was revolutionary for female protagonists in accordance to the role females play in society. This novel shows that women are no longer expected to take care of the household, raise the kids or expect men to save the day. Even if the novel is a fictitious account of what the wild west was today’s readers are able to identify with a protagonist who questions the norm of society. The protagonist, Mattie, revealed she had “true” grit by vanquishing gender stereotypes to avenge her father’s death.

Women’s rights have been a question greatly discussed for quite some time, and the debate is still continuing despite the possibilities offered to women today. Feminism nowadays has evolved into a movement in a number of directions, starting with women equality and ending with homosexuality. However, feminism originally is an ideology that is based on equal political, economic and social rights for women. Feminism theory deals with analysing women’s social roles and experiences in relation to gender inequality. Traces of this ideology are vastly represented and can be found in a number of literary works, as notable examples are novels written by female authors (the Brontë sisters, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot and others) during the Age

What mainly gave rise to Watson addressing this topic was her emotions attached to the burdens people have felt because of gender inequality. Watson used pathos, an appeal to emotion, to grasp the audience’s attention. Watson provides examples of events in her own life such as, “When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media,” which has helped spark her interest in taking steps to end gender inequality (Watson). Watson provided numerous examples of other women, “When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of sports teams because they didn’t want to appear muscly,” as well as examples of males (Watson). Watson recognizes the fact that men are typically less likely to join in the fight for gender equality. In order for Watson to later “invite” men to join the