Mrs Bibbit's Misogynistic Analysis

In the 1960s the views of women were not as they are today. For centuries women have been objectified and not treated as equals, only being viewed as property or looked at for their physical features. Ken Kesey the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, with the character McMurphy, learned towards the superiority of the male sexuality over female authority (123 Helpme). The women in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are portrayed as weak, sex objects, and domineering.

World War II, a time often seen with its negative connotations of death, dictatorship, and human suffering, also generated new concepts that continue to impact American policies and societal attitudes to this day. The bombing of Pearl Harbor served as a catalyst for US participation in the war. Banding together in unity, Americans rushed off to fight in Europe, leaving their families behind to take care of the home front. With soldiers going off to war, American industries were left with a labor deficit; until the government’s sights settled on the female population. Turning to the mothers and wives left behind, propaganda to recruit them arose in the form of a one red haired worker. During the trenchant years of World War II, the patriotic image of Rosie the Riveter nurtured a fleeting taste of freedom that motivated American women to incessantly struggle for gender equality. On the American home front, Rosie became the poster child for female contributions to the war effort, and women fought fervently to become vital members of the work force, yet they were forced back into the domestic molds imposed by society.

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.

The current counterculture and social upheavals of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam war caused this new feminism to emerge, signaling the beginning of a transforming era in women’s history (TWE, 607). Women were tired of living in a man’s world where they

Does deviating from one’s gender norms inevitably doom one down a spiral of moral corruption? Tim O'Brien, author of “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” and Ernest Hemingway, author of “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, certainly seem to hold this view, as evident by the fates of the major female characters in their respective works. The deviance of the major female characters in both works appears to corrupt not only themselves, but also pollute their partners, causing them to suffer injury or harm as a result. The degree of injury ranges from negligible, like Fossie’s demotion and broken heart, to fatal, like the bullet that rips through Macomber’s skull. It begs the question, are these stories meant to serve as cautionary tales for their female readers, or possibly for their husbands, so they may recognize gender deviance and stop it in its tracks before their wives transform into Margot Macomber or Mary Anne Bell? This essay will analyze what such characters say about pervading views of women, both in society and in literature.

Throughout the decades, the feminist movement has been portrayed in numerous ways, from feminism being a liberating thing to feminism being deleterious towards men, or even being anti-government. Countless readers believe that the writer Bobbie Ann Mason writes solely about the changes that the females made to change their own world. Instead, Mason portrays the feminist movement in a much different light. In one of her many short stories, “Shiloh,” Mason shows the conflicting sides of the feminist movement and the end result of female liberation in many of these individual movements. “Shiloh” shows a married couple that has been forced into a new phase of their lives through the newfound disability

Girls Rule, Boys Drool: A Take on Feminism and Traditional Gender Roles within The Book of Margery Kempe

Author Barbara Welter in her article, The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860 discusses what one may argue is true womanhood and why it is necessary for woman of society. There are multiple ways that one may look at Welter’s text, the first, being within the time frame that it was written, and what it says about society at the time the text was written. The other, is out of context and discussing it as a whole within the feminist movement.

In the story “A&P” by John Updike he tries to portray the conventional lifestyle and tendency of his community. The story “A&P” proves how feminism was a large part of the conservative lifestyle and is still present today. A&P helps you visualize how sexism could be happening right under our noses. The story is told through the main character Sammy, who is an ordinary teenager in the small town. Sammy makes a courageous effort to fight feminism and introduces ideas of liberalism but sadly loses his job in the process. The story A&P, based in the 1950’s, directly correlates to how women were treated in that time period. From the story A&P we can learn the distinct and harsh gender

Born in New York on May 27, 1818, Amelia’s powers were immediately evident. Her home was modest, and her family even more so; she lived with her mother, father, sister, and a bachelor uncle whose income helped offset the costs of raising a family. But, shortly after her birth, her uncle took one look at her and fled the house without a word. He was seen again, years later in the Burnt-Over District, preaching against women’s rights, but he never spoke another word to Amelia’s family.

Authors of all kinds contain female characters in their novels that may possess unique and defining traits, ranging from positive to negative ends of the spectrum. No different from these authors, Ken Kesey includes female characters with a variety of characteristics in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. English professor Elizabeth McMahan interprets the representation of women as “oppressive” and “unfair” in her criticism, “A Sexist Novel.” Kesey’s attempt to implement positive women characters ultimately fails as the novel lacks female empowerment and inspiring portrayals of women themselves. McMahan thoroughly analyzes Kesey’s depiction of the women in the novel as role of what is described as the “castrating female” (McMahan 80).

“First wave” of feminism in 1920 advocated women’s suffrage, whereas the “Second wave” targets the societal issues that women in the 21st century are facing. Betty Friedan wrote The Feminists Mystique after World War II exposing female repression and later founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) which ignited the second wave of the feminist movement. Consequently, it became noticeable that women were in multiple wars, as a result branches of feminists were formed (i.e. Liberalist, Marxist, and Socialist). Misogyny’s evolution has its own significant role in the feminist movement, stirring conversations today that affect feminist ideologies. However, in order to fully comprehend what affects second wave feminism along with the tactics utilized by feminists, one must first become acquainted with the many forms.

WW1 and WW2, as modern wars, provided a larger variety of jobs that the previous wars did. And this chance brought the emergence of early modern feminism. With all the kinds of machines and factories that became available after industrial revolution, to work became not just simple meant to labor. The disadvantage in physical power that women used to have compared men disappeared. As a result, with the encouragement of government, women were proved to have the ability to do men’s work and do it well. Yet women's employment was only encouraged as long as the war was on. Intellectual women started to reflect on women’s relationship of war, and start to recon on the meaning of war. In her book “Three Guineas” published in 1938, after WW1, Woolf

She provides a new interpretation of men, women and history. In doing so Bennett challenges patriarchal society showing that women are not inferior to men. “Can you, for a moment, imagine how depressing it is to teach five centuries of masculine ineptitude?” “[Mrs. Lintott smokes in the Teacher's Lounge] Wilkes: Dorothy... [points to the No Smoking sign]

For many years, men have always held and desired power, especially when pitted against the fairer sex. The struggle for men to assert power is prevalent in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, as the mentally-ill patients, led by Randle McMurphy, strive to remove Nurse Ratched’s subordination. Furthermore, Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises explores the role reversal of power in the sexes, through the adventures of expatriates in post-WWI Europe. Despite being written decades apart, Kesey and Hemingway both explore the concept of sexual empowerment and degradation in both sexes. This is seen through the dominating role women partake in both novels, the notion of male insecurity, and the symbolic representation of the main