Nineteen-Thirty Seven

In conclusion, in Home of Mercy Gwen Harwood highlights the repression of females within society by emphasizing the restrictions put on the girls within the Magdalene Asylums by using descriptive language that shows the dehumanization of the girls and women. Harwood also conveys the hypocritical nature of the Magdalene asylums that were originally set up to be rehabilitation assistance, and stresses how the religion is acting duplicitous and deceiving. Overall Harwood evokes the suppression of women within society using the example of the Magdalene

The content of The Devil in the Shape of a Woman is broken down into sections, by time and place. There are several charts in the book showing the relationship of gender, age, wealth and place on how an accused witch was treated. Most show that women were targeted at a greater extent than anybody.

The Dominican realizes that Marie has buried a dead baby and reports her to the authority, warning “You kill the child and keep it in your room.” Marie is taken to he authorities with false allegations that she has killed the baby for her evil reasons. He accuses, “You eat little children who haven’t even had time to earn their souls” (99). Marie notes after the Dominican took her away, “We made a pretty picture standing there. Rose, me and him. Between the pool and the gardenias, waiting for the law” (100). The new government showed less justice especially when it comes to women. Likewise, Josephine declares woman life in Haiti, “By the end of the 1915 occupation, the police in the city really knew how to hold human beings trapped in cages, even women like Manman who was accused of having wings on flame” (35). Women were not empowered as they were treated with

She asks for pity, yet the townspeople are strict with keeping with their traditions and her pleas of kindness neglect to draw in anybody's consideration and she is stoned to death.

According to the Brown, the spirit, also known as Mater Salvatoris, is referred to or is known as the “ ‘…. mother…’” (222). Ezili Dantó is also known to be tough, strong, and protective of her child; however, the most important fact is that Ezili Dantó is independent even with the presence of her lover, Ogou. Brown states that Ezili Dantó, “…knows she cannot depend on him, and she would never dream of marrying him…” (235). It is then said by Maggie, Mama Lola’s daughter, “…My grandmother taught us…you don’t need man, to be the father of this…of that…we woman…we could do everything!” (236). There is an evident parallel here when Maggie practically says that there need not be patriarchy in their lives. In a similar way, the matriarchal figure of Ezili Dantó serves to show that the Haitian women do not need a “man” to be the breadwinner of the family. Along with the matronly symbol of Ezili Dantó, many women like Mama Lola had to take care of their kids, and protect their family; that was their drive –the lives of the

For instance, she wishes to dress smart only in case an accident should occur so that her body would be identified as a woman. She shows her being a “good woman”, contrary to a “good man” who “is hard to find”. But by doing so she reveals how artificial a Christian she is, that appearance for her is more significant than a “good Christian” spirit. It is her who divides the world into “good” and “evil” but she little realizes the actual parameters of these values. Her subjective point of view makes the borderline somewhat blurred, even the name of Jesus in her speech “sounded as if she might be cursing”. In fact, she is far from an epitome of virtue and it is only the fatal encounter with the Misfit that makes her realize the error of her ways. Hence, to some extent, the Grandmother may be treated as a common Everyman.

Another key aspect of Canary’s theory is that of the four cognitive processes – stereotypes, attributions, person perception, and interpersonal goals. According to Canary, stereotypes are “when categories are about people and are based on their group membership” (Canary 114). In Russo’s story, Sister Ursula writes about how, as a child, “she understood that her mother’s being a prostitute made her ‘the whore’s child,’ that her mother’s wickedness diminished her father’s value” (8). This excerpt from Sister Ursula’s story establishes how the negative stereotypes around her mother’s lifestyle impacted her childhood. Even today, prostitution is considered dishonorable in society, especially within religious circles, and thus, Sister Ursula’s mother’s stigma was attached to her as a child, which caused her to be inherently disliked in the nun community. Again, this could be a contributing factor to Sister Ursula’s cold and steadfast demeanor, as she had to grow up protecting herself from the judgmental gazes of her superiors and peers.

Lizzie Borden is a citizen that lived in Fall River, Massachusetts who was infamous for being accused of the murder of her step-mother and father, a popular rhyme of this incident does exist and goes as followed: “Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks, when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one”. What happened was an unknown person murdered her parents and the maid with an axe and gave them 12 Whacks to the head. Now the person who did the murder of her step-mother and father is unknown even to this day, people speculate that Lizzie Borden did the murder because of her poor relations with her step-mother, and she burned a dress because it had a quote on quote, ”Stain” on it while she was painting a

One story that references the fear society has towards certain woman is “Between the Pool and the Gardenias”. When Marie finds a dead baby in the street she names it Rose and talks to it about her problems especially her old miscarriages. She also talks to the dead baby about how she wishes her life would be better and she imagines that the house she cleans is her own, and the guy that she slept with once loved her. She imagines her ancestors coming to visit her, but sadly none of these things are real. As the baby starts to rot away Mary decides to bury the infant near the gardenias because she believes the flies are trapping Rosie’s spirit. The Dominican who once slept with her called the police and accused Marie of killing the baby for evil

Danticat writes about a daughter and her mother, who has been accused of being a witch. The mother had to cross the river separating Haiti and the Dominican Republic to save herself and her daughter. This real event was a massive massacre with very few survivors. “My mother had escaped El Generalissimo's soldiers, leaving her own mother behind. From the Haitian side of the river, she could still see the soldiers chopping up her mother’s body and throwing it into the river along with many others,” (40). Despite surviving, the mother saw her own mother die in this massacre and likely many more people that she knew. She lost everything while trying to escape, except for her own daughter. This forced them to start their life over in Haiti. And while she did get a chance to start a new life, she went through immense suffering trying to escape and even once she did escape and got to Haiti. After moving to the city, the mother is accused of being a witch and

Revenge can be analyzed, as it becomes the exhibited behavior of the Widow resulting from a number of causes. First cause is the harm done to her family; second cause is the Widow’s perception of violence during that time; and the third cause is her aggression toward the killer of her son. The first cause of her revenge is the most obvious reason why she avenged the death of her son, and this is because the killer caused pain to her family. Any mother would be committing the act especially that her son was the only company she has. The second cause pertains to the Widow’s perception of revenge during that time, and because at the time, wars and feuds were still evident in the French society, bloodshed for the Widow is not something to be scared of, given any means. This story was only successful in showing to its readers how the society thinks of death during those times, which can be achieved through any means, by which losing one’s life was not something to be thought of carefully. This just proves that during that time, morality was not given high regard as it is now. Death by any means can be accomplished by anybody, regardless of age, gender, and status in society. The third cause of the Widow’s behavior is her aggression toward the killer of her son, which was not literally shown or described in the story, but was evident based on

The past in the short story “Nineteen Thirty Seven” has a pretty significant impact on the narrator, Josephine. The past I’m referring to is when General Dios Trujillo ordered the massacre of all Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. Thousands perished at the Massacre River, which was the river that divided the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Josephine’s grandmother was killed during that massacre; however, fortunately, her mother escaped by diving into the river and flying out on the Haitian side, with blood clinging onto her, making it seem like flames. Josephine was born on that same night, and she took place of her grandmother. This influences the present because this was how she got to live in Haiti with her mother. Moreover, the massacre

In Margaret Atwood’s “Lusus Naturae”, a young girl/ monster is hidden away from the world because her family will not accept her appearance. While her parents thought keeping her locked up in the house was a beneficial decision, she became isolated and lacked the knowledge and understanding of the world outside her four walls. Even though “Lusus Naturae” is a dark, twisted, and frightening tale there is more to the story than just a “freak of nature” being hidden from the world. One must read the story more in depth and closer to illustrate the themes of women’s roles in society in relation to the monster. Margaret Atwood uses symbolic parallels and narrative tones to exemplify her views of women’s historical roles in society.

The old men protest how the women they have nourished all these years have turned against them and seized a sacred shrine. Although, while the men are busy with their smoking logs, the women walk in carrying pitchers of water which they will pour over the fires which the men have set. The old men and old women trade insults, but the women will not back down, and they empty their water over the heads of the old men. When the magistrate arrives, he tells the men the women’s behavior is the result of the men spoiling their women and treating them with gentleness when they do not deserve to be cherished. The magistrate orders the men to force open the doors, but he moves to a safe distance to watch.

Madame Bovary is a novel by author Gustave Flaubert in which one woman’s provincial bourgeois life becomes an expansive commentary on class, gender, and social roles in nineteenth-century France. Emma Bovary is the novel’s eponymous antiheroine who uses deviant behavior and willful acts of indiscretion to reject a lifestyle imposed upon her by an oppressive patriarchal society. Madame Bovary’s struggle to circumvent and overthrow social roles reflects both a cultural and an existential critique of gender and class boundaries, and her unwillingness to tolerate the banalities of domestic life in a predetermined caste culminates in several distinct means of defiance. Emma Bovary exploits traditional cultural values such as marriage,