Sanchaiyata Majumdar
Interrogating ‘masculinity’ in female characters of Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude
Masculinity is a common theme in Latin American literature. The same is true about the works of Garcia Marquez. Machismo and patriarchy are subthemes of several of his creations, including his masterpiece, One Hundred Years of Solitude.
However, theorists such as J. Hearn and A. Petersen have argued that the concept of masculinity is blurred. According to them it tends to not only over-simplify the characters of men but also imposes on them few behavioral attributes which men are expected to conform to. Also, it generalizes the male and female differences depending upon biological, cultural, and economical scales and ignores the active role of women in society.
Conversely, although there is a strong sense of masculinity in Marquez’s men, yet on closer look one would see that male characters of Marquez are actually ‘victims’ of hegemonic masculinity who behave keeping with the norms set by society on them. Interestingly, on the other hand, Marquez actually challenges the traditional concepts associated with maleness by showing characteristics of masculinity in female characters. At times his female characters show extreme sense of violence,
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Not only this, in order to make the readers realize of her emotional solidity, the evidence of which is filled throughout the novel, the author writes that she is, “active, small, severe, that woman of unbreakable nerves.” (9) Here he suggests the initiation of a
Conventional sexual normative values for males typically include an emphasis of attributes that include self-reliance, dominance, assertion, and a healthy appetite for heterosexual behavior. By contrast, those that apply to females usually include a submissiveness and dependency that is all too oftentimes easily exploited by men. In this respect, the body of literature analyzed within this paper--Sandra Cisneros' "Bien Pretty" and "Anguiano Religious Articles" in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, as well as Junot Diaz's "Drown" and "Aguantando"--is demonstrative of these truths as an examination of the characterizations and storylines readily demonstrates. However, what is most noteworthy about Cisneros and Diaz's tales is that these authors also have a penchant for deliberately subverting the typical gender roles associated with each sex, particular those of male characters. In these instances, male characters forsake their traditional assertiveness and dominance and become objectified in ways that are usually reserved for female characters and women in general. In these instances, the authors present a fascinating dichotomy that appears incongruent in its depiction of manhood, for the simple fact that these portraits of male characters combine conventional male attributes with an objectification that is usually reserved for women.
The issue of gender roles is one of the central themes of this novel. All the main characters of the novel spend their whole lives trying to conform to the standards of masculinity and femininity expected of them by the society. The inability of the main character of the book to meet the expected stereotypical roles not only causes them personal turmoil but also makes their social life miserable. They try to fit in the ascribed gender roles of their Dominican culture, but are simply incapable of doing that. However, the society does not understand their incapability and makes them pay for their nonconformity.
More often than not, analyses of John Rollin Ridge’s Joaquín Murieta interpret the novel as a demonstration of male bravery, and regard the female characters as counterparts that exist to remind the violent men of their humanity. However, an analysis that only considers women for their roles as sentimental beings is one that fails to detect their true significance in the work. Instead, it is essential to recognize that the female characters of the novel diverge from traditional, confining expectations of womanhood, and embody traits of masculinity as a response to their social situations.
The definition of masculinity; Is the fact of being a man or having qualities considered typical of a man.
The most important aspect of the Latin American culture has everything to do with honor. Women have the biggest responsibility when it comes to honor. Losing your honor might undoubtedly portray as the worst deed in this culture. In a Chronicle of a Death Foretold the author Gabriel Marquez demonstrates the horrifying actions taken when losing one’s honor. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the events that occurred in the novel and compare them to the same the culture and also the outcomes of going against your religion in different cultures.
The critical nature of Santiago’s relationship with Victoria Guzmán allows Márquez to satirize the servant-master and patriarchal complexes present in his portrayed culture. The sexual relationship between Ibrahim Nasar and Victoria Guzmán, parallels that of the relationship between Santiago Nasar and Divina Flor and highlights the social constructs and environment, which reduced Victoria Guzmán into servitude through the juxtaposition of the aforementioned combative personalities of Victoria Guzmán and Santiago. Márquez is successful in the sense that he can create a social commentary on the portrayed Arabic and Columbian cultures while still maintaining false objectivity by inserting variation into separate accounts. Márquez’s uses periphrasis, syntax, and chronological divisions between chapters to subdue overt comparison between the portrayed values of Columbian culture and its societal norms with the conflicting relationship of Victoria Guzmán and Santiago Nasar, effectively shrouding his commentary.
In the book "In the Country of Men", Hisham Matar, the author discusses his childhood experience in the 1970's during the revolution in Libya. The time when men overpowered and completely dominated women. The title itself describes Libya as a country that belongs to men where women are used like tools. We see that Suleiman wants to become a man as soon as possible through the story but on the other hand, the story also talks about a female being Suleiman’s mother - Najwa who thinks she lost her freedom when she was just 14 and had to get married. However, after all the development from the 1970’s till today, the current generation considers both men and women equally powered.
T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land explores modernism, specifically focusing on the troubling of binaries and the breakdown of the traditional. The boundaries between life and death, wet and dry, male and female, and more are called into question in Eliot’s conception of modernity and the waste land. The blurring of gender boundaries—significantly through Tiresias and the hooded figure scene in “What the Thunder Said”— in the poem lends itself to Eliot’s suggestion that traditional masculinity breaks down and decays in the waste land. Traditional masculinity is further challenged through Eliot’s criticism of hyper-masculinity and heterosexual relations in the modern era through allusions to the myth of Philomela and the “young man carbuncular” scene in “The Fire Sermon.” Along with this, Eliot stages scenes charged with homoeroticism to further challenge ideas of traditional masculinity. Homoerotic scenes such as the “hyacinth girl” scene in “The Burial of the Dead” and the Mr. Eugenides scene in “The Fire Sermon” suggest an intensity and enticement towards male-male relations, while also offering a different depiction of masculinity than is laid out in the heterosexual romance scenes. Through scenes depicting queer desire and homosexual behavior, Eliot suggests that masculinity in the modern era does not need to be marked by aggression and
When thinking of masculinity in literature, one author has who has become synonymous with manliness comes to mind, Ernest Hemingway. Critics have spent countless hours studying his writing in order to gain insight into his world of manly delights, including his views on sex, war, and sport. His views can be seen through his characters, his themes and even his style of writing.
The traditional roles of domestic woman and adventurous man are found within Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ novel One Hundred Years of Solitude but with a slight twist in the distribution of power. When taking a look at the presentation of each character and the span of their life, it’s not difficult to look at how Marquez presented each one in terms of their femininity and masculinity based on his own opinion of how power is balanced between genders. Each family member is a symbol in their own way and they all work together to establish the concept of continuity and the tradition within the family. The way Marquez chooses to portray female and male characters are very different from one another. This leads one to wonder why he would choose
Compare and contrast the representation of masculinity in two films or TV series of your choice.
Masculinity and femininity are unescapeable. We are taught how to be masculine or feminine from birth but for men, the highest form of masculinity achievable is hegemonic masculinity. In this essay, I will define hegemonic masculinity, discuss how it perpetuates homophobia by restricting the way men interact with one another and by the use of the word fag, and how it perpetuates gender inequality through the expectations of violence, no emotions, and being breadwinners.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicles of a Death Foretold shows how Machismo drives all male ambition. Machismo, in Latin American countries was derived from the word macho meaning an intense masculine pride. Machismo was first used in 1948, and was taken as a code of honour for men, rules that would make you considered macho. Respect and reputation are highly regarded as important traits in Machismo, and are the driving force of reason in the novel. (Add another sentence about the broadness of Machismo).
Gabriel Garcia Marques provides a unique platform in his novella, Chronicle of a Death Foretold (COADF) to analyze facets of traditional Colombian values. The characters provide context regarding particular sectors of religion, cultural values and social norms throughout the novel. Marquez highlights a multitude of cultural juxtapositions throughout all of his novels, however, COADF in particular comments on the social hypocrisy of religion and the double standards due to gender norms throughout the novel. In the novella, Angela Vicario’s character highlights misguided principles and helps to understand how women and other groups of people in the country are maltreated. Common themes throughout the novel often victimize Angela Vicario, such as sexual identity, alcohol abuse and religious scrutiny. Marquez conveys these themes through imagery, symbolism, allegory and most especially periphrasis. This paper will effectively highlight how these factors demonstrate the cultural discrepancy in allowance of freedoms and the roles of women in the novel, and broader country.
In reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, You can obviously notice Yunior the narrator is portrayed as a true Dominican male. It becomes evident that a large focus is put on both male and female roles and situations. Through these critical parts found all through this book, it winds up noticeably apparent that through the outrageous manly demeanor (machismo) is anticipated from men from the Dominican Republic, the ladies, thusly, are disrespected and unworthy are viewed as simply like a toy or object. Junot Diaz looks at his characters from a women point of view too, exploring the impact women have upon not only his life but also the men characters too. Through seeing how the Dominican culture impacts the characters in The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, it enables one to completely comprehend the thought processes and activities of the characters all through this book.