Point Break Sociology

Reading literature, at first, might seem like simple stories. However, in works like William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily,” Katherine Mansfield's “Miss Brill,” and Kate Chopin's “The Storm,” the female protagonists are examples of how society has oppressive expectations of women simply because of their gender.

The role of the patriarchal society and its impact on the oppression of female characters

The Truth: Irish immigrants were driven to America by the potato famine of the 1840s. This caused a massive influx of immigrants to New York City who were forced to settle for the cheapest and shabbiest lodgings in a poorer area of the city, known as Five Points. These kinds of conditions resulted in dirty, overcrowded spaces with relatively poor standards of living. Men typically worked at a trade, what we would now consider blue collar, or working class jobs, to provide for their families. Due to the fact that in this time, women were still not welcome in the workplace, many unmarried or widowed women were forced to turn to prostitution in order to support themselves.

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.

The role of women in works of literature as well as in life has changed significantly. Previously, women were seen as needy and dependent on the men in their lives. Women were only important for raising children and doing work around the house, while men were off

Real life examples of gender inequality do sort of hamper the hopes of those wishing for better in the near future, as it will take a while for the pay gap between men and women to be closed and gender norms will be even harder to break; nonetheless, the three main films being discussed in this paper do give people a bit of hope that women may transcend their limits in due time. Indeed, some already are doing this. In Flame, the titular character takes the initiative on things, such as joining the army. While she is on the same level as men and is even acknowledged towards the end of the film, she does go into war mainly for the purpose of finding a man. Still, her mannerisms and actions do show that she is a more independent female. Flame’s

Gender roles are consistently found in our society, within media, and in marketing procedures. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s fiction, Twisted, gender roles are constantly found and exchanged between characters. Along with Twisted, Anderson’s fiction, Speak, thoroughly exhibits gender roles. In Twisted, Tyler goes through gender roles when he has to act like the typical tough male. In Speak, Nicole breaks gender roles by being an athletic character. In these two novels they both heavily show the roles of the two genders, and show what they go through. Gender roles are definitely enforced by social expectations and the expectations people hold above themselves. Gender roles are definitely enforced by social expectations and the expectations people hold above themselves.

Girls and women have made major strides since 1990, but they have not yet gained gender equity. Women are expected to bear children and remain devoted to their husbands. They are also expected to be obedient, indecisive and weak. The women are confiscated of everything belonging to them including their bodies, rights, identities and names. In the book, women’s bodies are abused , turned into prostitutes and are portrayed as sex objects throughout the book.

Reflecting upon their role in society, women in literature are often portrayed in a position

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series has earned the reputation as one of the best fantasy series in children’s fiction. However, due to the uprising and popularity of feminism, the way women are treated in novels became a severe concern. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone includes gender stereotypes and mistreatment of female characteristics which, in certain aspects can be seen as sexist. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone undervalues female characters by judging their appearance and demeanour.

The biggest challenge while researching and writing this paper was strictly presenting scholastic and objective arguments in order to avoid bias and reduce critics’ opportunity to discredit or delegitimize my work, especially those who oppose feminism. Presenting a rebuttal statement and then counteracting it with more critical arguments of how that specific repudiation is problematic, acknowledges critical audiences’ concerns while remaining adamantly strong in my stance. I was conscious to pay the respected attention to detail when selecting rhetoric language as it conveys the appropriated tone and mood of the paper to the reader as it represents the film. Just as typical research papers require, my primary source, The Little Mermaid, is immediately and easily identifiable within the paper, and unlike most scholarly works, the analyzed topic is the primary source itself. However, the problematic dynamics the film presents based on the sexist theme it poses, may be too broad and largely based without adequately supportive and specified examples from the film. This was another one of the concerns I had when I first began to construct my paper because there were so many different examples of female

DB 9: Feminism Feminism, or the idea of equality, is currently one of the most controversial topics in our society. Although many groups, especially women, have been attempting to gain equal treatment, recognition, and rights for centuries, complete egalitarianism is still a status yet to be met. However, the past efforts made by individuals who devoted their lives to working towards a just world are not diminished by the fact that we are still on the journey towards equality. Movies such as Shrek and works by authors such as Virginia Woolf and Mary Wollstonecraft are often considered in discussions about feminism.

However, behind the drama and comedy, lies the ugly truth about gender roles and the inequality within the genders. As gender becomes a more and more controversial topic in today’s society, the issues of societal gender expectations arise, becoming a very delicate subject. Much ado about nothing is filled with stereotypical views of the roles males and females take in society. This text will look into the issues of societal gender expectations.

Patriarchal /feminist reading - This sort of reading would focus on the representations of gender within the texts. As all female characters are outspoken

It is important to teach children about gender roles since it is something that society holds in regards, but most of the time in literature it is done unequally. The portrayal of gender in literature is based off of the expectations of society and places bias on gender. Boys are portrayed as strong, adventurous, independent and capable and often play the roles of fighters, adventurers and rescuers. Girls are portrayed as sweet, naïve, dependent, sensitive and emotional and play roles such as caretakers, princesses and mothers. The roles of gender portrayed in literature are often a reflection of the views of society and do not offer objective insight. Even though it is important to teach children about gender roles, the fashion in which it is done in does not allow children to see beyond those expectations. If a young girl is constantly read stories about a woman’s role as a housewife, homemaker and mother, she will assume that’s what is expected of her and will not know society will allow her to be anything she wants to be.