Reading Lolita In Tehr Oppression Of Women

Over the past 200 years sexual liberation and freedom have become topics of discussions prevalent within western culture and society. With the recent exploration of sexuality a new concept of sexual and gender identity has emerged and is being analyzed in various fields of study. The ideology behind what defines gender and how society explains sex beyond biology has changed at a rapid pace. In response various attempts to create specific and catch all definitions of growing gender and sexual minorities has been on going. This has resulted in the concept of gender becoming a multi- layered shifting hypothesis to which society is adapting. Since the 19th-century, philosophers and theorists have continued to scrutinize gender beyond biological and social interpretation. Margaret Atwood 's The Handmaid 's Tale captures the limitations and social implications forced upon a set gender based on societal expectations. Gender is a social construct that limits the individual to the restrictions and traditions of a society, or if it’s an individually formed self-identification of sex and sexuality that is formed autonomously. Evidence of gender establishment can be seen within literary works and supported by various schools of gender and sexuality theory.

An unlikely promiscuous figure became the pinnacle of peace and equality. This figure is Malala Yousafzai, a driven girl from the valley of Swat in Pakistan, stood up against her peers and spoke out against an imposed custom on girls. Malala’s endeavours began with the introduction of the Taliban within Pakistan. Now ran by tyranny, Pakistan became a place of oppression, especially against the rights of females. Malala and her father, Ziauddin, were among the very sparse population of activists within Pakistan, advocating against the Taliban’s influence. Malala effectively expresses her story by utilizing rhetorical devices such as evocative imagery, juxtaposition and ethos.

So far, so good. Having had intercourse with Lolita earlier that morning Humbert, not surprisingly, sees her as his victim, sees both her childlike innocence and the signs of his own brutal assault on that innocence. But at the end of the passage, Humbert's understanding of Lolita and her "lost innocence" changes radically as he proclaims her to

Across the world people think of Malala Yousafzai as one of the most revolutionary women in the world for her stance against heresy and gender discrimination. She has showed through example that she is willing to give her life in the defense of her beliefs regarding women’s rights to education. Malala is an equal rights activist; she continually fights for women to have the same rights as all other people. Malala has endured a long and dangerous path to make people aware of the discrimination and dangers that women are facing in Pakistan and all over the world. Her famous journey and non-violent methods has had a profound effect and has resulted in the world taking a more active part in her fight for equal rights and women 's education.

Malala Yousafzai, a 15 year old girl, took a stand against equal rights in her community and got shot in the head while doing so. Yousafzai uses ethos, pathos, and logos to connect with the readers, while using those, she also adds personal stories and images right from her home town. Those stories and pictures make this a strongly believable autobiography. Not only does she give her perspective on equal rights, she also gives her families and classmates.

A number of the stories, graphic memoirs and poems we discussed in class have introduced us to women who have been trapped in some way in their lives. Henrik Ibsen’s A Dolls House (1879) and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) both demonstrate women being trapped by men in a patriarchal society in the nineteenth century. However, Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where are you going, where have you been?”(1974), Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl” (1978) and Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis (2005) are about social norms and girls being sexualized at a young age in the 20th century.

In the short story The Shame, author Yusuf Idris illustrates diverse female personalities in a realistic manner. To begin, the majority of the women on the farm are ignorant and oblivious to the gender inequalities and discriminative standards in their culture. They loved Fatma, but when she is accused of committing The Shame, the women do not believe in Fatma and force themselves on her. Although this characterization of the population is necessary for plot development, it further reinforces the stereotype that farmers and workers in the agricultural sector are less-educated than those from cities and villages. In addition, while Om George, the bailiff’s wife, is characterized as a literate, devoted, and trustworthy lady, Sabha is notorious for her “shady character” (Idris 64) and rumours of her tolerance and facilitation for affairs. This reveals the difference in status, education, and religious beliefs between female characters and contributes to the overall diversity of the work. On the other hand, Fatma is a beautiful young women because of her intense femininity - “[a] gushing, throbbing, devastating force which it was hard to trace to any definite force” (Idris 59). Such description of women is rather rare, especially in literature, because they are traditionally perceived as the weaker vessel dependent on men. By expressing femininity as a powerful force, Idris contrasts the conventional stereotypes of women being powerless and insignificant.

Furthermore, as Lolita can be considered an open text and this paper is concerned with bringing female perspectives to the forefront of the novel, it is reasonable to apply traditional feminist theory to the text to examine Humbert’s marginalisation of women. In particular, this reading will be formulated through applying the work of second-wave feminist Kate Millett, which focuses on exposing the reprehensibility of patriarchal oppression. To begin, Nabokov consistently constructs Humbert to display misogynistic views. To illustrate this, in the scene where Humbert recalls his sexual excitement when Dolores laid across his lap, he fantasizes about being ‘a radiant and robust Turk…enjoying the youngest and frailest of his slaves.’ Due to the reader’s knowledge of Humbert’s affinity for ‘nymphets,’ whom he defines as girls between the age of nine and fourteen, it can be deduced that these ‘slaves’ are female. The word ‘frail’ holds connotations of debility, fragility and vulnerability. Through these negative associations, Nabokov has positioned readers to understand that Humbert views women as inferior to men. This holds relevance to Millett’s theory of female inferiority, through which she explains that ‘the female’s inferior status’ is ‘ascribed to her physical weakness or intellectual inferiority.’ Millett published her work in 1969 during the second wave feminist movement, whereby women demanded equality and challenged patriarchal ideologies regarding sexuality,

Sexuality has an inherent connection to human nature. Yet, even in regards to something so natural, societies throughout times have imposed expectations and gender roles upon it. Ultimately, these come to oppress women, and confine them within the limits that the world has set for them. However, society is constantly evolving, and within the past 200 years, the role of women has changed. These changes in society can be seen within the intricacies of literature in each era. Specifically, through analyzing The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, one can observe the dynamics of society in regards to the role of women through the lens of the theme of sexuality. In both novels, the confinement and oppression of women can be visibly seen as a result of these gender roles. Yet, from the time The Scarlet Letter was published to the time The Bell Jar was written, the place of women in society ultimately changed as well. Hence when evaluating the gender roles that are derived from sexuality, the difference between the portrayals of women’s oppression in each novel becomes apparent, and shows how the subjugation of women has evolved. The guiding question of this investigation is to what extent does the theme of sexuality reflect the expectations for women in society at the time each novel was written. The essay will explore how the literary elements that form each novel demonstrate each author’s independent vision which questions the

Lolita wanted to commute freely, express herself freely. She didn't want to have to worry about the men that could not “help themselves”. She did not want to look down anymore. Reading Lolita in Tehran, is a direct perspective of the daily life of a middle eastern women. They discuss the restrictions, rules, and regulations she has to follow or otherwise get punished. Oppression is not biased between culture, or geography. It comes in all forms, and is the spark that ignites the forest fire of freedom. There is so much power in unity, I refuse to believe attaining freedom should be your job to achieve, though I can see how people would find this statement true. Being “free” is on you, so people expect you to fight for what is yours, but some people never gather the courage to fight and stand up for themselves, leaving others to have to do it for

In Lives of Girls and Women, people grow out of reading. As the protagonist Del says, reading “persisted mostly in unmarried ladies, would have been shameful in a man” (Munro, 117). As in The Bell Jar, women in Lives of Girls and Women who are educated and who are professionals are seen as masculine and immature. Mature and marriageable women learn to use make-up and to flaunt their physical beauty. Del overturns this rule by memorizing poetry and doing well academically. Both Esther and Del feel that academic achievements best define and express their sexuality, though not necessarily enhancing their sexual lives. While the bored, rich girls in The Bell Jar spend most of their time painting their nails and getting a tan, Esther feels out of place among the idle and the fashion-conscious. Her friend Doreen admits that at her college, all the girls “had pocket-book covers made out of the same material as their dresses”(Plath, 5). The night that Doreen returns drunken from the apartment of a stranger named Lenny, Esther closes her door on her friend but does not have the heart to lock it. Thus, Esther successfully shuts out the false societal values of female sexuality for a while, but acknowledges that her form of sexuality must co-exist with that of Doreen and of other females in her society.

Malala Yousafzai’s memoir I am Malala and Nigel Cole’s film Made in Dagenham present strong female protagonists who speak out against the injustice of patriarchal and cultural oppression. By exploring and documenting the struggle of these extraordinary individuals who find the courage to take a committed stand against the inequity they encounter, both texts powerfully illustrate that speaking out is essential to create a better world. Furthermore, they suggest that different political and social contexts can impact the possibilities of individuals suffering harm or loss when speaking out against adversity. However, those who do speak out face many physical and emotional risks in order to receive a reward. Moreover, while Made in Dagenham

Both Reading Lolita in the Tehran by Azar Nafisi and The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg are works of nonfiction documenting the lives of women in the turbulent political environments in the Middle East. Being a woman, particularly an educated one, during the 80’s and 90’s in Iran meant a drastic limitation of personal freedoms and expressions through self image and art, a concept demonstrated through how Nafisi recalls her experience as a literature professor at the University of Tehran and how her students perceived the books she taught. Nordberg similarly expresses the sexual discrimination in the Middle East through her documentation of young girls as they search for a way to achieve personal freedoms by cross-dressing as the liberated sex in a post-Taliban Afghanistan. Through her interviews of Kabul’s Bacha Posh population, Nordberg establishes for the Western reader how the maltreated young girls Afghanistan constantly dream of an elusive freedom granted to their brothers, fathers, and husbands, and how few establish the otherwise unattainable by presuming the role of a boy for their adolescence. Nafisi’s demonstration of similar sexual oppression is related as a memoir of her students where she utilizes their interpretations of 20th-century western literature to serve as a reflection of the lives of her student through sexual oppression and conflicting political and religious factions.

Women in literature have been portrayed in a multitude of ways throughout time. From goddesses to witches, and even prostitutes, women have not been limited in their representations. One challenge, in particular, is repression of their sexuality. In novels by Kate Chopin, George Orwell, and Kazuo Ishiguro, female characters live in societies that seek to regulate their sexuality. Published in 1899, The Awakening by Chopin focuses on Edna Pontellier, a woman who seeks to create a life outside her marriage by pursuing relationships with various lovers. George Orwell’s 1984, which was published in 1949, features Julia, a woman who rebels against her society by having sex for pleasure and not for reproduction. In addition, like Chopin and Orwell,

All characters in the novel are living in a man’s world; nevertheless, the author has tried to change this world by the help of her characters. She shows a myriad of opportunities and different paths of life that woman can take, and more importantly she does not show a perfect world, where women get everything they want, she shows a world where woman do make mistakes, but at the same time they are the ones that pay for these mistakes and correct them.