Maria's Interruption In The Middleman By Bharati Mukherjee

In analyzing portrayals of women, it is appropriate to begin with the character of Margarita. For, within the text, she embodies the traditionally masculine traits of bravery, resilience, and violence as a means of liberating herself from an existence of abuse and victimhood. Even more, the woman plays upon stereotypes of femininity in order to mask her true nature. The reader witnesses this clever deception in a scene where the character endures a “wholesome thrashing” from her huge, violent, and grizzly bear-like husband, Guerra (81). Although Margarita “[submits] to the infliction with great apparent humility,” her husband is found “stone-dead” the next morning (81). Here, diction such as “submits” and “humility” relate to the traits of weakness, subservience and inferiority that are so commonly expected of women, especially in their relationships with men. Yet, when one

In this essay, female oppression in La Casa de Bernarda Alba will be discussed and analyzed. However, in order to be able to understand the importance of this theme and the impact it has had on the play, one must first understand the role of female oppression in the Spanish society in the 1930s.

“His nation chewed him up and spat him out like a pinon shell, and when he emerged from an airplane one late afternoon, I knew I would one day make love with him” (Martinez, 3). And so it starts, the story of a nineteen year old Mexican- American girl named Mary (Maria; as he only chooses to call her), who helps out and eventually falls in love with Jose Luis Alegria, a Salvadoran refugee. Martínez's story of María is told against the backdrop of the 12-year civil war in El Salvador. Maria and Jose Luis develop a friendship that slowly turns into a typical novella love affair. Through their relationship, both characters are forced to confront the violence of their

In “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” Cofer shows the reader that Latin women are misrepresented in society and in the media, using the rhetorical appeals ethos, logos and pathos as well as allusions to popular culture and personal experience.

When Maria was wondering why the South African men were scared of them, it was clear how sheltered and brainwashed she was. It was then that she realized how unexposed she was and began to become more involved in the efforts to make a change.

“Beautiful and Cruel” marks the beginning of Esperanza’s “own quiet war” against machismo (Hispanic culture powered by men). She refuses to neither tame herself nor wait for a husband, and this rebellion is reflected in her leaving the “table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate (Cisneros 89).” Cisneros gives Esperanza a self-empowered voice and a desire for personal possessions, thing that she can call her own: Esperanza’s “power is her own (Cisneros 89).” Cisneros discusses two important themes: maintaining one’s own power and challenging the cultural and social expectations one is supposed to fulfill. Esperanza’s mission to create her own identity is manifest by her decision to not “lay (her) neck on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain (Cisneros 88).” Cisneros’ rough language and violent images of self-bondage reveal the contempt with which Esperanza views many of her peers whose only goal is to become a wife. To learn how to guard her power

In “Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Transvestite in the New World” by Catalina de Erauso, a female-born transvestite conquers the Spanish World on her journey to disguise herself as a man and inflicts violence both on and off the battlefield. Catalina discovers her hidden role in society as she compares herself to her brothers advantage in life, as they are granted money and freedom in living their own lives. Erauso decides to take action of this act of inequality by forming a rebellion, as she pledges to threaten the social order.The gender roles allotted to both men and women in the Spanish world represent the significance of societal expectations in order to identify the importance of gender in determining one’s position in the social order in the Spanish World.

In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the reader gets a sense of what the expectations are of Dominican men and women. Junot Díaz uses Oscar in contrast to the other male characters to present the expectations of the Dominican male. On the other hand, Díaz presents the women in the text, especially Belicia, La Inca, Lola, and Jenni, as strong characters in their own rights, but the male characters, with the exception of Oscar, have a desire to display their masculinity to maintain power over these women. It would be unfair to say that the women bring the abuse unto themselves, but rather it is their culture that makes the abuse acceptable and almost to a certain extent—expected.

“Perpetua’s Passion” is one of the only few records of the life of a female martyr Vibia Perpetua. This record is very special because it contains Perpetua’s own narrative of her last days before her execution, along with an editor’s comments. Most of Perpetua’s narrative is about her experience after the capture, and her dreams, or visions, or the “revelations” of the divine to Perpetua. In this paper, I will discuss the presentation the symbols in her dreams, in order to exam the power balance of female and male presented in her voice, and reveal the struggle of Perpetua’s voice under the editor’s manipulation.

And my family goes too." (Page 2) I had expect Maria to soften and feel bad for her father who worked hard and wanted to take a break to spend time with his family, yet she just walked away. But slowly during the time that her family left her alone she started to feel bad for arguing with her father and that the turned into worry. "She felt bad for her mother and two brothers that would have to spend the next three hours in the car with him. Maybe he would do something crazy , like crash the car on purpose to get back at her..." (Page 4) she then worried more and more, I believe that she was regretting not going with them. Finally, when Maria had thought " How dare they have so much fun? While she worried herself sick about then,they splashes in the waves, stayed at great America until nightfall, and eaten at all kinds of restaurants. They even went shopping for fall school clothes." (Page 8) The reason why Maria is upset, I believe, is that she wanted to have fun with her family, I think she wanted to be here with her family more than worrying about her family. She listed a bunch of very fun things and "How dare they have so much

Gender equality can be a very complex subject, throughout the years power has been correlated to gender. In Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, “The Rod of Justice” gender inequities are represented with a great level of complexity and difficult understanding. Throughout the text one can sense Machado’s involvement over authority and control, and how the characters portray this subject. The story is focus on Damiao, who is the main character. Damiao was seeking escape from his seminary obligations, and he requests the aid of his godfather’s mistress, Sinha Rita. He knew that if she could use her sexual powers over his godfather she could help him escape his obligations. She is portrayed in the story as having a power over the people who surrounded her, as her authority was not questioned nor overruled. She had sexual power over Joao Carneiro, and also had to power to manipulate the actions of Damiao, but this power was interesting as in society in those times women had limited power which was not compared to the power men had. Nonetheless, Rita proves to be a well independent women, doing things under her own power. She would have been a women of great power, if she had the chance to live in the 21st century, and how society has altered the gender role of a woman since.

The relationship between Mariam and Laila grows overtime into an unbreakable love. Mariam is a vulnerable character that experienced hardships and negativity throughout her life. Her reliance on faith and religion gave her hope. Laila however, has had a positive upbringing from modern parents. Her education is what made her a strong and intelligent girl. Their personalities contrast to bring the best out of each other. However at first, in fear of being overshadowed by Laila, Mariam says “If [Laila] thinks [she] can use [her] looks to get rid of me, [she is] wrong. [Mariam] was here first. [She] won't be thrown out” (225). As Mariam has never been a priority to anyone in her life she was very defensive over her role in the house. As jealousy embarked upon Mariam,

It must be said that men of power create the structure of life--which is not necessarily profitable or fitting to women, nor to the human race in its entirety. Women do not live in this structure:“They lead beautiful lives--women. Lives not only divorced from, but irrevocably excommunicated from, all reality” (156).

With its main focus being put on usurpation and family ties, The Castle of Otranto has a significant basis in the way that women are treated, or rather mistreated, both in the novel and in the real world, or to put it in different words – “the hierarchal world that gives birth to Otranto is also built upon a foundation of intolerance and oppression towards women.” (Garcia) Concepts such as primogeniture and patriarchy play a large role in this novel, since women are presented as sensitive, emotional, fragile and unable to make their own decisions, the only “logical” thing would be to put power and authority into the hands of men. This is the exact reason why Manfred insists on having a male heir and divorcing Hippolita since she cannot provide that for him, and instead pursues a much younger Isabella.

Yet upon closer examination one can see she sets up the strong family unit that drives her husband and son; Bruno; upon their mission. Maria is a strong character and a strong women. I believe it is her strong presence that makes Antonio want to be strong. It is