The Roles of Women in Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces

This generation of women, may it be young or old, are fortunate to live in a country where you can be anything, do anything, and say anything that men can. Although in theory the playing fields are still not completely even, we as a nation have made some substantial progress in women’s rights. Just a few hundred years ago, women livered mundane lives and rarely got to speak up for themselves. In the book, The Midwife’s Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, it follows the life of Martha Ballard through the use of her own diary. Martha Ballard captures the lives of common women in the Early Republic Era by providing an authentic record of the role women played in their communities throughout the developmental years of the United States.

At first she is amazed by the knowledge of her students, but while she starts to know more about them, she realizes that their only goal is to find a man to marry and have children with instead of becoming career professionals. Gradually, she decides to try to make them see that they are worth much more and that being a woman doesn’t mean giving up their dreams and ambitions.

The concepts that are predominant in the poster and the dynamic changes of social roles of women that emerged from the creation of “Rosie” are historically significant and its effects are exhibited to this day. Prevalent ideas conveyed by the poster include changing social roles, biological/social determination, social status, role set, role strain, role events and most importantly, feminism.

In the 1950’s through the 1960’s women were not respected in there everyday lives, in the job field or in general. They did not have the rights they deserved, so during this time the “women’s movement” began. Women fought for their rights and fought for the self-respect that they thought they deserved. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the character Mama, expresses her feelings of pushing or extracting a new side for a woman. Her role explains that woman can be independent and can live for themselves. Through her behavior in this play she demonstrates that women can support and guide a family. Mama is in charge of the family, which is unusual, since men are traditionally the “head of a family”. Through Mama’s wisdom

While social change has brought on more changes than what women are a custom too, at one point in history women actually felt a form of importance in fulfilling their roles not only in the home; but outside as well. “These demographic shifts account for many new or altered roles, such as increased number of duel-earner families, later and fewer marriages, fewer children, increased life expectancy, and the massive migration shifting employees across a nation and across the globe” (Lindsey, 2011, pg. 275).

“You try, you fail, you try, you fail. But the only true failure is when you stop trying,” ~ madame Leota. When someone stops trying and quits, they set himself/herself up for failure in life. They become more accepting of stopping before they finish their goal. And when they have a huge project and decide not to do it, they get penalized because of it. And even though a person loses they can just as easily try

The fact that she continued to read to further her knowledge and to learn more did not faze her that not many other women were doing as she was. At a young age she knew that “settling” with the roles of women during this time was a life that she had to choose but she also wanted more. She wanted to educate herself and that she did through the works of her favorite author’s books and poems.

The depression caused multiple hardships for them to endure. World War II saw many women join the workforce due to necessity, taking up jobs that had previously been considered only for men. Social attitudes towards what women were capable of doing had been changed due to the experience; this point in time was of high importance. During the time in the text, woman’s rights were very underdeveloped, women were powerless and men were alpha. The female characters were often portrayed as nothing but housewives that weren’t able to express their own opinions without facing a critical

Have you ever given up on something, like homework and then failed that class, In Fever 1793, Laurie Halse Anderson uses never giving up by Mattie and Mother to show us that giving up gets us nowhere. In the book fever when the fever outbreaks everyone thought this was the illness to wipe out mankind. After a wile Mattie and grandfather were kicked out of the coffee shop so Mattie would not catch the fever. And in the end they survived (except grandfather). Never giving up means you can do great things.

In the second half of the colonial time period in North America, ever-nearing the American Revolution in 1775, there were much fewer roles for women. While they still dealt with and controlled everything having to do with childbirth and the family, their professional lives were downgraded. Their three main jobs were to watch the children, encourage faith in the house, and be subordinate to men (Dunklee 2). As education was becoming slightly more widespread, only men were taking advantage of higher education, meaning they were the ones who would receive the jobs. Even if a lady did happen to be wealthy enough and come from a powerful enough family to get higher education, they were not socially accepted into having jobs. Women were reduced to only having what was seen as small tasks, caretaking, sewing and writing (WIC 2). All of the jobs available were chores to benefit the individual family, not be put out into society. Even the more creative exercises such as writing poetry, were done for the woman’s own benefit as a creative outlet, not as something to be put out into the world as it was for many men (Bloch). The roles available to women had evolved to include very few options, many of which weren’t even to be recognized by

In this book she has helped the reader understand how women help in shifting and creating the world that we know today.

truth. “Sometimes in life, giving up isn’t the answer because hard work will one day pay off”.

There comes a time in everyone's life when they will want to give up. It seems to be easier to give up rather than persevere through any tough obstacles that throws at you. There are three quotes from three books that demonstrates perseverance in the books called “The Lost boys”, “Mother to Son”, and “Saudi Arabia's Freedom Riders”. The first quote that demonstrates perseverance is from the book “Mother to Son”. This lady gave advice to her son about life.

When I was younger my parents always mentioned that although life may not always be easy giving up was never and should never be an option. In life we encounter hardships that affect each and every one of us by choosing the right path when a problem rises to the surface.

Your place is to make the food, clean the house and take care of the children. And of course you’ll have children because that is what I, your husband, want. You must succumb to everything I want simply because I bring home all of the bacon. If you have a problem with that, then I guess you shouldn’t have been born a woman. But since you were in fact born a woman, shut up and go make me a sandwich. For many years, this was the role of women. Then, in 1848, the Women’s Rights Movement began and allowed for women to change that role to something of more importance. However, I believe that the change from that movement only piled on more things for women to be responsible for instead of giving us the same rights as men. I am hoping to show how women are still oppressed today and how culture has affected how women are viewed.