The Women Of The Convent: Feminism

“This particular girl had been enrolled in a convent until earlier that year. She was supposed to be a nun by now, but the communists had closed down all the catholic churches and convents.” ( Anh on his mother) pg.3

Throughout many of Toni Morrison?s novels, the plot is built around some conflict for her characters to overcome. Paradise, in particular, uses the relationships between women as a means of reaching this desired end. Paradise, a novel centered around the destruction of a convent and the women in it, supports this idea by showing how this building serves as a haven for dejected women (Smith). The bulk of the novel takes place during and after WWII and focuses on an all black town in Oklahoma. It is through the course of the novel that we see Morrison weave the bonds of women into the text as a means of healing the scars inflicted upon her characters in their respective societies.

In "A Sorrowful Woman" the wife is depressed with her life, so much so, "The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again"(p.1). This wife and mother has come to detest her life, the sight of her family,

The short story presents women as aware but misunderstood by men through use of narrative point of view. In society women are usually seen as inferior to men, and therefore often don’t get the acknowledgement they deserve. “The women held their secrets because when they mentioned it to their husbands or brothers they were laughed at….Instead of sympathy, the husbands and brothers now had a secret weapon”. This shows that women did not share their fears as it gave others ideas to torment them further. Women in the short story are also shown to be fully aware of the boy’s behaviour early on in the story. “The men of his home town said, but how

In the early 19th century, women were oppressed, and marriage was a social status, not a choice. Mrs. Mallard was a wife during 19th Century and her home was where she would spend most of her days. She also suffers from a heart condition. She learns of the tragic news on the first floor of her two story home. Her sister Josephine was the one to tell her “ in broken sentences, veiled hints that revealed in half concealing.”(287) The news was revealed as delicate as possible, due to Mrs. Mallard's heart condition. Mrs. Mallard heard the news, she wept, a sense of grief comes upon her. Once she removed herself from her sister Josephine's arms, she went off to her room. It reads, “ When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. No one to follow her”(287). During this time, women were looked down upon if they were not married. Most women were given away by their

In the story of The Chaser by John Collier you might be able to analyze the story with a feminist analysis, which mean with the eyes of a female. Using my eyes and knowledge of feminist, women want to be created equally no more, no less, but sometimes men don’t understand this knowledge of the feminist culture. Although many may like the story of The Chaser, many may not like it due to their perspective on their initial perspective. The Chaser is basically about a man trying to find something to make a women fall in love with him, now if you can’t see that making a women fall in love with a man is wrong then stop reading now, but if you agree with this perspective carry on.

Sexism and feminism are controversial issues, that is why they are a global issue in today’s society. People who argue sexism does not exist tend to focus only on the wires of the issue in relation to a birdcage. Like Frye said, “...step back...and take a macroscopic view of the whole cage, that you can see why the bird does not go anywhere; and then you will see it in a moment”(Frye). So if people expand their focus to the world it is overwhelmingly apparent that in many countries women are second class subjects. Sexism is still a problem which feminists in our society today are still trying to fix. Through her use of characterization, symbolism and changes in relationships, Zora Neale Hurston argues in Their Eyes Were Watching God which is widely viewed as a feminist novel that even though American society is majority sexist and are uninformed about feminism, feminism will ultimately overtake but will not be enough to eradicate the sexism that has been embedded in all aspects of our daily lives. As Janie retrieves her independence after being maltreated by men, one must know that the novel cannot simply be regarded as a feminist novel because there are aspects that dispute with talks about feminist theory. The novel grapples in a way with feminist ideals of equality of men and women and traditional gender roles which is referred to as sexism.

In the 19th century, expectations were very different for men and women. Men were expected to be more in the public view such as going to work and socializing with other men in clubs, meetings or in bars. Women were expected to live their lives mostly in their home cooking, cleaning, and child rearing. For women they were not to socialize in their free time, they were expected to do other things to “better” the home such as sewing socks or doing laundry. Very few women had the same educational opportunities as men. “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A New England Nun” are very good examples of how things were for women and the American culture at the turn of the century and in each of these stories the women were able to defeat the patriarchal culture represented in their husband and soon to be husband.

The notion that women belong to men, is a statement indicative of a female’s vulnerability. At many times within the novel, the idea that women are weak and feeble creatures is portrayed,

     In consequence of these bad treats, women try to find different ways that in their point of view were a way out to reveal their need and discontents with man. One way for women to express their dissatisfaction was become part to the Convent, it provided an especially opportunity to achieving self-expression and freedom from male domination and sexual exploitation for elite and middle-class women. In the convents women display their capacity for leadership in administration, management of resources, and a way to create a social life by receiving visitors. An example of these ways out to society is “Sor Juana,” according to Keen and Haynes’s book Sor Juana’s intellectual brilliance made it difficult for her to find a suitable marriage partner, in consequence she decide to become part of a Convent. This same experience was common for one or more daughters of an elite family in every day life

They were expected to follow orders and obey god and persons of power. Since nuns were able to receive an education within the convent, many were expected to put it to good use and appreciate the opportunity they have been given. Society expected nuns to create peace within the culture and follow in Jesus and God’s footsteps. They were also expected to attend church and spend much of their time praying for others, worshiping, and helping out the less fortunate. Nuns sometimes held much responsibility within the convent, but many never questioned their relationship with god.

The definition of feminism is very elusive. Maybe because of its ever-changing historical meaning, it’s not for certain whether there is any coherence to the term feminism or if there is a definition that will live up to the movement’s variety of adherents and ideas. In the book “No Turning Back,” author Estelle Freedman gives an accurate four-part definition of the very active movement: “Feminism is a belief that women and men are inherently part of equal worth. Because most societies privilege men as a group, social movements are necessary to achieve equality between women and men, with the understanding that gender always intersects with other social hierarchies” (Freedman 7).

Ultimately, the differences in gender and race in Paradise do not actually influence utopian goals until the people form communities. “Often (utopian) narratives focus on the very moments when the possibility of their existence comes into being,” which reigns true as the focus in Paradise (Grattan 371). The repetition of Ruby’s founding story is the exact moment that a utopia became possible. However, when the community chose not to abandon the old ways they were fleeing from the cycle of exclusion began. Paradise as a whole seems devoted to the continuous inclusion of new people and their stories to the Convent in harsh contrast to the exclusion taking place just miles away in Ruby. “Morrison criticizes the notion of utopian perfection

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.

The idea of women being equal to men has been debated for a very long time. Even when civilizations were just starting, most women were treated very differently from men. When women started fighting against this oppression they were called feminists. Feminism can be separated into three waves. The first wave of feminism was from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s. The second wave was from the 1960s to the 1980s. The third wave of feminism started in the 1990s, but its end is unclear. Some people believe it has ended and the fourth wave of feminism has started, but others believe it continues today. The different waves have been very different in some aspects, but very similar in others. The main differences between the first and third wave of feminism are what they fought for, how they protested, and society’s reaction to their cause.