Twenty-Something Women And The Paradox Of Sexual Freedom

Nowadays, freedom is a fundamental right for each man and woman, but it is not a perfect concept. When one’s freedom is endangered, he can do unimaginable things, especially when love is at stake or can react weirdly when he acquires it. It’s exactly what Kate Chopin, a female American author during the 19th century, did when she treated about women’s conditions in the short-story Story of an Hour in 1894, where a woman falsely learns about his husband’s death. Almost 60 years later, Roald Dahl wrote Lamb To The Slaughter, set in Great Britain, where a woman kills her husband and hide the evidences cleverly. These two short stories are not only comparative on the two female protagonists and the imagery used, but also on the main themes

A livable world is defined from the society you participate in everyday life. We as people make laws and regulations for situations that may or may not happen. This is because humans are imperfect and full of flaws. Laws and regulations are the guidelines for properly living in a society that dictates to the mass instead of hearing individual concern. Then again what is it meant to be “imperfect”? Who designates the description behind being perfect? This is what I believe is “the norm” or normal way of life of a society.

In Twenty-Something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom by Leslie Bell we follow the stories of three women contradicting the environments they were raised in, as an act of rebellion and individuality. These three women are distraught and confused about their identities and individuality due to conflicting obligations between traditional family values and their own desires. The environment each woman was brought up in was a catalyst in producing a “reactive decision.” As a result, their reactive choices lead to a greater sense of self and individuality. These three women display how their inner convictions are revealed and explored, as a result of the faith and beliefs that surrounded them. The oppressive expectations of their environments

At the time this novel was published, women did as they were expected to by society.

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.

Does deviating from one’s gender norms inevitably doom one down a spiral of moral corruption? Tim O'Brien, author of “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” and Ernest Hemingway, author of “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, certainly seem to hold this view, as evident by the fates of the major female characters in their respective works. The deviance of the major female characters in both works appears to corrupt not only themselves, but also pollute their partners, causing them to suffer injury or harm as a result. The degree of injury ranges from negligible, like Fossie’s demotion and broken heart, to fatal, like the bullet that rips through Macomber’s skull. It begs the question, are these stories meant to serve as cautionary tales for their female readers, or possibly for their husbands, so they may recognize gender deviance and stop it in its tracks before their wives transform into Margot Macomber or Mary Anne Bell? This essay will analyze what such characters say about pervading views of women, both in society and in literature.

The extent and degree of information and detail written in this article about each represented author and their contributing works can ultimately be seen as one of the articles main strengths. However, although this article gives a vast amount of information on the women’s opinions and beliefs the article at times seems disassembled and erratic. The flow of the article is somewhat hard to follow, and without an increased measure of concentration, the ability of the reader to comprehend and decipher whom the author is speaking of can be lost. Also, with the extensive amounts of information and detail that each female author contributes to the argument, readers are bombarded with data to interpret and distinguish upon. With the author of the article not decisively choosing the strongest points of argument from each author, the information becomes overwhelming and possibly confusing at times.

Women haven’t always had the freedom that they have today. Women were supposed to live a certain life even though sometimes they didn’t want to. They had to tend to their husbands at all time, stay home and do housework while still taking care of their children or being pregnant. Women were abused physically, emotionally, and psychologically. Although women were perceived to act and present themselves in a certain way, some young women went against the cult of the true woman hood not only to be different, but to escape he physical, emotional, and psychological abuse that they will or have encountered. In novels, The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Path and Lucy, by Jamaica Kincaid both young women have the similarity to rebel against the cult of true

Women yearn for their voices to speak loud enough for the entire world to hear. Women crave for their voices to travel the nations in a society where they are expected to turn the volume all the way down. The world expects females to stay quiet and ignore the pain brought onto them from sexual crime. They do not dare stand up for what they believe in or discuss their experiences that bring them pain. Poets such as Ana Castillo and Lawrence Ferlinghetti describe parts of life that society often ignores. E. E. Cummings supports the ideas of Castillo and Ferlinghetti by appropriating a more disturbing mindset. These poets demonstrate the way in which women obtained a supposable to behave and react to situations that have caused them harm or have the potential to.

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

In Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and Alice Munro’s Lives of Girls and Women, Esther and Del try to take control of their sexuality and their sexual lives. These two female protagonists attempt to gain sexual confidence by quietly rejecting the societal images of women. They are able to seduce men and pilot their own sexual lives. These women are also able to ignore the popular beliefs about marriage and motherhood, thus freeing them from the traditional, restrictive female sexual roles. By rejecting the popular notions of womanhood, sexuality, and marriage, Esther and Del become the mistresses of their sexuality and sexual

behavior and a cry for the recognition of women's rights ( ). Instead its theme

The time frames presented by the two authors reveal the scene of women being considered as the weaker sex. The two stories, however, exemplify an inner longing of the feminine sex of independence and freedom from their husbands. It suggests an inherent ?soul? of the women to overcome the male domination by means of showing independence and the idea that they can live by themselves without the presence of husbands. In the life of Louise, it is her statement

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,

After the narrator’s awakening of her new part of her life and self, Murakami clearly draws the contrast between her free moving self and imprisoned, static self. One was to follow the standards and one was to avoid these demands, a double life. “I could use this time in any way I liked. No one would get in my way. No one would make demands on me” (100). Through creating a heightened contrast between her monotonous daytime life and her blissful night time freedom, Murakami can effectively underline the entrapment experienced by women struggling to abide by standards set by men and the role she is placed into.