Reviving Ophelia Essay

The book, Reviving Ophelia, is about the hardships girls go through when they are growing up and trudging through puberty. As the author Mary Pipher states it, adolescent girls tend to lose their “true selves” in order to fit in and comply with the standards that society sets for women. Pipher, a practicing therapist, uses her own case studies to show how pressures put on girls forces them to react in often damaging ways. In most case studies she tells the audience how she helped these girls heal

Reviving Ophelia      Mary Pipher, author of the book Reviving Ophelia, has made many observations concerning young adolescent girls in our society. She wrote this book in 1994, roughly eleven years ago. Although some of her observations made in the past are not still accurate in today’s world, there are many that are still present in 2005. The primary focus of Pipher’s comments is to explain how young girls are no longer being protected within our society.      This

After reading the preface and first chapter of your book Reviving Ophelia, I am left with many thoughts and questions pertaining to your assessment of the current state of girls in our society. First of all, I understand your general concern, and I recognize your main statement, that girls are in more trouble now than several decades ago, as one that is undoubtedly true. I also agree with your goal, which you say is “to share what I’ve seen and heard” (Pipher 28). However, where I become more uncertain

One social effect of conformity in young girls is low self-confidence, which often follows into adulthood. Mary Pipher, Ph. D., is a clinical psychologist and author of “Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls”. Throughout Pipher’s writings she recalls personal and patient’s experiences that have brought to light the “destructive forces that affect young women.” (268). Pipher explains that as girls grow up, “They lose their assertive, energetic and “tomboyish” personalities and become

Reviving Ophelia Adolescent girls growing up in today’s society endure many more hardships than in previous years. Adolescence is no longer a time of endless sunny days spent on the back porch with a glass of country time lemonade and a smile extending ear to ear. Adolescence for girls is now generalized as a dark and depressing period of life that often seems hopeless and never ending. Mary Pipher PH.D tries to illustrate just how drastically life has changed over the years for teenage girls

Have you ever heard of the song “What is Love?” by Haddaway? The one that’s then followed by the line “Baby don’t hurt me! Don’t hurt me!” Well, in the movie Reviving Ophelia, Elizabeth has just gotten into her first “serious” relationship. The way she describes her new relationship with a boy from school, Mark, is as if she was discovering for the first time in her life what it means to truly have love. However, this quickly turned for her an illusion of an amazing relationship into one of an abusive

required to read three books regarding the growth and development of adolescence; Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher, Ph.D., Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D., and The Teenage Brain by Frances E. Jensen, M.D. with Amy Ellis Nutt. Each book was for a different audience because they’re all discussing different topics but they all discuss the growth and development of adolescences in our society. Reviving Ophelia discusses the different types of scenarios Dr. Pipher faced in her practice with teenage

Reviving Ophelia Dr. Pipher remembers her cousin Polly as a young girl. She describes her as energy in motion. A tomboy, Polly dances, plays sports with the neighborhood boys, and rides horses. Once Polly enters adolescence, however, other children begin teasing her about her tomboyish ways and insist that she be more ladylike. The boys exclude her from their activities, and the girls isolate her because she is different. Polly becomes confused and withdrawn. Later, Polly begins wearing

Shakespeare’s character Ophelia has persisted through time as an archetype of the passive woman, yet her passivity has a dynamic effect on all of the other characters in HAMLET. Ophelia is characterized as a typical woman of the Elizabethan era, raised to follow direction of men, even in the face of her own desires. She is overtly feminine, passive, loyal, quiet, and not of her own mind. Ophelia is loved by all for her beauty, and loved by her brother and father, who try to control her actions throughout

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, he has created an adolescent character called Ophelia. The character of Ophelia is minor, yet she plays a significant part in our discovery of Hamlet. Without Hamlet there is no Ophelia. Ophelia is a girl who lets herself be determined by those she trusts dearly. Her naivety allows her to be used by her father Polonius and Hamlet without her even fully knowing. She allows herself to be taken advantage of by these characters because of her loyalty and trust towards

Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, is author, Mary Pipher’s attempt to understand her experiences in therapy with adolescent girls (Pipher, p. 11). In the text adolescence is described as a border between childhood and adulthood (Pipher, p. 292). In her quest to understand adolescent girls, Pipher attempts to answer these questions: Why are so many girls in therapy in the 1990s? Why are there more self-mutilators? What is the meaning of lip, nose and eyebrow piercings? How

decisions concerning how they will act, with who they will associate with, and what life decisions they will choose. Ultimately, the progression by which they determine their identity must inevitability be one of trial and error. In the book Reviving Ophelia, clinical psychologist Dr. Mary Pipher discusses the social and cultural pressures faced by today 's adolescent girls based on her individual clients’ stories. This paper will examine how gender role socialization effects girls more specifically

------------------------------------------------- Portrayal Mary Catherine Bolton (afterwards Lady Thurlow) (1790-1830) as Ophelia in 1813, opposite John Philip Kemble's Hamlet While it is known that Richard Burbage played Hamlet in Shakespeare's time, there is no evidence of who played Ophelia; since there were no professional actresses on the public stage in Elizabethan England, we may be certain that she was played by a boy.[11] The early modern stage in England had an established set of emblematic conventions for

While reading Mary Pipher’s, “Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls” and Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson’s, “Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys,” I got a better understanding of the mindsets of teenagers in todays society. I learned that countless girls and boys have the same inner battles and do not even realize it. The two songs I chose that best represent ideas of woman and manhood are “Unpretty,” by TLC and “Stan,” by Eminem. I believe these songs support many

Shakespeare's Ophelia as Modern Icon Shakespeare's Ophelia is not lacking in attention. As one of Shakespeare's most popular female characters she has enjoyed many appellations from the bard. '"Fair Ophelia." "Most beautified Ophelia." "Pretty Ophelia." "Sweet Ophelia." "Dear Ophelia." "Beautiful Ophelia…sweet maid…poor wretch." "Poor Ophelia."' (Vest 1) All of these names for Ophelia can be found in Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Since Shakespeare's incarnation of Ophelia many

Gender is one of the universal dimensions on which status differences are based. Unlike sex which is a biological concept, gender is a social construct specifying the socially and culturally prescribed roles that men and women are to follow. Society places ideas concerning proper behaviors regarding gender roles. Over the years, one can notice that society’s rules and expectations for men and women are very different. Men have standards and specific career goals that we must live up to according

Parents Affect Their Daughters Too Dr. Mary Pipher’s novel, Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls uncovers the reason why girls coming of age change throughout puberty and how outside forces affect them. In the first quarter of the book, the reader learns all about the struggles that young women are facing and how these girls are influenced to completely change themselves to fit into society. It is mentioned that girls change dramatically, that girls who once were talkative and

what exactly do we mean? In my opinion the way the female characters, Ophelia and Gertrude, in `Hamlet' exist, is the way in which they live, the way they are viewed by others in the play, and the way would be perceived by us, or the Elizabethan audience. We have to see exactly who the male characters are, and the different parts they play. In addition, this essay will attempt to discover exactly how Shakespeare used Ophelia and Gertrude for the plot, and consider if they exist in their own right

textual criticism, and cultural and political relativism but fails to produce solid answers. Postmodern Shakepseare does not offer new meanings but new and more possibilities for contemplating meaning. This fails both the traditionalist who relishes in reviving universal meaning, and the progressive who relishes propagating their political diatribe. Traditionalists can give a sigh of relief that Shakespeare thrives in the postmodern age by way of a growing

Movie Reaction Paper My first reaction to this movie even just as I read the title of this movie “Reviving Ophelia” was why does this girl need to be revived what has happened to take her this deep. Then I read the summary which went something like this two sisters have to navigate the difficulties of raising a teenage daughte each. As I would know since my mother is quite like one of these mothers. One of the daughters has the seemingly perfect life, perfect boyfriend, perfect friends everything