They say every piece of literature is written from at least one of three analytical approaches, Marxist, Freudian (psychoanalytical), or, lastly the one used in the stories I will be discussing today, feminist. Feminist writing begins with the assumption that society is and always has been patriarchal. Through out the years writers have portrayed major problems in society through their writing. The four pieces of literature discussed today were all originally composed in a time ranging from 1604 to 1966. Meaning this has been a continuous problem throughout many centuries. Four pieces of literature with powerful words representing the mistreatment of women in society are “Helen of Troy”, “Leda” “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, and …show more content…
This is a poem written about a woman unwillingly a victim of sexual assault. In the beginning the speaker describes Zeus in the form of a swan. The description used by Doolittle to portray Zeus is very beautifully crafted, making Zeus seem flawless. Then casually Zeus proceeds to attack Leda. Leda’s attack is unable to be easily seen due to the poems godly description of the attacker. As commonly seen in our society Leda” rape is over looked because, the writer is forced to focus on Zeus and his over glorified …show more content…
In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” a young girl name Connie is targeted by an adult man and taken advantage of. This demented predator has no sense of his actions being wrong. He follows her and convinces her, by fear and intimidation, to come to him. He uses the lives of her family, knowledge about her life, and manipulation of this information. He has a confidence to act in such a manner, because those are the commonalities set by society. The author is able to show the traits of a stalker and predator, as well as the assault portrayed against
Degradation of Women Viewed from Modern American Context On Tuesday, February 6th, the Crockett House Firm charged the epic poem, The Odyssey, for representing the degradation of women, specifically, women being objectified and misrepresented. The Crockett House Firm wants these charges to be judges from a modern, American cultural context. The Crockett House firm is the prosecution and finds The Odyssey guilty of the charges. The Griffin House Firm is the defense for this trial and finds The Odyssey not guilty.
The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” was written by the author Joyce Carol Oates in 1966. Oates describes her idea for the story after briefly reading an article about the real-life murderer, Charles Schmid, who lured and murdered three teenage girls (Kirszner & Mandell 523). She uses this idea to create the character, Arnold Friend, and his victim, Connie. Connie is a typical teenage girl portrayed as naïve and self-centered. The short story appears realistic, given that the conflict in the story is based off of real events.
After skimming through Volume 1 of The Norton Anthology Literature by Women, I noticed the reoccurring themes of patriarchy, women subordination, and the strength to be creative despite oppression. During the times that these literary pieces were written, women were constantly battling the patriarchy in order to get basic rights. During the earlier time periods, intelligence was seen as a sign of an evil spirit in a woman, resulting in miniscule amounts of literary works written by women. Women were not provided with equal spaces to creatively express themselves, as mentioned by Virginia Woolf. Moreover, they were not given the same publishing opportunities, many women either went anonymous or by a fake male name to have their works published.
In her short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", Joyce Carol Oates utilizes a variety of literary devices to strengthen the story in its entirety. This short story is essentially about a 16-year-old girl named Connie and the conflict between her desire to be mature and her desire to remain an adolescent. Throughout the story, the audience sees this conflict through her words in addition to through her behavior. The audience is also introduced to Arnold Friend, a rather peculiar man, who essentially kidnaps her. This short story by Joyce Carol Oates functions and is additionally meaningful because of her usage of literary devices.
Carol Joyce Oates’ “Where Are You Going Where Have You Been?” presents how falling into temptation leads to giving up control and innocence. Though her mother is unapproving of her actions, Connie spends her time seeking attention from male strangers. Home alone, Connie is approached by a compelling creature who convinces her to leave her life and join him on his unknown journey. Through disapproving her family, having multiple appearances, listening to music, and her desperation to receive attention from boys, Connie gives up control of herself losing the purity of adolescents and contributing to her detrimental fate. It is imperative that one should not be controlled because of a desire to impress others.
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” is about a teenager named Connie who is trying to come to terms with her transformation from childhood to adulthood. Through this process, Connie attempts to act older than she is an tries to gain the attention of boys. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Oates portrays Connie as obsessed with men to symbolize how one’s obsession and narcissistic attitude can cause danger to seem surreal. In the short story, Carol Oates describes Connie as having two different personalities, one being a narcissistic attitude.
Feminist Criticism allows to understand the meaning and importance of literature when relating to the male-female power
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, both female protagonists are faced with opposing male forces that seek to control, undermine and take advantage of them. However, in the midst of the challenges and subordination they face from these dominant male figures, each protagonists independence is tested as they both strive to overcome these forces. Connie, the protagonist in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” is a 15 year old, narcissistic teenage girl, searching for independence through her sexuality as she enters into the realm of adulthood. “Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home,” (Oates, 1).
Feminist point of view means the analysis of any literary works based on the feminist perception. Feminism has gradually become broad and noticeable in its attacks on male-dominated society. The Shakespearian era of the 16th century was a time when women were very inferior in the society. If we compare with other writers, Shakespeare was always careful of women and tried to give them respect in his different writings. If we look at his famous play named Othello we need to judge the equality of women in terms of political, social and economic perspective.
Feminism is the philosophy advocating equal political, economic, and social rights for women. The idea of feminism was not at all prevalent during the 1850s when Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter was published. In spite of this, Hawthorne wrote one of the most influential feminist novels of his time: The Scarlet Letter. This novel was hailed as an important feminist novel because of the main character: Hester Prynne.
To accomplish this analyzation I have structured this paper into an intro paragraph, four body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. The first body paragraph explains how Penelope’s forced marriage with Odysseus supports the patriarchy. The second paragraph analyzes Penelope’s character, and how the story diminishes her character to make men seem more powerful. The third paragraph dives into the relationship with the suitors and Penelope. I analyze how Penelope uses her situation to her advantage, and how that undermines the patriarchy.
(quoted in Maurizio p.142) Evaluating the first couple of lines of the poem above, “A sudden blow: the great wings beating still above the staggering girl,” Yeats’s visualization of Leda on the ground while Zeus hovers above her displays Zeus’s godly might is no match for a mortal. Being that Zeus takes the shape of a swan to hide his identity he acts animalistically toward Leda as “her thighs caressed by the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, he holds her helpless breast upon his breast” as if Zeus, who is not only powerful but is also extremely knowledgeable, became momentarily absent minded and is giving into his sexual temptation. In this way Yeats uses these actions to signify that although Zeus is a god, he also reveals human qualities. When he swoops from the heavens as a swan to earth, this is another metaphor that physically shows that he removes himself from an omnipotent godly position to a fallible one on earth. The poem’s erotic depiction of Leda, a beautiful young woman, forcefully overpowered by a swan and forcibly violated seems to be about the rape but it also addresses the issue of the consequences of the
From the outset, literature and all forms of art have been used to express their author’s feelings, opinions, ideas, and believes. Accordingly, many authors have resorted to their writing to express their feminist ideas, but first we must define what feminism is. According to the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, feminism is “the belief that women should be allowed the same rights, power, and opportunities as men and be treated in the same way, or the set of activities intended to achieve this state”. As early as the fifteenth century is possible to find feminist writings. Centuries later, and although she never referred to herself as one, the famous English writer Virginia Woolf became one of the greatest feminist writers of the twentieth
Anti-Feminism is when the women are objectified , disrespected , or belittled . In many patriarchal communities women are not given the rights and opportunities which has led to a movement known as feminism , nowadays , the term feminism is used when men and women are equal in their rights , opportunities and men are women are equally free , on the other hand , the term anti-feminism now talks about the woman being below the man , the woman being objectified and being used , women not being as free as men which often happens in patriarchal societies . The story “ A Californian’s Tale “ ignores the female issues during the horror of economic failure through objectifying Henry’s wife , the image of the wife and being nameless , and the frame . The first reason why the story “A Californian’s Tale” seems to be anti-feminist is through objectifying Henry’s wife. Through out the story the wife seems to be compared to many different objects , or sometimes the objects in the story symbolize the wife .
The role of women in literature crosses many broad spectrums in works of the past and present. Women are often portrayed as weak and feeble individuals that submit to the situations around them, but in many cases women are shown to be strong, independent individuals. This is a common theme that has appeared many times in literature. Across all literature, there is a common element that causes the suffering and pain of women. This catalyst, the thing that initiates the suffering of women, is essentially always in the form of a man.