The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy depicts the inner lives and hardships women in a patriarchal society face. Roy provides a reflection of the social injustice in India in the form of abusive and tyrannical males who abuse women - both physically and psychologically. The novel is a vehicle for the author to express her disillusionment with the postcolonial social conditions. This response will critically analyse the lives of the female characters in Roy’s novel, specifically Mammachi and Ammu and explore the ways they have been marginalised. Mammachi, the mother of Ammu and Chacko is representative of the older generation of women in the novel and is a victim of oppression and discrimination at the hands of her husband, Pappachi. She was physically abused as she was beaten either with a brass vase or an ivory handled riding crop and psychologically traumatised by her husband. Mammachi however, kept mum and as a post-colonial Indian woman she succumbs to the lures of pre-colonial caste rules thus, she becomes an instrument of patriarchal domination despite being a victim herself. Moreover, it is evident that the men in the novel, particularly Pappachi, suffer from an inferiority complex. Pappachi expresses jealousy when he refuses to help her when she started a pickle making business even though …show more content…
The reader notices that an older generation of women have accepted their role in society over the years and silently approve of the male sovereignty by abiding by norms. On the other hand, Ammu represents a more rebellious generation by transgressing social norms of sexuality and breaking the “love laws”, hence providing a resistance to patriarchy. However, despite her quest for freedom and identity, she remains victim of male chauvinism at every stage of her life because of her marginalisation by social institutions of family and marriage, amongst
Furthermore, the context of this situation and the lack of response on Mameh’s side indicate her absolute submissiveness and silent endurance to her husband’s gibes. Additionally, there isn’t mention of any resistance or opposition to the abuse directed towards her, and she instead chooses to remain loyal to Fishel throughout
In The Eyes are Watching God, the author Zora Neale Hurston expresses the struggles of women and black societies of the time period. When Hurston published the book, communities were segregated and black communities were full of stereotypes from the outside world. Janie, who represents the main protagonist and hero, explores these communities on her journey in the novel. Janie shows the ideals of feminism, love, and heroism in her rough life in The Eyes. Janie, as the hero of the novel, shows the heroic qualities of determination, empathy, and bravery.
The essay “Small Change” by Malcolm Gladwell gives a brief explanation of a 1960’s boycott sit-in organized by a small group of African Americans who weren’t allowed to sit at the snack bar that was reserved for Caucasians. Gladwell used this example to further elaborate about how high-risk activism requires a strong hierarchical structure in order to thrive. “Tweet like an Egyptian” is about the Arabs that are located throughout Africa and the Middle East gaining access to social networking. Attaining the internet allowed Arabs to acquire a virtual life of freedom of speech and expression. The internet empowered these people with information to challenge their authorities in real life.
Changes are made spontaneously today, either due to creativity or innovations. However, do all changes make a benefit for the people in the community? That is where Malcolm Gladwell gives the reader a detailed understanding of how the change in the usage of social media flawed the society in a crucial way. Malcolm Gladwell writes an essay called Small Change, where he compares the activism in the segregation time period and the current time period. The social media has made us, humans, connect with each other less and less.
The pre-colonial and postcolonial Igbo society has been observed to be male dominated. Men reign supreme in sociocultural affairs while the female figure has specific limited prescribed roles, a confirmation of absence of feministic ideologies. Motherhood, being submissive to the husband and generally domestic dutiesare some of the roles women are associated with. As the title of the novel by Buchi Emecheta Second Class Citizenimplies, the female figure has been treated as a lesser significant sexwithin the Igbo society considering that equalityamong women is limited by their fathers, husbands and the general patriarchy system. This is something Adah finds quite the same when she moves to England whereby with her African descent she continues to suffer womanhood struggles.
The Gardener By S.A. Bodeen Essay Have you ever wanted to read a book that makes you keep turning the page and you can’t put it down? Would you ever like to be always worried about a “Gardener” finding you? How would you like to watch people eat your favorite food but not able to eat it yourself? Well, the book called The Gardener by S.A Bodeen will not let your mind stop thinking about what happens next.
Maleeha Khuwaja Ms. Whitham ENG 4U1-01 March 7th, 2016 Theory Analysis Through a Feminist Lens Theory: Feminism In the novel “Life of Pi”, written by Yann Martel, an anti-feminist lens can be used to view the story. To begin, there is a patriarchal system, which is both controlled and dominated by men as seen within the novel.
The readers can get a understanding of how Premila was treated proving their culture was not as “great” as the British culture. Rau forces readers to recognize that in their society no matter what the problem is insular people make it worse. Also, the mother and Premila thought Santha didn't know what was going on but she did by saying,“I understood it perfectly and i remember it very clearly. But I put It happily away because it all had happened to a girl named Cynthia, and I never was really particularly interested in her” (Rau,42).
Quite the opposite Marusa does not value the Doukhobor traditions as her mother does, instead, Marisa has her own ways “Her mother always had great expectations for Marusa” (99, Plotnikoff).
This becomes evident in a lack of information about the type of society, and the reader therefore lacks a complete understanding of how the women are oppressed. As a whole, this poem sets forth the idea that female gender is fluid, and asks its readers to questions what it means to be a woman in a male dominant
The film "Dadi 's family" is about a family in Northern India. In the movie we are introduced to a family that consists of a big extended family living one one household. This film explores the idea of family and the roles that women play in the households. In the film we are introduced to six roles that are performed in the day to day household. The six roles exposed in the film would be the roles of daughter, mothers, mothers-in-laws, daughters-in-laws, sister-in-laws, and sisters.
For example, in her analysis of Isak Dinesen’s “The Blank Page” Susan Gubar adopts the metaphor of “the blank page” to stress how women’s history silenced by the patriarchy can be subversive. “The Blank Page” is narrated on a wedding night where the stained sheets of princesses are displayed with their names to prove their virginity. Among these stained sheets is a plain white sheet with a nameless plate. “Dinesen’s blank page,” writes Gubar, “becomes radically subversive, the result of one woman’s deficiency which must have cost either her life or her honor [is] Not a sign of innocence or purity or passivity, this blank page is a mysterious but potent act of resistance” (89). The blank page shows the silence of women but it proves female resistance
Portrayed as the strong, dedicated, stereotypical, maternal type, Ama attempts to protect her little girl at all costs. Whenever Lakshmi wants go to the city to work, Ama refuses by saying, “‘Lakshmi, my child,’ she says. ‘You must stay in schools, no matter what your stepfather says.’” (McCormick, 1). She breaks the gender boundaries early on the first page of the book by defying the man of the households wishes and undermining his needs.
In his short story, “Little Things,” Raymond Carver uses a mixture of imagery and symbolism to argue that the main characters of his story do not have their child’s best interests at heart and, therefore, do notgh deserve the child. Its similarity to the well-known Bible story of Solomon’s choice also helps Carver make his point. In the story, King Solomon is presented with a child and two women whom both claim that they are this child’s real mother. Solomon asks for a sword and says he will cut the child in half and give each woman an even portion of the child. One woman eagerly agrees, while the other woman cries out and begs the king to stop and just give the child to the other woman instead.
Each society possesses distinctive culture that varies from each other, yet has commonalities, as well. Patriarchy long has been one of such common features, and is still so in many states. It is the male, especially fathers, rule, while the opposite gender is expected to be submissive (Sultana, 2010). Over time, the level of patriarchy has mitigated, especially following the women feminist movements, exclusively in the West, and the situation of gender equality has improved (Evelyn and Adedayo, 2014). It is essential to convey these western ideas everywhere, as they are most humanist and just, so far.