Emmeline Pankhurst Women's Suffrage Speech Analysis

John Rawls believes that civil disobedience is just questioning what the law has in order and acting out on that question without breaking the actual law (Buttle 650). Sister’s Uncut is just trying to figure out why the government would take away something so beneficial and their way of showing it, it by protest. Protest is a simple way to let people know about what is really going on and why it should be addressed. The women just stormed the premiere and chanted in front of press and celebrities to raise awareness (Morrison 1). The disobedience was not directed toward the law itself but they knew how far they could go.

Because of sexist opinions of the time, many people believed that a woman had no power to create change, especially in government since she could not vote. Women themselves believed this societal expectation, and although Grimke does not reject society’s idea of femininity and womanhood entirely, she specifically rejects their supposed political incompetence in a rebuttal. Using evidence from general and specific political movements in England, all of which were greatly aided by the support of women petitioning the government, Grimke assured her audience that “When the women of these States send up to Congress such a petition our legislators will arise, as did those of England, and say: ‘When all the maids and matrons of the land are knocking at our doors we must legislate.’” (Grimke, 192) This summary of her somewhat vague past points is similarly nonspecific; however, this is still effective since simply alluding to historical events rather than explaining them was sufficient for an audience that knew more about England and its history than contemporary Americans do today. After giving various premises of past and present movements English women were and are participating in, she directly compares English and American governments in this passage when she comes to the

Society always looks at women with a special eye, which is not the case for men. Wollstonecraft’s’ message to all the women is to come out of their culturally constructed state, avoid being elegant, examine their inherent nature, and be rationale. Wollstonecraft is heavily inspired by Rousseau, and embraces his commitments to be independent and free. Even though she speaks of women as separate from herself, but she does not compliment them, instead reprimand them for failing limiting their goals till marriage. She condemns women for wasting all their energy in beauty, marriage and children.

Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” published in the year 1866, made an impact on the views of many Americans and has carried out in the present day. Civil disobedience is the act of demonstrating non-violent protests. “All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable” (Thoreau). One of the main messages that Thoreau portrays from his essay, is that the citizens of a government have the right to act if they believe that the government is not governing properly. As Thoreau believes “That government is bets which governs not at all” (Thoreau).

In Don't Give Up The Fight, Ava held back, she didn’t give the bullies the fulfillment they needed to figure out she was hurt. If she fought back, the whole story would have changed. Ava wouldn’t of needed help from a friend and the story would have ended sooner without all of Ava’s suffering and defeat. But, Susan B Anthony stood up to the judges and didn’t stop fighting until she got her way. If she didn’t stand up like she did, she would have accepted defeat, making the women's rights movement even more vulnerable.

During the Anglo-Saxon period, and even in today’s society, females portrayed as peace keepers because they are not supposed to get involved in any of action that starts some kind of feud. Because Grendel’s mother wants vengeance for the death of Grendel, she disturb the status quo of the female sex by starting up a feud. The same similarities are shown in Pascoe’s essay about how females are depicted and how they are supposed to act “However girls did not use this word as part of their regular lexicon. This sort of gendered homophobia that constitutes adolescents masculinity does not constitutes adolescents femininity”. (Pascoe, 577-578)The quote explains how girls at River high barely use the word “fag” because it did not account for femininity.

For example, women weren’t allowed to vote, if they were married they had no property rights, they couldn’t gain education because no colleges or universities didn’t want women students, and women were made totally dependent on men. The women’s suffrage movement took place in the middle of the 19th Century. During this time, women struggled to vote and run for office. The problem was that women weren’t being treated as equals. “Deep cultural beliefs in male/female differences in attitudes and abilities supported this situation and giving the women the vote posed a direct threat to male powers and privileges” (Cooney Robert Taking a New Look - The Enduring Significance of the American Woman Suffrage Movement).

Keon’s forbidden this” (749). The intensity of Antigone showed the bravery of her heart and her desire to confront the authority and gain justice; however, Ismene did not gain courage or desire to join in as Antigone had hoped. Conversely, Antigone’s determination truly scared her. Perhaps it’s rooted in the fact that women normally did not express strong emotion, nor did they involve themselves in politics as Antigone did through actively opposing King Kreon’s authority. Or simply, Ismene felt belittled by the oppressive assertiveness of her older sister, and in response wanted to have no part in any of her

He shows one woman, Antigone as the example of a responsible woman, and Ismene as that of a cowardly woman who fails to be. Based on textual evidence in dialogue, women have the ability to elect what direction to take, such as in the case of Ismene, she states that women are inferior and thus unable to make any sort of decision against men, in turn believing that they cannot take responsibility for actions; “We must remember that we two are women so not to fight with men…so I shall ask of them beneath the earth forgiveness, for in these things I am forced, and shall obey the men in power.” (Antigone 61-2, 65-7) She attempts to console Antigone by telling her she shall ask the Gods to forgive her for not attempting to bury her brother, by choosing not to act and not be forced to be responsible for anything, she is eventually spared from death but lives as a mere woman who is conscious of actions she is going to take but fails to provide a motive other than saving her life. In turn we see that later on, Sophocles writes her off as a character with no substance; she becomes miserable for not taking any responsibility nor having any morally righteous

Susan felt “And it is a downright mockery to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this democratic-republican government -- the ballot.” (Anthony, 1872). While Anthony persuaded her listeners to take the side of women should have the right to vote, Wiesel was informing his listeners to not be indifferent. To be indifferent one must be unconcerned, uninterested, uncaring, and uninvolved. Wiesel couldn’t understand how humans live continuously normal in a world and not use their voices to be heard or to walk past injustice and show no acknowledgement. “It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes.” (Wiesel, 1999).