Comparing Boys and Girls and Emma Watson’s speech for her HeForShe campaign Gender is not referred “to sex, but to this set of prescribed behavior,” as said by Marlene Goldman’s “Penning in the Bodies” (Goldman). There are many rules set upon an individual as to what is acceptable and what is not. The short story Boys and Girls by Alice Munro focuses on the implications the narrator had to endure on her journey to womanhood by reason of gender stereotypes. Emma Watson’s speech for the HeForShe campaign targets on abolishing gender inequality. Despite inequity, there is a myriad of comparable traits that are shared by humans which portrays our personality. It is in one's power to decide whether or not to conform to society. Indeed both texts include many similarities and differences such as the stereotypical roles set on each gender, their search for individuality and their desired privileges. While approaching adulthood, many people encounter obstacles which lead their understanding to a fact that gender stereotypes do not only occur for women but, for men as well. The narrator in Boys and Girls discovers the societies’ views and expectations of her. As long as she favored to work with her father, her family members kept her as an outcast. Likewise, her mother tells her to “wait till …show more content…
In Boys and Girls, the narrator realized the excessive expectations set upon her which eventually accepts them. Emma Watson disregarded the stereotypical roles and stood against gender inequality for men and women. One has the ability to determine whether or not to comply with society or to oppose. This is noticed when stereotypical roles were set for male and female, their search for individuality and their desired privileges. Both men and women should be able to live freely without anyone besmirching
In to Kill a mockingbird Harper Lee has various examples of gender roles Indicating what a boy has to be like. These gender roles were especially projected in the 1930’s -50’s. During this time in history, the roles in girls and boys were very traditional. An example is when Francis tells Scout his Grandma is going to teach him how to cook yet Scout makes fun of him.
However, the town the protagonist grows up in, the gender expectations are reversed therefore amplifying her confusion. In society, stereotypically men are viewed as more powerful, stronger and dominant to women.
Have you ever realized how society put us in categories, on how we should act according to our gender? Or have you ever watched commercials that actually try to break free from the gender stereotypes? If not then you should pay attention. Gender is something that strongly influences the world around us, whether it influences our behavior or how people treat us, it is still something with great power. Investigating how we are socialized in regards to gender is interesting because it is such a broad topic on how society characterizes everyone by gender.
English Essay Q3 Texts used : The Altar of the Family and At Seventeen Traditionally, society views males as strong, aggressive, dominant and unemotional individuals while females play unimportant and demure roles within society. Sheila Morehead’s “At Seventeen” and Michael Wilding’s “The Altar of the Family” challenge this idea of masculinity and gender roles, “The Altar of the Family” especially does this as the protagonist of the short story is a young boy, David. David is constructed to challenge the stereotypes of masculinity and through this the author is able to push the message that being a man doesn’t mean you need to conform to these gender stereotypes and not conforming to the stereotypes doesn’t result in being a failure as a person.
Women have found themselves at the bottom of society’s hierarchal pyramid for eons. Even though females make contributions that prove vital to the world’s function, they are still regarded as the weaker link. The female plight of constantly facing debasement is a pawn used to ensure compliance. It is a common notion that if one is demeaned enough, he or she will conform to the suggested persona. Society tests this notion through its treatment of women.
I think I do.’ He smiles. ‘For the first time in your life’” (Friesen 32). On the contrary, in “Boys and Girls”, characterization is shown through the disputed sexism throughout the story. The female narrator, feels that her female role models such as her mother and grandmother help create who she becomes.
While some similarities between What Does “Boys Will Be Boys” Really Mean? and How Boys Become Men are evident in their attention to stress how society sets standards and forces a stereotype upon the men and boys, they have different interpretations.
(Diaz 237) The tone that the narrator uses a lot in this story is over sexual which paints us this picture of the stereotypes teen boys can have. The stereotypes used in this short story are based mostly on social class and the race of women. The narrator also presents us with unbiased truths (if she is this, then she will act like this). We see that in all interactions and social context to one’s biases and expectations due to different behaviors.
Gender and power are quite distinctive from one another in both these texts. From one point of view it could be argued the men are the autocrats and considered as oppressors of females in the male dominated society. In the male dominated society men are the decision makers and have the instrumental role. Despite benefitting from the patriarchy they are still victims (Synnot n. p.).This is because to secure his place in the family, a man has to dominate over his children and wife, therefore faced with a choice between the two sexual dispositions, and a boy has to choose between his mother and father.
“Between the Sexes, a Great Divide” written by Anna Quindlen, is an essay that talks about the differences between men and women, and how they see the world. She tells about her belief that boys and girls are just different and see the world in different ways, and have always been different. She gives us an image of a middle school dance where the differences can be seen the easiest because of the ‘great divide’ that occurs at all of these events throughout time. She thinks that the divide happens “not because of big differences among us, but because of the small ones” (165). Eventually, both boys and girls will have to come together as a pair and cooperate to live in this world normally.
To stop gender inequality we have to treat women and men equally. If we continue to make believe about the society’s expectations towards ourselves, then we will be locked in the doll's house with the ghosts of Torvald and Nora hanging
More specifically, gender’s role on women and their positions in the world. Being a young woman, I fall into the intended audience of the book. The rhetoric in the book appeals to the young girls around the same age of the main character
Gender equality has been a worldwide issue for many years now. Different figures, such as Emma Watson, have been educating society on this ever-so-present issue. Emma Watson has been using her platform to help teach and make known this topic to people, specifically by putting her time and into her feminism campaign, ‘HeForShe’, and giving speeches on the topic. Emma Watson uses the techniques of ethos and pathos to convey her purpose. Emma Watson uses ethos to illustrate her ideas effectively and show herself as credible.
Females in submissive roles were proved by giving examples of when females were looked down upon. An example was when Scout was when Scout wanted to play but was told she could not because she was a girl. Women undervalued was proven by giving the readers examples of when they were treated poorly because they didn’t meet societies standards. Finally, a difference in roles between females and males was shown by informing the readers about the ways that females were told to act compared to males and how it was unfair. Females were treated poorly and had unfair standards they were told they need to meet.
Many critics agree on one fact about Canadian author Alice Munro: one of her most notable qualities in regards to her work is the distinct use of realism in her writing. Her writing provides a strong sense of familiarity to the reader, while also containing stronger metaphorical meanings that one can note when they begin to closely look at her work. Her short story “Boys and Girls” portrays the socialization of a young girl, once very close to her father and unaware of any sort of gender bias within her society, into a young woman with a pessimistic view of femininity and her expected position in society. This story shows the socialization process in a way that makes it easy to recognize, illustrating circumstances that the reader can notice the blatant sexism and misogyny; however, its portrayal is extremely realistic, allowing the reader to recall how oblivious they may have been in the past during times that they have been impacted by social biases in our world. Critics of Munro typically agree on her overall theme of femininity and coming of age in her writings; “Boys and Girls” emphasizes the ways in which young girls are socialized into a seemingly natural understanding of the sexist expectations and gender roles.