The chorus says, “You are right Medea” (L 266). She voices women’s loss of power over their bodies and economies. And how they became trapped in the their own household. Medea explains, “With an excess of wealth it is required/ For us to buy a husband” and notes to not take a “master” is worse (L 232-234). Here she passionately speaks out against the injustices she faces as a women.
Many critics, including A.M. Roberts and Haydar Ali, have expressed their discontent regarding the sexism in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Feminist writer Simone the Beauvoir explains her theory on the social stance of women in her book The Second Sex. In the chapter Myth and Reality this theory can be applied to several women described in “Heart of Darkness”. Both the intended and the African mistress of Kurtz are examples of a false sense of ‘mystery’ which places them in a separate group in society that de Beauvoir describes in The Second Sex. The most prominent point of The Second Sex is to illustrate how women are segregated from society by men, something which happens a lot in Heart of Darkness.
Of Mice and Men is a novella by John Steinbeck about the price that one may have to pay in order to pursue the American dream, especially when one is a woman. The American dream drives a woman to success causing a lack in sense of belonging.When a woman pursues a dream of the unordinary society is taken back and is quick to root against them. Steinbeck shows a women chasing the American dream often results in dragging personal relationships. Curley's wife is the loneliest character in the story, not only was it a challenge to be taken seriously as a woman back then, but she was also stuck in an unhealthy marriage. In the 1930’s it was very much a “dream” for women to pursue their goals, for most women they were known for working indoors
Chopin clearly states that women felt that they lost their freedom and that they were just mere prisoners of marriage. Mrs. Mallard’s tragedy is a good example to understand that women were unhappy and depressed, since society forced them to play a secondary role, where happiness and independence cannot be achieved. Kate Chopin, in reality, lost her husband, and perhaps she wrote ‘The Story of an Hour’ to tell that she could not find freedom with her husband’s death, and that the character’s fate was the only possible way to find it, not only for herself but for most women as
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
Most of all, Sethe is a mother. During her escape from Sweet Home, motherliness is accentuated as the toughest propeller. The most apparent question of a reader is that why a mother should kill her infant and whether this act can be made clear and be justified, by the ruthless structure of slavery. Many articles served the main topic of Sethe’s role as a affectionate mother in Beloved. Liz Lewis, for example in Moral ambiguity in Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Jazz, argues that, “Beloved reflects how in such a society allowing oneself to love is dangerous practice doomed to heartache.” (2) The slaves somehow did not have the ability to love anyone.
The identity of women in the Arrow of God (1964) reflects the traditional gender manifestations with an imbalance of the female principles. The negative side of the women is revealed through some instances in the novel. In the opening slot of the novel, the image of Igbo women is described as a cruel foster-mother. The narrator says, “The moon he saw that day was as thin as an orphan fed grudgingly by a cruel foster mother.” (AOG: 2) The identity of the women in such a way is exposed in a form of the rank in a social order. Igbo Marriage system in Umuaro among Igbo people flashes the light on the inequality and imbalance between men and women.
Although Curley’s wife may be a temptress who seeks for attention, she suffers from prejudice. Steinbeck uses her and her characteristics to illustrate the difficulties women face during the Great Depression. In Of Mice and Men, the author makes it clear that the only good woman is a dead