Literature truly depicts life and society to tell stories of the real world and its truth. Both male and female writers are free to imagine things and idea to create any story and portray its characters. Men and women both conform to the traditional gender roles assigned by society. These stereotyped roles are practiced for ages. Traditionally, historically and socially women are given weaker postion in society. Even in today’s global world women are deprived of their due right and they are still being oppressed. Feminists and gender theorists are raising their voice against women discrimination. Many Indian women novelists try to explore female subjectivity in order to establish an identity that is not imposed by a patriarchal society. The stereo typed vision of women has undergone a great change and female characters are now present as strong and active being rather than passive sidekicks.
In her text, “Opportunities for Feminist Research in the History of Rhetoric,” Patricia Bizzell references historical figures along with personal experiences to discuss the lack of feminist research in the history of rhetoric and outlines three approaches that will help diminish the issue. Bizzell’s purpose throughout the piece is not only to make the audience aware of the issue, but to ensure that the audience understands the issue’s importance and the possible approaches that may be worth exploring. Through her work, she argues that there is needed research on women and rhetoric due to the fact that its history is overpowered by the “traditional white-male elite.” (50). Bizzell claims that three approaches worth exploring are to be “resisting readers” by noticing aspects of the canonical texts that were originally supposed to go unnoticed by readers, recovering female authored texts which employ traditional rhetorical strategies, and locating work by women that has not previously
Society teaches male to aspire whereas the female counterpart is confined and limited. Women are taught to do household chores whereas men are free to explore the outside
The Treatment of Women in Literature Since the beginning of time, women have always been considered less than or inferior to men. Although, the treatment of women has improved tremendously and women are seeing more opportunities than ever before, we still have a long way to go. Until recently, the majority of published writers were men and the depiction of women in literature was mainly one sided. No matter what time period or culture, women in literature usually take the back seat to men. The once popular TV drama series, Twin Peaks, which was created in 1990, and Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?,” which was published in 1970, but was probably written in the 50s or 60s, are perfect examples of this.
The Book Faces of Feminism, written in 1997 by activists Sheila Tobias, gives a perspective that feminists faces everyday challenges of equality versus differences, in genders and viewpoints. Tobias face many obstacles in creating a positive “platform” that woman could stand on during the second-wave feminism movement. Many activists worked constructively and ultimately fought for "role equity". They achieved accomplishments in legislation and judicial branch, which were eventually given congressional approval that secure equal protection of the laws to women. Moreover, during the second-wave feminism Sheila Tobias main objective was to end separate division between men and women.
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 every relationship there is always an unequal relationship with the significant other. In the short story The Chaser by John Collier, Alan Austen who’s the main character in the short story goes to an old man to buy a love potion so this girl named Diana would fall in love with him. The basic principle states that men and women have a relationship that is unequal or oppressive. In the short story “The Chaser”, it shows feminist criticism by feeling unconfident, buying a love potion, and Diana’s treatment of Mr. Austen. My first main point of the story that touched on feminism was when Mr. Austen feeling unconfident.
In many texts from the early twentieth century and even more recent books, the male authors seem to focus mainly on men’s experiences, thoughts, values, etc. However, nearly all of the books have a key female character that plays a big part in one of the main male character’s life. Though all of the books have key female characters, it seems that their only purpose is to serve the males in some way or they have an important relationship with one of the male characters that makes them important to the book.
Furthermore, Feminist Criticism provides a better view of literature because it shows that women can be powerful. When Emilia finds out that her husband has been plotting an evil plan she says,” Tis proper I obey him, but not now”(Othello V.2.195). Emilia refuses to help her husband after she finds the cruel intentions he has despite the expectation of women always being submissive to their husbands. Women also have a voice and feelings, they are capable of defying their husbands commands when they know what he expects is simply wrong. In a literary article,The Role of Women in Othello: A Feminist Reading states that,” Society weighs heavily on the shoulders of women; they feel that they must support the men and defer to them, even if the actions of the men are questionable” (Literary Articles).
The portrayal and role depicted in the literature helped women in the long run to gain acceptance and equality in society. The literary contributions made and for women continue to be a springboard for women to gain equality to men. Finally, the accomplishment of these women writers who struggled to publish their fragile poems and stories could spread a template for other women around the word on how they can actually voice out their thoughts and help improve their own rights. Thus, women will continue to gain equality and recognition, and this success will also continuously impact the
Government Arts College for Women, Thanjavur. Abstract: Identity crisis or search of identity has received an impetus in the Post-Colonial literature. Man is known as a social animal which needs some home, love of parents and friends and relatives. But when he is unhoused, he loses the sense of belongingness and thus suffers from a sense of insecurity or identity crisis. In the field of Indian English Literature, feminist or woman centered approach is the major development that deals with the experience and situation of women from the feminist consciousness.
The first wave of feminism has been a revolutionary social movement in terms of that it could lead to an overcoming of the previous social order (Newman, 2012 p. 487) through its social agents and create, through this, a new social ordering of time and space. Moreover, through reaching their previously described aims, the first wave of feminism has been able to literally “overthrow the entire system itself, (…) in order to replace it with another one.” (Skocpol, 1979, as cited in Newman 2012, p. 487). Thereby, one can even state that a new ordering of time and space by which routines and routinised behaviour has been challenged as well as changed took place. The interactions influenced the way how societies work today.
Whenever we start reading a historical context or myth, it is obvious that the role of women is not considered as important compared to men, and women won glory that time when they are mentioned in the arguments the least. If there are women that are mentioned as protagonist, the women usually are described because of their 'outrageous behavior '. However, the role of men usually are described as greatest warriors, heroes, and leaders, whereas the
“Writing was the world of each woman. In a world of exaltation of his imagination, feminine inscription seems single and sudden” . With the right for an education they gained skills which they used for their talent. Many social reforms led by suffragettes and their awareness of the situation in which they were, gave women writers an audience and a form in which they manifested their opinion. Women writers such as Emily Dickinson, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, Kate Chopin, Gail Hamilton and many others wrote poetry, novels, letters, essays, articles in which they portrayed the often conflicting expectations imposed on them by
Feminist literary criticism’s primary argument is that female characters have always been presented from a male’s viewpoint. According to Connell, in most literary works, female characters often play minor roles which emphasize their domestic roles, subservience and physical beauty while males are always the protagonists who are strong, heroic and dominant (qtd. in Woloshyn et al.150). This means that the women are perceived as weak and are supposed to be under the control of men. Gill and Sellers say that feminist literary criticism’s approach involves identifying with female characters in order to challenge any male centred outlook.
The aim of this paper is to draw out the implications of liberal feminist framework for the analysis of education. Doing this paper will discuss its conceptual basis, its typical educational objectives, strategies for change and criticism of the approach. Feminist theoretical framework addresses the question of women’s subordination to men: how this arose, how and why it is perpetuated, how it might be changed and (sometimes) what life would be without it. Middle range theories may be less dramatic and consider particular aspect of gender relation and specific sectors of life such as education, the family or politics. Feminist theories serve a dual purpose, as guides to understanding gender inequality and as a guide to action.