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Great Gatsby Gender Roles Essay

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Many people think that boys in our culture today are brought up to define their identities through heroic distinctiveness and competition, specifically through separation from home, friends, and family in an outdoors world of work and doing. Girls, on the other hand, are brought up to define their identities through connection, cooperation, self-sacrifice, domesticity, and community in an indoor world of love and caring. These views of different male and female roles can be seen throughout the literature read this semester in Humanities Literature. Gender roles continue to change throughout time as they are exaggerated by society. In fact, this can be seen in comparing the film A League of their Own and the novel The Great Gatsby. Penny Marshall’s A League of their Own was set in the time of the 1940s. As many know, this was a time period in which a drastic change occurred for women. Before this change took place, women held the traditional duties of a housewife and mother. In 1941, the United States declared war on Germany. As the men left for war, it was up to the women to take their places. This included going to work and even playing baseball. This film provided a distinct comparison of gender roles in males and female. Men exhibit masculinity while Females exhibit femininity. Aspects of masculinity can include both aggression and competition for dominance. It is true to say, males in A League of their Own sometimes exhibited aggression, mostly toward women. Such aggression was portrayed in forms of sarcasm and yelling. Jimmy Dugan, a main …show more content…

Gender roles are built off of the assumptions and exaggerations of society, and both of which change over time. Events such as the first ever women’s baseball league or the start of a women’s right to vote are what fueled the outcome of women’s rights we know and utilize

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