Literary Analysis Of Elizabeth Bishop's 'Exchanging Hats'

We can identify a characteristic of gender roles through the eyes of the persona. The nurturing nature of the mother can be seen when she ‘dried [the child’s] tearful face’. Contrasting to the father who ‘whistling, [comes] home from work’, through the alliteration portrayed through the father as the bread winner of the family and thereby the guardian of the household. By drawing attention to these gender roles in the context of childhood memory, the persona is subliminally implying the permanent repeated display of gender roles throughout generations and how it has not changed. However, this observation is downplayed by refocusing on the childhood memories as the combinations of events ‘milk and story-books / the gathered flowers / my mother’s golden brown hair’, psychoanalytically reveals the significance of childhood memories in their ability to evoke nostalgic and pleasing emotions to distract the audiences thoughts on gender roles. The poem The Violets acts as a stimulant for viewers to re-conceptualise the impact and existence of gender roles.

In the short story “The Flowers”, Alice Walker sufficiently prepares the reader for the texts surprise ending while also displaying the gradual loss of Myop’s innocence. The author uses literary devices like imagery, setting, and diction to convey her overall theme of coming of age because of the awareness of society's behavior.

Fern or herself. She is painted as a very restless and willful woman who is appalled by the laws that were set for her by men. Her confusion is seen in the beginning of the article when she reads about Emma Wilson, a member of her town being arrested for wearing men’s clothing, “Now, why this should be an actionable offense is past my finding out, or where’s the harm in it, I am as much at a loss to see” (Parton 1750). The reader is able to see how uncomfortable she is with the fact that this happened to Wilson and that she does not stand for the oppression of herself or the women around her. It is seen very early on that Mrs. Fern is a very non-conservative member of her community and that she yearns to make a change. Mrs. Fern is unlike most of the women that surround her who sit “there with their noses flattened against the window-pane” (1750) and wait for a husband or a potential husband. Parton also expresses Mrs. Fern’s headstrong nature in her interactions with Mr. Fern. When her husband refuses to believe that she would have the audacity to wear men’s clothing she simply ignores his uncertainty and gathers the clothes. These moments of Mrs. Fern’s tenacious nature are seen throughout the piece and helps the reader grasp not only Parton’s attitude towards her surroundings, but the attitude that she seems to want the women around her to

While the feminist movement has championed in pushing the agenda for equality for women not only in the United States but in societies across the globe, feminist theorists seek to challenge the masculine and feminine gender roles that are formed by societies and conform to role that are not gender biased.

Modernism is sometimes be very difficult to understand because it can involve a huge variety of different categories such as symbolism, futurism and et cetera But, in this

In Christina Rossetti's poem, “Cousin Kate,” diction and figurative language helps emphasize the powerlessness of women in Victorian society through showcasing how a young cottage maiden lets her own needs go, to please her lord. This poem is organized into six stanzas which are all octaves. The first stanza begins with the narrator telling a story about a young maiden who spent her days in the “sun and air.” She had no desire for a man or for anything she did not have already. She claims to be unaware of her beauty, until the great lord finds her. The second stanza begins with the speaker using the word “lured” to further accentuates that the lord did not have pure intentions in his praise of her. The next few stanzas shift from the speaker talking to the readers, but to her cousin, Kate.

Through the character adaptions of Snow White through the studied texts we can discover society's changing attitudes and values by analysing the character archetypes and their role in the story. A common character archetype can be found in the main protagonist, Snow White. Her innocence and purity constantly demonstrated throughout the progression of stories represents society's expectation of women and the need for ladies to be beautiful, rosy-cheeked housewives to proud, courageous individuals. The texts represent the role of women in society at the time of publish and by analysing each text and the time period it is set

Elizabeth Bishop was a well-known poet and author from the 20th century. Her work won several merits and awards throughout her lifetime. Though she did not live a particularly long life, she did many different things and left behind a strong influence in the world of poetry as well as

The poet has shown how easily influenced children are and how they strive to be like their elders by using shoes as a representation and symbol for different lifestyles. “My little sister likes to try my shoes, to strut in them…” This line shows to the reader that this child not only admires, but idolizes her elder sister and is deciding to follow her behaviour and her choices. The fact that she not only likes to try on her elder sisters “shoes” but to also strut in them represents how the child wishes to draw attention to herself and is trying to seek the attention and approval of her elder sister. This shows that this young juvenile is easily influenced by even the most petty and minuscule choices and decisions that her sibling had made. “She says they fit her perfectly, but wobbles on their high heels,

Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour” is set in the late 1800s – a time when women were considered inferior to men. Women had traditional roles as wives and mothers. In this 19th century patriarchal society, Chopin shows us Louise Mallard, the main character, who does not comply with the female gender norms of the Victorian period. When Louise learns about the death of her husband, her reaction and the reaction of her sister and the doctor tell us a great deal about gender stereotyping during this time.

In comparison to the rigid patriarchal society portrayed in “My Last Duchess”, Keats’ “La Belle Dame sans Merci” illustrates how the freedom of individual expression in the romantic period affects people’s perspective on love. While the narrative persona in “My Last Duchess” demands his wife to devote her love to him, the protagonist of “La Belle Dame sans Merci” devotes to the woman he loves even though the love is unrequited. This is evident through the repetition of the line “On the cold hill side.” throughout the poem. The noun phrase “cold hill” suggests that the knight is lonely and depressed when he waits for the woman solely, however unlike the narrative persona of “My Last Duchess”, he would not demand the woman to love him instead he would wait patiently until the day his affection towards her is accepted. Subsequently, through the knight’s patience in waiting for the woman he favours, Keats highlights the strong affection she has for the woman.

This play consists of a lot many themes. To cite a few: Rewriting the tale of Cinderella and Sleeping beauty, Class, language and phonetics and Independence. But in this paper, I would like to work on the feminist aspect of this play for this aspect, is the one which impressed me more. As this paper is based on Gender analysis I am restricting my analysis to the theme of Feminism in this play.

Feminist theory is one of the real contemporary sociological theories, which examines the status of women and men in society with the motivation behind utilizing that information to better women 's lives. Feminist scholars likewise address the contrasts between women, including how race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, nationality, and age meet with sex. Feminist theory is most worried with giving a voice to women and highlighting

In the essay “Shakespeare’s sister” Virginia Woolf asks and explores the basic question of “Why women did not write poetry in the Elizabethan age”. Woolf sheds light on the reality of women’s life during this time and illustrates the effects of social structures on the creative spirit of women. In the society they lived in, women were halted to explore and fulfill their talent the same way men were able to, due to the gender role conventions that prevailed during this era. Through a theoretical setting in which it is it is imagined that William Shakespeare had a sister (Judith), Virginia Woolf personifies women during the sixteenth century in order to reflect the hardships they had to overcome as aspiring writers.

In this paper I want to portray role of women in gothic writing by seeing qualities of the gothic novel, in the point of view of Horace Walpole 's 'The Castle of Otranto '. In 1747, Horace Walpole purchased Strawberry Hill, which was situated on the Thames close London; here he resuscitated the Gothic style numerous decades prior to his Victorian successors. It was a response against neoclassicism. This whimsical neo-gothic invention started another design incline. This affected his composition and actually, the English Gothic novel began with his 'Gothic story '; 'The Castle of Otranto '. Fundamentally, a Gothic novel is said to incorporate sorcery, riddle, heavenly, uncanny and tension. The interpretation of a Gothic novel contrasts from reader to reader. A Gothic work is to have a unquestionable mixing of remote setting, destroyed strongholds, dilapidated houses, mazes, cells, dull halls, cellar, moonlight, candles, winding stairs, fierce interests, inbreeding, odd fixation, and condemnations. This sort makes sentiments of agony, riddle, dread, tension since their point is to investigate humankind 's dull side and question humanity about what is great and underhandedness, address what part the powerful shows, and experience dread or fear.