Neocolonialism In Jessica Hagedorn's Dogeaters '

Michelle Cliff’s short story Down the Shore conspicuously deals with a particularly personal and specific, deeply psychological experience, in order to ultimately sub-textually create a metaphor regarding a wider issue of highly social nature. More specifically, the development of the inter-dependent themes of trauma, exploitation, as well as female vulnerability, which all in the case in question pertain to one single character, also latently extend over to the wider social issue of colonialism and its entailing negative repercussions, in this case as it applies to the Caribbean and the British Empire. The story’s explicit personal factor is developed through the literary techniques of repetition, symbolism, metaphor, as well as slightly warped albeit telling references to a distinct emotional state, while its implicit social factor is suggested via the techniques of allusion, so as to ultimately create a generally greater, undergirding metaphor.

Everyday people are judging and being judged by others with unique criteria that we, as inhabitants of Earth deem necessary checkmarks to be met to afford and be afforded tokens of civility. In Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “The Myth of the Latin Woman” the memoir is brimming with personal accounts of fetishiztation and discrimination the author experiences as a Latin woman that have vast influence on her life. Throughout the text Cofer conveys the significance of how deep the status “exotic” to describe Latina women is held inside the minds of people which the author alludes to on page 879, “I thought you Latin girls were supposed to mature early,” [1] after being given a sudden, non-consensual kiss at a dance by her date. The author expresses the cultural dissonance between

In an era when women were supposed to be disciplined, kindhearted, and obedient. Anna proved that she 's the complete opposite. Defying sixteenth century social mores of being considered as the weaker sex, physically and emotionally. Anna depicted herself as Independent woman, she was the frequent subject of gossip in Germany due to her indecent attire, flirtatious behavior and rebellious acts. After the discovery of Anna 's secret affairs with an nobleman and cavalryman (Erasmus of Limpurg and Daniel Treutwein), her wealthy father out of rage ban her from the household and abolished her inheritances. Anna then files a suit on her father but when she sued him for financial support, he had her captured, returned home and chained to a table as punishment. Anna eventually escaped and continued her suit against her father, siblings and her home town.

The end of the eighteenth - beginning of the nineteenth century England was characterized by the downfall of the revolutionary “Jacobin” movement which advocated for freedom and equality, and symbolizes a return to, as well as an empowerment of the conservative British patriarchal system. This was the context in which Amelia Anderson Opie wrote “her most political novel”(King and Pierce, viii) Adeline Mowbray, a tale which provides a case study about, as Roxane Eberle notes, “progressive ideas that heterosexual relationships can and should exist outside of marriage”(1994: 127). As a result the clash between these innovational type of relationships and the English legal and social norms collide in their representation of models of proper conduct for women.

The idea of rebellion was treated differently by each author, although they were similar each author had a deferent point of view on rebelling. In Reading Lolita in Tehran and Cairo the main characters rebelling was extremely dangerous, but it was represented as an act of bravery. And in Persepolis 2 the women rebelled with small details against the law to show society what little freedom they have. The first two stories that are mentioned have only an act of bravery in common, but the way they rebelled was done in completely different ways to show just how many different types of struggles women in those countries go through. But as the readers go on in the stories the differences in the way each author perceives rebellion becomes more clear.

The novel Ishmael by Daniel Quinn addresses various human principles, and conveys an alternate view of the undisputed norms of society. Quinn displays this theme to the audience by explaining the story of mankind through humanity’s history, behavior, and evolution as a species. Within this explanation of mankind, Quinn uncovers that the world is mainly consisted of two types of people: The Takers and The Leavers. Although these two categories of man are important to mankind’s story, Quinn mainly focuses on The Taker’s self-proclaimed superior philosophies of living and how it reflects on human nature.

No horror novel has achieved the notoriety of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Vampires today would not be so popular in horror if not for Stoker’s revamped version of the classic Eastern European bloodsucker. Having come at a time when xenophobic novels were extremely popular, Dracula has kept its relatability despite the test of time. Aside from its hold as a horror novel, Dracula endures because it serves as a reminder of how society works alongside authority figures and the powerless, and from its definition of human values.

The “budding influence of the turn-of-the-19th-century feminism” resonates throughout the novel. Victorian society’s rigid boundaries and high principles suppressed the value of women and forced upon them expectations to follow. The socially correct portrayal of women were to be innocent, pure, and submissive and ascribe to men. Women who had subdued their expression of sexual desire were commended, and society scorned the promiscuous and flirtatious women. Sex was as a taboo topic and was only brought up for means of procreation. In the novel, Mina embodies the aura of an ideal Victorian woman, who complies within the Victorian society’s firm boundaries. She is portrayed as a woman who is incontrovertibly devoted to her husband and withholds the standards of an ideal female. She

In the 16th century, not only in England but also almost in all the countries, all the families were “under” the patriarchal society. A patriarchy, from the ancient Greek patriarches, was a society where power was held by and passed down through the elder males. When modern historians and sociologists describe a "patriarchal society," they mean that men hold the positions of power: head of the family unit, leaders of social groups, boss in the workplace and heads of government. Unfortunately, this fact still exists, even today in the 21st century in many countries, especially in the Muslim countries where women have restricted rights.

Daphne Du Maurier shows the ultimate power of women through Rebecca as “She despised all men and was “above all that." This presents new ideas to a society which thought that women had to be reliant on men. Rebecca personifies a character which is independent of a male figure it

During this essay, I will be discussing the relationship between social control and prostitution in the Victorian era.

But Humbert’s attempt to present himself as an aesthete and thereby justify his actions is only

The final quarter of Lolita has come to a close, and I for one is very happy about it. Not often am I wishing for a book to end sooner, but in this case I was. The predictions I had made in the beginning were somewhat true, although the ending did exceed my expectations as well as surprising me.

In both The Female Bell-Cricket and This Powder Box, Nakamoto Takako and Uno Chiyo explore the notion of female sexuality as power. By asserting their sexuality, the female protagonists in both texts deliberately defy socially-prescribed female virtues of chastity and obedience. This ownership of their sexuality grants them power in their romantic relationships with men and liberates them from the submissive position that women are traditionally expected to be in. It is crucial to note, however, that the depicted ‘strength’ of the two female protagonists is ultimately a constructed façade; they are still tied down by society’s prescriptive ideals of femininity, and have their behavior propelled or influenced by their relationships with men.

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston addresses prevalent topics faced in America today. How should women act? Should women be treated differently from men? In her memoir, Kingston faces many obstacles with her Chinese-American identity such as finding her voice as a young woman. In “White Tigers,” Kingston tells her own version of a popular Chinese ballad, “Fa Mu Lan,” while incorporating her own reality back into the section. In her literary criticism, “Empowerment Through Mythological Imaginings in “Woman Warrior”,” Sue Ann Johnston comments on Kingston’s use of myths in the memoir, and believes that myths are Kingston’s most effective means of conveying messages to readers. Although these myths are effective, Johnston overlooks Kingston’s incorporation of these myths back into her own life. As demonstrated in “White Tigers,” Maxine Hong Kingston reveals that a woman warrior requires strength, dedication, independence, and confidence through her mother’s talk-stories and personal struggles during her life.