Feminist literary criticism Essays

“Who shall measure the heat and violence of the poet’s heart when caught and tangled in a woman’s body?” Virginia Woolf, one of the most talented female writers in history, questioned the society, in which women had no say to their future and had nowhere to display their talents. In her article, Shakespeare’s sister, Virginia Woolf addresses this problem and manipulates her audiences, especially upper classes’ males, to pay full attention on gender inequality issues she discusses by using well-developed

In the Awakening Edna Pontellier was an unstable character, she upsets the expectations of the nineteen century women’s role. Chopin focuses on two females that influence Edna`s life and help her in what we see are her awakenings Both of these characters will represent the role of women’s in the nineteen century. Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz are the examples that the men around Edna contrast her with and who they obtain their expectations for her. Edna begins to see that the life of freedom

Pisan’s Book of the City of the Ladies quest for truth, specifically on the character Lady Reason, with an emphasis on discussed issues; which are woman’s education, causes of misogyny, and inventions. Pisan’s Book of the City of the Ladies is a feminist text written in between the fourteenth and fifteenth century. Her intention was to defend woman from man’s unwarranted attacks, who focused on belittling woman.

Let us start with a quote by one of the most prominent French writers and most important figures in the twentieth century, Simone de Beauvoir – “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” I personally think that this is the single-most appropriate way that best describes how feminism is a social construct which means that the roles that are associated with women, or those that are assigned to them, are not given by biological nature, but are actually defined by social norms, and history. Feminism

In his essay “Feminist Theory and the Environmental Movement,” Robert Verchick argues that the environmental justice movement is, if unintentionally, a feminist movement. This is exemplified by the Veronica in Chantal Bilodeau’s Sila. Veronica is a woman of color who participates in the environmental justice movement using art as her primary form of activism. While her activism may not have explicitly feminist aims; however, her actions can be understood as forms of feminist action as defined by

Many different types of literary criticism exist today; each one allowing a reader to see literature in a different perspective. In All the Light We Cannot See, as the title could imply, it would be reasonable to say that using a particular perspectives lights up different meanings in the book. Amongst the three different lens (Reader Response, Archetypal, Feminist) that I used to analyze All the Light We Cannot See, I personally found using the feminist lens to be very insightful. It

usually discusses about the binary opposition between the colonized and colonizer, oppressed and oppressor, subjugated and subjugator. Using a postcolonial criticism, one can easily recognizes the ideas of polarization in literary texts. Ernest Hemingway’s Indian Camp and John Henrik Clarke’s The Boy Who Painted Christ Black are two example of literary works that show the polarization. The stories portray a vivid view on colonialism. Both of the stories tell about the oppression from the White toward

CRITICS OF LORAINE HANSBERRY Joseph Wilson contended that "The historical backdrop of the Afro-American individuals is a mosaic woven into the history's fabric of work in America". "A Raisin in the Sun" approves this perception and assists us with comprehension the difficulties that stood up to African-American Workers in Chicago from the 1920s to the 1950s. The Play talked about the effect of work and lodging separation of the American longs for the dark populace through the experience of two eras

Faith influences everyone; whether it be faith in a god, a person, or one's own self, faith is ever present. It is one of the most powerful things in all of history; it migrated thousands of people, killed millions, and influences laws in every society. During World War II, the Nazi party of Germany killed up to 6 million people of the Jewish religion. Some of these Jews maintained their faith while they were being killed, some started to break from it, and many lost it completely. If their god was

Misunderstandings As represented in the story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O'Connor, a good man was hard to be and had different ideas of how to pursue it. Going through the journey with the grandmother and her family learning about the Misfit, the audience can witness the actions being made by different characters to witness their fall and/or their triumph. When looking into the grandmother more deeply, the audience can detect the intensity of her self absorption. She would consider

From the religious perspective , in Islam anger is " the root of all evils , a secret weapon of man towards evils, and a spark of fire that always bursting " (Zadik 7). From a literary perspective ,according to Susi Kaplow " the emotion which accompanies the first steps toward liberation, for most women is anger " (kaplow 38). American Psychology Association defines anger as is an emotion characterized by antagonism toward someone

turning point in the development of my psyche which would allow me to love her.” [The Bluest Eye p, 19]. Although she rejects the idea now, Claudia will recognize that whiteness is the standard of beauty at some point. Morrison layers another dimension into the story in the form of Maureen Peal, “a high-yellow dream child.” The rich, white child immediately becomes the hub of the entire school’s admiration, and the MacTeer children’s jealousy. They search for fault in her features, and

conflicts, Ignatia versus her grief and the villagers versus their fear of the non-existent witch. Traditionally, stories involving childhood abandonment use it mainly as a plot device (Gross, 106), but Barnhill’ story is different. According to the literary analysis article, “The Giver and Shade's Children, Future Views of Child Abandonment and Murder,” by Distinguished Scholar Award winner, Melissa Gross, both of these books are also exceptions. They too use child murder and abandonment as important

In the novella Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the townspeople have come to a uniform decision that the “perpetrator”, the man who took Angela Vicario’s virginity, is not the man when she claims it is. Angela named the deceased Santiago Nasar as the man who deflowered her; however, after much thought the townspeople decided that Nasar was in fact not the real “perpetrator”: “The most current version…was that Angela Vicario was protecting someone who really loved her and she

Within Northrop Frye’s essay, “Don’t you think it’s time to start thinking?”, high school students are represented as not being able to think and not having any sense of language as a structure because of the societal stereotype that teenagers are lazy and not driven to do their best. From schoolwork to our personal hobbies, society has been plagued by this blandly pretentious idea. To prove Frye has been influenced by the societal stereotype of lazy teenagers, one must first prove that there is

Have you ever analyzed literature? Contemporary and modern pieces of literature from authors such as WI, Nathaniel Hawthorne, KAP often have much to look at. When an analysis is done of the elements of the short stories, a comparison and contrast of these elements becomes element. After reading the stories and watching the movies of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rappaccini's Daughter, and The Jilting of Granny Weatherall, I can infer comparisons and contrasts of the setting between the different

portrayed and stereotypes can make all the difference in literature. By applying Gender Theory to novels and texts, readers can better understand the importance of gender. The definition of Gender Theory is: “The portrayal of a particular gender in a literary piece and the effects of that portrayal” (Davidson). Gender Theory can be applied to the novels The Last Fight By Julie Clark and When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds to interpret and analyze the meaning of the novels to a deeper level. When

I read the book Maybe He Just Likes You, this book is about a girl named Mia, the main conflict in the book is she is being sexually harassed. A lot of girls, over boys, are being and have been sexually harassed in schools. They are generally between 7th grade and 12th grade, the girl in my book is in 7th grade and that is the common grade that it starts. It happens a lot in school and yet teachers do not realize it is happening. The teachers in Maybe He Just Likes You do not even realize until near

Questions of Honor: Beowulf Beowulf’s honor and integrity can be questioned throughout the entirety of the epic poem, Beowulf. Whether or not his actions are inspired by his own pompous arrogance or confidence, one can argue that he is a hero nonetheless. Evidence and experience prove that Beowulf is more of a fearless hero than an excessively prideful man, and his hubris is more than justified due to the formidable duties he is able to execute. Throughout the poem, Beowulf expresses his intense

“The more I saw them, the greater my desire to claim their protection and kindness; my heart yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creatures: to see their sweet looks directed toward me with affection” (Shelley 86). These are the motivating words that a hero needs to hear to encourage him to embark on his journey. These are the words that prepare the hero for what is to come as he takes this leap of faith. Frankenstein's monster is the true hero of this story in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein