Bend To Societies Expectations In Untamed By Glennon Doyle

1001 Words5 Pages

In 2020, American author, activist, and podcast host Glennon Doyle wrote a memoir titled ‘Untamed’. In this excerpt of her memoir, Doyle writes about the time, when she and her wife took their kids to the zoo and watched the Cheetah Run. As the cheetah - named Tabitha - was done with her run, Doyle began to reflect on Tabitha’s situation, and how it felt familiar. She then goes on to write about, how she fell in love with a woman, and married her. Afterwards, she reflects on her childhood, and when the cages began to form. The excerpt ends with Doyle’s escape from her society-built cage, a lot of rhetorical questions, and a summarize of her journey to finding her true self, by breaking free from societies expectations. Identity, and discovering who we truly are - despite of the expectations put upon us - is a struggle we are all familiar with. But why do we bend to societies expectations? And how can we break free of them? This is what …show more content…

82-83). This simile has the purpose of comparing her mother’s response, to a significant sentence in a novel. This underlines, a very important moment in Doyle’s life. It was the moment when the worlds expectations began to direct, Doyle’s identity. Doyle draws up a list of the cages she was put in at the age of ten: “These are the feelings you are allowed to express. This is how a woman should act… This is the kind of life you are supposed to want” (ll. 93-99). These are the expectations a young girl - like Doyle - had to follow, to fit into societies standards. By listing these expectations, we can relate to how she has felt, because many of us - not just girls - probably relates to that list. This evokes different emotions in us, which is a use of the appeal form pathos. She establishes her ethos, by using, her own personal experiences, which makes her viewpoint more credible.

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