Jamaica Kincaid Story 'Between The Sexes A Great Divide'

In the short story “The Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong,” one of Tim O’Brien’s purposes is to describe how society wrongfully and differently characterizes women from men, believing that women are one-dimensional beings simply present to offer men comfort. O’brien uses irony to portray and help develop this theme and idea O’brien mentions through this short story. Rat Kiley would snap when someone questioned one of the details in his story and always say , “Like you and me. A girl, that’s the only difference” (93). Here O’brien portrays Mary Anne and women in general, as fair equals of men and simply no different.

Both authors create characters with sexist characteristics that reflect poorly on women. Characters in these novels also judge the minority solely by their appearance. To begin with, author Robertson Davies creates female

Many males did not take into consideration their own faults and actions when it came down to it. Readers could take away from this novel how the world has evolved since the time period this book was written in, but how girls will till face some of the challenges like men degrading women in our world today. The feminist theory shows that many women feel that these circumstances and perspectives should be changed, and all humans should be equal. Everyone is at fault for their own actions and that is a message readers could take from this

Gender roles are a socially constructed concept created by men that have punished women for centuries. However, as society progresses further along people have begun to break free from confining gender roles. Most protests are apparent in literary works that demonstrate gender inequality. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the readers follow Nick Carraway as he shares the story of Jay Gatsby, and his pursuit for wealth and Daisy Buchanan. In comparison, Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome focuses on Ethan Frome, a poor farmer, and his life in Starkfield, MA.

The narrator stresses the difference in position between men and women within a patriarchal society, when she expresses her opinion in contrast to her husband’s about her illness. She highlights the fact that even though if her husband was wrong, due that he is in a superior position, she cannot do anything. However, the narrator finds two ways out of this oppression; by writing secretly from her husband, the oppressive figure, and her sister-in-law, who represents the traditional role of women of the time; and through reading the wallpaper of her room. In this manner, the narrator manages to express herself freely and overcome this oppression, escaping reality through her imagination and finding a space in which neither man nor society can limit her. Gilman shows us a

Authors, especially female authors, have long used their writing to emphasize and analyze the feminist issues that characterize society, both in the past and the present. Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Susan Glaspell wrote narratives that best examined feminist movements through the unreliable minds of their characters. In all three stories, “The Story of an Hour”, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and “A Jury of Her Peers”, the authors use characterization, symbolism, and foreshadowing to describe the characters’ apparent psychosis or unreasonable behavior to shed light on the social issues that characterized the late 19th century and early 20th century. Penning many stories that demonstrate her opinions on the social issues of the era,

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. Louise Mallard is described to us as “firm” and “fair.

To stop gender inequality we have to treat women and men equally. If we continue to make believe about the society’s expectations towards ourselves, then we will be locked in the doll's house with the ghosts of Torvald and Nora hanging

More specifically, gender’s role on women and their positions in the world. Being a young woman, I fall into the intended audience of the book. The rhetoric in the book appeals to the young girls around the same age of the main character

They argue that although there are feminist ideas established throughout the book, it doesn’t fit under the feminist ideology or definition. Many say that feminism is the “political, social, and economic equality of the sexes” and that Morrison is not advocating for this in any way (Watkins). Critics fail to understand that although that is the modern day definition of feminism, it may not have been the definition of feminism back in the twentieth century setting of the novel. Women faced different forms of discrimination back during that time when compared to today.

The short story “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid was published in 1978. The entire story has to do with mother talking to the daughter. The daughter does not say much. The subject matter of “Girl” has to do with being a female and how one should act. The theme of female sexuality is used throughout “Girl” to show the danger of female sexuality, power of domesticity, and sexual reputation.

Many critics agree on one fact about Canadian author Alice Munro: one of her most notable qualities in regards to her work is the distinct use of realism in her writing. Her writing provides a strong sense of familiarity to the reader, while also containing stronger metaphorical meanings that one can note when they begin to closely look at her work. Her short story “Boys and Girls” portrays the socialization of a young girl, once very close to her father and unaware of any sort of gender bias within her society, into a young woman with a pessimistic view of femininity and her expected position in society. This story shows the socialization process in a way that makes it easy to recognize, illustrating circumstances that the reader can notice the blatant sexism and misogyny; however, its portrayal is extremely realistic, allowing the reader to recall how oblivious they may have been in the past during times that they have been impacted by social biases in our world. Critics of Munro typically agree on her overall theme of femininity and coming of age in her writings; “Boys and Girls” emphasizes the ways in which young girls are socialized into a seemingly natural understanding of the sexist expectations and gender roles.

Relationships are complicated, but can you imagine what it would have been like back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s? Women were still expected to live in the stereotypical role where men were in charge. Men still have a lot of power, but women are becoming more and more independent. However, it is interesting to differentiate how a woman author and a man author portray relationships. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” there are different relationship dynamics portrayed.

Comparing Boys and Girls and Emma Watson’s speech for her HeForShe campaign Gender is not referred “to sex, but to this set of prescribed behavior,” as said by Marlene Goldman’s “Penning in the Bodies” (Goldman). There are many rules set upon an individual as to what is acceptable and what is not. The short story Boys and Girls by Alice Munro focuses on the implications the narrator had to endure on her journey to womanhood by reason of gender stereotypes. Emma Watson’s speech for the HeForShe campaign targets on abolishing gender inequality. Despite inequity, there is a myriad of comparable traits that are shared by humans which portrays our personality.

Phrabakar and K. Venkat Satish (2011) said that, “Alice Munro is a forthright feminist fiction writer who uses the short story form as a medium to portray the sad conditions of women living in the landscape of small town, Ontario, Canada where she has been brought up and her stories voice woman’s feeling towards society from feminist perspective”. So, ‘Boys and Girls’ short story highlighted the issue of feminism the most in which at that time, society did not consider men and women are at the same level. In this story, the narrator is unnamed while his little brother is named Laird which means ‘land owner’. The name symbolized how the male child was superior in the parent’s eyes and in general. Along with that, the name also symbolizes the difference between the sexes when this story took place.