¶ … Patriarchy to Another
It starts early. Socialization into the social system we call patriarchy starts at birth when we put pink on "beautiful" and "angelic" girls and blue on "handsome" and "tough" baby boys. We hold baby girls so they can see into our faces, as we talk to them. We hold baby boys so they can see what's going on in the room. That's how the process begins. We are the recipients, either willingly or unwillingly, of a patriarchal legacy. What probably began in prehistoric times as a cooperative system for survival has become an albatross. We are stuck with living in a patriarchal society where women are oppressed. And it is certainly not a local phenomenon. "Desiree's Baby" and "No Name Woman" are two stories from far-off cultures, but patriarchy as a system is as much in evidence in those places, if not more so, as it is here. In this essay we will compare and contrast the two stories, explore the nature and resolution of the conflict in each story, and the characters, setting, and themes.
In both stories the birth of a child triggers the central conflict. In "Desiree's Baby" the baby, born into a rich plantation family, is black in a society where black slaves are treated as the lowest and most contemptible of all human beings. In "No Name Woman" the child is illegitimate, the result of adultery, and thought to be the reason for poor crops, illness, and bad fortune in the community. In both stories the mother is blamed. Desiree, who just "appeared" one day on a doorstep when she was very young is assumed to be the carrier of African genes. Because the baby is black, it must have got its "blackness" from Desiree whose background is unknown. In "No Name Woman" the narrator's aunt had sexual relations, no one knows whether consensual or not, with someone while her husband was away working. In both stories, the fathers themselves blame the mothers. In "Desiree" the husband learns to hate his once-beloved wife because of his shame and...
Poe and Fowles Detective stories and novels were first created in the 1800s. Readers continue to enjoy them. Even today, 150 years later, millions of people across the world want to read the newest detective books. Many people call Edgar Allen Poe the inventor of the detective story, because he developed a formula that is still followed. An example is his "Murders in the Rue Morgue." Many authors later created their
Introduction When thinking up compare and contrast essay titles, the best approach to take is this: start with the subject of your paper and ask yourself, “What two things am I juxtaposing?” That is to say, what are you comparing and contrasting? Apples and oranges? BMW and Mercedes? Living in the city vs. living in the suburbs? Living in the suburbs vs. living in the country? Living in the 1st World
But Rushdie's relationship with English as a writer, even as a critic of the former British Empire, is far more complex. In Salman Rushdie's text "English is an Indian literary language," Rushdie states that the output of literature in English by Indian writers is more interesting and vital than those produced in India's native languages. Through creativity and dialogue with the oppressor, a great literature has been generated. India's
We do not know if Grammatica is portraying something real or merely representing an image from the stage. This too, is symbolic of its period. The mannerist and baroque eras reflected a time when art was being made to serve the propagandistic purposes of a Church under siege. Like the headless warrior on the stone table, it also was under attack by evil forces. These forces needed to be
Similarities in Theme in the Two Stories Prisoners: Both of these stories place the characters in a kind of prison. On the first page of Yellow Wallpaper the narrator has already explained that the reason she doesn't get well is because of her husband. An irony of huge magnitude, to say that one's husband is a physician and that "perhaps" that is the reason "I do not get well faster" (3).
Thus, while one character had a targetable aim, the other, Antonia, had a symbolic purpose for Jim's life. Antonia's role in the novel goes beyond that of encompassing the pure nature of childhood. It represents a clear window of strong powerful women. Better said, "This extremely influential character represents a positive compromise with feminist ideals. She is independent and strong while still living as a wife and mother" (Giglio, 2006).
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