Briar Rose, originally known as The Sleeping Beauty, is a classic fairy tale about a beautiful princess who was spelled with a curse and later was saved by a handsome prince (Grimm and Grimm 123). Although the plotline of the story is not sophisticated, it involves a variety of bonds, as well as complex relationships based on various gender representations.
In particular, it reveals the dialogues between the main heroine, prince Briar Rose and other characters, including the old woman in the tower, the king and queen, and, finally, the prince. While representing different gender relations, it is possible to construct the images of the above-identified protagonists.
Therefore, each figure in the narration has its own perception of the situation. Representation of the king as an overprotective father and benevolent king, the thirteenth wise woman who has turned the curse to blessing by revealing the princess from her farther care and allowing her to become an independent mature woman influence the gender construction in the story.
Despite the fact that the king is represented as a loving father who wants to protect and look after her little daughter, his need to control his daughters life is, probably, explained by his desire to outsmart the wise woman. Nevertheless, the kings overwhelming desire to protect her daughter lead to unconscious sleep makes his fall asleep as well (Grimm and Grimm 124).
In the narration, the king destroys all the spindles so as to save his daughter from the curse. Spinning is associated with the feminine capacity to give birth to a child. In European culture, spindle also symbolizes mothers family and a wise old woman (Shields 156).
Within these perspectives, the father breaking all the spindles makes the girl be bound to a dependent, unconscious life. So, the princess acts out against her fathers will and spins to show her potential as a woman. When Briar Rose pricks her finder, she immediately because breathless by showing her delineation from her feminine identity.
The confrontation between the good king and its antagonistic hero, the thirteenth woman, can also be represented through the reluctance of her father to give her daughter freedom of choice. By claiming her potential as a mature woman, she is not afraid of entering the dark tower in the castle and talk to an old woman spinning (Shields 158). In this respect, the father does not allow his daughter to be engaged with different activities that all women usually do.
The king fairly believes that women are just innocent creatures who should be protected. Such an attitude to women reveals his superiority over women as well as recognition of womens inferiority over men. At the same time, the princess can enjoy all material and spiritual privileges. She is also presented as an idealized picture of a woman of those times. Therefore, she must meet the social believes, as well as her fathers expectations.
In conclusion, the tale provides a clear distribution of males and female roles among the characters. Hence, the role of the kind, the farther of princess is to protect and take care of his only child. He is also the one who makes decisions in the kingdom. The role of the princess is confined to obeying and enjoying the privileges of being a royal person.
Finally, the thirteenth wise womans perspective is two-fold. On the one hand, she is an antagonistic heroine who strive to violate the established order and social stereotypes. On the other hand, she is the one who care about the feminine identity and potential of Briar Rose.
Works Cited
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. The Complete Grimms Fairy Tales. US: Digireads.com Publishing, 2009. Print.
Shields, Marcella Hannon. Once Upon a Time There Was a Little Girl: The Healing Power of Fairy Tales in the Lives of Seven Women. US: iUniverse, 2008. Print.
The theme of identity is central in Virginia Woolfs novel Orlando. The author introduces the protagonist as a 16-year-old boy living during Elizabeths reign. However, at the end of the story, Orlando is a 36-year-old woman. It means that Orlando experienced a radical transformation, but preserved their personality.
Discussion
The author says, Orlando remained precisely as he had been. The change of sex, though it altered their future, did nothing whatever to alter their identity. Woolf shows that gender and its change do not impact the essence of a person, the core. Woolf manages to explore this theme better by introducing third-person narration. In numerous passages, she uses this approach, as it helps to analyze the situation from another perspective. The readers do not see the world through the prism of Orlandos worldview, but they acquire the chance to remain neutral and analyze the story independently. Moreover, the third-person narration helps to avoid confusion and explain the heros feelings, which is vital regarding the theme of the story and its enhanced understanding.
In such a way, the theme of identity is central in the novel Orlando by Virginia Woolf. The protagonist goes through a radial alteration; however, inside Orlando remains unchanged. Both as a man and a woman, the hero loves nature, poetry, and woman: She herself was a woman, it was still a woman she loved. It means that social changes, physical transformation, or context cannot alter the persons core and identity.
Conclusion
Using the third-person narration, Woolf shows perfectly how Orlandos gender alters, but the protagonist preserves the inner core and preferences. This approach helps to look at the story from another perspective, avoid confusion, and create a personal opinion vital for understanding the central message.
Throughout the history of humankind, the relationships between man and woman have been characterized by complexity and multifacetedness. In different periods of civilization development, the view on gender roles varied depending on the level of the patriarchisation of society, with the role of the woman eventually coming nearly to naught. In Puritanic America of the mid-nineteenth century, the so-called traditional values and norms underlying social life of the time devised a place for the woman which hardly let her be anything more than a hearth keeper, a quiet domestic creature that ensured proper housekeeping and served as an enclosure to her husband, who dominated the household as an almighty master to be admired, encouraged and obeyed without demur. No wonder such tendencies found their reflection in the literary fiction of the time; in the works, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, one may find explicit examples of female oppression and even abuse. Moreover, apart from domestic tyranny, the short stories The Birth-Mark and Rappaccinis Daughter raise yet another gender issue: that of a female being a sacrifice to the scientific ambition of a man who views her as a mere step on his way to success and does not care that his experiments may lead to the womans suffering or even death.
In both short stories mentioned, the main female characters Georgiana and Beatrice fall victims to the men that possess full control of their life: Georgiana is convinced by her husband, a man of science, of the need for taking a potion that would remove a crimson birthmark from her face, the only flaw her beauty bears; the whole life of Beatrice is one big scientific experiment, as her famous pharmaceutical father raises her feeding her with poison so that eventually she becomes a deadly poison herself. It should not be overlooked, however, that not only Beatrices father but also the other two men involved with her, represent the oppressing power of males: professor Baglioni who invents an antidote in an obvious desire to excel his scientific rival without thinking of the possible consequences for the test material, for Beatrice; and young Giovanni, who in his love-fear relations with Beatrice reveals all the selfishness of the male nature blaming her for the discomfort and frustration her poisonous qualities brought on him.
In a certain way, the manner the women are treated in the two short stories discussed suggests certain threat men feel to their traditional masculinity and leadership role. Both Georgiana and Beatrice seem to be zealously protected and cared for: the first, by her husband; the second, by her father. Aylmer appears to take the deepest concern in his wifes only external defect that, according to him, serves as a reminder of his wifes liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death . The birth-mark actually does not harm her but rather is troublesome to him and arouses his scientific curiosity as a challenge he desires to meet and complete for vain self-affirmation (Hawthorne, The Birth-Mark ). In case of Beatrice, doctor Rappaccini takes refuge in his desire to protect his daughter from the dangers of the outer life, locking her up at home and introducing her to his science, and vice versa, implanting his poisonous findings into her, the victim of his insane zeal for science , making Beatrice virtually invulnerable and completely lonely and unhappy at the same time (Hawthorne, Rappaccinis Daughter ).
Both women appear to be resigned and submissive to their dominating mens will, yet one can observe a nuance that is crucial in judging their obedience. Georgiana continues with her husbands dangerous experiment which, as she can feel, represents a life threat to her: Danger is nothing to me; for life, while this hateful mark makes me the object of your horror and disgust, life is a burden which I would fling down with joy (Hawthorne, The Birth-Mark ). Understanding the level of disgust Aylmer feels for her birth-mark, Georgiana selflessly lets her husband follow his ambition for she realizes that life would be unbearable should she refuse the experiment standing her ground would mean a revolt against Aylmers authority and a threat to his mental comfort. Even on her deathbed does Georgiana refrain from reproaching her husband who has turned out to be her murder and the murderer of his own happiness: &you have aimed loftily; you have done nobly. Do not repent that with so high and pure a feeling, you have rejected the best the earth could offer (Hawthorne, The Birth-Mark ). The other victim of male arbitrariness, Beatrice, appears more outspoken, though still feeble , in face of her tragedy: My father, [&] wherefore didst thou inflict this miserable doom upon thy child? (Hawthorne, Rappaccinis Daughter ). And in reply she gets an essence of the male view of women: Dost thou deems it misery to be endowed with marvelous gifts against which no power nor strength could avail an enemy [&]? Wouldst thou, then, have preferred the condition of a weak woman, exposed to all evil and capable of none? (Hawthorne, Rappaccinis Daughter ). Thus becomes explicated the males utmost conviction of female worthlessness and defenselessness which can only be improved with the condescending assistance of their male benefactors.
In historical terms, one can not infrequently observe such attitude of condescending patronage in the relations between the colonizer and the colony, the British Empire and America in this case. The newcomers to the savage continent in their war of aggression took refuge in the slogan of civilizing, educating, and developing the presumable wildland, the native population of which suffered from the unjustified cruelty of the self-asserting intruders. Therefore, in Hawthornes The Birth-Mark and Rappaccinis Daughter one may read a message of the destructiveness of any foreign will arrogantly impose on self-sufficient life, however, yielding the latter may be.
In her novel The Color Purple, Alice Walker challenges many of the conventions that are related to the sexual identity of a person and gender norms. To a great extent, this goal is achieved with the help of such a character as Shug Avery who exemplifies such values as moral independence and courage.
It is important to show how this woman is portrayed in the book and the screen version of the novel directed by Steven Spielberg.
Overall, it is possible to argue that the film adaptation makes this character less subversive and controversial; nevertheless, in both cases, Shug plays an important role because she helps Celie discover some important qualities such as dignity and self-sufficiency. This is the main thesis that should be examined in greater detail.
At first, Steven Spielberg depicts the intimate relations between Shug and Celie in a different way. One should note that Shug clearly identifies herself as a bisexual person. Moreover, Alice Walker explicitly states that these characters start sexual relations.
This issue is closely examined by the author. In contrast, the film only hints at this possibility. This argument is particularly relevant if one speaks about their sensual kiss (The Color Purple). Nevertheless, this issue is not explored any further.
Therefore, the viewers are expected to reach their own conclusions about the degree of intimacy between these women. This is one of the differences that should be taken into consideration.
Additionally, much attention should be paid to Shugs relations with her parents. In the book, Shug is virtually denounced by her parents, especially her mother. Shug recognizes that her values and lifestyles are not acceptable to her mother, but she does not intend to reconcile with her.
To some degree, she disagrees with the religious values of her parents. For instance, she says that God loves admiration , and in this way, she wants to defend her open sexuality and willingness to start intimate relations with other people (Walker 203). To a great extent, she discards the values of her parents.
This is one of the points that can be distinguished. In contrast, in the movie, she eventually restores relations with her father who is a preacher (The Color Purple). By introducing this detail, Stephen Spielberg makes Shug more acceptable to the viewers who might not read the book.
This is one of the differences that may attract the attention of the audience.
Apart from that, Alice Walker shows that Shugs love affairs can be rather sporadic. For instance, after her marriage with Grady, she starts a love affair with a young man. Similarly, she may initiate an intimate affair only to irritate her former loves.. In turn, this detail is omitted in the movie.
Again, in this way, Spielberg makes Shug more conventional or acceptable to the audience. To a great extent, Alice Walkers depiction of this person may seem unconventional even by the standards of the twenty-first century. Therefore, the artistic choices of film-makers make this character appear less controversial or subversive.
Moreover, Shug does not appear very arrogant or selfish. These are some of the key points that can be made because they are important for understanding the differences between the book and its screen version.
It should be kept in mind that Stephen Spielbergs decision can be explained by some external factors. For instance, he might decide to remove scenes highlighting the sexuality of Shug and Celie so that the movie could receive appropriate rating, in particular, PG-13 (Streett and Kishner 148).
So, to some degree, such decisions may not fully reflect his artistic values. This is one of the issues that should be considered by people who compare the book and the novel.
Nevertheless, there are certain similarities between the book and its screen version. In both cases, Shug helps Celie discover her dignity. In particular, she helps the protagonist understand that women do not have to submit to the will of men. Furthermore, she helps Celie realize that she should not be ashamed of her sexual identity.
To a great extent, the protagonist becomes more self-sufficient due to Shugs encouragement. Moreover, Celie continuously relies on her friendship. One can even say that in many cases, Shug plays the role of her mother.
In both cases, she represents such values as self-sufficiency, self-respect and willingness to follow ones ethical principles. These are some of the main similarities that can be identified.
On the whole, the comparison shows that Spielberg makes subtle changes while depicting Shug. The film-maker wants to make this character less subversive or outrageous. According to his interpretation, she is able to reconcile herself with the values of other people.
Furthermore, he omits some aspects of her behavior that can be questioned from an ethical viewpoint. However, in both cases, this woman plays a critical role because she helps other people discover courage and strength. This argument is particularly relevant if one speaks about Celie.
Additionally, she is willing to question the conventions that are taken for granted by other people. Many of these conventions are related to gender norms, religion, and sexuality. These are the main details that can be distinguished.
Works Cited
Streett, Bill, and Jeffrey Kishner. The Astrology of Film: The Interface of Movies, Myth, and Archetype. New York: IUniverse, 2004. Print.
The Color Purple. Ex. Prod. Stephen Spielberg. Los Angeles: Amblin Entertainment, 1985. DVD.
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple, New York, NY: Mariner Books, 2006. Print.
As Contemplations was written in the 1660s, it was not included in the first edition of The Tenth Muse, and it became known to the reader only in 1678, after the authors death (Gatta 40). It is possible to suggest that Bradstreet did not publish the poem earlier because she was not ready to share her thoughts that were not only a private meditation exercise and a public declaration of the Puritan views but also her manifestation of gender.
Bradstreet did not use her opportunity to share personal ideas on gender and the womans role in the Puritan society earlier. However, the poem was written as thirty-three contemplations presented in seven-line stanzas, and that form of was allowable to be publicly represented in the Puritan society as a piece of the female poetry. Therefore, it is possible to state that the focus of Contemplations on the question of gender was too much provocative for the era.
Defending the Female Right for Knowing, Imagining, Thinking
Contemplations is an unusual poem in terms of being written by a woman and declaring the female desire and natural right for knowledge in the Puritan society. Bradstreet seems to defend the womans right to observe and learn as passionately as she defends the womans right to be a poet. In Contemplations , the author demonstrates a woman having an inquiring mind and being persistent in her desire to learn more.
The character wanders the wood paths, focuses on each tree and leaf, thinks of Gods glory, and finally presents her philosophical thoughts on the mans role and fate in this life. Thus, Bradstreet starts from depicting the woman as being amazed because of the natural worlds perfectness ( Contemplations 205-206). Then, she continues focusing on the mans knowledge of God and world order, regardless of gender: All mortals here the feeling knowledge hath ( Contemplations 207).
Lastly, in the seventeenth stanza, Bradstreet presents conclusions of her philosophical pursuit discussing the imperfectness of the mans mind to live the full life and understand its deep sense. Thus, Bradstreet notes: And though thus short, we shorten many wayes, / Living so little while we are alive; / In eating, drinking, sleeping, vain delight / So unawares comes on perpetual night, / And puts all pleasures vain unto eternal flight (3-7).
These ideas were novel because Bradstreet declares that a woman in the male-dominated society can be not only a Puritan wife but also a female who craves for a right to know and deduce. In the Puritan society, women were restricted in their rights to obtain the wisdom necessary for the personal growth and development. In the seventeenth century, the Scripture and the priests sermons were the only sources of the knowledge for women to educate their children.
Bradstreet provides clear and unexpected examples where the womans inquiring mind can bring her in contemplations and fantasies. Still, from the Puritan view, such natural thoughts and ideas could be seen as threatening because of the power of imagination that was discussed as having a negative effect on a womans mind.
In the twenty-sixth stanza, Bradstreet reflects on her spiritual quest: While musing thus with contemplation fed, / And thousand fancies buzzing in my brain, / The sweet-tongud Philomel percht ore my head (1-3). Did the female in the Puritan society have the right to focus on thousand fancies occurring in her mind? The female author speaks about her fancies easily as they are natural results of her contemplations and thoughts.
However, these products of imagination were discussed as dangerous for female Puritans because fantasies could bring women to religiously wrong visions and conclusions. On the contrary, male Puritans had the right to express their fantasies in the poetic form. Emphasizing thousand fancies as a result of contemplations, Bradstreet seems to break the rule and states that women has the same rights to dream and imagine as men because imagination is natural for humans, and it cannot be controlled or forbidden.
In addition to the equality of a female and a male to learn and imagine, Bradstreet also states the equal opportunity of women and men to admire the excellence of this planet and receiving spiritual lessons. The female character accentuates her right to explore Gods world and His nature as similar to the mans right: I wist not what to wish, yet sure thought I, / If so much excellence abide below, / How excellent is he that dwells on high? ( Contemplations 205).
Demonstrating the personal spiritual journey of a woman to understanding the divine nature of the world, Bradstreet follows the distinctive Puritan worldview. However, she acknowledges the womans ability for a meditation to develop the soul and gain the certain spiritual knowledge that is similar to the mans one.
In the first stanzas of the poem, Bradstreet reveals her personal meditations regardless of the gender because she assumes the role of any devoting Puritan. In turn, the author chooses to describe the Earth as of the female gender in the fifth stanza, stating, The Earth reflects her glances in thy face ( Contemplations 205). Emphasizing the gender of Earth, Bradstreet seems to divide the roles between the Creator as the Father of the world and the Earth as the Mother of the natural life in the world.
Thus, Bradstreet provides the clear reference to God and his male gender, while stating, Sure he is goodness, wisdom, glory, light, / That hath this under world so richly dight (Contemplations 206). This strict division of the poems imagery in genders is important to illustrate that the divine order is similar to the natural order and family relations, and God is close and understandable to a person in this case.
Nevertheless, Bradstreet not only accentuates that females are similar to males while being Puritans and equal in front of God, but she also emphasizes the equality in the poetic world while using a masculine tone to discuss complex religious issues. Speaking about people as creatures of God, Bradstreet is inclined to sound neutral regarding the gender, but there are lines when the author intends to emphasize the male gender while discussing the difference in the publics attitude to males and females.
Thus, in the ninth stanza, the author refers to all creatures: Shall creatures abject thus their voices raise? (5). However, in the tenth stanza of the poem, Bradstreet refers to men as males in the second line, speaking about men in being fancy those are dead (2). Then, the author discusses a man at the end of the stanza: It makes a man more aged in conceit, / Than was Methuselah ors grand-sire great: / While of their persons and their acts his mind doth treat (5-7).
This accentuation of the gender allows Bradstreet to emphasize that the society is used to discuss males as dominating, but in contemplating and exploring the world women and men are equal. Therefore, in the twentieth stanza the female character asks important spiritual questions equally to males: Shall I then praise the heavens, the trees, the earth / Because their beauty and their strength last longer / Shall I wish there, or never to had birth, Because theyre bigger and their bodyes stronger? (1-4).
Finally, having received the spiritual lesson, the author fearlessly concludes, But man was made for endless immortality (20). These lines are important to demonstrate that women are equal not only in terms of their religious duty, but they are also equal in their rights to see, think, and deduce.
Vindication of Eve
In her poem Contemplations , Bradstreet accentuates that a woman can perform many roles, including roles of a poet, believer, and thinker. One of the most significant roles, in this case, is the role of the Mother. Therefore, it is important for the poet to declare her position as a female Puritan who is aware of her duties as a woman.
Two important images of the Mother are described by Bradstreet in Contemplations : the Earth and Eve. In the fourteenth stanza, the female author discusses the Earth as the virgin Earth, associating it with the Virgin Mary ( Contemplations 208). However, in the Puritan tradition, there was no Mariolatry as worshipping Christs Mother, and Bradstreet focuses on developing the image of Eve as the mother of all humanity who was sinful and seeking absolution.
The author attracts the readers attention to Eve in the twelfth stanza of Contemplations while stating, Here sits our Grandame in retired place, / And in her lap her bloody Cain new born (1-2). For the author, Eve is the embodiment of the female nature that is associated with the sin. Eve is represented being in in retired place now, but her son is bloody because of his mothers sins ( Contemplations 207-208).
Eves sin in the Puritan tradition is so significant that her son is not only bloody but, he is also presented as Imp or the evil creature, the son of Devil ( Contemplations 207-208). Therefore, while discussing the image of Cain in the third line of the stanza, Bradstreet states: The weeping Imp oft looks her in the face / Bewails his unknown hap and fate forlorn (3-4). In this context, Eve is depicted as the mother responsible for Cains own sins.
Bradstreet seems to note that Eve shares Cains sins as other mothers attempt to share their childrens sins. Depicting Eve with her new born , the female author accentuates the gender of her female religious character and portrays her as not a wife of Adam, but primarily, as a mother of Cain ( Contemplations 207).
From this point, Eve takes responsibility for Cains sins because his evil nature is a result of Eves own sin and violation of the divine laws. Therefore, in her poem, Bradstreet also tries to explain why Eve as a woman could sin while pursuing of the knowledge.
In this context, Bradstreet seems to ask her reader an important question: Can a woman in the Puritan world obtain the knowledge and wisdom without violating the divine laws? The important female role characteristic for Eve, and with references to which Bradstreet exhibits gender in her poem, is an inquiring woman.
Therefore, in spite of accentuating the evil nature of bloody Cain and emphasizing the guilt of Eve, Bradstreet also demonstrates Eve as a woman who has suffered because of seeking wisdom. In the fifth and sixth lines of the twelfth stanza in Contemplations , Bradstreet one more time refers to Eve as a Mother, but she also notes that Eve sighs to think of Paradise, / And how she lost her bliss, to be more wise (5-6).
It is possible to conclude that Bradstreet intends to represent a good reason for the female loss of her bliss and prudence. In the case of women in the Puritan society, this reason is the search for wisdom. However, this reason is not understandable for the males who share all wisdom in the patriarchal society.
Eve attempted to seek wisdom in spite of Gods prohibition, but the female author seems to defend Eve in her intention. The reason is that in the Puritan society, men, as well as Adam in Paradise, do not need to violate the norms of morality and betray their faith because it is evident that the knowledge is available to them naturally.
As a result, Bradstreet raises the provocative question of the good and bad sources of knowledge for women in the Puritan community. As a Puritan woman, Bradstreet sympathizes with Eve because in order to become more wise , Eve believed Devil, Father of lyes, as it is stated in the sixth and seventh lines of the stanza ( Contemplations 208). In this context, if a woman wants to learn more, she can be discussed as led by the evil forces or, in contrast, by the divine forces.
However, in spite of understanding Eves guilt and sin, Bradstreet seems to be sympathetic toward her pursuit of knowledge. On the other hand, depicting Eve, Bradstreet does not rebel against the principles of Puritanism, but she seems to support them because of accentuating the punishment for any violation of the divine laws. Still, Bradstreet hopes for Eves restoration in Eden as important for a woman, and it is an example of the female authors Puritanism associated with interpreting all actions through the lens of religion.
Moreover, defending Eve, Bradstreet demonstrates that the characters of Adam and Eve seem to share the common guilt for violating the divine laws. Starting the story about Adam, Bradstreet notes that the first glorious man was made of all, Fancies the Apple, dangle on the Tree ( Contemplations 207).
However, in the eleventh stanza, Bradstreet states that Adam like a miscreants driven from that place / To get his bread with pain and sweat of face: / A penalty imposd on his backsliding Race (5-7). From this perspective, Bradstreet avoids discussing only Eve as guilty for the main sin and for the exile from Eden.
In this context, Bradstreet advocates for Eve, who only made a mistake while believing him that was, and is, Father of lyes in her pursuit of knowledge ( Contemplations 208). The author accentuates that the desire to seek for wisdom is as typical of women as of men, and there should not be any stigma on females because of the origin of Eves sin. It is possible to assume that Bradstreet emphasizes that the pursuit of knowledge is characteristic of all women, but this striving does not mean sinning.
Works Cited
Contemplations . The Works of Anne Bradstreet. Ed. Jeannine Hensley. Norton: Harvard University Press, 1967. 204-213. Print.
Gatta, John. Making Nature Sacred: Literature, Religion, and Environment in America from the Puritans to the Present: Literature, Religion, and Environment in America from the Puritans to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print.
Though the link between language and gender in its social sense may be not as obvious as it seems, a closer look at the structure of any language will reveal that it has a range of hidden innuendoes regarding gender identity.
The indications of certain words belonging to a specific gender can be noticed in the English language rather easily; the question, however, is whether these indications can be viewed as a step forward in promoting equality in the relationships between men and women, or whether these elements can be interpreted as restrictions imposed on one of the genders as a relic of the past, when equity between the two was impossible.
The so-called womens language is, perhaps, one of the most dubious aspects of the gender issues development in the English language. On the one hand, the specified layer of the English language allows for locating the specifics of communication process for women. On the other hand, the idea of womens language often presupposes the incorporation of the facts and a range of stereotypes, which have little to do with the actual manner of speaking that most women adopt in the communication process.
Power Issues
Language has a lot to do with power; particularly, language is often perceived as a tool for the hidden ruling class to exert its power onto the members of the American society, therefore, forcing them to adopt the behavioral patterns that they would have considered unnatural otherwise.
It could be argued that any attempt to address the gender specifics of a particular language can be viewed as an attempt of a certain social stratum to use linguistics as a tool for political issues and conflicts. This does beg the question concerning the ethics of correcting the existing gender inconsistencies in language.
One could also argue, however, that the relationships between men and women are reflected in the language in an arbitrary, objective and, therefore, quite a legitimate manner. Hence, there seems to be no need to view the existing language issues as the reasons for concern.
It also deserves mentioning that at present, the English language tends to project not only the stereotypes related to women but also the ones that are associated with men onto the people that speak it. For instance, the fact that a range of discourses in English outline the communicational shortcomings that are attributed to men is quite alerting. Manifesting the existing concerns related to the conflict between the two genders, the specified characteristics of the contemporary English are worth noting.
Also, the modern English language features little to no opportunities for people identifying them as transgender to be able to feel comfortable about their essence and speak the language so that they should not face any confusion or face the issues concerning gender stereotyping.
Transgender in Tonga
Unlike English, though, the Tonga language features a lot of flexibility in terms of its representation of gender relationships and gender identity. Often referred to as fakaleitis in the Tongan language, the representatives of the LGBT community have impressively more options for identifying themselves appropriately in the language in question.
This is a breakthrough compared to the current issues with gender and identity in the English language. However, it can be assumed that, with the resolution of the conflict related to gender issues in the states where English is spoken, the English language will alter as well, allowing people of alternative gender identities communicate in a more comfortable manner.
The manner of writing can reveal numerous details about the storyteller, including particular character traits, perception of the world, and even the gender of a person who wrote a story. It is what I will try to do in this paper guess the gender of the speaker analyzing the texts they have written.
The first way to determine the sex by studying the text is to search the details that might prompt the answer, for example, personal and possessive pronouns, etc. It helped me in defining that the author of the love story with a black woman was a man.
In fact, this decision was obvious because the author highlighted his gender throughout the story. First, he told me about his childhood experience, noting that, as a little boy, he was not ready for the intimacy of the first kiss. Second, he wrote about joining the Navy that is generally a male experience. Finally, he shared a story of creating a family with a black woman. So, everything points to the fact that a writer is a man.
The same approach can be applied to the story of a person depressed because of the divorce and a mate having an affair. The passage was written by a female, and it is understood by the obvious details, such as mentioning that it was a husband who cheated on the author. Later, another detail is revealed the fact that the author was left a home-stay mom that only proves that the writer was a female. These stories, except for direct pointing out to the gender of the storyteller, have a little difference the mood of writing.
It is believed that men and women write stories in a differing manner. For example, women use shorter sentences and are emotional, while men formulate their thoughts in longer sentences and mention facts and arguments (Jones & Myhill, 2007). True, if we look closer at them, the first story is a set of arguments (acceptance of children by other women or forcing the parents to accept sons choice if they love him) while the second one is more emotional and includes many short sentences that prove that the writer was in a depressive mood and did not know what to do next.
Sometimes it is complicated to determine the gender of the storyteller. For example, it was in the case of the story about a person who had six half-brothers and sisters left by their biological father. At first, it seemed to me that the author was a man because of recollecting the fact about joining the military, but the last paragraph reveals the truth about the narrator, who was married before and now has a husband. Moreover, the author is described as having a daddys girl complex, so the conclusion is obvious the teller is a woman.
What can also be used for determining the gender of a storyteller is the female perspective of the events and drawing the line between the lifestyles of men and women (Giles & Doan, 2016). It can be applied to the story of a person who had a drug addict friend and a conversation they had on a narrators birthday. Pedicure as a birthday gift and stressing that a female is a best friend together with the use of short, emotional sentences hint that the author of the story is a woman. Without these points, it would have been impossible to guess the gender.
Finally, it is also considered that men are more powerful in writing and oral activities than women because they are judged more harshly (Peterson & Kennedy, 2006). This approach was used to analyzing the story of African American recollecting experience of working at the Air Force Base. The story is well-structured and includes long sentences. The author also mentions the fact that many friends joined the military, especially bearing in mind that the story had place during the 1980s, the conclusion is that an author is a man because it was unlikely for women to act so.
References
Giles, T., & Doan, W. J. (2016). The Naomi story the book of Ruth: From gender to politics. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books.
Jones, S., & Myhill, D. (2007). Discourses of difference? Examining gender differences in linguistic characteristics of writing. Canadian Journal of Education, 30(2), 456-466, 468-482.
Peterson S., & Kennedy, K. (2006). Sixth grade teachers written comments on student writing: Genre and gender influences. Written Communication, 23(1), 36-62.
The poems A fine, A private Place by Diane Ackerman and Play-by-Play by Joan Murray are both concerned with the theme of female sexuality. A Fine, A Private Place utilizes the third person narrative voice to express the memories of a woman who fondly remembers a lovemaking experience she had with an unidentified male lover by the shores of an unidentified ocean/sea.
However, the woman reminiscing was at first none the wiser about her lovers intentions he had to ask twice before she could understand the nature of his request and intensions (first stanza), and before she realized his manhood was hard: an indication of lovemaking desire.
However, the subsequent lovemaking experience as reflected from the womans voice was mutually consented, and the lovers made love intensely and with deep feelings for each other. In Play-by-Play , the omniscient narrator poses rhetorical questions as the narrator watches a group of men playing softball and analyses the secrete sexual thoughts and desires of the women nearby(both old and young), as they secretly admire the mens bodies and reflect on the mens sexual appeal.
The two poems suggest that female sexuality can be, and is, as expressive as male sexuality. In A Fine, A private Place , the female voice expresses the desires and thoughts of a woman during and after a lovemaking experience. These reminisces convey the idea that the female partner is not a passive player during the act of lovemaking, but is an equal partner with emotions and desires too, which have to be fulfilled and catered for in the entire lovemaking process.
The male player remains unnamed and unidentified ironically, the last line of stanza three has the woman wondering who the man was, yet the woman is able to make love to a point of female climax and complete satisfaction. In the last line of stanza four, the woman reaches her climax as her loins roar and she pants in climactic excitement. The fact that the woman is able to be expressive sexually with a male who is not necessarily her husband portrays a woman who has taken control of her sexuality.
The woman in the poem is not tied down to certain societal expectations that women should be a passive player in both the courting/dating scene and in the act of sex/lovemaking itself (Markle 48). The woman in A fine, A Private Place is sexually expressive and is able to take charge of her sexual desires and her own path to sexual fulfillment.
In the poem Play-by-Play , the omniscient narrator also highlights the sexuality of a woman being as expressive as that of a man. In the first line of the first stanza, the narrator wonders whether it would surprise the young men playing softball to discover that the women around them are admiring and discussing their sexual appeal.
In the second stanza, the narrator further asks rhetorically, but poignantly, whether the men would take offence (as many women do) if they were to know that the women were lusting after them. In these expressive questions, the narrator brings outs the voice of womens sexuality that has been previously unheard of or ignored. The questions point to the fact that the womans desire for sex and the pre-lovemaking bodily admiration for a potential lover is not a preserve of men.
The narrator is not condoning the act of men looking lustily at a woman, as men have been doing for generations. However, the narrator brings out the fact that a woman, too, has very similar feelings and even lusts for her lover, only that the woman prefers to do her sexual longing and lusts in a manner that does not necessarily cause her potential lover public humiliation- a point men should borrow.
The narrator in Play-by-Play further busts the female sexuality myth that has long been held that once a woman reaches her sixties, (past menopause); her sexual desire is non-existent. The omniscient narrator indicates that the old women in their sixties who are also watching the men play softball are actively analyzing the sexual appeal of the softball players, just as much as the young virile women drinking wine and reading books a little further in the field.
The narrator further vouches for the women in their sixties as being the best-placed persons to speak on the matter of a mans sexual appeal, since, as the narrator states in the second stanza; their experience has been horned through years of being with different lovers.
Again, the fact that these women in their sixties are shown as not having been involved with one lover or one husband, but are portrayed as having experimented with different lovers, depicts female sexuality as not dissimilar to that of men. The act of old men admiring young women is considered natural in a macho male society, but in the poem Play-by-Play , the old women are comfortably admiring young men, and have had different lovers, just as men in their sixties would.
These women represent a sexually expressive generation of women. Similarly, in the poem A Fine, A private Place , the woman reminiscing on her lovemaking encounter also highlights that, by virtue of her reminiscing, she is currently not in contact with that particular lover. Additionally, one can speculate that she has made love to other men, or is currently courting another man, thus her sexual experiences are varied; therefore, the woman is sexually liberated.
Therefore, both the poems A Fine, A Private Place, and Play-by-Play portray female sexuality in a much different light than what female sexuality has been thought of, especially by men keen to preserve the status quo and relegate women to secondary and passive roles in sex and lovemaking situations.
Because sexuality is dictated by various historical, social, political, and economic factors, sexuality can be, and has been, used as a tool to subjugate women in all these realms. The subjugation has always been propagated on the myth that women are not sexually expressive. The matter of consent before a lovemaking act has been tackled in A Fine, A Private Place . The womans lover is portrayed as being mindful of his lovers feelings and satisfaction throughout the lovemaking process.
In the first stanza, he asks twice before he obtains consent from the woman, and throughout and after the lovemaking act, he further seeks to know whether she is fine and satisfied. Since sexuality is dictated by gender roles, the secondary role of the woman in society is usually transferred to the lovemaking process and her consent on whether she desires to make love or not is never sought she is viewed as being ever ready, or is expected to be ever ready.
This mentality plays a role in men not being overly concerned with the beastly act of rape or defilement. The poem A Fine, A private Place vouches for seeking the consent of the woman, and the womans equal status in the lovemaking process. Therefore, sexual expressiveness is parallel to womens liberation and development within the society.
Furthermore, because the woman is expected to play a subservient role in sex, her opinion on whether her lover or husband uses a condom and on the more significant way of family planning is ignored.
In both poems, sexual expressiveness in the women in the poems points to the need for the women to be recognized as equal partners in not only the lovemaking process, but also in the significant issue of family planning. Women in many third world countries are saddled with child after child even when their mental and physical energies for child bearing and rearing are exhausted (Manderson, Rae Bennett, and Sheldrake 184).
This occurs due to the social and political norms in such countries that reinforce the notion that women have no role in the entire family making process. The family making process is intimately linked to sex and sexuality, thus womens sexuality is an important social, political, and economic entity. Such practices leave the women in these countries socially, politically, and economically disadvantaged.
In conclusion, the poems A Fine A Private Place and Play-by-Play portray female sexuality as present, real, expressive, and even honorable. The role of a woman as an equal partner to the man in the sexual realm, as the poems advocate, is the first step in achieving social, political, and economic advancement for women.
Works Cited
Manderson, Lenore, Rae Bennett, Linda, and Sheldrake, Michelle. Sex, Social Institutions, and Social Structure: Anthropological Contributions to the Study of Sexuality. Annual Review of Sex Research 10.6 (1999): 184.
Markle, Gail. Can Women Have Sex Like a Man? Sexual Scripts in Sex and the City. Sexuality & Culture 12.1 (2008): 45-57.
Every person has the right to be protected from any offenses; the latter include various types of discrimination, such as discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, origin, religion, age, or disability ( Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination n. pag.). However, such discrimination is not a rare thing, and it is important to fight the offenders. This paper scrutinizes the case of hostile environment sexual harassment that took place Loves Travel Stops and Country Stores, Inc. (Bell 94).
After discussing the laws that were violated by the company which allowed such a situation to occur, we will describe what the victims of the harassment were entitled to expect according to the law. We will also speculate on the organizational factors which contributed to the adverse situation, and offer some possible steps to be taken to both prevent the management failures similar to those which occurred in the firm and encourage the employees to report the cases of offense to the management.
The Laws that the Company Violated
The case described by Bell depicts a situation when the victim experienced the hostile environment harassment consisting of crude remarks, sexual comments, unwanted touching, and intimidation (92-93). Such offensive behavior is illegal (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission par. 1-5).
The sexual harassment practices present in the organization are strictly prohibited by the Sexual Harassment Law, which can be found in Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act (1964); it forbids the attitudes that existed in the company, as well as other types of discrimination based other characteristics, such as race, color, age, etc. ( Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination n. pag.; Sexual Harassment Law par. 1-3).
It is stated that the victims of the abusive behavior are eligible to seek protection under the federal U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Besides, the victims could also seek protection under Fair Employment Practice acts which exist in some of the states and also include regulations concerning the issue of sexual harassment ( Sexual Harassment Law par. 5).
What Protection Should the Employees Have Expected
According to the Law?
According to the law, the harassed employees had the right to expect the companys protection from the sexual harassment. First, the employer was obliged to establish clear policies regarding the sexual harassment (and any other type of harassment). The firm had to make it clear that any types of harassment would not be tolerated, and establish the procedure of formal complaint. Such a policy had to encourage the employees to complain about the harassment to the managers before the offense becomes serious.
The company was also obliged to designate more than one person responsible for accepting the complaints in order to avoid prejudice or impartiality on that level; the person had to be reachable by the employees, and must not have been the victims supervisor. The confidentiality of the victim was also to be protected. After the complaint had been made, the employer was to investigate the case, interview both the victim and the offender, and the others who might have known about the case.
The employer had then to make sure that the harassment did not continue, and impose disciplinary measures that would correspond to the severity of the offense. The involved parties might have been separated in case of need, but the separation was not to burden the victim.
If the employer failed to resolve the case, the victim was to complain to the state agencies such as the Fair Employment Practices Agencies under the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ( Questions and Answers for Small Employers par. 9-27; Sexual Harassment Policy n. pag.).
The Organizational Factors by which the Management Failed to Intervene
Apparently, the reasons which contributed to the young women being harassed by the customers were connected to the sexist views of the management. The victims supervisors perceived it natural that truck drivers try to harass young cashiers. Perhaps they even had similar thoughts, and took pleasure from young women being humiliated.
The factors connected to the companys policy that allowed such attitudes to thrive were a result of improper sexual harassment policy of the enterprise. It is likely that such policy was absent in the company at all, and managers were instructed neither that it is their responsibility to prevent such practices from happening nor that such situations were not to happen at all.
It is possible that the managers were also using the famous statement that the customer is always right to rationalize their own pervasive views of the situation. It is also likely that the company lacked the formal procedure using which the victims could complain to the enterprises officials.
Possible Steps to Prevent such a Management Lapse from Reoccurring
To prevent similar situations from happening again in the future, it is clear that the company, for instance, should follow the recommendations of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ( Questions and Answers for Small Employers par. 1-29). Establishing a proper procedure and instructing both the managers and the workers to fight the discriminatory practices in the future is essential to avert similar problems.
It is also crucial to explain to the managers that it is their job to deal with such situations, and that they also will be held responsible should such situations happen again. Perhaps it would be useful to impose fines on them should they fail to avert discriminatory behaviors taking place in the firm without a reasonable cause. It is also important that the administrators need to be given proper tools to deal with such situations, for it is possible that they do not have all the means necessary to deal with customers who behave offensively.
Possible Steps to Make it Easier for Workers to Raise Concerns and Have those Concerns Remedied
Again, the employees should follow the recommendations of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and establish clear and simple formal procedures which would allow the workers to complain ( Questions and Answers for Small Employers par. 1-29). The workers should also be given the means necessary to fill in the complaint and contact the proper companys officials.
The employees should be guaranteed that all their appeals will be processed and investigated with due carefulness, attention, and impartiality, and that, should they be found true, they will be resolved and the victims losses will be compensated. It is also necessary to shield the victims from retaliation from the offenders or those who associate with them.
Conclusion
It is clear that the management of the firm broke the law by not taking steps towards the resolution of the situation. In particular, the federal Civil Rights Act was not followed. The employees were entitled to expect a proper anti-discrimination policy from their employer, and had the right to be protected by their management. The poor organizational culture and the lack of clear policies regarding the issue resulted in the managements failure to intervene.
In order to prevent such situations from reoccurring in the future, it is important to create an effective anti-discrimination policy, work with the administrators and instruct them to apply it properly, provide them with the means to implement it, and impose fines on them should they fail to do so without a reasonable cause. The workers should also be guaranteed that all their complaints will be processed and that they will get no retaliation for trying to protect themselves.
Works Cited
Bell, Myrtle P. Diversity in Organizations. 2nd ed. 2012. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Print.
Though the link between language and gender in its social sense may be not as obvious as it seems, a closer look at the structure of any language will reveal that it has a range of hidden innuendoes regarding gender identity.
The indications of certain words belonging to a specific gender can be noticed in the English language rather easily; the question, however, is whether these indications can be viewed as a step forward in promoting equality in the relationships between men and women, or whether these elements can be interpreted as restrictions imposed on one of the genders as a relic of the past, when equity between the two was impossible.
The so-called womens language is, perhaps, one of the most dubious aspects of the gender issues development in the English language. On the one hand, the specified layer of the English language allows for locating the specifics of communication process for women. On the other hand, the idea of womens language often presupposes the incorporation of the facts and a range of stereotypes, which have little to do with the actual manner of speaking that most women adopt in the communication process.
Power Issues
Language has a lot to do with power; particularly, language is often perceived as a tool for the hidden ruling class to exert its power onto the members of the American society, therefore, forcing them to adopt the behavioral patterns that they would have considered unnatural otherwise.
It could be argued that any attempt to address the gender specifics of a particular language can be viewed as an attempt of a certain social stratum to use linguistics as a tool for political issues and conflicts. This does beg the question concerning the ethics of correcting the existing gender inconsistencies in language.
One could also argue, however, that the relationships between men and women are reflected in the language in an arbitrary, objective and, therefore, quite a legitimate manner. Hence, there seems to be no need to view the existing language issues as the reasons for concern.
It also deserves mentioning that at present, the English language tends to project not only the stereotypes related to women but also the ones that are associated with men onto the people that speak it. For instance, the fact that a range of discourses in English outline the communicational shortcomings that are attributed to men is quite alerting. Manifesting the existing concerns related to the conflict between the two genders, the specified characteristics of the contemporary English are worth noting.
Also, the modern English language features little to no opportunities for people identifying them as transgender to be able to feel comfortable about their essence and speak the language so that they should not face any confusion or face the issues concerning gender stereotyping.
Transgender in Tonga
Unlike English, though, the Tonga language features a lot of flexibility in terms of its representation of gender relationships and gender identity. Often referred to as fakaleitis in the Tongan language, the representatives of the LGBT community have impressively more options for identifying themselves appropriately in the language in question.
This is a breakthrough compared to the current issues with gender and identity in the English language. However, it can be assumed that, with the resolution of the conflict related to gender issues in the states where English is spoken, the English language will alter as well, allowing people of alternative gender identities communicate in a more comfortable manner.