Gender Roles In The Narrative Of Cabeza De Vaca

Anything women do men can do better. Yes, how silly does that sound to a society that views women as having a specific set of roles and men having a specific set of their own? Does the role ever switch now and again and how important is it to live up to those roles? In this essay I will discuss how gender roles play a significant part with in two narratives. I will also discuss how there is an apparent gender role switch in them. A text I will use as a reference throughout the narrative is “The Narrative of Cabeza De Vaca” by Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca. The women take on the job of men and the men take on the job of women as far as labor and household duties. Even the landscape gets gendered in the text. Cabeza de Vaca show with in his text how gender plays an important role in their narratives. Gender gets portrayed as being important and this is significant to the text because of the different roles that play a part of the text.
If the question was asked what the typical role of a woman would be, the relevant answer expected would be she is the nurturer of the family. This is mainly because of what society has placed in the …show more content…
From viewing the situation for instance the men look weak. They seem to have no real purpose in a way because the women can do what they can do. Just as they are are supposed to be the protector they drop that role in a way. The women seem to have more heart and power than the men in some ways. That is a problem because who wants to be seen as weak. With the men wanting to have authority and be respected they, in a way, loose that. Now to look at it a different way the men in a way need the women. Their wives can help them with certain things others cannot. Though they treat them poorly they do not want to lose them in all actuality. Even though that role switch does not last throughout the narrative it is