Cortney Hedlund
ENGL 194
Dr. McChesney
Mid-term Essay
13 October, 2016
Female Oppression Within the Bible
Gracie’s brother receives a book at the age of five, words accompany him from his parents that encourage him to follow his dreams, to grow up intelligent and independent. Gracie though, finds a needle and thread under gift wrapping. Instead of her parents foretelling a future of success from hard work, Gracie hears of a future of submission, housekeeping, and obedience. Never would she get the chance to own property, get an education, have her own wealth, or dream her own dreams. Instead her future is one of housework and cooking, courtesy of her second X chromosome. Though Gracie’s bleak future does not apply to women in our society …show more content…
Women that read too much were labeled as hysteric or crazy, preventing them from experiencing literature. As mentioned earlier, women who knew too much information were seen as insane or hysterical, which leads to the fact that women had very little influence within the literary world. Women were not educated in Latin, which was the language of scholars and literature for eleven centuries, resulting in almost no influence or participation at all during that time period. Post-eleventh century when English began to be integrated more in literature, women still did not commonly have educations, so many still could not read nor write- but some could. However, those few who could, did not write about women favorably. In 1170 Marie De France published a story titled Bisclavret (page 18) which involved a female antagonist (the only female within the story) who created the entire conflict because of her nature as a liar, cheater, and deceiver. Most literature through the eleventh century until the publication of Jane Eyre in 1847 painted women in a horrible light. Jane Eyre (page 633) which is written by Charlotte Bronte was monumental within the literary world because a female was the protagonist, she was righteous, and independent. That is almost seven hundred years of poor representation for women, and by women in …show more content…
Social expectations that reflected the Bible lead to little education for women, which also meant that women could not be involved much in the literary world. Women overcame it though, and today in America, we have a woman running for the highest position in the country, President of the United States. This didn’t just happen overtime however, women had to fight for education, they had to prove themselves in their writing. Some woman hid books under their mattress or ran away from controlling husbands to be independent, to learn, and to be free. Mandatory education soon began with the industrialization of America- and with education, came freedom. Women began to break societal molds, and took their future into their own hands, letting the world know that they were capable. Next time when you begin to say or hear sexist remarks such as “you fight like a girl” remember that women have fought more for basic liberties than most men, they fought religion, society, and themselves, three of the most daunting and powerful forces in the world. Maybe fighting like a girl isn’t such an insult, after
ENGL 194
Dr. McChesney
Mid-term Essay
13 October, 2016
Female Oppression Within the Bible
Gracie’s brother receives a book at the age of five, words accompany him from his parents that encourage him to follow his dreams, to grow up intelligent and independent. Gracie though, finds a needle and thread under gift wrapping. Instead of her parents foretelling a future of success from hard work, Gracie hears of a future of submission, housekeeping, and obedience. Never would she get the chance to own property, get an education, have her own wealth, or dream her own dreams. Instead her future is one of housework and cooking, courtesy of her second X chromosome. Though Gracie’s bleak future does not apply to women in our society …show more content…
Women that read too much were labeled as hysteric or crazy, preventing them from experiencing literature. As mentioned earlier, women who knew too much information were seen as insane or hysterical, which leads to the fact that women had very little influence within the literary world. Women were not educated in Latin, which was the language of scholars and literature for eleven centuries, resulting in almost no influence or participation at all during that time period. Post-eleventh century when English began to be integrated more in literature, women still did not commonly have educations, so many still could not read nor write- but some could. However, those few who could, did not write about women favorably. In 1170 Marie De France published a story titled Bisclavret (page 18) which involved a female antagonist (the only female within the story) who created the entire conflict because of her nature as a liar, cheater, and deceiver. Most literature through the eleventh century until the publication of Jane Eyre in 1847 painted women in a horrible light. Jane Eyre (page 633) which is written by Charlotte Bronte was monumental within the literary world because a female was the protagonist, she was righteous, and independent. That is almost seven hundred years of poor representation for women, and by women in …show more content…
Social expectations that reflected the Bible lead to little education for women, which also meant that women could not be involved much in the literary world. Women overcame it though, and today in America, we have a woman running for the highest position in the country, President of the United States. This didn’t just happen overtime however, women had to fight for education, they had to prove themselves in their writing. Some woman hid books under their mattress or ran away from controlling husbands to be independent, to learn, and to be free. Mandatory education soon began with the industrialization of America- and with education, came freedom. Women began to break societal molds, and took their future into their own hands, letting the world know that they were capable. Next time when you begin to say or hear sexist remarks such as “you fight like a girl” remember that women have fought more for basic liberties than most men, they fought religion, society, and themselves, three of the most daunting and powerful forces in the world. Maybe fighting like a girl isn’t such an insult, after