The theme of power is very evident in many works of literature, especially regarding culture, gender, and sex. When interpreting any works of literature, the role of power is usually held by a male character. In our society, more so the past, power is usually associated with masculinity rather than femininity. In these two works of literature, “Disgrace” by J.M. Coetzee and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the theme of gender related power can be well interpreted amongst the male characters in the stories. First taking a look at married female characters, the authors don’t say much about them within the text. Mr. Isaacs and Petrus’s wives from “disgrace” as well as Bailey’s wife from the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
…show more content…
In “Disgrace”, Coetzee wants us to focus on situations that are a result of the power of masculinity, when asked about his unborn child Petrus replies, “We are praying for a boy” (Coetzee 130). He goes on to justify his preference by explaining that a boy child shows girls how to behave. This once more reveals the story’s view of woman as inferior to men. We can also look at the incident of Lucy’s rape as an additional view of masculinity vs. femininity. David, ponders and attempts to enter the mind of the three intruders on the day of the incident, “How they put her in her place, how they showed her what a woman was for” (Coetzee 115). This implies that women are of no use to men other than pleasure. Flannery O’Connor took a different approach in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” There is much evidence in the power of masculinity, but the view of femininity seems to have an increase in favorability. The grandmother displays some type of fixation with being a woman. Bragging that dressing in feminine like attire would have her noticed if she were dead on the highway. Also the conflict with the misfit she states, “I know you wouldn’t shoot a lady” (O’Connor 307), implying femininity is something of power, pride, and value. Even with this seldom connection of femininity and power displayed in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the women are still overlooked …show more content…
I concluded that the individuals doing the victimizing in the acts were seeking power; mindful of revenge, a sense of entitlement, seeking reparations. In the story Disgrace, David is skeptical about the attack being random on the first white folks they came in contact with that day, but that could very much well be the case. Apart from Lucy’s rape and the men enforcing “what purpose a woman serves”, the unnecessary killings of the caged and restrained dogs could be implied as an act of regained power. Within the text states, “in a country where dogs are bred to snarl at the mere smell of a black man” (Coetzee 110), so it is obvious that there is a bad historical relationship between blacks and white owned dogs. The violence towards the dogs were the result of a power trip, the men had the upper hand in the situation and decided to take advantage. In “A good man is hard to find”, the cause or reason for violence is similar to that of Disgrace, simply because they were treated negatively and unfairly in the past. The misfit stated that he was thrown in jail and it wasn’t proven that he had done anything wrong, which is where he gets his name, “because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what I had gone through in punishment” (O’Connor 307). Since he was thrown in jail for a crime or murder they couldn’t prove, he thought to make up for it by actually killing people. The
In “Disgrace”, Coetzee wants us to focus on situations that are a result of the power of masculinity, when asked about his unborn child Petrus replies, “We are praying for a boy” (Coetzee 130). He goes on to justify his preference by explaining that a boy child shows girls how to behave. This once more reveals the story’s view of woman as inferior to men. We can also look at the incident of Lucy’s rape as an additional view of masculinity vs. femininity. David, ponders and attempts to enter the mind of the three intruders on the day of the incident, “How they put her in her place, how they showed her what a woman was for” (Coetzee 115). This implies that women are of no use to men other than pleasure. Flannery O’Connor took a different approach in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” There is much evidence in the power of masculinity, but the view of femininity seems to have an increase in favorability. The grandmother displays some type of fixation with being a woman. Bragging that dressing in feminine like attire would have her noticed if she were dead on the highway. Also the conflict with the misfit she states, “I know you wouldn’t shoot a lady” (O’Connor 307), implying femininity is something of power, pride, and value. Even with this seldom connection of femininity and power displayed in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, the women are still overlooked …show more content…
I concluded that the individuals doing the victimizing in the acts were seeking power; mindful of revenge, a sense of entitlement, seeking reparations. In the story Disgrace, David is skeptical about the attack being random on the first white folks they came in contact with that day, but that could very much well be the case. Apart from Lucy’s rape and the men enforcing “what purpose a woman serves”, the unnecessary killings of the caged and restrained dogs could be implied as an act of regained power. Within the text states, “in a country where dogs are bred to snarl at the mere smell of a black man” (Coetzee 110), so it is obvious that there is a bad historical relationship between blacks and white owned dogs. The violence towards the dogs were the result of a power trip, the men had the upper hand in the situation and decided to take advantage. In “A good man is hard to find”, the cause or reason for violence is similar to that of Disgrace, simply because they were treated negatively and unfairly in the past. The misfit stated that he was thrown in jail and it wasn’t proven that he had done anything wrong, which is where he gets his name, “because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what I had gone through in punishment” (O’Connor 307). Since he was thrown in jail for a crime or murder they couldn’t prove, he thought to make up for it by actually killing people. The