Lesbian feminism

Patricia S. Yaegar argues that The Awakening must be viewed through a linguistic lens. She says that “Edna inhabits a world of limited linguistic possibilities… for interpreting and re-organizing her feelings, and therefore of limited possibilities for action” (200, Yaegar). Edna tries to leave this limited location and “explore feelings which lie outside the prescribed social code” (200, Yaegar), but fails because she can’t think of herself existing outside of the systems of language of which…

CHAPTER-2: Quest for Freedom Quest for freedom is the most eminent theme in the novels of Anita Desai. Due to its importance in her works, it is bound to find reoccurrence. The quest for freedom prevails as the most powerful and influential theme and all the major characters seem to be striving for something with which they cannot come in terms with. The society in which they live and cannot go away from it leaves a deep question mark in their minds. They are in quest for freedom…

This essay attempts to compare the paralysis and repression of two women with different social statuses in male-domineered societies. The first of which is Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, a short story which takes place in the late 19th century America and follows a repressed Mrs. Mallard who, upon being falsely informed of her husband’s death, sets out to gain a sense of self-assertion. Her short period of rejoice – and her life – are, however, put to an end when her husband returns. The…

Little Miss Sunshine is about the dysfunctional Hoover family. Sheryl Hoover (Toni Collette) is an overworked mother who is trying to make everyone happy. Sheryl's brother, Frank Ginsberg (Steve Carell) is a gay and scholar of Proust, who temporarily moved in with her after attempting suicide. Sheryl's husband, Richard Hoover (Greg Kinnear) is a Type A personality man who strives to build a career as a motivational speaker and life coach, he loves winning and hates losing. Sheryl's…

Jane Austen’s novel pride and prejudice presented four married couples, non-of the couples are a like in their love story and personalities. In that era, women were concerned a lot about marriage and who to marry which was an important thing in women’s life because mostly the women’s financial stability is on men or husbands. Austen in the novel she presented several contrasting attitudes to marriage. Austin focused mainly on pride and prejudice which presents true love, while there was other…

The Opposition Known for her advance views on feminism, Kate Chopin wrote stories that validates her perspective on men being evil and dominant. Chopin’s symbolism in regards to color portray a theme similar to that of “good versus evil” considering most prominently to race as opposed to morals; furthermore, Chopin’s instances of cheating, discrimination, and dishonesty are portrayed through the exhibition of irony, conflict, foreshadowing, and metaphoric language to exemplify the reasons…

Although the feelings towards women’s rights were rapidly changing during the late twentieth century, not many women were able to have an opportunity to participate in the workplace. Olga Broumas’ “Cinderella” uses the contrast between a women’s want of a perfect fairytale ending and the struggle to make their own way in society to get across the underlying meaning of the women’s movement. Throughout the poem Broumas uses examples of how the women of that day were often shunned from these types…

The classic tragedy of Antigone allows readers to follow the tragic destiny of Antigone, the ill-fated daughter of Oedipus. Throughout Antigone female gender roles are constantly spoken of in contradictory ways, posing a powerful debate about what it means to be a female. The Greek tragedy of Antigone presents a battle of opinions on traditional female gender roles; Creon supports the traditional female gender roles through his demeaning view and words he expresses towards women, which is…

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and Sylvia Plath’s novel, ‘The Bell Jar’, scrutinises how both women, the unnamed narrator and Esther, become mentally unstable. Both protagonists exploit their real life situations in their story and novel to emphasise how being a woman living in a patriarchal society has caused mental breakdowns. Moreover, they make attempts to explore and understand their suffering of depression and the possible ways to overcome it. The short…

It is with great difficulty that the narrator of Mai Ghoussoub’s Leaving Beirut attempts to reconcile the “victimized and vulnerable” with the “large and powerful”; to reconcile the two, and then locate them in the body of an Arab woman, is another qualm entirely (Ghoussoub 66). Nonetheless, it is through this reconciliation that Ghoussoub endeavors to subvert the trope of the weak and helpless Arab woman. Through her text, Ghoussoub takes a “frail, skinny little girl” who is constantly…