Gender Roles in Literature - Research Paper Example

Your full November 20, Gender Roles in Literature Gender perceptions and gender roles have often been a central theme of literature in nearly every era. Authors have been presenting their personal opinions about gender roles through the characters of their literary texts. The characters, often times, were a reflection of their own personalities or life experiences. Critics and analysts have been presenting their opinions about literary texts, enabling common readers to become familiar with the themes behind the texts. Given below, in this paper, is a comprehensive comparison of four famous texts of male and female authors: ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; ‘Sweat’ by Zora Neale Hurston; ‘A Rose for Emily’ by William Faulkner; and, ‘Hills like White Elephants’ by Ernest Hemingway. The paper delves deeply into how the female and male authors perceive the opposite gender, and whether or not their perceptions have been shaped by their personal experiences. The thesis statement of this paper is: The females of the society have always suffered at hands of men; however, men subliminally accept the idea of woman empowerment. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ clearly relates the struggles of the protagonist in a male dominated society to her own. Gilman has given a glimpse into her own scuffles through her writing. The story reveals the female suppression against male domination. The protagonist of the story is oppressed, and she sees her emotions and frustrations in the woman she sees in the wallpaper. She says about the woman in the wallpaper that all the time the woman seemed to be climbing through the pattern (Gilman 12). It was such a pattern that nobody seemed to understand and cross. The woman, to the narrator, also seemed to be having a lot of heads, which shows the confusion that she was going through. It shows how Gilman relates her own suppression she suffers at the hands of her husband to the caged life of the woman in the wallpaper. Gilman saw extreme poverty when her father abandoned her mother and siblings. Her mother detached herself emotionally from the children to make them self-reliant. Gilman did extensive reading in a local library to educate herself independently. After her marriage and the birth of her daughter, she went into extreme depression. “She understood in the most practical way that rest was prescribed out of the culture of a man-centered social world that treated women as though work outside the home was against their nature” (Lemert 18). Gilman’s husband, Stetson, did not want her to write, just like the husband of the protagonist of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’. The marriage was stressful. She could not even handle the treatment process, and obnoxious patterns and uncertain curves in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is a complete reflection of her mental state at that time. Hence, Gilman conveyed her perception of a male dominated society through this book. Zora Neal Hurston’s portrayal of female gender in ‘Sweat’ sheds light upon the suffering of a black woman, adding the component of racial inequality to the gender inequality that Charlotte Perkins Gilman has talked about. Hurston has beautifully shown the hardships black female writers faced in the time when the story was published. Hurston’s black woman identity very clearly resembles that of Delia, the story’s black female protagonist. The reader can clearly sense the way Hurston has promoted the cause of black feminism through the independent and strong characterization of a black woman who lives in a male dominant society and suffers from marital inequality. ““Sweat” makes it clear, for instance, that Hurston placed great value on a woman’s ability to work and to become financially independent, something she’d been struggling to do for more than half her life by 1926” (Boyd 138). ‘Sweat’ throws light upon the abusive marital relationship and the rebellion that finally makes Delia fight for freedom. Delia bottles her up anger and keeps quiet to maintain the relationship, but develops hatred for her husband Sykes. She decides to rebel. She reaches for iron skillet to hit Sykes, which was a very unusual thing for him to see (Hurston 27). This amazes Sykes, and he does not beat her. The story goes on and one afternoon, Sykes brings a snake and keeps it in the room despite Delia’s objection. One night, the snake gets loose, and Delia waits for Sykes to return. When he arrives, the snake bites him. Delia does not help him, and lets him die. This revengeful step shows the abhorrence and revolt that was developing inside Delia. The racial and gender inequality, as the reader senses in the character of Delia, relates to Hurston’s own life when one comes to know that Hurston was never paid for her writings. She did not even leave enough money for her funeral when she died in 1960. People had to collect money to buy her headstone (Boyd 433). However, as Delia won in the end, freeing herself from the oppression of man, Hurston also triumphed since her writings are read and appreciated till date. Contrary to the perception of Gilman and Hurston about male suppression and female repression, William Faulkner has attached an idea of strength to female gender in his story ‘A Rose for Emily’. It is believed that Faulkner related the character of Emily Grierson to his mother, Maud Faulkner. She was a strong and independent woman, and has influenced many of Faulkner’s writings. Maud’s independent nature reflects in Emily’s character. The reader reads that Emily is a woman who always carried her head high enough even when life was putting pressure on her (Faulkner 53). Emily refuses to be rejected when she finds out that Barron was not going to marry her. She knows that Barron has been using him to save face in a society which does not accept homosexuals as normal human beings. So, she takes her revenge, kills him, and sleeps with the dead body for days. She refuses to conform to the public’s view about herself in a time when women were expected to fall prey to male chauvinism. She holds herself exempt from paying the taxes, and refuses to recognize the mayor. “…her unconventional way of fighting back reveals her sense of identity” (Werlock 245). This attitude, power and independence that Faulkner has assigned to Emily’s character comes from the personality of Maud Faulkner. So, William Faulkner, despite being a male, epitomizes femininity as a symbol of strength and valor; and, his perceptions have been shaped by the strong personality of his mother. However, Ernest Hemingway, in ‘Hills like White Elephants’, has showed the female gender from both perspectives- as being repressive as well as empowered. Jig is the protagonist, who seeks her boyfriend’s decision about what to drink and how to. The man decides for her, without giving much choice to her. He also has no concern what she will go through if she decides to have an abortion, as the reader reads that he is trying to convince Jig of the ease of the operation that she has to go through (Hemingway 573). Hemingway had had the pregnancy and abortion issue with his first wife, Hadley. “Biographically inclined critics have pointed to the story’s period of composition, which coincided with Hemingway’s difficulty in coming to terms with his first wife, Hadley’s, pregnancy” (Stewart 74). Nevertheless, similar to Faulkner’s perception of female gender, Hemingway has also come up with a powerful feminist theme. The issue of abortion has always been a hot topic of debate in all feminist theories. The story shows how Jig, in the end, decides to keep the child, in opposition to her boyfriend’s opinion, which shows woman empowerment that feminism has brought with it. The conflict between the male and female genders that the reader comes across in the beginning of the story relates to the conflict and misfortune that Hemingway himself saw in his marital life. However, female empowerment in the end reflects his acceptance of the strength of the female gender. To conclude, female oppression has always been a common theme among the writers of all times. It has always been shown in literature that females are the sufferers and men are the oppressors. The society is male-dominated, where women are stereotyped as being submissive and indecisive. Women are stigmatized as being unable to work outside their homes. The female authors, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Zora Neale Hurston, have epitomized their female characters as victims of racial and gender identity. Their portrayal of characters relates to their personal life experiences. However, the male authors, William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway, have attached an idea of strength and courage to the female gender. Faulkner’s Emily is a symbol of strength to disregard others’ opinion; and, Hemingway’s Jig is a symbol of courage to decide against abortion. However, Hemingway has also shed light upon the repression of female nature. Hence, it is proved that the idea of female repression and male oppression is a famous one among the writers; however, the concept of female empowerment paves its way somehow or other. Although females have always been subjected to domination and subjugation, still they have been able to empower themselves through their efforts and wisdom. Works Cited Boyd, Valerie. Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2003. Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” Selected Short Stories. New York: Modern Library, 1993. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories. New York, NY: Courier Dover Publications, 2012. Hemingway, Ernest. "Hills Like White Elephants." Making Literature Matter. Boston: Bedford/St Martins, 2006. Hurston, Zora Neale. Sweat. New Jersey, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997. Lemert, Charles. Social Things: An Introduction to the Sociological Life. Plymouth, UK: Rowman & Littlefield, 2011. Stewart, Matthew. “A Reading of the Stories.” Modernism and Tradition in Ernest Hemingways In Our Time: A Guide for Students and Readers. New York, NY: Camden House, 2001. Werlock, Abby H.P. “Feminism/Feminist Criticism.” Companion to Literature: Facts on File Companion to the American Short Story. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing, 2009. Read More