Essay The Portrayal of Women in James Joyce's Dubliners

Using you knowledge AND the documents provided, write a well-reasoned essay on the following prompt:

Aware that this concept of marriage is a tool for financial security would be misunderstood in a society where women are liberated and independent; Weldon has brought the idea into the 20th century Australia. Weldon has made the connection between Charlotte’s marriage to Mr Collins and the Australian “rich land owners import Asian girls as wives.” The introduction of television and the internet in our context has made the suffering and hardships of foreigner’s woman extremely accessible, therefore we are able to sympathise with and understand why these women would forfeit their chance of true love in order to “escape the hunger and poverty of their own lands.” Through the connection modern responders are able to appreciate the importance of marriage held within society and are able to understand more completely that by making “the business of her life to get her five daughters married, Mrs Bennet was protecting her daughters from financial

The author agrees with the idea of women as victims through the characterisation of women in the short story. The women are portrayed as helpless to the torment inflicted upon them by the boy in the story. This positions readers to feel sympathy for the women but also think of the world outside the text in which women are also seen as inferior to men. “Each season provided him new ways of frightening the little girls who sat in front of him or behind him”. This statement shows that the boy’s primary target were the girls who sat next to him. This supports the tradition idea of women as the victims and compels readers to see that the women in the text are treated more or less the same as the women in the outside world. Characterisation has been used by the author to reinforce the traditional idea of women as the helpless victims.

“The Boarding House” is a story that starts off in the beginning with complications, but the main conflict of the story is that Mrs. Mooney, Mr. Doran, and Polly all want different thing. Mrs. Mooney, mother of Polly, want to find a husband for Polly. She wants to bring Polly out of the lower social class and to find her a marriage that will not end in failure like Mrs. Mooney did. Polly also wants a relationship, but is going about it all wrong. Polly is ruining her reputation in the processes. Mr. Doran is a man who wants to have it all. He wants to have an affair with Polly and not ruin his

This introduction will give a brief overview of what this essay will include, also giving brief definitions of any key theories and concepts that will be used throughout.

The discussion of the Wife’s five husbands describes her evolving role as a woman and how she overcame the most ridiculous obstacles to maintain this idea or illusion of marriage. The Wife’s depiction of her marriages was that three were good and two were bad. The initial marriages were to older rich men where she kept up this idea of marriage in order to receive money, but was not faithful by

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As a convention, marriage for women has been a landmark of success. It is necessary for a woman to enter into marriage to be recognized by the society as successful. The requisites of marriage such as love and affection are often neglected in exchange for some financial value imposed by the husband. In The Story of an Hour it is exemplified in ?a heart trouble? of Mrs. Mallard while in The Girls in Their Summer Dresses points out to Frances? longing to keep her husband in spite of her doubtful interest upon her.

For example, as Eveline looks out her window onto the street below, she notes that a man walking by is headed toward "the new red houses" (Joyce 329). She talks of how the area used to be a field full of carefree children, but is now nothing more than a plot of dwellings, presumably built to accommodate the wealthy as they move to the country, that contrast sharply with her own. She also delights at sitting with Frank in an area of the theater that was unfamiliar to her, probably because she could not normally afford the seats. Similarly, in "A Little Cloud," Little Chandler passes a number of underprivileged, dirty children in the street but takes no notice of them, illustrating how common this scene was in the poorer areas of Dublin. Joyce also spends some time describing the establishment in which Little Chandler meets with Gallaher. He points out to the reader that Little Chandler did not have enough money to even consider entering the tavern before; he could not even hire a servant to help with the baby or pay off the furniture. The reader may also note that Mrs. Mooney of "The Boarding House" saves leftover bread scraps from breakfast to use the next day and locks up the sugar and butter, actions not expected of a woman with money. In "Counterparts," Joyce tells of Farrington's low economic status by having him consider asking the cashier for an advance on his paycheck and mentally

James Joyce structured Ulysses to correspond with events in Homer's Odyssey. The relationship between two principle characters in Ulysses, Leopold Bloom as a sonless father and Stephen Dedalus as a fatherless son parallels the circumstances of Odysseus and Telemachus. This interpretation of the relationship between Bloom and Stephen, however, does not account for a significant theme of Ulysses, that of motherhood. Despite the idea that Bloom is a father looking for a son and that Stephen is a son looking for a father, the desires of both of these characters go beyond that of a father and son relationship. Although Joyce makes it evident that Bloom is, in face, in search of a son, Bloom is more suited to assuming the role of a mother than a

Fixed marriages are intended to help boost one’s social position and secure wealth for a lifetime. They are most commonly arranged by families, not for the purpose of the couple’s own love, but for the intention to carry on the family name, continue wealth and remain part of the upper class society. In In Victorian Britain, arranged marriages were a frequent social custom demonstrated by the wealthy upper class families. To go against this practice was unusual, but it happened for Jack and Gwendolen. As Gwendolen expresses to her mother, Lady Bracknell, that she is engaged to Jack, Lady Bracknell explains that “you are not engaged to anyone.

In Ireland, Catholicism is a major component of the everyday lifestyle, religion and culture. Religion was so inextricably intertwined within the Irish community that it even surpassed politics in that the priests hold all of the clout in society. The parish had an immense influence on society, and the priests were greatly respected as evidenced by the title “ Father,”

Throughout American Literature, women have been depicted in many different ways. The portrayal of women in American Literature is often influenced by an author's personal experience or a frequent societal stereotype of women and their position. Often times, male authors interpret society’s views of women in a completely different nature than a female author would. While F. Scott Fitzgerald may represent his main female character as a victim in the 1920’s, Zora Neale Hurston portrays hers as a strong, free-spirited, and independent woman only a decade later in the 1930’s.

The Story of an Hour is short, yet, contains important examples of gender roles in marriage. They are important because they represent how women felt married in the 19th century due to male dominance that manifested throughout marriages all over the world. In The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard is a wife that is, at first, seen as distraught, because of her husband’s death. She starts to cry and run to her room, to soon be lifted with the joy that she is now free. It is clear that she felt trapped in the marriage and is now happy that there is no one controlling her any longer. Mrs. Mallard is a prime example of women in marriages in the 19th century, and even some today. Unfortunately, they have to experience sexism from their husbands. Women are dominated by men in marriage and are expected to acquire the stereotypical gender roles.

The novel, "Ulysses", by James Joyce shows the reader hour by hour a single day in the life of one man.  But this epic which specifically deals with Leopold Bloom and has reference to Stephen Dedalus, holds so much more appendage to other areas of life.  One, is the portrayal of women in Ulysses. A common speculation is that men seem to have a more dominating status over women.  However, in Ulysses that theory dwindles due to the women who  play significant roles in the story.  Although the women in the novel all use various tactics to entice the men to succumb and cower to them, it all ends up that the men do heed to the qualifying factors.