The Treatment of Women in On The Road
The women in Jack Kerouac's On The Road were, it seems, not afforded the same depth in character which the author gave the men. The treatment of the women characters in both word and action by Sal and Dean seems to show that women could only be a virgin/mother figure or a whore. Throughout the novel there are many instances in which women and their feelings or actions are either referred to flippantly or blatantly degraded. It can be said, however, that Sal (Kerouac) did not necessarily agree with this narrow female identity, and there is evidence to support this claim. The novel also shows though that Sal did participate in this male forced female stereotyping whether he
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So, in consequence, there are many instances of the diminishment of the female identity. These can be seen in the novels treatment of the female characters like Marylou, Sal's Aunt, and Terry. Marylou is repeatedly talked about, not talked to. In the part in which Dean wishes Sal to sleep with Marylou the only dialogue that goes on is either Sal's or Dean's. Marylou has no lines. All she really has is a little "go ahead". That is all and that really does not even imply cooperation; only coercion like "go ahead and You do Your thing to me". Dean is flippantly wanting Marylou to sleep with his friend with little regard to anything she feels. She is a women, and, what is more to Dean she is a whore so of course she will sleep with Sal. To Sal's credit though he does ask what she wants or thinks from the start but this sudden care seems to arise due to his own nervousness and insecurities not any kind of genuine feeling for Marylou. Her identity as seen through the eyes of men would fall into the whore stereotype of women. This is the exact opposite from Sal's Aunt. The most apparent treatment of Sal's Aunt as something less than an equal comes at the end of part one. Sal has just returned from his first trip west. He is tired. He has been starving for three days now and of course eats everything in the house. Then his Aunt's few extensive lines in the entire novel occur, and in a decidedly motherly fashion she says "Poor little Salvatore". She has fulfilled Sal's
For the longest time now, advertising has played a huge role in how we identify ourselves in the United States with the American culture, and how others identify themselves with all the cultures of the rest of the world as well. It guides us in making everyday decisions, such as what items we definitely need to invest our money on, how to dress in-vogue, and what mindset we should have to prosper the most. Although advertising does help make life easier for most, at the same time it has negative affects on the people of society as well. Advertisement discreetly manipulates the beliefs, morals, and values of our culture, and it does so in a way that most of the time we don’t even realize it’s happened. In order to reach our main goal of
Sexualizaton and objectification in the advertisements we see and the media we watch has become a very strong issue in our society. With the idea that “sex sells”, consumers don’t even realize that they’re not viewing the advertisements for what they are, but for the women (or men) that are being portrayed in a very erotic way, posed with whatever product they were hired to sell. Many articles have been written so far to challenge and assess this problem, but one written by Jean Kilbourne (1999), “”Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”: Advertising and Violence” holds an extensive amount of authority. Using her personal experience with the subject, as well as studies she has conducted herself on the topic of sexualization, she talks about how the amount of sexualization in advertising affects how society views the culture and products consumers buy. She also notes that because of the quantity and prevalence of these ads, the rate of all forms of sexual assault, specifically rape (mostly towards women of all age), increase, as well as other forms of assault. It is important to examine Kilbourne’s use of rhetorical devices, such as ethos, pathos, and logos, and how effective these devices make her article. This way, it can be examined for its validity and her understanding of her own research. Kilbourne’s article is very effective through her uses of pathos and ethos, but at the same time, it loses its effectiveness through her absence of a counter-argument, as well as a lack
Beautiful symbolism and imagery are found in the literature work On the Road by Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes offers a gift in this work which is to open the heart and life will provide unlimited abundance. During this literary analysis Langston Hughes uses nature to demonstrate his main character's unwillingness to participate in life. Another point that Hughes demonstrates is the use of anger and survival and how it can be used as a powerful force in breaking down racial barriers. One more impact Langston Hughes uses is Jesus Christ as a metaphor. Hughes uses this as how people experience life and how traditional church values contradict each other when it comes to the acceptance of human beings. Therefore after reading On the Road,
"Women on the Edge of Time" by Marge Piercy, is a novel that illustrates some problems of today’s society and compares them to a possible future time. The other world that is presented in the book is called Mattapoisett. Mattapoisett is described as an utopian science fiction place because is much different from the place that Connie lived. Even thought Mattapoisett might be the world that Connie’s culture needed it is not a perfect world. Some of the problems that Marge Piercy presents in the book are poverty, women’s role, and problems of government, the environment, and prejudices that our society is facing today. However, how is the society different from the two cultures presented in the book? Connie, the
Although Death of a Salesman is mainly about a salesman named Willy Loman, the almost hidden presence of the women in the novel goes all too often unnoticed. Linda Loman seems to be the glue that holds the Loman clan together, as Willy, Biff, and Happy are all deluded in one way or another. Arthur Miller depicts Willy's wife in a very specific way, and this is a very crucial part of the story. He depicts the other women in the story in ways that complement Linda's distinct nature. Although Linda's role as a woman in society is extremely limited, she is a heroic character, both wife and mother to some very sad and twisted characters.
“For Colored Girls” is comprised of seven women who represented a different shade of the rainbow. The colors are brown, red, yellow, white, green, orange and blue. Their costumes and make-up transformed each of them and were symbolic of the color their character embodied. The ensemble acting made all of their roles of equal importance, without one dominating the other. These women together formed a bond through their various adversities, gradually taking them from strangers to acquaintances. From an objective view, the audience is allowed to simply observe the events as they take place (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011, pg. 82) chronologically. Throughout the movie during some of the conflicting and traumatic scenes, one of the women recites a
The Feminine Mystique is the title of a book written by the late Betty Friedan
Throughout United States history oppression of people has always been prominent, whether through African American’s and segregation or Asian American’s during the Vietnam War. What is often ignored is our history of the oppression of women. No matter what time in history, there is always a case to be found of the discrimination over gender. Many people know of how African American’s came into freedom and the long perilous road it took, but few know the struggles, changes and hardships that women have perceived to get where they are today. As the civil war halted and industrialization and urbanization came into play, the role of women changed dramatically and their status
Imagine you are being used as a tool and ignored from this world. You would feel depressed. In this world, huge number of women or girls are being excluded from the society or their rights and freedoms are ignored from men. Sometimes they get sexually abused or raped and some women can't get education just because they are female and I believe that this is ridiculous because just they have different gender, they are ignored or sometimes used as a tool.
What’s great about this play is gives us insight into the past and focuses on an average family and provides lots of material to do a feminist analysis of.
In Dubliners, women are victims indeed. They are victims of home, of the recognized virtues by society, of classes of life, of religious doctrines, and of women themselves. In this essay, we are going to analyze the portrayal of women in Dubliners in terms of the aforementioned aspects, namely home, the recognized virtues by society, classes of life, religious doctrines and women themselves.
A disillusioned youth roams the country without truly establishing himself in one of the many cities he falls in love with. In doing so, he manages with the thought or presence of his best friend. What is he searching for? While journeying on the road, Sal Paradise is not searching for a home, a job, or a wife. Instead, he longs for a mental utopia offered by Dean Moriarty. This object of his brotherly love grew up in the streets of America. Through the hardships of continuously being shuffled from city to city, Dean has encompassed what is and what is not important in life. While driving back to Testament in the '49 Hudson, Dean propositions Sal through an appeal to emotion. In passing
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.
Throughout many decades women have been struggling to be equal to men, both at home and in the work place. Women have come a long way and are certainly fighting to gain that equality, but gender roles are very important in our society. They have become important in life from birth, and society continues to push these gender roles. The treatment of the male gender is very different from that of the female, and this issue has become very important to me, as a woman. As children we learn and adapt to specific gender roles, and as we grow they become more evident and more important to our role in a society. There is a lot of discrimination against the female gender. Carol Gilligan argued that
Throughout history and today, we women are constant victims of stereotyping from our society. Certain “rules” have to be followed and certain “ideal” women images have to be kept. We are raised in a way to fill certain position where the society wants us to be and as a result, the opportunities are always limited for us and ideas of our importance in the society are diminishing. Even though women gained some independence, where women can work and take various position in society, the society’s idea of typical role of women never seem to change.