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41 Student Essay Example: Feminist Criticism

The following student essay example of femnist criticism is taken from Beginnings and Endings: A Critical Edition . This is the publication created by students in English 211. This essay discusses Ray Bradbury’s short story ”There Will Come Soft Rains.”

Burning Stereotypes in Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains”

By Karley McCarthy

Ray Bradbury’s short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” takes place in the fallout of a nuclear war. The author chooses to tell the story though a technologically advanced house and its animatronic inhabitants instead of a traditional protagonist. The house goes about its day-to-day as if no war had struck. It functions as though its deceased family is still residing in its walls, taking care of the maintenance, happiness, and safety of itself and the long dead family. On the surface, Bradbury’s story seems like a clear-cut warning about technology and humanity’s permissiveness. Given that the short story was written in the 1940s, it’s easy to analyze the themes present and how they related to women of the time. Bradbury’s apt precautionary tale can be used as a metaphor for women’s expectations and role in society after World War II and how some women may have dealt with the fallout of their husbands coming back home with psychological trauma.

To experience “There Will Come Soft Rains” from a feminist perspective, readers must be aware of the societal norms that would have shaped Bradbury’s writing. “Soft Rains” takes place in the year 2026. Yet the house and norms found throughout were, “modeled after concept homes that showed society’s expectations of technological advancement” (Mambrol). This can be seen in the stereotypical nuclear family that once inhabited the house as well as their cliché white home and the hobbies present. According to writer Elaine Tyler May’s book Homeward Bound, America’s view of women’s role in society undertook a massive pendulum swing during the World War II era as the country transitioned through pre-war to post-war life. For example, in a matter of decades support for women joining the workforce shifted from 80% in opposition to only 13% (May 59). Despite this shift, the men coming back from the war still expected women to position themselves as the happy housewife they had left behind, not the newfound career woman architype. Prominent figures of the 40s, such as actress Joan Crawford, portrayed a caricature of womanhood that is subservient to patriarchal gender roles, attempting to abandon the modern idea of a self-sufficient working-class woman (May 62-63). Keeping this in mind, how can this image of the 1940s woman be seen in Bradbury’s work?

Throughout Bradbury’s life he worked towards dismantling clichés in his own writing. A biography titled simply “Ray Bradbury” mentions that even in his earlier work, he was always attempting to “escape the constrictions of stereotypes” found in early science fiction (Seed 13). An example of him breaking constrictions could be his use of a nonhuman protagonist. Instead, Bradbury relies on the personification of the house and its robotic counterparts. Bradbury describes the house as having “electric eyes” and emotions such as a, “preoccupation with self-protection which bordered on a mechanical paranoia,” something that would make the house quiver at the sounds of the outside world (2-3). While these descriptions are interesting, Bradbury’s use of personification here is a thought-provoking choice when one breaks down what exactly the house is meant to personify.

One analysis of this story notes that the house’s personification, “replaces the most human aspects of life,” for its inhabitants (Mambrol). Throughout the story, the house acts as a caretaker, records a schedule, cooks, cleans, and even attempts to extinguish an all-consuming fire. While firefighting is not a traditionally feminine career or expectation from the 1940s (more on that later), most of the house’s daily tasks are replacing jobs that were traditionally held by a household’s matriarch. Expanding further on this dichotomy of male/woman tasks, a chore mentioned in the story that is ‘traditionally’ accepted as a masculine household duty—mowing the law—is still assigned as a male task. This is feels intentional to the house’s design as Bradbury is, “a social critic, and his work is pertinent to real problems on earth” (Dominianni 49). Bradbury’s story is not meant to commentate on just an apocalypse, but society at large.  Bradbury describes the west face of the house as, “black, save for five places” (Bradbury 1-2). These “five places” are the silhouettes of the family who had been incinerated by a nuclear bomb. The family’s two children are included playing with a ball, but the mother and father’s descriptions are most important. The mother is seen in a passive role, picking flowers, while the father mows the lawn. The subtext here is that the man is not replaceable in his mundane and tedious task. Only the woman is replaced. While this is a small flash into the owners’ lives, what “human aspect” or autonomy of the father’s life has been replaced by the house’s actions if the house is mainly personifying only the traditional 1940s female-held positions? The message here is that a man’s position in society is irreplaceable while a woman’s is one of mere support.

While this dynamic of husband vs subordinate is harmful, wives supporting their partners is nothing new. Homeward Bound explains that life after World War II for many women meant a return to their previous position as a housewife while many men came home irreparably damaged by years of warfare. PTSD, known then as shellshock, affected countless men returning from the war. Women were often expected to mend the psychological damage as part of their domestic responsibilities, even if they were unprepared for the realities of the severe trauma their husbands had faced (May 64-65). The psychological effects of the war came crashing into women’s lives the same way that the tree fell into the autonomous house in “Soft Rains”. As mentioned earlier, firefighting is not a task someone from the 40s would expect of women, but the house’s combustion and its scramble to save itself can be seen as a metaphor for women attempting to reverse the cold reality that the war had left them with. The picturesque family they had dreamed of would forever be scarred by the casualties that took place overseas. While Bradbury may not have meant for women to be invoked specifically from this precautionary tale, it’s obvious that him wanting his science fiction to act as, “a cumulative early warning system against unforeseen consequences,” would have impacted women of the time as much as men (Seed 22). The unforeseen consequences here is the trauma the war inflicted on families.

While men were fighting on the front lines, women back home and in noncombat positions would still feel the war’s ripples. In “Soft Rains” the nuclear tragedy had left, “a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles” (Bradbury 1). Despite the destruction, the house continues its routine as though nothing had happened. This can be seen as a metaphor for how women responded to the trauma their husbands brought back from the war. Women were urged to, “preserve for him the essence of the girl he fell in love with, the girl he longs to come back to. . .The least we can do as women is to try to live up to some of those expectations” (May 64). Following this, many could have put their desires and personal growth to the side to act as a secondary character in their husband’s lives.

The final line can be read as the culmination of similarities between post-war women and Bradbury’s house. The violence and destruction that fell upon the house in its final moments leaves little standing. What’s remarkable is how the house still attempts to continue despite its destruction. The final lines of the short story exemplify this: “Within the wall, a last voice said, over and over again and again, even as the sun rose to shine upon the heaped rubble and steam: ‘Today is August 5, 2026, today is August 5, 2026, today is…’” (Bradbury 5). The house is acting just like the women from the 40s, clinging to their past in an attempt to preserve something that had already been lost, society’s innocence. One analysis points out that, “The house is depicted in this way because it represents both humanity and humanity’s failure to save itself” (Mambrol). While it might be wrong to say that women were unable to save themselves in this situation, this quote does touch on an idea present in the feminist metaphor for “Soft Rains”. The preservation of “the essence of the girl he fell in love with, the girl he longs to come back to” was a failure (May 64). The same way that the house cannot preserve itself from destruction, women cannot preserve an image of themselves that had already dissolved. As mentioned earlier, women had already entered the workforce, a huge step towards removing sexist stereotypes around women’s worth. After garnering work-based independence, it seems impossible that the idea of women solely as men’s support would not immolate.

While Bradbury’s “Soft Rains” can be viewed as an apt precautionary tale with real modern world issues at hand, in many ways it is a period piece. As a writer in the 1940s, it’s hard to imagine that Bradbury’s story would not have been influenced by the framework of a nuclear family and the stereotypical expectations of this time. Bradbury’s use of personification opens dialogue about gender roles in the 1940s and how war had complicated patriarchal expectations. Despite his attempt to bypass science fiction stereotypes, his story is full of metaphor for gender stereotypes. Using a feminist lens to analyze the story allows it to be read as a metaphor for war and its effects on married women. The standard analysis appears to say that, “machine no longer served humanity in “There Will Come Soft Rains”; there humanity is subservient to machinery” (Dominianni 49). From a feminist perspective, instead of machine, the house represents patriarchy and gender norms. While men suffered greatly during World War II, women often put their wants and futures on hold to support their husbands. This is a selfless act that shows the resilience of women despite their society’s wish to downplay their potential and turn them into mere support.

Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray. “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains.” Broome-Tioga BOCES, 1950, pp. 1-5. btboces.org/Downloads/7_There%20Will%20Come%20Soft%20Rains%20by%20Ray%20Bradbury.pdf.

Dominianni, Robert. “Ray Bradbury’s 2026: A Year with Current Value.” The English Journal , vol. 73, no. 7, 1984, pp. 49–51. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/817806

Mambrol, Nasrullah. “Analysis of Ray Bradbury’s There Will Come Soft Rains.” Literary Theory and Criticism , 17 Jan. 2022.

May, Elaine Tyler. “War and Peace: Fanning the Home Fires.”  Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era.  20th ed., Basic Books, 2008, pp. 58-88.

Seed, David. “Out of the Science Fiction Ghetto.”  Ray Bradbury (Modern Masters of Science Fiction).  University of Illinois, 2015, pp. 1-45.

Critical Worlds Copyright © 2024 by Liza Long is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Feminism: An Essay

Feminism: An Essay

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on April 27, 2016 • ( 6 )

Feminism as a movement gained potential in the twentieth century, marking the culmination of two centuries’ struggle for cultural roles and socio-political rights — a struggle which first found its expression in Mary Wollstonecraft ‘s Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). The movement gained increasing prominence across three phases/waves — the first wave (political), the second wave (cultural) and the third wave (academic). Incidentally Toril Moi also classifies the feminist movement into three phases — the female (biological), the feminist (political) and the feminine (cultural).

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The first wave of feminism, in the 19th and 20th centuries, began in the US and the UK as a struggle for equality and property rights for women, by suffrage groups and activist organisations. These feminists fought against chattel marriages and for polit ical and economic equality. An important text of the first wave is Virginia Woolf ‘s A Room of One’s Own (1929), which asserted the importance of woman’s independence, and through the character Judith (Shakespeare’s fictional sister), explicated how the patriarchal society prevented women from realising their creative potential. Woolf also inaugurated the debate of language being gendered — an issue which was later dealt by Dale Spender who wrote Man Made Language (1981), Helene Cixous , who introduced ecriture feminine (in The Laugh of the Medusa ) and Julia Kristeva , who distinguished between the symbolic and the semiotic language.

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The second wave of feminism in the 1960s and ’70s, was characterized by a critique of patriarchy in constructing the cultural identity of woman. Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex (1949) famously stated, “One is not born, but rather becomes a woman” – a statement that highlights the fact that women have always been defined as the “Other”, the lacking, the negative, on whom Freud attributed “ penis-envy .” A prominent motto of this phase, “The Personal is the political” was the result of the awareness .of the false distinction between women’s domestic and men’s public spheres. Transcending their domestic and personal spaces, women began to venture into the hitherto male dominated terrains of career and public life. Marking its entry into the academic realm, the presence of feminism was reflected in journals, publishing houses and academic disciplines.

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Mary Ellmann ‘s Thinking about Women (1968), Kate Millett ‘s Sexual Politics (1969), Betty Friedan ‘s The Feminine Mystique (1963) and so on mark the major works of the phase. Millett’s work specifically depicts how western social institutions work as covert ways of manipulating power, and how this permeates into literature, philosophy etc. She undertakes a thorough critical understanding of the portrayal of women in the works of male authors like DH Lawrence, Norman Mailer, Henry Miller and Jean Genet.

In the third wave (post 1980), Feminism has been actively involved in academics with its interdisciplinary associations with Marxism , Psychoanalysis and Poststructuralism , dealing with issues such as language, writing, sexuality, representation etc. It also has associations with alternate sexualities, postcolonialism ( Linda Hutcheon and Spivak ) and Ecological Studies ( Vandana Shiva )

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Elaine Showalter , in her “ Towards a Feminist Poetics ” introduces the concept of gynocriticism , a criticism of gynotexts, by women who are not passive consumers but active producers of meaning. The gynocritics construct a female framework for the analysis of women’s literature, and focus on female subjectivity, language and literary career. Patricia Spacks ‘ The Female Imagination , Showalter’s A Literature of their Own , Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar ‘s The Mad Woman in the Attic are major gynocritical texts.

The present day feminism in its diverse and various forms, such as liberal feminism, cultural/ radical feminism, black feminism/womanism, materialist/neo-marxist feminism, continues its struggle for a better world for women. Beyond literature and literary theory, Feminism also found radical expression in arts, painting ( Kiki Smith , Barbara Kruger ), architecture( Sophia Hayden the architect of Woman’s Building ) and sculpture (Kate Mllett’s Naked Lady).

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Tags: A Literature of their Own , A Room of One's Own , Barbara Kruger , Betty Friedan , Dale Spender , ecriture feminine , Elaine Showalter , Feminism , Gynocriticism , Helene Cixous , http://bookzz.org/s/?q=Kate+Millett&yearFrom=&yearTo=&language=&extension=&t=0 , Judith Shakespeare , Julia Kristeva , Kate Millett , Kiki Smith , Literary Criticism , Literary Theory , Man Made Language , Mary Ellmann , Mary Wollstonecraft , Patricia Spacks , Sandra Gilbert , Simone de Beauvoir , Sophia Hayden , Susan Gubar , The Female Imagination , The Feminine Mystique , The Laugh of the Medusa , The Mad Woman in the Attic , The Second Sex , Toril Moi , Towards a Feminist Poetics , Vandana Shiva , Vindication of the Rights of Woman

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From Text to Liberation: Susan Sontag’s Powerful Feminist Literary Lens

Examine Susan Sontag’s feminist views and contributions in essays, exploring her nuanced portrayal of women in literature.

feminist lens essay

Susan Sontag, an iconic American writer, filmmaker, and intellectual, left a lasting mark on the literary landscape of the 20th century. Beyond her renowned works on culture, art, and philosophy, Sontag’s writings also bear the imprint of a keen feminist perspective. In this exploration, delve into Sontag’s feminist lens, examining her contributions to feminist thought and her nuanced portrayal of women in literature.

Feminist Themes in Sontag’s Essays

Sontag’s essays, marked by their incisive intellect and cultural critique, often incorporated feminist themes. In works such as Against Interpretation and The Aesthetics of Silence , she scrutinized the traditional patriarchal structures that influenced artistic interpretation. Her observations dissected the gendered expectations imposed on women in the realms of art and culture.

Book cover of textured pink, blue, and purple leaves, book title in the center

In Against Interpretation , Sontag challenged the prevailing notions that confined women’s creativity within predefined boundaries. She argued for the liberation of artistic expression, urging a move beyond restrictive interpretations that often forced women into predetermined roles.

A book cover of enlarged flower. Author's name and book title on the top left.

Contribution to Feminist Thought

Sontag’s contribution to feminist thought lies not only in her explicit discussions of gender but also in her broader exploration of power dynamics and cultural norms. Her essay Notes on “Camp” questioned the conventional standards of beauty and taste, suggesting that camp, with its celebration of the exaggerated and unconventional, could be a form of rebellion against societal norms, including those dictating women’s appearances and behaviors.

A red book cover of Notes on Camp  with the title in the center and author below it

Additionally, Sontag’s feminist critique extended beyond the written word. As a filmmaker, she challenged cinematic conventions, offering alternative narratives that subverted gender stereotypes. In her documentary, Promised Lands she examined the lives of Israeli and Palestinian women, shedding light on the complex intersections of gender, politics, and culture.

Portrayal of Women in Literature

Sontag’s approach to portraying women in literature was nuanced and complex. She eschewed simplistic stereotypes, opting instead for multifaceted, independent female characters who defied societal expectations. In her fiction, such as the novel The Volcano Lover , Sontag crafted protagonists who were not confined by conventional gender roles, embodying a sense of agency and autonomy.

Book cover of The Volcano Lover, picturing a volcano with smoke rising from it in the sea

In her exploration of the intersection between feminism and literature, Sontag sought to unravel the layers of societal expectations that constrained women. Her writings challenged readers to rethink traditional narratives and encouraged a broader, more inclusive perspective on the role of women in literature and society.

Susan Sontag’s feminist lens offers a rich and thought-provoking perspective on the portrayal of women in literature. Through her essays and works, she not only contributed to feminist thought but also paved the way for a more inclusive and diverse representation of women in the world of art and culture. As we reflect on Sontag’s legacy, her feminist insights continue to inspire readers and writers alike, urging us to question and reshape the narratives that shape our understanding of women in literature.

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Feminist approaches to literature.

This essay offers a very basic introduction to feminist literary theory, and a compendium of Great Writers Inspire resources that can be approached from a feminist perspective. It provides suggestions for how material on the Great Writers Inspire site can be used as a starting point for exploration of or classroom discussion about feminist approaches to literature. Questions for reflection or discussion are highlighted in the text. Links in the text point to resources in the Great Writers Inspire site. The resources can also be found via the ' Feminist Approaches to Literature' start page . Further material can be found via our library and via the various authors and theme pages.

The Traditions of Feminist Criticism

According to Yale Professor Paul Fry in his lecture The Classical Feminist Tradition from 25:07, there have been several prominent schools of thought in modern feminist literary criticism:

  • First Wave Feminism: Men's Treatment of Women In this early stage of feminist criticism, critics consider male novelists' demeaning treatment or marginalisation of female characters. First wave feminist criticism includes books like Marry Ellman's Thinking About Women (1968) Kate Millet's Sexual Politics (1969), and Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch (1970). An example of first wave feminist literary analysis would be a critique of William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew for Petruchio's abuse of Katherina.
  • The 'Feminine' Phase - in the feminine phase, female writers tried to adhere to male values, writing as men, and usually did not enter into debate regarding women's place in society. Female writers often employed male pseudonyms during this period.
  • The 'Feminist' Phase - in the feminist phase, the central theme of works by female writers was the criticism of the role of women in society and the oppression of women.
  • The 'Female' Phase - during the 'female' phase, women writers were no longer trying to prove the legitimacy of a woman's perspective. Rather, it was assumed that the works of a women writer were authentic and valid. The female phase lacked the anger and combative consciousness of the feminist phase.

Do you agree with Showalter's 'phases'? How does your favourite female writer fit into these phases?

Read Jane Eyre with the madwoman thesis in mind. Are there connections between Jane's subversive thoughts and Bertha's appearances in the text? How does it change your view of the novel to consider Bertha as an alter ego for Jane, unencumbered by societal norms? Look closely at Rochester's explanation of the early symptoms of Bertha's madness. How do they differ from his licentious behaviour?

How does Jane Austen fit into French Feminism? She uses very concise language, yet speaks from a woman's perspective with confidence. Can she be placed in Showalter's phases of women's writing?

Dr. Simon Swift of the University of Leeds gives a podcast titled 'How Words, Form, and Structure Create Meaning: Women and Writing' that uses the works of Virginia Woolf and Silvia Plath to analyse the form and structural aspects of texts to ask whether or not women writers have a voice inherently different from that of men (podcast part 1 and part 2 ).

In Professor Deborah Cameron's podcast English and Gender , Cameron discusses the differences and similarities in use of the English language between men and women.

In another of Professor Paul Fry's podcasts, Queer Theory and Gender Performativity , Fry discusses sexuality, the nature of performing gender (14:53), and gendered reading (46:20).

How do more modern A-level set texts, like those of Margaret Atwood, Zora Neale Hurston, or Maya Angelou, fit into any of these traditions of criticism?

Depictions of Women by Men

Students could begin approaching Great Writers Inspire by considering the range of women depicted in early English literature: from Chaucer's bawdy 'Wife of Bath' in The Canterbury Tales to Spenser's interminably pure Una in The Faerie Queene .

How might the reign of Queen Elizabeth I have dictated the way Elizabethan writers were permitted to present women? How did each male poet handle the challenge of depicting women?

By 1610 Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker's The Roaring Girl presented at The Fortune a play based on the life of Mary Firth. The heroine was a man playing a woman dressed as a man. In Dr. Emma Smith's podcast on The Roaring Girl , Smith breaks down both the gender issues of the play and of the real life accusations against Mary Frith.

In Dr. Emma Smith's podcast on John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi , a frequent A-level set text, Smith discusses Webster's treatment of female autonomy. Placing Middleton or Webster's female characters against those of Shakespeare could be brought to bear on A-level Paper 4 on Drama or Paper 5 on Shakespeare and other pre-20th Century Texts.

Smith's podcast on The Comedy of Errors from 11:21 alludes to the valuation of Elizabethan comedy as a commentary on gender and sexuality, and how The Comedy of Errors at first seems to defy this tradition.

What are the differences between depictions of women written by male and female novelists?

Students can compare the works of Charlotte and Emily Brontë or Jane Austen with, for example, Hardy's Tess of the d'Ubervilles or D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover or Women in Love .

How do Lawrence's sexually charged novels compare with what Emma Smith said about Webster's treatment of women's sexuality in The Duchess of Malfi ?

Dr. Abigail Williams' podcast on Jonathan Swift's The Lady's Dressing-Room discusses the ways in which Swift uses and complicates contemporary stereotypes about the vanity of women.

Rise of the Woman Writer

With the movement from Renaissance to Restoration theatre, the depiction of women on stage changed dramatically, in no small part because women could portray women for the first time. Dr. Abigail Williams' adapted lecture, Behn and the Restoration Theatre , discusses Behn's use and abuse of the woman on stage.

What were the feminist advantages and disadvantages to women's introduction to the stage?

The essay Who is Aphra Behn? addresses the transformation of Behn into a feminist icon by later writers, especially Bloomsbury Group member Virginia Woolf in her novella/essay A Room of One's Own .

How might Woolf's description and analysis of Behn indicate her own feminist agenda?

Behn created an obstacle for later women writers in that her scandalous life did little to undermine the perception that women writing for money were little better than whores.

In what position did that place chaste female novelists like Frances Burney or Jane Austen ?

To what extent was the perception of women and the literary vogue for female heroines impacted by Samuel Richardson's Pamela ? Students could examine a passage from Pamela and evaluate Richardson's success and failures, and look for his influence in novels with which they are more familiar, like those of Austen or the Brontë sisters.

In Dr. Catherine's Brown's podcast on Eliot's Reception History , Dr. Brown discusses feminist criticism of Eliot's novels. In the podcast Genre and Justice , she discusses Eliot's use of women as scapegoats to illustrate the injustice of the distribution of happiness in Victorian England.

Professor Sir Richard Evans' Gresham College lecture The Victorians: Gender and Sexuality can provide crucial background for any study of women in Victorian literature.

Women Writers and Class

Can women's financial and social plights be separated? How do Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë bring to bear financial concerns regarding literature depicting women in the 18th and 19th century?

How did class barriers affect the work of 18th century kitchen maid and poet Mary Leapor ?

Listen to the podcast by Yale's Professor Paul Fry titled "The Classical Feminist Tradition" . At 9:20, Fry questions whether or not any novel can be evaluated without consideration of financial and class concerns, and to what extent Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own suggests a female novelist can only create successful work if she is of independent means.

What are the different problems faced by a wealthy character like Austen's Emma , as opposed to a poor character like Brontë's Jane Eyre ?

Also see sections on the following writers:

  • Jane Austen
  • Charlotte Brontë
  • George Eliot
  • Thomas Hardy
  • D.H. Lawrence
  • Mary Leapor
  • Thomas Middleton
  • Katherine Mansfield
  • Olive Schreiner
  • William Shakespeare
  • John Webster
  • Virginina Woolf

If reusing this resource please attribute as follows: Feminist Approaches to Literature at http://writersinspire.org/content/feminist-approaches-literature by Kate O'Connor, licensed as Creative Commons BY-NC-SA (2.0 UK).

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Great gatsby through the lens of feminism.

November 5, 2018

ENGL 100. Prof Whitley

The Great Gatsby through the lens of Feminism

Feminist criticism examines the ways in which literature has been written according to issues of gender. It focuses its attention on how cultural productions such as literature address the economic, social, political, and psychological oppression of women as a result of patriarchy. Patriarchal ideology has a deeply rooted influence on the way we think, speak, and view ourselves in the world, and an understanding of the pervasive nature of this ideology is necessary for a feminist critique. Demonstrating how people are a product of their culture, feminist criticism of The Great Gatsby reveals how the novel both supports and challenges the assumptions of a patriarchal society. The Great Gatsby displays various aspects of feminist philosophy by reflecting opposing principles of society’s model through very different female characters. By using a range of characters who respond to the figure of the New Woman, the novel shows how difficult it was to defy the norms of the time.

The novel paints a picture of America in the 1920’s. Before the war, women had no freedom, and they had to remain on a pedestal prescribed by the limits of male ideals. But now, women could be seen smoking and drinking, often in the company of men. They could also be seen enjoying the sometimes raucous nightlife offered at nightclubs and private parties. Even the new dances of the era, which seemed wild and overtly sexual to many, bespoke an attitude of free self-expression and unrestrained enjoyment. In other words, a “New Woman” emerged in the 1920’s. The appearance of the New Woman on the scene evoked a great deal of negative reaction from conservative members of society who felt that women’s rejection of any aspect of their traditional role would inevitably result in the destruction of the family and the moral decline of society as a whole.

The main female characters in the novel – Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle – despite their many differences in class, occupation, appearance and personality traits, are all versions of the New Woman. All three display a good deal of modern independence. Only two are married, but they don’t keep their marital unhappiness a secret, although secrecy on such matters is cardinal in a patriarchal marriage. The women also challenge their assigned roles as females by preferring the excitement of night life to the more traditional employments of hearth and home. There is only one child among them, Daisy’s daughter, and while the child is well looked after by a nurse and affectionately treated by her mother, Daisy’s life does not revolve exclusively around her maternal role. Finally, all three women openly challenge patriarchal sexual taboo. Jordan engages in premarital sex, and Tom is even prompted to comment that Jordan’s family “shouldn’t let her run around the country in this way” (14). Daisy and Myrtle are both engaged in extramarital affairs, although Myrtle is more explicit about it than Daisy.

One of Daisy’s most memorable quotes is “All right, I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little food” (16). Daisy speaks of her hopes for her infant child, which reveals a lot about her character. Her bitterness and cynicism are signaled as she expresses this devastating critique of women’s position in society with reference to her daughter. It is clear that Daisy is a product of a social environment that, to a great extent, does not appreciate or value intellect in women. While Daisy conforms to a shared, patriarchal idea of femininity that values subservient and docile females, she also understands these social standards for women and chooses to play right into them. In this way, Daisy is a more subversive feminist.

Jordan is prescribed as a more masculine female character and seems to resist social pressure to conform to feminine norms. Not only does she have her own successful career, something that most women in the 1920’s did not have, but her career is in the male-dominated field of professional golf. She seems androgynous in her appearance and is described as having a “mustache of perspiration” and being “slender, small-breasted, with an erect carriage which accentuated by throwing her body backward at her shoulders like a young cadet.” The numerous masculine references in her physical descriptions through words such as ‘mustache,’ ‘erect,’ and ‘cadet’ demonstrate how she was not the typical 1920’s woman.  She is also very honest and direct, where the patriarchal norm would be to remain submissive and quiet.

Myrtle’s characterization is more focused on her physicality, and she is more quickly undermined as artificial and even grotesque. Her death is undignified and stresses the destruction of her feminine aspects, with her left breast “swinging loose” and her mouth “ripped.” It is possible to argue that Myrtle is severely punished for her expression of sexuality, while Daisy, less overt about her illicit relationship with Gatsby, and a less sensual character altogether, is able to resume her life with Tom once she has left Gatsby.

The novel also abounds with minor female characters whose dress and activities identify them as incarnations of the New Woman, and they are portrayed as clones of a single, negative character type: shallow, revolting, exhibitionist and deceitful. For example, at Gatsby’s parties, we see insincere, “enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other’s names” (44), as well as numerous narcissistic attention-seekers in various stages of drunken hysteria. We meet, for example, a young woman who “dumps” down a cocktail “for courage” and “dances out alone on the canvass to perform” (45) and a “rowdy little girl who gave way upon the slightest provocation to uncontrollable laughter” (51). The novel’s discomfort with the New Woman becomes evident through these characterizations.

In conclusion, the women in this text are shown to be victims of social and cultural norms that they could not change, demonstrating how influential culture can be in shaping the lives of individuals. There is an attempt to redefine society and culture in a new way by gender relations and the women in this novel actively try to change the social norms through their attitudes and actions. It becomes clear, however, that patriarchy is deeply internalized for these characters, demonstrating how powerful and often devastating this ideology can be.

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Collaboration, information literacy, writing process, feminist criticism.

  • © 2023 by Angela Eward-Mangione - Hillsborough Community College

Feminist Criticism is

  • a research method , a type of textual research , that literary critics use to interpret texts
  • a genre of discourse employed by literary critics used to share the results of their interpretive efforts.

Key Terms: Dialectic ; Hermeneutics ; Semiotics ; Text & Intertextuality ; Tone

Foundational Questions of Feminist Criticism

  • Consider stereotypical representations of women as the beloved, mothers, virgins, whores, and/or goddesses. Does the text refer to, uphold, or resist any of these stereotypes? How?
  • What roles have been assigned to the men and women in the text? Are the roles stereotypical? Do gender roles conflict with personal desires?
  • Does the text paint a picture of gender relations? If so, how would you describe gender relations in the text? On what are they based? What sustains them? What causes conflict between men and women?
  • Are gender relations in the text celebrated? Denigrated? Mocked? Mystified? If so, how?

Discussion Questions and Activities: F eminist/Gender Studies

  • Define gender, gender roles, patriarchy, and stereotypical representations of gender in your own words.
  • Describe the relationship between culture and gender roles. How do culture and gender roles inform each another?
  • Read “ Barbie Doll ” by Marge Piercy. Choose the stanza that you think most markedly represents how gender itself is socially constructed. What words, phrases, or lines in the stanza inform your choice?
  • Compare and contrast how society treats and advises the girl in the poem with what she does after her good nature wears out “like a fan belt.” Does the poem present the socially constructed nature of gender as positive?
  • Evaluate the role that the lines “Consummation at last, / To every woman a happy ending” play in the poem. Quote from the poem to support your interpretation.

Brevity - Say More with Less

Brevity - Say More with Less

Clarity (in Speech and Writing)

Clarity (in Speech and Writing)

Coherence - How to Achieve Coherence in Writing

Coherence - How to Achieve Coherence in Writing

Diction

Flow - How to Create Flow in Writing

Inclusivity - Inclusive Language

Inclusivity - Inclusive Language

Simplicity

The Elements of Style - The DNA of Powerful Writing

Unity

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Citation - Definition - Introduction to Citation in Academic & Professional Writing

Citation - Definition - Introduction to Citation in Academic & Professional Writing

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Explore the different ways to cite sources in academic and professional writing, including in-text (Parenthetical), numerical, and note citations.

Collaboration - What is the Role of Collaboration in Academic & Professional Writing?

Collaboration - What is the Role of Collaboration in Academic & Professional Writing?

Collaboration refers to the act of working with others or AI to solve problems, coauthor texts, and develop products and services. Collaboration is a highly prized workplace competency in academic...

Genre

Genre may reference a type of writing, art, or musical composition; socially-agreed upon expectations about how writers and speakers should respond to particular rhetorical situations; the cultural values; the epistemological assumptions...

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Information Literacy - Discerning Quality Information from Noise

Information Literacy - Discerning Quality Information from Noise

Information Literacy refers to the competencies associated with locating, evaluating, using, and archiving information. In order to thrive, much less survive in a global information economy — an economy where information functions as a...

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Mindset refers to a person or community’s way of feeling, thinking, and acting about a topic. The mindsets you hold, consciously or subconsciously, shape how you feel, think, and act–and...

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Rhetoric: Exploring Its Definition and Impact on Modern Communication

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The Writing Process - Research on Composing

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Essay: Christina Rossetti’s Works Through a Feminist Lens

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Throughout her life as a poet, Christina Rossetti was not recognized as a feminist writer. However, her work continuously examined the many different relationships among women and the limitations that female writers dealt with. Even though most of her views were formed through her religious beliefs, some of Christina Rossetti’s works were critical of the gender society she experienced. She would include different feminist viewpoints into her poems while highlighting that she may not have agreed with all of it. She had much interest in women and their status within the Victorian era, including the outlook on marriage and the concept of being treated more as objects instead of people. In the poem “Goblin Market”, Christina Rossetti focuses on a more female dominant world by creating a story about an unbreakable bond between two sisters. Terry L. Spaise writes, ““Goblin Market” is a particularly good example of this feminine dominant world since the focus is on the relationships between the two sisters, Lizzie and Laura, and the threat to their bond by the goblin men” (55). Here, the clear focus is to shed light on the positive relationships between women and to teach them that there is no friend like a sister. The goblin men serve as the male figures in the Victorian Society and how they threaten the bonds of women. Christina Rossetti uses the character Laura to go against the values of the society by engaging with the goblin men. However, as the story progresses, she is forgiven and wakes up from her pain and suffering with the help from her sister Lizzie. With this being said, Christina Rossetti states, “For there is no friend like a sister In calm or stormy weather; To cheer one on the tedious way, To fetch one if the one goes astray, To lift one if one totters down, To strengthen whilst one stands” (815). Here, Laura is speaking to her children and teaching them the importance of sisterhood. In a feminist perspective, instead of only speaking about sisters in a genetic sense, she may be explaining the connection between women in general. Rossetti created a way to make the men seem less powerful to women. Her poem brings out the powerful and independent traits that every woman has and she shows her readers that a female can exist without the help from a male figure. This questions her views on the supportive relationships that husbands and wives should have during this century. Another work by Christina Rossetti that highlights the value of women and the inequality that they faced is “From The Antique”. From beginning to end, this poem establishes a negative tone. In the first stanza, she states “It’s a weary life, it is, she said: Doubly blank in a woman’s lot: I wish and I wish I were a man: Or, better then any being, were not” (Rossetti). Here, she highlights the alienation that women felt and how her life will not have meaning until women are portrayed as equal in society. This embodies the burden that females faced during a time where they were not accepted as anything besides a mother and a wife. Rossetti embraced the role of the ideal class, however her voice behind this poem challenges these female and social expectations. In this poem, she describes the terrible reality that women faced but also learning to accept her fate. Christina Rossetti was a woman who was able to speak her mind without finding herself in a place of controversy. In her poem The Prince’s Progress, she gets the reader to sympathize with the woman in the story by creating a man who is self-indulged and careless. In this poem, the prince takes years to return back to his princess, leaving her alone which eventually leads to her death. Rossetti writes, “We never saw her with a smile Or with a frown; Her bed seemed never soft to her, Tho’ tossed of down;” (Stanza 83). Here, she speaks about the people that surrounded the woman and how each of them never saw her happy or sad. She creates a female character that is admirable but also passive, just like women were forced to be during this time. She highlights the concept of betrayal and uses the female as the main focus without providing a woman point of view. Dorothy Mermin states, “In their revisionary stories the crucial shift in point of view is incomplete and usually concealed, and Victorian readers apparently never saw it” (71). Here, Mermin speaks about Barrett Browing and Christina Rossetti’s form of writing. She points out that unlike most women poets during the Victorian period, they concealed their views on women which created a way for people to read their work in a different light. Christina Rossetti was not a recognizable feminist or advocate for women during her lifetime. However, her work continuously examined the many different relationships among women and the limitations that female writers and females in general dealt with. Her writing continuously sympathized women and the hardships that they went through on a daily basis. She often created positive relationships between females while excluding men from the entire story. Even though she was a very religious woman, some of Christina Rossetti’s works were critical of the gender society she experienced. She included different feminist viewpoints into her poems but only to a certain extent. She had much interest in women and their status within the Victorian era, including the outlook on marriage and the concept of being treated more as objects instead of people.

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Hamlet As Seen Through The Feminist Critical Lens

Every piece of literature can be analyzed and studied in a multitude of ways. The varying components create complex characters, plots, and dynamics. The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, can be examined through many lenses. A feminist lens depicts Shakespeare’s view of women and their roles in the text. Hamlet, the troubled protagonist who tries to avenge his deceased father, has great influence on the women in the play. In Hamlet, the females are merely side characters whose main purpose is to be love interests for the men. The women portray no real control regarding their decisions about their lives. Overall, the play can be analyzed through a feminist lens by focusing on how the men treat the women, their women’s importance as side characters, and their effect on the men.

Throughout the text, the women have been given little control over their life. The men often instruct and force them to do as they please. Ophelia is the woman Hamlet has a romantic interest in. Polonius, her father, commands Ophelia to act a certain way. He frequently gives her tasks that she doesn’t have a choice in completing. Polonius notices Hamlet’s affection towards Ophelia and orders her to stop any communication with him. Polonius lectures his daughter as he says, “This is for all: I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, have you slander any moment’s leisure, as to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. Look to ’t, I charge you; come your ways” (Shakespeare 22). In this quote, he directly prohibits Ophelia from spending any more time with Hamlet. Whether Ophelia wanted to or not, she wasn’t given the option to pursue her relationship with Hamlet. This situation conveys the lack of control the female characters had. The men managed the women’s lives. This implies how Shakespeare viewed women. He didn’t allow them to have strong voices and much power over their lives, which implies his lack of respect for them.

In addition, the females are simply side characters. They do have importance pertaining to the plot, but they’re not nearly as significant as the men. The women are, figuratively, pawns for the men to use for their benefit. The men often use the women to discover information about the other people. After the scene Hamlet had the actors perform, Claudius, the king, becomes unsettled. Claudius’s wife and the queen, Gertrude, asks to speak to Hamlet to scold him for disturbing the king and to ask what has been bothering him. However, the men, Claudius and Polonius, create an alternate plan. Since Gertrude is Hamlet’s mother, they use her and take advantage of their relationship to try to have Hamlet confess why he’s going insane. Polonius instructs Gertrude what to do as he says, “Look you lay home to him; tell him his pranks have been too broad to bear with, And that your grace hath screen’d and stood between much heat and him” (Shakespeare 74). The men take advantage of Gertrude and use her for their benefit. This is Gertrude’s main role in Hamlet. It portrays the women’s lack of importance compared to the males. Only men are the primary characters in the play. The women play a side role, often used only as accessories for the men. 

Even though the women were controlled and not as significant as their opposing sex, they still had an effect on the male characters. The females had a more emotional impact rather than physical. Ophelia was a girl who was loved by many. Her brother, Laertes, and Hamlet mourned deeply over her death. Her passing caused both of them to act irrationally. The men wrestle in her grave out of despair and anger. Ophelia’s death impacts them both so greatly that they argue and Laertes screams, “The devil take thy soul!” (Shakespeare 110). Ophelia had a strong effect on the gentlemen. Without her death, they wouldn’t have been as aggressive and emotional. Although Shakespeare made the women side characters without much control over their lives, perhaps he respected a woman's role by granting her an opportunity to change the men’s lives. Shakespeare gave Ophelia the power to make the men emotional and behave in an irrational way. 

Furthermore, the men’s treatment towards women, the females simple side character positions, and their overall impact they had on the men can all be used to portray Shakespeare’s view of women. Gertrude and Ophelia both convey what life was like for women. They were controlled and used by the males. Although Hamlet can be analyzed through many different lenses, a feminist lens depicts the difference in gender roles. This play emphasizes how men behaved toward the females. Overall, Shakespeare brought attention to a woman’s role and treatment through his writing.

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New Acquisitions: Feminist Judgment Series

The Kathrine R. Everett Law Library has recently acquired several new titles in the Feminist Judgments Series: Rewritten Judicial Opinions . Published by Cambridge University Press , these texts reimagine major legal decisions in various subjects through a social justice lens. Each collection includes rewritten decisions authored and edited by prominent legal scholars, who take the facts and precedent from the original opinion but rewrite it from a feminist perspective. The first volume , Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court , was published in 2016. Since then, the series has expanded to twelve volumes. Some volumes cover topics central to feminist critiques of American law, like reproductive justice , family law , and employment discrimination . Others consider areas like tax , property , torts , and corporate law .

Law students will recognize many of the rewritten cases, and the series tackles not only foundational American common law but also more recent jurisprudence. For example, the Property volume covers not only Johnson v. M’Intosh , 21 U.S. 545 (1823) and Pierson v. Post , 3 Cai. R. 175 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1805), but also Kelo v. City of New London, Connecticut , 545 U.S. 469 (2005). The tort volume wouldn’t be complete without reconsidering Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co. , 162 N.E. 99 (N.Y. 1928), but it also includes more recent cases like G.M.M. v. Kimpson , 116 F. Supp. 3d 126 (E.D.N.Y. 2015) and Simpkins v. Grace Brethren Church , 75 N.E. 3d 122 (Ohio 2016). For each case, the volumes include both a rewritten opinion and a short commentary essay providing background for the decision and its rewriting. Each volume in the series also has at least one introductory essay for the entire volume; some have several.

The collection aims to do two things: first, show that U.S. law as written is not neutral and objective, but rather influenced by the raced, classed, and gendered perspectives of those who write it. Second, the series demonstrates how theory can be brought into the practice of law, by providing concrete examples of how theory can be incorporated into judicial opinions and legal arguments. Ultimately the series provides readers with an opportunity to think critically about the law and the assumptions that underpin it; reconsidering our perspectives can open up new ways of thinking about legal practice.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Necklace — Analysis Of Guy De Maupassant’s The Necklace Through The Feminist Lens

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Analysis of Guy De Maupassant’s The Necklace Through The Feminist Lens

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Introduction, feminist analysis of “the necklace”.

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Putin Didn’t Hate Navalny. He Envied Him.

Aleksei Navalny, seen from behind, standing in front of a crowd with his fist raised. There are flags and colorful balloons ahead of him.

By Nadya Tolokonnikova

Ms. Tolokonnikova is a founder of Pussy Riot.

It’s 2007, a warm, sunny spring day in Moscow. It’s my first rally, and I’m nervous. I’m 16, silly and shy, falling in love with courageous and loud people around me. I hear my quiet voice join others screaming, “Russia without Putin.” We lock our arms and together push the police out of the street. Russia could be free: It’s a new feeling for me. This is where I see Aleksei Navalny for the first time.

For the next 17 years, I watched my friend Aleksei rise from a Moscow blogger to a global moral and political figure, giving hope and inspiration to people around the world. He helped me and millions of Russians realize that our country doesn’t have to belong to K.G.B. agents and the Kremlin’s henchmen. He gave us something else, too: a vision he called the “beautiful Russia of the future.” This vision is immortal, unlike us humans. President Vladimir Putin may have silenced Aleksei, who died last week. But no matter how hard he tries, Mr. Putin won’t be able to kill Aleksei’s beautiful dream.

In the autumn of 2011, Mr. Putin announced he was going to become president once again, making it clear that he planned to rule Russia for the rest of his life. My feminist friends and I went to an opposition conference in Moscow to figure out our next steps. Young, riotous and radical, we walked like zombies through all the usual boring panels with sad speakers, poetry readings and sleep-inducing talks on human rights and democracy. It wasn’t inspiring because it was neither practical nor attractive. Yes, we all believed that Russia had to be free. But how do we get there?

And then Aleksei spoke about his anticorruption investigations. I can divide my life into before and after that speech. “We take a stick and poke at the bad guys with this stick, and you can do it with me,” he said. For all of us in that packed room, Aleksei made it feel not only that a free Russia was possible but also that we could get there with joy, laughter and camaraderie. No matter how long the path, you have to break it down into steps and take them one at a time.

That day, Pussy Riot was born. I realized that we needed to create our own set of tools to bring about change: direct, attention-grabbing actions that would be easily replicable, giving birth to a movement. Aleksei gave me the push I needed to create the first Pussy Riot music video, which was based on dozens of dangerous guerrilla performances in Moscow. I was too proud to ever admit it to Aleksei in person, but the idea to make the video came from his speech that day.

We made it our goal to become as effective and loud as Aleksei but with a feminist and queer lens. Months later, when my Pussy Riot colleagues and I were on trial for supposedly inciting religious hatred , there — standing in the courtroom among our family members and activists — was Aleksei.

Despite the support, we were sent for two years to a penal colony, a gloomy and hopeless place, where once again my only hope for political change in Russia came from Aleksei. It was 2013, and he was running a remarkably popular campaign to become the mayor of Moscow. In an attempt to silence him, the government sentenced Aleksei to five years in prison. Infuriated, Russians filled the streets, demanding his immediate release. Miraculously, he was released the next day, pending an appeal. I can’t recall any other opposition force in Russia ever having such power.

People say Mr. Putin feared Aleksei. But I think the reason he wanted to get rid of Aleksei was another emotion — a darker, more sinister one. It was envy. People loved Aleksei. With his jokes, irony, superhero-like fearlessness and love for life, he led with charisma. People followed Aleksei because he was the kind of person you wanted to be friends with. People follow Mr. Putin because they fear him, but people followed Aleksei because they loved him. Mr. Putin clearly envied this appeal. No amount of money in the world can buy love; no amount of missiles and tanks can conquer people’s hearts.

As a feminist, I’ve always found it inspiring that Aleksei, unlike many others in Russian politics, chose to surround himself with strong women — Maria Pevchikh , Kira Yarmysh , Lyubov Sobol — and trusted them in the highest positions of power in his camp. And of course, there was his love and respect for his wife, Yulia. It’s a stark contrast with Mr. Putin, known for his cavemanlike sexism, bragging , “I am not a woman, so I don’t have bad days.” Truly confident men don’t need to build their self-esteem at women’s expense.

“How is life in prison?” Aleksei asked me on the phone in 2013. “Not ideal but not too bad,” I answered. “One can survive here.” Aleksei’s team later told me that he recalled our conversation when he decided to go back to Russia after his poisoning in 2020. It was a characteristically brave decision. From his return to his death, it was just three years.

People say hope died with Aleksei. I see it differently: With Aleksei’s passing, a new sense of responsibility has been born. For many of us in Russia, Aleksei was like an older brother or a father figure, someone who was always there to clean up your mess. We lost him so painfully early, so prematurely. Now there’s no one else in the room. We owe it to Aleksei and his dream for a new beautiful Russia to carry on the fight.

Nadya Tolokonnikova ( @nadyariot ) is an artist and activist and a founder of the performance art group Pussy Riot.

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