Post by allil02 on Apr 8, 2008 22:04:09 GMT -5
[shadow=red,left,300]Man & Wife : The Role of Women in American Families of the 20th Century
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American literature of the twentieth century reflects upon the subservient position with which women were expected to assume in the family. These women were generally regarded as weaker, and even inferior to men. Contrarily, women were the very backbone of virtually all American families. Despite the actuality that typically the man in the family was the financial provider, the woman was often the nurturer, and was responsible for keeping order in the family. In a society that pre-destined women to an acquiescent position next to man, the female protagonists of the plays The Glass Menagerie, Death of a Salesman, and Fences each are humiliated into this subservient classification of wives which they either resist, or eventually overcome.
In Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie, Amanda Wingfield, the single mother the grown Tom and Laura, is able to fend for her family, so long as she has a man to rely on. As Mr. Wingfield has deserted the family, Tom provides fiscal support to the family by spending long hours in a shoe warehouse. Meanwhile, Amanda senses Tom’s anxiousness as she frantically and obsessively begs Tom to find a gentleman suitor for Laura. This stresses Amanda’s opinion that a woman who lacks the aptitude for business, only has the option to marry. Amanda, a traditional “southern belle” who depends on her charm and feminine appeal, is made nervous by the threat of a second desertion. Amanda faintly recognizes the degradation inherent in leeching, as she questions what more there is to life than dependency. But because Laura could not handle her business school, Amanda imposes a gentleman caller upon her, deeming Laura as too weak to even find her own match. Laura lacks the vivacity her mother had, so Amanda overcompensates when Laura’s first “gentleman caller,” Jim, goes to their house for dinner. Amanda spends the entire day anticipating the evening by decorating the household and preparing a lavish dinner to impress Jim, while Laura dreads facing the guest, a man she remembers with great admiration for from high school.
Mr. Wingfield obviously felt no need for Amanda; however Amanda heavily relied on her husband. When he left her, Amanda felt dejected, and therefore she strove to re-establish the same life she had hoped for for Laura.
In Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Linda plays the role of the stereotypical devoted, subservient and oblivious wife to a troubled working man. That man is Willy Loman, a man who accepts all gestures and neglects to repay them; he hardly fulfills the qualifications as a husband, but Linda discounts this. When Willy takes his long leaves of absence on business trips, Linda waits at her home in the undesirable—to her—city, alone. On at least one particular business excursion, Willy cheats on Linda with another woman, who patiently awaits him, and pitifully unties his shoes upon his arrival. Linda also observes Willy while he is on his downfall, and she does everything she can to preserve his self-image and lift him back up. However, in order to do so, Linda is moved to lie to Willy, and even to act ignorant to his suicidal nature. When their son Biff realized the backward attempts at happiness of his parents, he confronts Willy, at which Linda gets quite vexed. Linda then reprimands her son out of sheer protection of her husband’s feelings, and opting to cowardly ignore the situation at hand. In her time period, Linda’s subtle presence and minute power was typical for housewives, seemingly unaware of the authority that women would pandemic gain within the century.
Unlike Miller’s feeble Linda, or Williams’ deserted Amanda, the protagonist from Fences by August Wilson, Rose, deviated from the submissive brand of women in the 1950’s. Rose is the mother of two ambitious sons, and the spouse of an untrustworthy husband, Troy, works to maintain an un-fractured family. Rose recognizes that she sometimes desires more than Troy has to offer, but she suppresses this and values their relationship for what it is. Troy attempts to distinguish the male and female roles in the family, by rashly deciding Lyons, their youngest son’s future. He again tries to be the dominant partner by cheating on Rose; he subconsciously tries to rupture the balance of power between he and Rose by means of his affair. Troy and Rose separate when his second life unfolds, after he impregnates his lover. The baby’s mother dies at birth, and Troy is left a helpless single father. Rose however, has the courage to adopt the child, and raise it on her own.
Since the 1950’s, the woman’s role in the family has made tremendous advances, however, women are still being portrayed and typecast into the mold of subservient wife, and prisoner to the home. Subtle cultural customs that prevail from more chauvinistic times, remain in 21st century America; setting a patriarchal society that unjustly builds a glass ceiling. To this day, couples are still being pronounced “man and wife,” as if the woman were a mere object in control of the man, and women still adopt the last name of her husband—so that she and her offspring belong to his domination.
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American literature of the twentieth century reflects upon the subservient position with which women were expected to assume in the family. These women were generally regarded as weaker, and even inferior to men. Contrarily, women were the very backbone of virtually all American families. Despite the actuality that typically the man in the family was the financial provider, the woman was often the nurturer, and was responsible for keeping order in the family. In a society that pre-destined women to an acquiescent position next to man, the female protagonists of the plays The Glass Menagerie, Death of a Salesman, and Fences each are humiliated into this subservient classification of wives which they either resist, or eventually overcome.
In Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie, Amanda Wingfield, the single mother the grown Tom and Laura, is able to fend for her family, so long as she has a man to rely on. As Mr. Wingfield has deserted the family, Tom provides fiscal support to the family by spending long hours in a shoe warehouse. Meanwhile, Amanda senses Tom’s anxiousness as she frantically and obsessively begs Tom to find a gentleman suitor for Laura. This stresses Amanda’s opinion that a woman who lacks the aptitude for business, only has the option to marry. Amanda, a traditional “southern belle” who depends on her charm and feminine appeal, is made nervous by the threat of a second desertion. Amanda faintly recognizes the degradation inherent in leeching, as she questions what more there is to life than dependency. But because Laura could not handle her business school, Amanda imposes a gentleman caller upon her, deeming Laura as too weak to even find her own match. Laura lacks the vivacity her mother had, so Amanda overcompensates when Laura’s first “gentleman caller,” Jim, goes to their house for dinner. Amanda spends the entire day anticipating the evening by decorating the household and preparing a lavish dinner to impress Jim, while Laura dreads facing the guest, a man she remembers with great admiration for from high school.
Mr. Wingfield obviously felt no need for Amanda; however Amanda heavily relied on her husband. When he left her, Amanda felt dejected, and therefore she strove to re-establish the same life she had hoped for for Laura.
In Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Linda plays the role of the stereotypical devoted, subservient and oblivious wife to a troubled working man. That man is Willy Loman, a man who accepts all gestures and neglects to repay them; he hardly fulfills the qualifications as a husband, but Linda discounts this. When Willy takes his long leaves of absence on business trips, Linda waits at her home in the undesirable—to her—city, alone. On at least one particular business excursion, Willy cheats on Linda with another woman, who patiently awaits him, and pitifully unties his shoes upon his arrival. Linda also observes Willy while he is on his downfall, and she does everything she can to preserve his self-image and lift him back up. However, in order to do so, Linda is moved to lie to Willy, and even to act ignorant to his suicidal nature. When their son Biff realized the backward attempts at happiness of his parents, he confronts Willy, at which Linda gets quite vexed. Linda then reprimands her son out of sheer protection of her husband’s feelings, and opting to cowardly ignore the situation at hand. In her time period, Linda’s subtle presence and minute power was typical for housewives, seemingly unaware of the authority that women would pandemic gain within the century.
Unlike Miller’s feeble Linda, or Williams’ deserted Amanda, the protagonist from Fences by August Wilson, Rose, deviated from the submissive brand of women in the 1950’s. Rose is the mother of two ambitious sons, and the spouse of an untrustworthy husband, Troy, works to maintain an un-fractured family. Rose recognizes that she sometimes desires more than Troy has to offer, but she suppresses this and values their relationship for what it is. Troy attempts to distinguish the male and female roles in the family, by rashly deciding Lyons, their youngest son’s future. He again tries to be the dominant partner by cheating on Rose; he subconsciously tries to rupture the balance of power between he and Rose by means of his affair. Troy and Rose separate when his second life unfolds, after he impregnates his lover. The baby’s mother dies at birth, and Troy is left a helpless single father. Rose however, has the courage to adopt the child, and raise it on her own.
Since the 1950’s, the woman’s role in the family has made tremendous advances, however, women are still being portrayed and typecast into the mold of subservient wife, and prisoner to the home. Subtle cultural customs that prevail from more chauvinistic times, remain in 21st century America; setting a patriarchal society that unjustly builds a glass ceiling. To this day, couples are still being pronounced “man and wife,” as if the woman were a mere object in control of the man, and women still adopt the last name of her husband—so that she and her offspring belong to his domination.