... Table of Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. The French – Creole society of Louisiana 4 2.1 Cultural background 4 2.2 French-Creole women 5 3. The Role of Women 6 4.1 Edna vs. Madame Ratignolle 7 3.1.1 “A Valuable Piece of Property” 7 3.1.2 Edna – The Unusual Woman 9 3.1.3 Adèle Ratignolle – The Archetype Woman 14 3.2 “Mother Woman” – The Patriarchal Ideology 16 4. Chopin’s Imagery 18 5. Conclusion - Edna’s Suicide 19 6. Bibliography 21 1. Introduction A certain ungovernable dread hung about her when in the water, unless there was a hand nearby that might reach out and reassure her. But that night she was like a little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who of a sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the first time alone, boldly and with over confidence. […] A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before. This scene in Kate Chopin’s novel describes the moment in which the lead character Edna Pontellier experiences her first successful attempt to swim by herself. At the same time, the passage is a metaphor for the first step towards her “awakening” to discovering her individuality and becoming a woman well ahead of her time. Published in...
Words: 7915 - Pages: 32
...Cultural Assessment Being culturally competent means more than having an awareness for a culture different than your own for the majority culture. Cultural competency involves having an open mind-set and respect for the unique cultures, values and principles of all diverse ethnicities. I had very little interaction with the Haitian culture until I started working at a very culturally diverse facility. While completing my nightshift rotation, I had the pleasure of befriending someone from Haiti. After many years of friendship, I still feel that I know very little about her heritage. This diversity course gave me the perfect opportunity to interview and conduct research on the Haitian culture. Exploring this culture was a true revelation...
Words: 1746 - Pages: 7
...Beteckning: Humanities and Social Sciences Double Oppression in the Color Purple and Wide Sargasso Sea. A Comparison between the main characters Celie and Antoinette/Bertha. Ingela Lundin 2008 C-essay English Literature Supervisor: Dr Maria Mårdberg Examinator: Dr Helena Wahlström Table of Contents 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Purpose and main questions ............................................................................................. 1 1.2 Method and material......................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Theoretical approach ........................................................................................................ 2 1.4 Previous research – an overview ...................................................................................... 3 1.5 Introducing the novels ...................................................................................................... 4 2. A comparison of the double oppression in the two protagonists’ marriages.................. 6 2.1 The diminishing and isolation of Celie and Antoinette/Bertha........................................ 6 2.2 The upholding of the white man’s norm ........................................................................ 14 Conclusion..........................................................
Words: 10734 - Pages: 43
...Being a young some-what socially conscious black woman, it is very easy for me to appreciate how my physical traits influence my life and identity. Being a woman, certain expectations are thrust on me and I certainly internalize them to an extent. Blackness functions in the same way. From an early age, my race has influenced and impacted my life. I have also interacted with and within my race to form my racial identity. My racial identity is the result of an intersection between my personal history, inter-racial experiences, and societal interaction. My first interaction with the concept of race came abruptly at the age of four. I was in preschool signing the lyrics to the Britney Spears albums that my sister played on repeat when I was...
Words: 941 - Pages: 4
...racism (Nibras Jawad, 591). This paper uses elements from the book, and aspects from the reality that support the idea that the book includes black racism as one of the topics. For example, exclusion of Antoinette caused by black community because she is the daughter of a white Creole woman and a former slave-owner of English descent in Jamaica. This is showed in the book when black people use disparaging words like white cockroaches to call her. The phrase "white cockroach" was applied in a song saying that nobody wants her (Jean Rhys, 20). According to a research from Eastern University of Philadelphia phenomenon of racism is a result of the combination of discrimination, prejudices and ignorance. (Caleb Rosado). Racism has been a topic of inspiration for many writers. This is the case of Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. The writer tells aspects that she could have experienced since Jean Rhys was born in 1890 on the island of Dominica in the West Indies to a Welsh father and a Creole (white West Indian) mother. She identified more with Dominican than with English culture, her ancestry complicated her relationship with the island people (Nibras Jawad, 590). In other words, the author focuses on double culture as a reason of feeling marginalized, and Antoinette the main character from Wide Sargasso Sea can be her mirror. Antoinette is described as a white...
Words: 1053 - Pages: 5
...During the colonial time, as European domain spread physically on the map, they bring their culture and values abroad. While two different cultures coincide, a lot of problems are revealed. Alienation and feminism are two prominent themes during the colonial period. Both problems are revealed through novels Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea and Bronte’s Jane Eyre with Rhys’s focus on the cultural and racial difference whereas Bronte’s focus on economic power and moral strength of female. Fanon in the “Wretched of the Earth” says that the only solution for the colonized people is through violence. This radical idea underlies premises which draws from the social norms during the time period. Fanon says “The colonial world is a world cut in two” (38, Fanon). When colonizers come to the colony, they deem their culture better than the indigenous one and their goal is to put their values above the local ones. Hence it draws a clear line between the colonizer and colonized people. Because of the stark dichotomy, there is always tension in the colonies. It is only through the eyes of characters who stand in between the dichotomy and the through the different reaction as they maneuver between different classes that shows the problem during colonization. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Ryes rewrites Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre. Instead of describing her through other people’s eyes, she gives Bertha her own voice; she has a history and goes through different emotions. It is a text which represents the issue...
Words: 1818 - Pages: 8
...based on the idea that African people should reassert a sense of agency in order to achieve sanity. This concept is concerned more about the African values and cultures. One can say it is a pan African ideology in culture, philosophy, and history. It is a call for social change. This concept had its origins from an African American society or world where the blacks were marginalized in a white hegemony. It was a fight for change. This birth gave birth to the American civil right. This concept can be seen in the texts and writings of Alice Walker and Richard Wright who were American writers of the late 19th century and early 20th century. In A father’s law , we see this aspect also being portrayed. Ruddy becomes the chief of police in a white community. We see him being the only black to live in a white a neighborhood of Brentwood Park. In society where the whites occupy all the big and important jobs and the blacks do the mean and odd jobs like house help and gardener. During that era we realize that majority of those who were educated and went to school were the whites and the blacks uneducated. But in the novel , we discover Tommy to be a very intelligent black university student who studies in a white university. This brings out the African value and potential in a white dominated society. In Alice Walker’s The color purple, we see the aspect of solidarity among the blacks. The blacks were united and this made them to sympathize with their fellow brothers. While Sofia is in...
Words: 1428 - Pages: 6
...parents. Likewise, one’s behavior and habits influenced by culture and traditions. Religious interludes plaguing one’s persona and can have a substantial impact on career choices, interpersonal and social relationships, marriage, and family stability. Herein lies a study of the psychology of personality. In the past, and now, scholars studying variances of individuality desire to understand unchaste thoughts, impulses, behavior, and temperament. Within this, the effort given in both research and practice helps in comprehending abnormalities...
Words: 835 - Pages: 4
...AITA01 Liliane Haegeman 2 Introduction to Government and Binding Theory (Second Edition) Morphological Theory Language Acquisition Introduction to Sociolinguistics (Fifth Edition) Children’s Syntax Understanding Utterances Phonology in Generative Grammar Approaches to Discourse An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology (Second Edition) An Introduction to Japanese Linguistics Modern Phrase Structure Grammar Linguistics and Literature Semantics in Generative Grammar English Grammar: A Generative Perspective An Introduction to Linguistic Theory and Language Acquisition Lexical-Functional Syntax A History of English: A Sociolinguistic Approach Writing Systems: A Linguistic Approach Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction Thinking Syntactically: A Guide to Argumentation and Analysis 5/9/05, 4:36 PM An Introduction to Sociolinguistics FIFTH EDITION Ronald Wardhaugh AITA01 3 5/9/05, 4:36 PM © 1986,...
Words: 213157 - Pages: 853
...African music was brought into America and was thrown into a mixing pot that the slave population count themselves as Americans. o Blues is the beginning of Jazz, Rock and R&B • Congo Square –Passage from book: History of Jazz o An eligible black man sits with a large cylinder drum using his fingers and edge of his hand he jams repeatedly on the drum head which is around 14 diameters and probably made from animal skin. ____________________ with rapid sharp strokes. A second drummer holding his instrument between his knees joins in, playing with the same ______ attack. A third black man seated on the ground _________ instrument the body of which is rashly fashioned from the calabash. Another calabash which has been made into a drum and a woman beats at it with two short sticks. One voice then another voice, then other voices join in a dance of scene contradictions __________ give and take ___________ one handed performance spontaneous yet on closer inspection ritualize and precise is a dance of massive proportions, a dense crowded _________ performed in circular groups perhaps five or six hundred individuals moving in time to the pulsations of the music some swaying gently and others aggressively stumping their feet. A number of women in the group begin chanting. This scene could be Africa, in fact it is 19th century in New Orleans scattered first handed accounts provide us with analyzing details of these slay dances that took place in the open area then known as Congo Square....
Words: 5816 - Pages: 24
...oppression in M.K Asante's Buck through theoretical framework in a feminist lens in regards to his mother, his sister, and the entertainers at the party. Through historical context, some people feel like mass incarceration has become the New Jim Crow. That is because the rise of drug wars and the explosion of the prison population, and because discretion within the system allows for arrest and prosecution of people of color at alarmingly...
Words: 1684 - Pages: 7
...The Blues: “Music that Reflects Our Ancestors Cry” Mable Osemwegie Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………..3 Congo Square(past and present)……………………………...……………...4 Story of Storyville/ The Chitlin’ Circuit…………………………………….5 Blues Personality Profile……………………………………………………..6 Words of Blues Song…………………………………………………………7 Blues Instruments…………………………………………………………….8 Jazz Personality Profile……………………………………………………..9 Words of Jazz Song…………………………………………………………10 Original Blues Song…………………………………………………………11 Afterword……………………………………………………………………12 Introduction Blues has its deepest roots in the work songs of the West African slaves in the South. During their back-breaking work in the fields of the Southern plantation owners, black slaves developed a "call and response" way of singing to give rhythm to the drudgery of their servitude. These "field hollers" served as a basis of all blues music that was to follow. Although the lyrics of many blues songs are soulful and melancholy, the music as a whole is a powerful, emotive and rhythmic music celebrating the life of black Americans. The lyrics of the songs reflected daily themes of their lives including: sex, drinking, railroads, jail, murder, poverty, hard labor and love lost. Congo Square (past) Congo Square was a market area where African slaves could sell their wares on “free days.” Though legally slaves were forbidden from owning any kind of property, gathering in large groups, or conducting...
Words: 1970 - Pages: 8
...Chapter 21: The Roaring Life of the 1920s Section 1: Changing Ways of Life I. Rural and Urban Differences A. Between 1922 and 1929, migration to the cities accelerated, with nearly 2 million people leaving farms and towns each year (small town values change) 1. City dwellers judged one another by their accomplishments more often than their background a. City dwellers tolerated drinking, gambling, and casual dating (shocking and sinful in small towns) 2. Cities could be impersonal and frightening b. Life was fast paced and neighbors were not as neighborly B. Prohibition: the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages were legally prohibited 3. 18th Amendment: ratified Jan, 1919 and repealed by the 21st Amendment in Dec, 1933 C. Positive Opinions/Results of Prohibition: 4. Progressives wanted it banned to stop family violence, crime, and poverty c. Support for prohibition was found in the rural native-Protestant dominated West and South d. The church-affiliated Anti-Saloon League led the drive to pass Prohibition e. Woman’s Christian Temperance Union considered drinking a sin 5. WW I reformers advocated prohibition as a war measure f. People were concerned that many German Americans owned many of the brewers g. Drinking reduced the efficiency of soldiers and workers 6. Learned we must...
Words: 2900 - Pages: 12
...increasing tolerance towards females and foreigners, which in many countries has taken place during the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century, with the result that, today, these two groups are widely, although by far not entirely, regarded as equal. However, only two centuries ago, people who were different or ‘other’ were considered subordinate or even frightening, and in the 19th century, this was true for both females and people from the orient or colonized people (Barry 134, 193). In Jane Eyre (JE), published in 1847, and in Wide Sargasso Sea (WSS), the prequel or paraquel of JE that was written about one hundred years later and published in 1966, the two female protagonists, Jane, a female orphan, and Antoinette, a female Creole, struggle against displacement and patriarchal oppression and, in Antoinette’s case, also against imperialistic domination. In JE, the reader learns that Jane can handle this pressure whereas Antoinette/Bertha1 has been driven insane. However, reading WSS makes us realize that not only Antoinette but also Jane may at some point be endangered to fall into madness because of her situation. However, due to sheer luck, a timely warning of what marriage to Rochester as his subordinate could mean and some unconscious help by Bertha, Jane is eventually able to marry the man she loves as his social...
Words: 7999 - Pages: 32
...Discovering Truth in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl _________________________ Melissa McGowen English 601 December 2013 Melissa McGowen Barish Ali English 601 December 2013 Discovering Truth in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Publication and Critical Reception: The autobiographical text, Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl suffered a difficult road in becoming published. The text suffered an even larger feat in becoming recognized for its worth. Because it took many years for the author, now revealed as Harriet Jacobs, to be properly identified, the work had been dismissed as fictional. Jacobs’ decision to remain anonymous came from guilt and disgrace over the way she was treated while enslaved and the actions she was forced to take to become free, particularly those pertaining to sexual acts. Wanting to be viewed as a “proper Christian” she decided to create the pseudonym name Linda Brent. It was under this name the text was published. In later years, her text has been viewed as an important text, speaking truth to the ears of sentimental novel readers in the north, and calling for action against the cruel institution of slavery. Employed as a teacher by Pace University in 1968, Jean Fagan Yellin wrote and published her dissertation. While re-reading Incidents in the 1970s as part of the project and to educate herself in the use of gender as a category of analysis, Yellin became interested in the question of the text's true authorship. Over the...
Words: 3336 - Pages: 14
