To Walk A Mile In Her Shoes
Such themes of women always having a struggle in society as a “minority” have come up in the books Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darkness , this unfortunate theme of women being in need of male protection, underappreciated and a lesser of a man comes up in these novels.
In Heart of Darkness, Marlow chooses not to tell Kurt’s fiancés’ the reality of the world they are in, as not to frighten them, as if they are children that cannot be told the truth. He fears in telling them the truth he is going to disrupt their bliss and unawareness of the harsh reality. By doing this, he is pulling a mask over their eyes and turning a blind eye to the truth. This theme of keeping these women away from unpleasant things is almost hand in hand with the idea from the poem, The Barred Owl, where a child is told the owl’s cry is “Who cooks for you?” when in reality the prey is eaten raw. In this way of shielding reality from an innocent child, they are being robbed of what they need to know. The truth must be told no matter how harsh as to not sugar-coat what reality is, if these women were on their own they would know how brutal conditions were, and that might help them form and opinion opposing what is happening. In a common theme, I believe that’s why people, women and children in particular, are not told the truth about brutal situations, so they cannot form a counter opinion and stand out as their own person. I believe this is why the women are so sheltered in this novel, so to not see what is true, so they cannot protest the decisions and actions of a man.
Role socialization seems to happen even before a child is born. We are putting boys in blue clothing and the girls in pink while in the womb. After that, parents tend to give boys trucks and play guns to make them aggressive and less sensitive and girl’s dolls and play houses to promote loving and taking care of a family. Children naturally accept this and will pick their given toys even if the other option is available
In Heart of Darkness, Marlow chooses not to tell Kurt’s fiancés’ the reality of the world they are in, as not to frighten them, as if they are children that cannot be told the truth. He fears in telling them the truth he is going to disrupt their bliss and unawareness of the harsh reality. By doing this, he is pulling a mask over their eyes and turning a blind eye to the truth. This theme of keeping these women away from unpleasant things is almost hand in hand with the idea from the poem, The Barred Owl, where a child is told the owl’s cry is “Who cooks for you?” when in reality the prey is eaten raw. In this way of shielding reality from an innocent child, they are being robbed of what they need to know. The truth must be told no matter how harsh as to not sugar-coat what reality is, if these women were on their own they would know how brutal conditions were, and that might help them form and opinion opposing what is happening. In a common theme, I believe that’s why people, women and children in particular, are not told the truth about brutal situations, so they cannot form a counter opinion and stand out as their own person. I believe this is why the women are so sheltered in this novel, so to not see what is true, so they cannot protest the decisions and actions of a man.
Role socialization seems to happen even before a child is born. We are putting boys in blue clothing and the girls in pink while in the womb. After that, parents tend to give boys trucks and play guns to make them aggressive and less sensitive and girl’s dolls and play houses to promote loving and taking care of a family. Children naturally accept this and will pick their given toys even if the other option is available