Preview

Using Satire to Create Awareness of Gender Roles: Egalia's Daughters

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1953 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Using Satire to Create Awareness of Gender Roles: Egalia's Daughters
Egalia’s Daughters and “Sultana’s Dream” both portray examples of what it would be like to have gender roles reversed in societies. They both criticize gender roles and show people how gender discrimination leaves the submissive gender in suppressed conditions. Poking fun at gender role reversal was one way these books helped in educating the readers. “Sultana’s Dream” has a time of setting of the early twentieth century. The author of Egalia’s Daughters is Gerd Brantenberg, born on October 27th, 1941 and is presently still alive. She was born in Oslo but grew up in Fredrikstad which is the largest city in Norway. Some of her greatest accomplishments are establishing women’s shelters, working in lesbian movements, in 1978 she created a literary Women’s Forum, her drive being to encourage all women to write and publish, and lastly she has also published ten novels and two plays. In 1983 she was awarded the Mads Wiel Nygaards Endowment. Rokeya Hossain was born in 1880 and died on December 9th, 1932. She was born into a Bengali Muslim upper-class family in the village of Pairaband. Her main accomplishments were establishing the Sakhawat Memorial Girls’ School in 1909, in 1916 she founded the Anjuman-e-Khawatin-e-Islam, and even though English was her 5th language she still wrote a book in English to show her proficiency in English to her husband. In Gerd Brantenberg’s novel she clearly shows that in her society women were put on the back burner just like the men were in her novel. Gerd was born back when women had very little rights. She lived during a time where women were stepping up and rallying against the fact that they were not allowed certain rights that men were allowed and this showed in her book. For example in Egalia’s Daughters the guys or the “menwim” have the “burning of the pehos” along with other “masculist activities.”1
In Rokeya Hossain’s short story she is trying to relate to her readers about the inequality of her society and the dominance of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    These two books determine the status and role of women during the early 20th century. I want to Interpret the stereotypes of women during the late 19th century, explore the different literary devices used in both texts, compare the similarities and differences between these two stories, and also describe the women's obligations to society in that time period.…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many little girls these days dream of the societal idea of “successful”. Having the perfect husband, a beautiful home, a great job, being a great mom, and a whole lot of money. These ideas are also called “gender roles”. The gender role of a woman has to fit many standards. In the novella, The House on Mango street, Esperanza becomes more aware her role as a woman in society as she encounters situations of the gender role of a woman.…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Women in Art

    • 1744 Words
    • 7 Pages

    As far back as the eighteenth century during the Enlightenment period, women were seeing gender differences made within society and some, as did the British writer Mary Wollstonecraft who wrote “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” 1792. She argued that women be have fuller participation in the political process and be better wives and mothers if they were educated (Benton & DiYanni, p 420). Although this was only the beginning of the fight for women’s rights, literature was, like most others forms of art, an active participant in the moves as we’ve seen throughout history. As we know, women continuously were deemed as second class citizens who were not able to own property, work, or do anything short of having and taking care of the children in the household other than being readily available for sex as the man deemed necessary.…

    • 1744 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Throughout Literature the role and position of women has been constantly one of debate and controversy. For centuries women have struggled to exert any power or individual identity through times of male dominance. The novel The Great Gatsby as well as the play A Streetcar Named Desire and lastly the poetry of Anne Sexton, were all written during the 20th Century in America. Throughout the 20th Century, attitudes towards women in the USA were changing, the war had given an opportunity for women to realize and prove that they could look after the household without men. This called for much debate about the rights and roles of women which carried on throughout the 20th Century and inspired many of the characters and themes within Literature. In all three texts interactions between men and women are explored and represented in different ways. Each painting pictures of women whose compliance and submissiveness have resulted in their portrayal of being male dominated victims of society’s double standards.…

    • 3734 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The female perspective is a critical element that has been persistently neglected throughout cultures due to the prevalence of the patriarchy. This has meant that literature itself manifests as a male institution, shaped by men 's minds and voices who view the female experience as trivial and unworthy of consideration. Therefore, being unable to express their own perspectives and discriminated against in their writings, women are a marginalized group. But, in their portrayal, are they truly victims of a patriarchal society? Certainly Sylvia Plath 's Daddy (1962) paints a despairing picture of suppression and inner anguish, a woman driven mad by the men in her life - though is this really the case? For Ania Walwicz challenges this concept of a helpless damsel in distress by subverting the traditional fairytale in Little Red Riding Hood (1982), thus undermining masculine values about women and their sexuality. Through the examination of these two texts, the extent of women 's victimization by a patriarchal society can be determined.…

    • 1812 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Femminism

    • 2435 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Although most humans are born free, they can live life bound by the barriers and expectations of society. The novels The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and Sister Wife focus on female protagonists who break out of the moulds their societies place them in and form their own identities. In this essay, I will argue that these novels show how feminism has a positive impact on society and on the individuals who practise it. To do this, I will analyze how the cultures restricted females, how each protagonist resisted conformity, and the successful conclusion each character reached.…

    • 2435 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    This story of inequality between the sexes appropriately opens with a detailed account of the narrator's father. The narrator describes every aspect of her father's life, including his occupation, and even his friends. Throughout this first part of the story, the narrator's mother is virtually inexistent, outside her disapproval of her husband's pelting business. The reader is left uncertain about the mother's whereabouts, but is aware that the father figure is somewhat of an idol in the narrator's mind.…

    • 1241 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In her poem “Never Have I Ever Land”, Amulya Yerrapotu examines the social injustices faced by women in our current society, society’s necessity for women to grow mature more quickly, and the issues of sexuality. Through her use of imagery, diction, and structure, she is able to compare a fairytale and a fantasy land to the real world in which discrimination and bias is quite evident.…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since the wave of Feminism in Canada, Feminism has been written into the literature by Canadian authors. They believe securing women’s rights would enhance the recognition of women’s value in society, which can lead to the moral and social improvement of all humanity. Secret daughter introduces a weak female character Kavita, who is prohibited from keeping her child in a distorted society. The handmaid's Tale reveals a new career called handmaid in the future society, whose mission is to have children for senior officials. Both Secret daughter and The handmaid’s tale describe an oppressive patriarchal theocratic society. Female characters have to struggle with the cruel reality for their role as women. By doing so, they try to challenge the patriarchal power structure and unfair treatment of women. This resistance proves that there is no inherently superior gender. It reveals that women should revolt against the unequal society for fundamental freedoms and rights.…

    • 1024 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is a natural relationship between men and women. They have their individual roles and position in the society. These roles and positions of men and women are not written in verbatim in any book of law. Instead they are manifested in the culture of the society with various external factors that can be influenced by society’s religion, political, geographical and others. These societal roles are passed on from generation to generation and reflected through literary works. The works of the writers collected from various stories are replica of the actual scenes that happen in the society. The men and women from the past are understood by the books written. Throughout time, gender positions and roles have been changing. These changes can be seen through various works throughout history.…

    • 1835 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the satire of the sexes, Egalia’s Daughters by Gerd Brantenberg, there is put forth a society different from which has ever been present in modern times. This would be a society where women were at the forefront and did the decision making, worked and held governmental positions. The men were portrayed in the way females live in present society, though it was often exaggerated to make that point. Men were dominated and ruled by women and had to do their bidding and cook for them and take care of the children, so on and so forth. By taking a hard look at how sexuality is imagined and experienced on all analytical levels and picking apart the social construction of gender in Egalia’s Daughters, society itself in the present can start to be unraveled as well. What is found in this book can transfer over to a point and parallel itself with present experiences of women and their struggle for equality, recognition and acknowledgement.…

    • 1697 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Voltaire On Women

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Like others, social problems, like inequality, have plagued not only America, but other countries as well. It is an ongoing problem that has had a negative impact on our society in the United States and other countries. In stories, such as Voltaire’s “Candide, or Optimism”, Aphra Behn’s “Oroonoko”, and Ihara Saikaku’s “Life of a Sensuous Woman”, women are portrayed differently all around the world. Although these women are from different parts of the world, they all share similarities while also having distinguishing factors that differentiates themselves from one another. A few of the female characters present a striking resemblance to women in today’s world, while others are greatly different.…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The text holds valid forms of characteristics of feminist literature such as an attempt in change of gender norms, a protagonist female lead character, and a…

    • 737 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Boys and Girl

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages

    From the very beginning, the writer portrays the girl as the subject of the profound unfairness of sex-role stereotyping. Thus becoming a ‘‘girl’’ on the way to womanhood is a time fraught with difficulties for the young protagonist because she senses that women are considered the social inferiors of men. Knowing that she is expected to become a girl and conform to society's beliefs and norms, she expresses her desire to rebel against what is expected. Initially, she tries to prevent this from occurring by resisting her parents’ and grandparents’ attempts to train her in the likes, habits, behavior, and work of women. Unrealistically, the narrator believes that she would be of use to her father more and more as she got older.…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How to get Women Satire

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Attention gentlemen if you are having troubles and haven’t figured out all the secrets to understanding and attracting women then this pamphlet is for you. There are billions of women out there and any of them can be yours all you do is treat them right, or wrong actually. If you know anything about women it’s that the last thing they want in a guy is a nice guy. Sure, they might say that’s what they want but that’s just because women don’t even know what they want. You have to show them what they want.…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics