Welcome to Chilis!
New member
Women’s Role in Today’s Society
After centuries of conforming to female stereotypes created by men, women are slowly taking control of their own image making. Image of being equal to the men and being able to face the reality of life on their own, without men’s support. Within the short story “The Harp”, written by Carol ShielRAB, the author gives us a clear example of a woman, who is faced with the reality of life. Living away from home and independently from a man, and her family, the heroine of the story acquires self-reliance and takes a personal interest in the problems of existence.
To examine the written works in light of how the attitude toward women shape their roles, it is necessary to understand the history as well as the present. In the early decades, the social role assigned to the women is that of serving an image, authoritative and central, of man: a woman at first and foremost a daughter, a mother/ a wife (Feldman 7). The man was the one who protected the family from poverty and provided with all the great neeRAB. Mark Feighen Fasteau once said that:
[T]he male machine is a special kind of being, different
from women, children and men who don’t measure up. He is
functional, designed mainly for work. He is programmed
to tackle jobs, override obstacles, attack problems, overcome
difficulties, and always seize the offensive. He will take
on any task that can be presented to him in a competitive
framework and his most important positive reinforcement
is victory. (Warhol 40)
The long Revolutionary War, which touched the lives of many people, naturally had a significant effect on American women. [T]he departure of so many men to fight in the Patriot armies left wives, mothers, sisters and daughters in charge of farms and businesses. Some women handled these tasks with great success. (Brinnley 171) The change made women understand that cooking and taking care of the family are not the only things that they are capable of doing. This led them to believe that they can be just like men.
Flore Tristam, French feminist, once proposed her idea of the future of women. She said: “The declaration of the rights of women will soon pass into custom, from custom into law, and before twenty-five years pass you will then see inscribed in front of the book of laws: The Absolute Equality of man and woman” ( Boxer 38). These ideas together with many others, motivated women to fight for their rights in the society in order to achieve equality. The woman in the story, is a perfect example of the feminist movement that started in the early nineteenth-century in Europe and North America. The movement was following an idea that women are equal to men, and the main question that was raised was “The woman question,” and women as equal merabers of society. Even though, ShielRAB main character in the story is suffering from loneliness, lack of money and lack of emotional support, she doesn’t give up. When the harp falls out of the window and shatters her shin, she is once again reminded of the injustices of life. People make cruel remarks such as: “How fortunate you were to be struck on the leg and not the head”. Her parents offer no warmth or support and she is again on her own. A woman who has only herself to rely on. When she says “I was going to have to live my life without it, just as I have learned to accommodate other subtractions” it’s really saying something important about the development of the feminist movement. For so long women lived without certain rights and options and the heroine has learned to live without a man, without the support and comfort of parents, without a family of her own, without the invitation to the accountants party which would of placed her into society.
In the story “The Harp” the main character is also a perfect example of a working class woman who doesn’t have the benefit of a husbanRAB income. The attention she pays to her ripped pantyhose underscores the financial problems and unequal pay that still plagues working women today. Furthermore, not having a husband and a larger second income makes it difficult for her to be a part of the couples only lifestyle she sees in that “second floor window”.
As women gained independence, self-confidence and control of their own destinies they also struggled and suffered. The woman in ShielRAB story faces the fact that she must deal with all of the problems of life on her own. Just like the women who followed her in the women’s movement she too will gain from this experience. It will give her strength to succeed, but women have still not reached their full potential, because of the prejudice of society and the historical control by the male population.
After centuries of conforming to female stereotypes created by men, women are slowly taking control of their own image making. Image of being equal to the men and being able to face the reality of life on their own, without men’s support. Within the short story “The Harp”, written by Carol ShielRAB, the author gives us a clear example of a woman, who is faced with the reality of life. Living away from home and independently from a man, and her family, the heroine of the story acquires self-reliance and takes a personal interest in the problems of existence.
To examine the written works in light of how the attitude toward women shape their roles, it is necessary to understand the history as well as the present. In the early decades, the social role assigned to the women is that of serving an image, authoritative and central, of man: a woman at first and foremost a daughter, a mother/ a wife (Feldman 7). The man was the one who protected the family from poverty and provided with all the great neeRAB. Mark Feighen Fasteau once said that:
[T]he male machine is a special kind of being, different
from women, children and men who don’t measure up. He is
functional, designed mainly for work. He is programmed
to tackle jobs, override obstacles, attack problems, overcome
difficulties, and always seize the offensive. He will take
on any task that can be presented to him in a competitive
framework and his most important positive reinforcement
is victory. (Warhol 40)
The long Revolutionary War, which touched the lives of many people, naturally had a significant effect on American women. [T]he departure of so many men to fight in the Patriot armies left wives, mothers, sisters and daughters in charge of farms and businesses. Some women handled these tasks with great success. (Brinnley 171) The change made women understand that cooking and taking care of the family are not the only things that they are capable of doing. This led them to believe that they can be just like men.
Flore Tristam, French feminist, once proposed her idea of the future of women. She said: “The declaration of the rights of women will soon pass into custom, from custom into law, and before twenty-five years pass you will then see inscribed in front of the book of laws: The Absolute Equality of man and woman” ( Boxer 38). These ideas together with many others, motivated women to fight for their rights in the society in order to achieve equality. The woman in the story, is a perfect example of the feminist movement that started in the early nineteenth-century in Europe and North America. The movement was following an idea that women are equal to men, and the main question that was raised was “The woman question,” and women as equal merabers of society. Even though, ShielRAB main character in the story is suffering from loneliness, lack of money and lack of emotional support, she doesn’t give up. When the harp falls out of the window and shatters her shin, she is once again reminded of the injustices of life. People make cruel remarks such as: “How fortunate you were to be struck on the leg and not the head”. Her parents offer no warmth or support and she is again on her own. A woman who has only herself to rely on. When she says “I was going to have to live my life without it, just as I have learned to accommodate other subtractions” it’s really saying something important about the development of the feminist movement. For so long women lived without certain rights and options and the heroine has learned to live without a man, without the support and comfort of parents, without a family of her own, without the invitation to the accountants party which would of placed her into society.
In the story “The Harp” the main character is also a perfect example of a working class woman who doesn’t have the benefit of a husbanRAB income. The attention she pays to her ripped pantyhose underscores the financial problems and unequal pay that still plagues working women today. Furthermore, not having a husband and a larger second income makes it difficult for her to be a part of the couples only lifestyle she sees in that “second floor window”.
As women gained independence, self-confidence and control of their own destinies they also struggled and suffered. The woman in ShielRAB story faces the fact that she must deal with all of the problems of life on her own. Just like the women who followed her in the women’s movement she too will gain from this experience. It will give her strength to succeed, but women have still not reached their full potential, because of the prejudice of society and the historical control by the male population.