WOMEN IN LITERATURE
HOUSEKEEPING
ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT
Pair Work (3 min)
• Do Question Analysis
- highlight key words/phrases;
- put in point form what the question
specifically requires you to examine
(you may use ‘Shrew’ to illustrate your points)
• Make a list of what you need to do; eg.
- step 1: do question analysis;
- step 2: set parameter for discussion;
- step 3: craft Topic Sentences (Key Points) etc
How Section B looks like..
“It is when the female characters or voices
break away from conventional roles that
the texts in which they feature become
most compelling.”
With detailed reference to any two of the
texts you have studied, compare ways in
which they present unconventional
behaviour to illuminate the role of women.
Presentation (2 pairs)
Points gleamed:
How Section B looks like..
With detailed reference to any two of the
texts you have studied, compare the
means by which they create distinctive
female voices.
Presentation (2 pairs)
Points gleamed:
Some general pointers..
• Look for common areas of concerns:
themes, approach, techniques, style.
• Look for differences within these common
areas, ie. always have a basis for
comparison.
• Close reading is necessary.
• Important to have examples from both
texts.
Marilynn Robinson
Standing on the bare ground,--my
head bathed by the blithe air and
uplifted into infinite space,--all
mean egotism vanishes. I become
a transparent eyeball; I am
nothing; I see all; the currents of
the Universal Being circulate
through me; I am part or parcel of
God.
--Emerson, "Nature"
Narrator: Ruth
Perspective: transparent eyeball
Note on ‘Transient Women’
Transcendentalism
• A personal faith centering on the divinity of
humanity and the natural world.
• Believes God is immanent in each person
and in nature
• Individual intuition is the highest source of
knowledge
• Optimistic emphasis on individualism, selfreliance, and rejection of traditional
authority.
Close reading
Consider the first line of Housekeeping:
• What does it tell you about the narrator?
• What kind of relationship does the narrator
(Ruth) establish with her reader?
• How does the narrator’s self-introduction (‘My
name is Ruth’) & subsequent introduction of her
family affect our perception of the way she
relates to her family?
• In what ways does family / relations affect the
way one’s identity is shaped? Give egs where
the themes of identity & family intertwine.
Close reading
Page 9, para beginning with “It is true that
one is always aware of the lake in
Fingerbone…”
• Consider the symbolic significance of the
lake / water.
• Give other textual examples of the
symbolic significance of the lake / water.
Jeanette Winterson
• Born 1959
• “an evangelical household and a
young girl [who]…falls in love with
another young girl.” (p. xiv)
• 'I've never understood why
straight fiction is supposed to be
for everyone, but anything with a
gay character or that includes gay
experience is only for queers.‘ JW
Analysis
Like most people I lived for a long time with my mother and father.
My father liked to watch the wrestling. My mother liked to wrestle.
This is the story of Jeanette, adopted by working-class evangelists
in the North of England, in the 1960's.
• Compare the film version with the written version
of the first paragraph – in what ways are they
different? Similar? What issues / concerns are
highlighted from the differences / similarities?
More Holiday Preparation for Paper 5
• Reminder: Paper 5 Holiday Assignment on
Unseen Passages (hard copy of handout)
• Lessons in Term 1, 2010
(follow the format of lessons on ‘Shrew’)
Lessons in Term 1, 2010
(follow the format of lessons on ‘Shrew’)
• Pair Work
*classes with odd numbers – 1 person will
have to do the presentation alone.
Lessons in Term 1, 2010
Research
• Select a topic from the given list *
• Do research on the topic (background info).
• Select salient points.
• Make a list of relevant sub-topic / key points.
• Using the visual organiser, organise your points
for each text.
*you can propose a topic if none of the 12 topics
appeal to you!
Lessons in Term 1, 2010
Presentation
• Start with a 3 min presentation on relevant background
info.
• Present key points using the visual organiser (make
copies for classmates)
• Select 1 passage from each text – device 3-5 questions
for the class that require close analysis of the passages.
• The passage should be around 50 lines.
• Give 10 min discussion time, then lead class discussion
on selected passages & questions.
• Each group in class will select 1 relevant passage per
text that offer scope for comparison (either similarity or
differences).
*you can propose a topic if none of the 12 topics appeal to
you!
Lessons in Term 1, 2010
Class work (after Pair Presentation)
• Each group in class will select 1 relevant
passage per text that offer scope for
comparison (either similarity or
differences).
• All to take note of passages selected –
these will form the resources for selfrevision, remedial / enrichment.
Topics to research on
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
The America in the Novels: social mores & women’s place in
society
Mothers (Fathers) & Daughters
Female identity: how female authorship shapes the identity issue
vs how society constructs the female identity
Marriage / Love / Relationship / Sexuality
Setting
Symbols
The Home / Housekeeping / Grooming (Self Image) & Gender
roles/identity
Loss & grief; rage & courage (and the female experience)
Memory & the Past
Coming of Age / Childhood experience
Neighbours & Relatives – functions & significance
Coming of Age
SIGN UP NOW
A Quiz!
True or False?
1. The history of the modern feminist
movement is divided into TWO ‘waves’.
2. Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique’
ignited the 1st wave of feminist
movement .
3. Germaine Greer stated that "Bras are a
ludicrous invention“, which inspired the
‘bra-burning’ event outside the Atlantic
City Convention Hall.
True or False?
4. The feminist literary movement aims to
promote homosexual writing.
5. Feminist literary theory proposes that all
writing is political in the sense that texts either
encode ‘proper’ behaviour and ‘proper’
structures of belief and feeling or subvert them.
6. Feminist criticism is an extension of Marxist
criticism.
True or False?
7. Feminist criticism examines literary works in
the light of how women are portrayed.
8. A feminist reading of a text requires that the
reader uncovers and therefore challenges
structures of inequality and oppression
encoded and represented in the text.
9. Feminist literary criticism applies primarily to
women’s writing.
True or False?
10. It is only very recently, and as a result of the
feminist movement, that men have begun to
present women realistically and
sympathetically in their writing.
11. Feminist literary critics believe that women’s
writing is more universal than men’s.
12. Feminist literary theories presume that there is
a relationship between the texts and the reality
(or society) from which they arise and in which
they are subsequently read.
True or False?
1.
2.
3.
4.
•
•
7.
8.
•
10.
11.
12.
The history of the modern feminist movement is divided into TWO ‘waves’.
Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique’ ignited the 1st wave of feminist
movement .
Germaine Greer stated that "Bras are a ludicrous invention“, which inspired
the ‘bra-burning’ event outside the Atlantic City Convention Hall.
The feminist literary movement aims to promote homosexual writing.
Feminist literary theory proposes that all writing is political in the sense that
texts either encode ‘proper’ behaviour and ‘proper’ structures of belief and
feeling or subvert them.
Feminist criticism is an extension of Marxist criticism.
Feminist criticism examines literary works in the light of how women are
portrayed.
A feminist reading of a text requires that the reader uncovers and therefore
challenges structures of inequality and oppression encoded and represented
in the text.
Feminist literary criticism applies primarily to women’s writing.
It is only very recently, and as a result of the feminist movement, that men
have begun to present women realistically and sympathetically in their
writing.
Feminist literary critics believe that women’s writing is more universal than
men’s.
Feminist literary theories presume that there is a relationship between the
texts and the reality (or society) from which they arise and in which they are
subsequently read.
Feminism Movement
• 3 ‘waves’ of the modern feminism
movement.
Feminism Movement
First Wave
- 19th to early 20th century
- focused on ‘de jure’ inequality, specifically
women’s suffrage
Historical Background:
• Restrictions on women: patriarchy
• Prescribed roles; positions (located in the
domestic sphere)
• Literary tradition: the idealised ‘feminine’;
women as the ‘other’
Feminism Movement
Second Wave
- 1960s to 1980s
- conventionally seen as sparked off by Betty
Friedan’s ‘The Feminine Mystique’;
- also concerned with de facto inequalities
(sexuality, family, workplace, reproductive rights)
Criticism of this ‘wave’ (Feminist Sex Wars):
- Often seen to impose a universal female identity
- Too much emphasis on upper middle class white
women.
Feminism Movement
Historical Background
- Unprecedented economic growth, baby boom,
suburbia expansion, capitalism.
- The growth of the middle class.
- Media & patriarchal system that idealised
domesticity.
- Post-war interest in the ‘nuclear family’ – advocated
as a symbol of security & a return to traditional
gender roles.
- Women’s ‘proper’ place seen to be the home (a
closed sphere) & ‘proper’ roles are as housewives
and mothers.
- Women’s sexuality (seen in pregnancy, lactation,
menstruation) seen as reasons for their inferiority.
Feminism Movement
Third Wave
- 1990 to present
- Diverse concerns; mainly seeks to avoid the
‘essentialist’ nature of 2nd wave feminism
(recognise ‘many colours, ethnicities,
nationalities, religions, cultural backgrounds)
- Seeks to include lesbians & women of colour.
- Allows women to define ‘feminism’ for
themselves.
- Challenges the assumptions / received wisdom
of past feminism movements.
Application of info
• See how society constructs gender identity, eg.:
- through determining ideal gender roles (explicit laws,
‘soft’ power of the media)
- through power / authority of the day (Kennedy’s role in
raising awareness of the feminist concerns; churches’
decrees)
• See how power between the sexes is distributed.
• See how women interact with each other & with men.
• See how women challenge / negotiate / re-construct their
roles.
• Be aware of how ‘feminist’ issues evolve.
In the texts you study…
Betty Friedan
• Betty Friedan’s book,
‘The Feminine Mystique’,
was published in 1963.
• It was widely perceived to have sparked
the 2nd wave of the feminist movement.
• Another important writer: Simone de
Beauvoir (‘The Second Sex’)
Who is Germaine Greer?
Feminist writers:
• Germaine Greer – The Female Eunuch
Greer also said that "but if you make
bralessness a rule, you're just subjecting
yourself to yet another repression."
There was actually no burning of bras –
bras & other ‘feminine’ accessories were
dumped into a ‘Freedom Trash Can &
someone suggested burning the can but
could not obtain permit to do it.
Other Feminist Writers / Critics
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mary Wollstonecraft – A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1869)
Simone De Beauvoir – The Second Sex (1949)
Alice Walker – The Colour Purple
Virginia Woolf – A Room of One’s Own (1929)
Mary Ellmann – Thinking About Women (1968)
Kate Millett – Sexual Politics (1969)
Judith Fetterley - The Resisting Reader (1978)
Elaine Showalter - A Literature of Their Own (1977)
Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar - The Madwoman in the Attic (1979)
Julia Kristeva, Helene Cixous
A Funky Point..
The Riot Grrrl
• an underground feminist punk
movement that started in the 1990s
and is often associated with thirdwave feminism (it is sometimes
seen as its starting point). It was
Grounded in the DIY philosophy of
punk values. Riot grrls took an anticorporate stance of self-sufficiency
and self-reliance
Application?
Be aware of salient features.