WOMEN IN LITERATURE

1
WOMEN IN LITERATURE

• HOUSEKEEPING
• ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT

2
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

3
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.

4
Presentation (2 pairs)

• Points gleamed

5
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.

6
Presentation (2 pairs)

• Points gleamed

7
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.

8
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

9
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,
  self-reliance, and rejection of traditional
  authority.

10
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 narrators 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 ones identity is shaped? Give egs where the
  themes of identity family intertwine.

11
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.

12
Jeanette Winterson

• Born 1959
• an evangelical household and a young girl
  whofalls 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

13
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?

14
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)

15
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.

16
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!

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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!

18
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 self-revision,
  remedial / enrichment.

19
Topics to research on

• The America in the Novels social mores womens
  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

20
A Quiz!
21
True or False?

1. The history of the modern feminist movement is
   divided into TWO waves.
2. Betty Friedans 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.

22
True or False?

1. The feminist literary movement aims to promote
   homosexual writing.
2. 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.
3. Feminist criticism is an extension of Marxist
   criticism.

23
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.
• Feminist literary criticism applies primarily to
  womens writing.

24
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
  womens writing is more universal than mens.
• 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.

25
True or False?

• The history of the modern feminist movement is
  divided into TWO waves.
• Betty Friedans 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.
• 4. 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.
• 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.
• Feminist literary criticism applies primarily to
  womens writing.
• 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
  womens writing is more universal than mens.
• 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.

26
Feminism Movement

• 3 waves of the modern feminism movement.

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Feminism Movement

• First Wave
• 19th to early 20th century
• focused on de jure inequality, specifically
  womens suffrage
• Historical Background
• Restrictions on women patriarchy
• Prescribed roles positions (located in the
  domestic sphere)
• Literary tradition the idealised feminine
  women as the other

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Feminism Movement

• Second Wave
• 1960s to 1980s
• conventionally seen as sparked off by Betty
  Friedans 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.

29
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.
• Womens proper place seen to be the home (a
  closed sphere) proper roles are as housewives
  and mothers.
• Womens sexuality (seen in pregnancy, lactation,
  menstruation) seen as reasons for their
  inferiority.

30
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.

31
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 (Kennedys
  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

32
Betty Friedan

• Betty Friedans 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)

33
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.
34
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 Ones 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

35
A Funky Point..

• The Riot Grrrl
• an underground feminist punk movement that
  started in the 1990s and is often associated with
  third-wave feminism (it is sometimes seen as its
  starting point). It was Grounded in the DIY
  philosophy of punk values. Riot grrls took an
  anti-corporate stance of self-sufficiency and
  self-reliance

36
Application?

• Be aware of salient features.