Upon deeper inspection the story has strong notes of feminism in the central character Elisa Allen. ... The drifter feigns great interest in Elisa's chrysanthemums and asks her many questions about them. ... She bathes and "primps" carefully, putting on "her newest under-clothing and her nicest stockings and the dress which was the symbol of her prettiness" (paragraph 94). ... Steinbeck makes it very easy to relate to this woman's struggle for strength and contentment in a life that does not meet her expectations. ... She sadly realizes that she can never live up to the expectations ...

• Word Count: 797
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Through his main character, Dmitri Dmitrich Gurov, Chekhov is able to show how a man can be held back from the very freedoms in life by society and its laws and institutions. ... The depression of being with a person who you neither love nor care about took a great toll on Gurov. ... Having children is a symbol for a unity and bond between a family, something that Gurov was adamant in not having with his family. ... This shows how Gurov had high expectations of himself to become something greater in life, to obtain a deeper purpose in his life, yet he was held back by society where he had to ...

• Word Count: 956
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Wilkins Freeman best represented a woman's struggle for independence through the character of Louisa's relationship with Joe Dagget. ... The character of Joe Dagget has many characteristics that a typical woman would desire in a man. ... "(661) What is interesting is that Freeman describes death as something great which happened to Louisa. She is advocating for women's freedom through the death of her family, when Louisa comes to recognize the great path of independence, and becomes a strong symbol of the strength of a woman as she is able to thrive on her own. ... Freeman ...

• Word Count: 2223
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Furthermore, Sylvia Plath's imagery is used to help paint the picture of just how determined Esther is to meet her own expectations as well as societies. ... I felt part of a great tradition"" (Plath 229). ... In Stephanie Tsanks, "The Bell Jar: A Psychological Case Study," states the bell jar as a symbol of society's stifling constraints and befuddling mixed messages that trap Sylvia Plath's heroine, Esther Greenwood, within its glass dome (166). ... It's here that Esther's, not only physical but psychological conflict, is addressed as she strives to meet the expectat...

• Word Count: 2257
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

The play opens with three female characters whose stories dominate the play throughout, each striving to break from their prescribed outcomes. ... Throughout the plot, these three women abandon their roles and express their sexuality beyond their society's expectations. ...

• Word Count: 2238
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Through means of reversal, Chaucer leads his main female character down the road of maleness. ... The reader first meets the pilgrims in the General Prologue (GP), where Chaucer provides subtle indications to the type of character he describes. ... Chaucer has come under critical disapproval for not adhering to socially prescribed gender roles for feminity in his character WB. ... How she chooses to travel is a minor aspect of crossing the lines of cultural gender expectations. ... The one weakness that comes forward in the WB character is when she steps out of the male role back into the fema...

• Word Count: 2959
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography

She offers that female characters add nothing or very little to actual elements of plot and character but rather are subjected to male scopophilia, the fetishistic and voyeuristic, due to phallocentricism and psychoanalytic fear of castration. ... From a tertiary level the female characters seem to gain more respect and authority as the years progress, but these scopophilic elements still persist through all the narratives. ... At the end of her essay Mulvey establishes three 'looks' in which this scopophilic dialectic can take place: between the camera and what is being shot, betwe...

• Word Count: 4301
• Approx Pages: 17
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The Paradox of Gender Gender is defined many ways but in its simplest form, gender is a "social construct built of traditions, language and symbols that can create deep affiliation and deep division among people" (Walker, 1999, p. 5). ... From birth, society raises females to have different expectations. ... Character is a significant aspect of stewardship. ...

• Word Count: 1954
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate