Both of the stories we read for today's class revolve around women learning how to be women; that is, learning to navigate the expectations society has for them based on their gender. For EACH of the two stories, find TWO passages in which a character struggles with cultural expectations about how she should think or behave as a girl or as a woman. You can choose a major or minor character. For example, on pages 122-123, the narrator of "I Stand Here Ironing" notes her reaction to the expectation that she breastfeed her children. For each of the passages that find, first summarize the passage and then answer the following questions:
1. How is the expectation communicated to the character?
Example: through books about post-natal childcare
2. What is the character's attitude toward the expectation? How can you tell? (Refer to particular words or phrases in the text to justify your answer.)
Example: The narrator is clearly anxious about conforming to this expectation and thinks it is very important; or at least she did at the time. She notes that she pursued breastfeeding with "fierce rigidity" for her first child, implying that she was not as careful with her subsequent children.
3. What is the AUTHOR'S attitude toward the expectation and how the character fulfills or doesn't fulfill it? How can you tell? (Refer to particular words or phrases in the text to justify your answer.)
Example: The narrator notes that her breasts were achey and swollen after the feedings, and these details seem to be placed in the text to evoke the reader's sympathy for her. By saying breastfeeding is "important nowadays," the author seems to imply that this is a kind of newfangled parenting wisdom, and that it probably isn't as important as more timeless parenting strategies like loving and and caring for and protecting your child. Perhaps she's even implying that specific parenting strategies don't affect how a child turns out… it's difficult to tell. Emily still turns out kind of "messed up," or at least socially awkward, despite the narrator's enthusiastic embrace of modern parenting wisdom.
Post your responses as a comment on this post.
Group 7: Gender Perspectives
ReplyDeleteOn page 116, as Sylvia’s grandmother is describing her son’s expeditions she says, “There, I don’t blame him, I’d ha’ seen the world myself if it had been so I could.” This implies that she feels she can’t travel because she’s a woman
1. Communicated to her by society and cultural customs that say women should stay home and make family a priority.
2. She is resigned and unquestioning about it. It was something she could never seriously consider but she seems somewhat wistful about it.
3. The author seems to make the reader pity her for her unquestioning conformity to society and her lack of resentment for her son although he left and did something she never could.
On page 120 when Sylvia returns from the heron’s nest she is expected to tell its location because a man is asking her for it, and offering a reward.
1. Her grandmother is communicating this expectation to her by rebuking her for not telling him. His expectancy and offer of a reward also implies that women should sacrifice something for money, which is a symbol of security.
2. Sylvia feels pressured by this but refuses to conform to the expectations of the birdwatcher and her grandmother. She understands the difference between what’s customarily right and morally right
3. The author compares her alternative choice to a ‘dog’s love’, which implies that she supports her decision to not disclose the location of the heron’s nest in return for the love and security of a man.
On page 125 the narrator explains how Emily fretted over the fact that she didn’t look how young girls were expected to- “thin and dark and foreign-looking at a time when every little girl was supposed to look or thought she should look a chubby blond replica of Shirley Temple”
1. Television, entertainment, and social cues taught Emily that beauty was a distinct look and couldn’t vary from the norm.
2. As a child Emily thinks her exotic looks are a huge disappointment that will really hinder her in life, and doesn’t gain her own confidence until she’s much older. The fact that she was different depressed her as a child.
3. The author makes the reader sympathize with Emily by saying she was bullied, excluded, and unloved. This shows that the author doesn’t agree with this expectation and thinks it can have severe detrimental effects on young girls like Emily. She even refers to society as a “Terrible world of youthful competition”.
On page 123 when the teacher rebukes Emily for being afraid of a young male bully by saying “why aren’t you outside, because Alvin hits you? That’s no reason, go out, scaredy.” This shows the expectation that girls should tolerate any mistreatment from men and it reflects poorly on them if they don’t.
1. This is communicated from the teacher when she reprimands Emily for staying inside as opposed to being hit by the bully.
2. At first, Emily is too afraid to go outside. Once she learns that she is expected to tolerate this behavior from boys, she accepts it although she hates it at the same time.
3. The Author obviously doesn’t agree with this standard for women. She has the narrator describe the teacher as ‘evil’ and paints her in a negative light by the characters we’re taught to sympathize with.
Passage 1 - A White Heron
ReplyDeleteSylvia, devoid of male influence, is captivated by a young hunter but she's too afraid to initiate conversation with him and only follows him despite knowing the area they are in better than he does.
1. The grandmother previously in the story demonstrates through her actions that women should be subservient to men when she makes Sylvia set the table for their guest.
2. She takes the idea of being submissive very seriously. This is obvious because it says she was "terrified" of hearing herself say anything not in a response to a question, implying she only spoke when spoken to.
3. The author disagrees with this expectation and Sylvia does not fulfill it by not telling the hunter where to find the white heron. This is clear in the last sentence because the author suggests that she should be rewarded with "gifts and graces" for doing what she thought was right instead of just doing what she was told.
Passage 2 - A White Heron
While the hunter is talking to Sylvia and her grandmother on the porch, her grandma is captivated by the man and his story. Sylvia, on the other hand, is paying more attention to the animals than anything that he says. It's expected that she should be listening too.
1. The expectation is conveyed by her grandmother listening attentively to the man's story and she should be as well.
2. Sylvia doesn't really care. She is much more interested in what is going on around her than anything the man has to say. She is frequently distracted looking at toads or daydreaming about the heron.
3. The author doesn't think that the expectation is very significant. Sylvia continues daydreaming throughout the hunter's story and is never reprimanded for it, even though her lack of attention seems to be painfully obvious.
Passage 1 - I Stand her Ironing
Emily is worried about the way she looks. She is described as than and dark when all of the other girls around her resemble Shirley Temple in that they are chubby and blonde.
1. She knows that she is expected to look that way because all of the other girls around her, including Susan, fulfill these requirements and seem to be much more well liked than she is.
2. Emily thinks that girls really should look like this. It is mentioned that she "torments" herself because of her different looks.
3. The author doesn't think this is a reasonable expectation. She has Emily turn out to be successful even though she doesn't fit the mold everyone else thinks that she should.
"A White Heron"
ReplyDeletepassage 1: page 118: "Sylvia would have like him vastly better without his gun...the woman's heart, asleep in the child, was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love."
passage 2: page 118: "She grieved because the longed for white heron was elusive, but she did not lead the guest, she only followed...it was hard enough to answer yes or no when there was need of that."
1. In passage 1, Sylvia is presented with temptation that she is probably feeling for the first time. This temptation of love and emotion is one that society often is associated with women. Men aren't typically seem as the ones who follow their hearts, instead women are. At this point Sylvia is only exploring this temptation, and as we find out later in the story she is able to look past the temptation and hold onto her innocence. In passage 2, there is more of an obvious expectation, that Sylvia cannot speak her own mind. In a male dominant society, she is scared and says that "there was no such thing as speaking first" (118).
2. In both passages, the character seems to be unsure of what to do and how to either follow or break the rules. More so in passage 1 is she able to break free from the mold of society, but it is obvious in passage 2 that "the sound of her own unquestioned voice would have terrified her" (118). In this passage, the social expectation is one that even Sylvia succumbs to.
3. Although this opinion could go either way, we think the author supports Sylvia's decision because in the end of the story her choice is gratified and commended. The last sentence of this short story is a question that neither supports nor goes against Sylvia's decision, but leaves it up to the readers to decide whether Sylvia is pleased or not with the path she chose.
"I Stand Here Ironing"
Passage 1: page 127 "I will never total it all...She is a child of her age, of depression, of war, of fear."
Passage 2: page 126 "In this and other ways she leaves her seal, I say alound...suffering over the unpreparedness, stammering and unsure in her classes."
1. In both passages, Emily's mother is expected to be "a mother, a housekeep, and a shopper" (126). She has to do it all, be super mother for Emily, all while taking care of all her other kids. She even says when talking about Emily that "there were four smaller ones now, there was not time for her" (126). Emily's mother feels regret towards Emily's up bringing because she neglected her first born, but the reason for this neglect was caused by the tight rope society placed on her, and mothers in general. On page 127, Emily's mother says: "She was a child of anxious, not proud love" and "I was a young mother, I was a distracted mother."
2. Emily's mother feels sadness and discontent with the way she raised Emily, but at the same time offers the justification that society is the reason she was too caught up in the role that was forced upon her to really focus on Emily.
3. We think the author sympathizes with Emily's mother because of the time period and the circumstances of the family. They "were poor and could not afford for the soil of easy growth" for Emily (127). Emily's mother says that her first born was a "child of her age, of depression, of war, of fear" (127).
Group 8
ReplyDeleteA White Heron-
“Everybody said that it was a good change for a little maid who had tried to grow for eight years in a crowded manufacturing town, but, as for Sylvia herself, it seemed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm.”
summary: As a low-class female child growing up in the city, Sylvia was expected to help provide for her family by working in a manufacturing unit. But for her, her life truly began when she moved to the farm with her grandmother, where she spent her time tending to the cow and playing outside.
a. Expectation was communicated through her living situation and the people around her.
b. Her attitude was compliant but unhappy and quiet. You can tell by her reaction to going to the farm and her complete change of attitude.
c. Although phrased as a negative- “never been alive at all before she came” the author emphases that she “tried” in a world that obviously wasn’t fit for her, turning it more into a positive.
A White Heron-
“...but she did not lead the guest, she only followed, and there was no such thing as speaking first. The sound of her own unquestioned voice terrified her-- it was hard enough to answer yes or no when there was no need of that.”
summary: The values instilled in Sylvia resulted in her fear of speaking, causing her to be a follower who enjoyed being alone.
a. Expectation comes from within her, a result of her personality or upbringing.
b. The expectation is within her comfort zone, she does not want to step outside of it.
c. The author dramatizes the point illustrating the expectation is truly a struggle. She does this through diction- “the sound her own unquestioned voice terrified her.”
I Stand Here Ironing-
“I am glad for that slow physical development that widened the difference between her and her contemporaries, though she suffered over it. She was too vulnerable for that terrible world of youthful competition, of preening and parading, of constant measuring of yourself against every other, of envy, “If I had that copper hair,” “If I had that skin....””
summary:
a. She saw and heard the expectation among the people around her and through media.
b. She was uncomfortable and envious because of her differences.
c. The author seemed cynical toward the expectation through the phrase “preening and parading,” and almost sympathetic toward Emily- the mother says she was “glad” that she wasn’t part of the youthful competition.
I Stand Here Ironing-
“She was dark and thin and foreign-looking in a world where the prestige went to blondeness and curly hair and dimples, she was slow where glibness was prized. She was a child of anxious, not proud, love.”
summary:
a. The expectation is communicated most obviously through the contrast in her physical characteristics and that of the people around her.
b. She felt out of place and insecure- “she was a child of anxious love.”
c. The author seems very sympathetic and portrays Emily as the underdog- putting her against the rest of society.
Page 125- Emily frets about her appearance thinking that she doesn’t like a lady should.
ReplyDeleteEmily even explicitly mentions the movie “Shirley Temple” in reference to her appearance, stating that she doesn’t measure up to her beauty and charm.
The media clearly played a large role in influencing Emily’s opinion about appearance.
She longs to meet the expectation and hates herself because she can’t.
The authors view is expressed in the quote “At a time when every little girl was supposed to look or thought she should look like a chubby Shirley temple”. The correction of the word “supposed” to “thought” alludes to the fact that perhaps the author does not agree with the cultural standards and stereotypes of the time.
Page 126- Emily suffers in school because she isn’t developing quick enough which leaves her vulnerable to “youthful” competition. She is not comfortable with her physical appearance and constantly compares herself to her peers.
Through her peers and her little sister.
The character torments herself wishing she could look more like her peers.
The author phrases like “terrible world” when describing youthful competition and “merciless physical drive” express the author’s distaste for stereotypes she regards as brutal and pointless.
Page 117- When offered ten dollars to reveal the location of the bird, Sylvia is not interested: “Sylvia still watched the toad”
Sylvia’s grandmother rebukes her for not accepting the money conveying its importance to sylvia.
The character understands the value and importance of money but she refuses to sacrifice her love of nature.
The last sentence expresses the author’s agreement with Sylvia stating “Whatever treasures were lost to her, woodlands and summer-time, remember!”
Page 120- By not disclosing the bird’s location sylvia rejects human companionship, instead choosing to be “a lonely country child”
Her grandmother and the hunter clearly valued each others company, and the stranger made many attempts at friendship with Sylvia.
Sylvia knows she is supposed to value friendship and treat others kindly, but values her connection to nature over relationships with people.
The author states “ do not move a foot or a finger,little girl” expressing her belief that does not want the young girl to reveal the Heron’s location to the hunter.
Group 5
ReplyDeleteWhite Heron
1. “Now step round and set a plate for the gentleman, Sylvy!” And Sylvia promptly stepped.
a. Through the grandmother’s example of subservience to the young ornithologist.
b. Sylvia “promptly” accepted her grandmother’s command to set the plate for the man. This shows that she is quick to accept her role as a young girl, “glad to have something to do” and serving the young man in a “home ec” type fashion
c. The author’ implies through this scene that she does not believe in the stereotypical female gender role. The author sets up this image of Sylvie and her grandmother serving dinner to the young stranger in order to establish a contrast to Sylvie’s later disobedience when she does not tell the man where the bird is.
2. “But Sylvia does not speak after all, though the old grandmother fretfully rebukes her, and the young man’s kind appealing eyes are looking straight into her own. He can make them rich with money; he was promised it, and they are poor now. He is so well worth making happy and he waits to hear the story she can tell.”
a. The young man is staring at Sylvia and the grandmother is scolding her for not speaking. Both of them are trying very hard to get Sylvia to share her information about the white heron
b. Sylvia is torn between obeying the man that is so “well worth making happy” and keeping her information about the heron safe within herself.
c. The author takes pride in the fact that Sylvia does not give in to her infatuation with a man that is “so worth it.”
I Stand Here Ironing
3. “That time of motherhood is almost behind me when the ear is not one’s own but must always be wrapped and listening for the child cry.”
a. Society enforces the idea that women were made to be mothers. It is a woman’s purpose to rear and raise the next generation.
b. The character accepts her gender role as a mother because she knows that it is her “time of motherhood” and that she always has to be at attention and “listening” for her children and be trained to know they need her.
Group 2
ReplyDelete“There was hardly a night the summer through when the old cow could be found waiting in at the pasture bars; on the contrary, it was her greatest pleasure to hide herself away among the high huckleberry bushes, and though she wore a loud bell she had made the discovery that if one stood perfectly still it would not ring.” (114)
The expectation that the cow needed to be milked every day at the pasture was communicated to the cow by dragging her back to the house every evening. The cow does not enjoy being milked, and therefore makes it difficult on her owners by hiding in the woods. However, once the cow is discovered it will submit to her fate and head straight back to the farm to be milked. The author thinks that the cow should be used for milking, as indicated on page 116 when the cow is described as a good milker. The author also thinks that the cow is overly stubborn sometimes, especially the way that the cow would stop at a stream on the way to the pasture to fill up on water instead of just drinking the water at the pasture.
“She had never seen anybody so charming and delightful; the woman’s heart, asleep in the child, was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love.” (118)
Sylvia was given the expectation that she was supposed to fall in love with a guy. This expectation could have been given to her at school or through general fairytales. Sylvia was interested in the idea of falling in love, as shown by her following the man around “fascinated,” but she resisted falling in love in order to protect the natural environment. She later regretted her decision as shown in the end of the story where she wonders what could have been. The author admired Sylvia’s decision to protect the heron rather than fall in love. This is very clearly indicated in the last line of the story, “Bring your gifts and graces and tell your secrets to this lonely country girl!”
“…making me tell her over and over how beautiful she had been – and would be, I would tell her – and was now, to the seeing eye.”
Emily thinks that she must be beautiful, and due to her proneness to disease and the neglect that she experienced when she was younger she cannot compare to other girls. Emily may have gotten these expectations from her own mother, who is frequently talking about beauty. If not from her mother, then she got these expectations from school. Emily agonized over the way that she looked different from the others.
Group 3
ReplyDeleteI Stand Here Ironing:
1.) In the beginning of the story, Emily is depicted as a child who never rebelled or directly protested when it came to certain things. Her mother stated that most three or four years olds threw explosions and tantrums and demands whereas Emily had a calm demeanor. The expectation is communicated to the character through instinct. The mother is dismayed by this and thinks about "the cost to her of such goodness." The author lays this certain statement as the introduction of Emily's temperament and how she developed.
2.) The expectation is to take care of younger siblings and eventually her own kids. The gender perspective is for the women to monitor and care for the household. "War years. I do not remember them well. I was working, there were four smaller ones now, there was not time for her. She had to help be a mother, a housekeeper, and a shopper." Emily is resigned to it. She does all her work after her siblings go to bed, and doesn't really complain about her chores. Shown in the last example, Emily is generally a quiet, calm person. It seems that the author wants Emily to be free of that hold and pursue her own goals.
A White Heron:
1.) "Sylvia was more alarmed than ever." This expectation was communicated through the character through her different feelings and perception in which Sylvia tends to think and reflect more on each action and is more introspective about the nature of things. She's really nervous and afraid to break the rules. The author encourages Sylvia's behavior towards the man, and that it is important to be aware of her surroundings and recognize danger.
2.) The expectation is for her to serve as a good granddaughter and to not tell the heron's location. She's pondering on whether she should share the secret with her grandmother and the ornithologist. "Sylvia does not speak after all, though the old grandmother fretfully rebukes her and the young man's kind appealing eyes are looking straight at her..." The author's attitude is that she is glad that she remained loyal and true to her principles.