Essay on Ambiguous Women The Power of the Female Narrative

Ambiguous Women: The Power of the Female Narrative I do not wonder that men have always felt threatened by strong women. Male insecurity is manifest in the patriarchal infrastructure of society and its enforcement of gender roles that require female submission to the male model. In her book, Writing a Womans Life, Caroline Heilbrun quotes Deborah Camerons sardonic statement, men can be men only if women are unambiguously women (16). Heilbrun considers the ambiguous women, those who challenge convention. Ive developed a deep appreciation for these ambiguous women, for the power of their narratives. In Black Ice, the autobiography of a black woman recruited into a previously all male elite New England prep school, Carey†¦show more content†¦Then I recognized that while this notion might be obvious to me in 2003, I had to consider an era when society taught women different values. Why were women so complacent? According to Mills 1869 work, The Subjection of Women, [Men] have†¦ put everything in practice to enslave [womens] minds†¦The masters of women wanted more than simple obedience, and they turned the whole force of education to effect their purpose. All women are brought up from their ideal of character is the very opposite to that of men; not self-will, and government by self-control, but submission, and yielding to the control of other. All moralities tell them that it is the duty of women. . . to live for others; to make complete abnegation of themselves, and to have no life but in their affections. . .--those to the men with whom they are connected or the children who constitute an additional and indefeasible tie between them and a man (232). Women wanted to please men (or at least play the ascribed role) because they were taught that it was only through men and the home that they could achieve success and social acceptance. It is difficult for me to conceive of a time when society dissuaded women from educational pursuits, and patriarchy so grossly dictated female existence, yet less than a century ago, this social climate was Virginia Woolfs reality. Mill notes that, an increasing number of [women] have recorded protests against their present socialShow MoreRelatedEssay On Social Morality In Macbeth938 Words   |  4 Pagesfunctions. The machinations at work driving the play’s narrative forward are parallel to the guises both the witches as well as Lady Macbeth undertake in order to achieve their ends. Upending against the narrative was the perceived notion that reigned within the time of Shakespeare through which public norms had enabled an extensive division between the genders took root as the social norms of the age. Through his utilization of powerful, dominant female characters, Shakespeare writes Macbeth against theRead MoreE.l. 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