“And when ordinary fellows like you and me attempt to cope with their idiosyncrasies the result is bungling. Most women are moody and whimsical. This is some passing whim of your wife, due to some cause or causes which you and I needn't try to fathom."

          - The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Throughout the ages, across the nations, spanning languages and customs there is one commonality all man/womankind can agree on, men do things sometimes that do not make much sense. Authors love to tap into this shared experience, portraying the sillier side of masculinity. Let us discuss a certain type of male character used in fiction, the clueless man. What purpose does he serve? Why is he often tied to the empowerment of women? We will look at three pieces of literature in the twentieth century, defined (among other categorizations) as uneasy heroine pieces. These are The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. In each of these pieces there are uneasy heroines that are berated by “clueless men”. In examining these men and their role as catalyst for happiness within the heroine we will better understand the fictional device of the clueless man employed in each of these novels. We will observe each novel to define the clueless man inside and look at the similarities that span the three, catching any mode that might enlighten us to the clueless man as fictional device.

Looking at The Awakening we will examine Leonce Pontellier and his effect on Edna Pontellier as the clueless man. The quote that opened this paper resembles the attitude taken by the husband of our heroine. His approach in his dealings with Edna comes not from a husband, in the romantic sense of the word, but the point of view of one who is “...looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage." (Chopin, 3) Leonce Pontellier objectifies his wife and places her in a definition of his own which is like a mother-woman. This is the role in which Edna caters to in the beginning of the novel. Her idealization of Madam Ratignole the true “mother-woman” shows her tendencies to conform to the social norm of a woman in her position. "He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it?" (7) Leonce has defined in his mind an ideal woman of Edna's status the “Mother Woman”, as defined perfectly in this next passage.

"The mother-women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels." (10)

This is Leonce's ideal woman. He has had this in his mind since a man of his status began looking for a wife. The mother woman is what the society pressures young women to be. Partly because there is this ideal that the men of the time had, and the threat of the old maid forced them into this role. The Awakening is at its core about a woman moving past the role and into individuality. It is about leaving Mrs. Ratignole and moving toward Madam Rieze. The shift in this case was directed by her husband. If she is indeed awakened it is Leonce's fault that she was asleep. His ideal mother-woman personae that Edna has accepted into her psyche has kept her “asleep”. When she does begin to change Leonce is confused, clueless.

"It sometimes entered Mr. Pontellier's mind to wonder if his wife were not growing a little unbalanced mentally. He could see plainly that she was not herself. That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we would assume like a garment with which to appear before the world." ( 77)

Her change, her awakening, was as a mental imbalance to Leonce that is how foreign this idea of Edna leaving the bounds of his ideal is to him.

The unsupportive man and the neglectful man are also parts that Leonce plays. Steven T. Ryan, in his article “Depression and Chopin's The Awakening”, actually equates her previous life trying to play the Mother Woman as a “Hypomanic depressive” (254-255). I do not believe he is saying she actually was this, but her actions of an imprisoned woman resemble the same as a “bipolar II” disordered person. He goes on to comment about her actual “Awakening” referring again to the neglectful role Leonce has played in her life. “Edna is not destroyed because her sensuality is awakened but rather because the awareness of her sensuality emotionally resurrects her frustrated need for intimacy.” (259) Leonce does not create a marriage which acts as a venue for support, with intimacy or even artistic expression. He is ignorant to the creative passions that Edna is being awakened to. He is unaware and thus unsupportive of a change in his ideal woman. She is becoming the passionate artist that her personality caters to. These opinions are also not to say that Leonce did not love Edna, I feel he did, but that he was simply not the husband that she needed. The clueless man in this case is unsupportive, and unrecognizing of what his woman truly is outside of the ideal box he has placed her in. Because of this our Heroine is thrust, rather violently, toward happiness that has been denied her. She finally takes a figurative leap into the unknown taken the chances that this will be better than her current situation.

"The water of the Gulf stretched out before her, gleaming with the million lights of the sun. The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander n abysses of solitude. All along the white beach, up and down, there was no living thing in sight. A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water." (154)

The author does not give us the proof of her death at the end of the novel, but the fact that she took a swim, into a dangerous area, far from land, shows the heroine taking her identity out of her husband's hands and into her own. The fact that it had to be done in an unfortunate way is the tragedy of the novel. The clueless man not only pushed the heroine toward happiness but also away from himself, first into the arms of another and then into the sea.

Within the novel Tender is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, our main character, Dick Diver, plays husband to our heroine Nicole diver. He had first met Nicole as a patient while he was a young practicing psychiatrist. Against advice from colleagues and social morays, the two blossomed into a relationship that ended in marriage. I use the term “ended” purposefully. While reading the early days of the relationship, the earliest moments, chronologically in the novel, we get a sense of true happiness, where Dick Diver is a decent person, even likeable. By the end of the novel the places of these two characters have switched; Dick has fallen and is now a shadow of the man he used to be. Conversely, Nicole has freed herself from the feelings of unhappiness and progressed, though tentatively, toward joy. She is uplifted at the same time Dick has fallen. Let us look at what part this clueless man has in his own downfall and the rise of our heroine.

Through Dick's false ideals of what a woman is to him, he has created, much like Leonce had, a box in which to place the definition of Nicole Diver into. Once in the box he knows how to react to her, he is able to care for her. But in making a box and opposing his will on the real Nicole to be like his ideal, he has made a fragile life. “"Nicole's world had fallen to pieces, but it was only a flimsy and scarcely created world." (143) When she begins to actually realize happiness may not be what she thought it was, her fragile world comes crashing down.

So what exactly is the ideal which Dick has tried to conform Nicole to? "You don't understand Nicole. You treat her always as a patient because she was once sick." (308) There is a doctor/patient model at work here, but this does not seem to encompass everything. The relapse Nicole had in the bathroom (112) expressed more than a hostility to her husband, there were ugly similarities between this scene and those that had caused her fragile state. She was yelling at her father as much as she was yelling at Dick Diver. The horrible past, which had included the molestation by a father, crept back into her psyche. She was yelling at Dick as if he were her father. This triggers in the audience a realization of the father figure that Dick truly is. Dick's idealized woman then is a daughter figure; one who acts like a patient, needing to be rescued and taken care of. In his article entitled, “Dick Diver and the Priest of Nemi” Erwin R. Steinberg, emphasizes this need to protect and heal, “Fitzgerald Recorded, as part of the summary of the plot, that the hero "marries her (the heroine) and is madly in love with her and entirely consecrated to completing her cure” (70). He rarely tires of playing the father figure because this is an ongoing process, she is never cured of any disease physically or mentally in the novel. This fatherly attraction completely explains the attraction he has with Rosemary, the young actress, in need of guidance, on the brink of adulthood. Dick"s self worth is tied up in what he does. "God, am I like the rest after all?" (Fitzgerald, 133) He understands his place in society and in a way looks down on his equals. His self worth is related to being a father to Nicole. His downfall begins when he believes he can be a father figure/lover to Rosemary as well. This clueless man has placed the women he adores in these closely defined boxes where he keeps them and depends upon them for self affirmation. When they move on, when they are unhappy as heroines get being placed in a box, they take with them the structures holding up Dick's self. He then begins to descend as Nicole rises.

Like The Awakening our heroine makes a conscious choice to not stay with the status quo and live in unhappiness but to brave the unknown in search for the things denied her by the idealization of a man pretending his wife is something she is not, a daughter figure. The flight, in this case happened not as dramatically as running into the see but was never-the-less the biggest step of Nicole's life.

"So delicately balanced was she between an old foothold that had always guaranteed her security, and the imminence of a leap from which she might alight changed in the very chemistry of blood and muscle, that she did not dare bring the matter into the true forefront of consciousness." (279)

It takes Nicole the entire rest of the novel to break free of the lifestyle she had known. She was not ruined, but free. This in fact would be the cause of Dick's fall, but she can hardly be blamed for him placing so much of his manhood on being a pseudo husband, one whom needs to be as a father. "There was some element of loneliness involved--so easy to be loved - so hard to love." (245) This quote elucidates us to this fact that this is where Dick gathers his defense of his actions from. It is easy to be loved as a father figure without the necessity of loving another. A father's main office is to supply, provide, protect, and be loved. The role of this clueless man is a father figure. He spurned on his wife toward happiness and again away from himself. His acting more as a father and less like a husband drove a delicate and fragile Nicole to the arms of another man, and when Dick's self worth is wrapped up in his ability to keep Nicole as a daughter who loves him, he descends and withers as a man. The clueless man pushes, by action or inaction, by force or neglect, the woman in his life to break free of the ideal he has forced her into and toward joy.

Lolita by Vladimir Nobokov is obviously a very difficult text to analyze. This is how I will approach the text. I feel, given the utter unreliability of the narrator that lines and direct quotes do little good. I am taking this cue from an article entitled, “Humbert Humbert's Use of Catullus 58 in Lolita” by Gary R. Dyer. In it he examines how the “novel insists on making the reader suspend disbelief”, and “by putting aside the matter of the book's self-conscious artifice and taking Humbert's account at face value, we can by illuminating the narrative, illuminate the novel.” (2) We shall illuminate the narrative and stay away from direct quotes that may cause one to get off track in a number of ways. We may be able to form a clearer image of the characters if we focus on terminology and the periphery of the text. This is why you the reader will not see as many quotes as you have previously; I find it more helpful to discuss the key nouns and general happenings of the story as a whole.

Our main character, Humbert Humbert, is in “love” with a twelve year old girl named Delores, whom he refers to as Lolita. When speaking of Humbert Humbert as the clueless man in question, we need to understand the outcome of his actions. His Lolita feels, as all previous heroines in this paper, that the ideal woman Humbert Humbert has coined her as is not what she is. She rebels, like previous women, and flees the confines of his company. She disappears and eventually turns up again asking for money from him, she is pregnant and with another man. Humbert Humbert takes his aggression out on a man named Quilty, he murders him for stealing Lolita from him some time ago. Humbert Humbert writes his memoirs in a jail cell in which he soon dies. These are the stakes of being clueless in this novel.

What makes Humbert Humbert clueless? If we are indeed to take our lead from the previous novels we have studied it might be safe to assume it is his ideal of the perfect woman that commences his downfall. According to the memoirs, early in his life he had a crush on a beautiful young girl his age. But be fore they could consummate their relationship she was snatched away from him later to have died. This left a whole in Humbert Humbert one he has been trying to replace ever since. This is where the term, “nymphet” comes from. Humbert Humbert see sin young beautiful girls the one he was never able to have. He is “incarnating her in another”. These young nymphets spur on his obsessive tendencies, making him a pedophile. He idealizes the nymphet as the one thing missing, the one thing that will make him whole. He is dependent upon this obsession. There is no simple physiological explanation for his actions. This is not a lust, this is a mental obsession. It is a barrier in his psyche that prevents him from moving on. He “must have her”. “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.” (Nobokov, 1) The opening lines of the novel place us in the obsessed and beautiful mind of Humbert Humbert. We get a sense of how the world is nothing without her; without his nymphet. Humbert Humbert cannot simply move on to another young girl. He sees his lost love in her and must be with her only. He goes so far as to marry Lolita's mother so that he may stay in her life.

The meat of the novel focuses on the relationship of man and woman. Though there is an age difference, it is not the father figure relationship demonstrated in the Divers. There is a captor and captive feel to them. Though Humbert Humbert feels, and writes, that she is madly in love with him, we get the sense that she is looking elsewhere, or at least has other opportunities that H.H. realizes as well.

“Oh, I had to keep a very sharp eye on Lo, little limp Lo! Owing perhaps to constant amorous exercise, she radiated, despite her childish appearance, some special languorous glow which threw garage fellows, hotel pages, vacationists … into fits of concupiscence which might have tickled my pride, had it not incensed my jealousy.” (159).

The appearance of Quilty following them is the first sense we get that H.H. is losing his grip on Lolita. There is another presence that threatens the relationship. H.H. would not have been threatened had he believed, without a doubt, in the strength of the relationship. One could argue Quilty is a manifestation of his imagination here to exemplify the loosening grasp on Lolita.

Like the heroines of The Awakening and Tender is the Night, Lolita, we can assume, begins to resent her cage of ideals that H.H. has placed her in. He is making Lolita into the young girl he never had. This will push her toward something better, something where she can be free to be Lolita, and not the shadow of some former love. Lolita takes flight and turns up missing. H.H. is sure she has left with Quilty.

The domineering spirit H.H. possesses inhibits the true identity of Lolita. We purposefully are kept at a distance from Lolita in the novel. We only know of her through the eyes of the narrator, H.H. As with the other novels discussed here, the true identity of the woman is suppressed to fill the identity of the ideal the man has. This causes the heroine to rebel against her rules and find a place where she can be free, be this, another man, the sea, divorced, or just away from her clueless man. H. H., even at the end of his life, places Lolita in the nymphet role, for he writes his memoirs regarding her as if it were still going on. “By telling his story Humbert TRIES to transcend not only the loss of the nymphet to maturity and marriage, but her death and his own death. He writes that his memoir may be published only after Lolita has died.” (Dyer, 12)

From these texts we are able to better define the clueless man device used in these cases of fiction. From The Awakening we learn that the clueless man is able to passively neglect his wife. His actions do not have to be tangible. The clueless man, in this case, imprisoned the heroine in a figurative construct of ideals. His “perfect” woman (in quotes because they may not be perfect to universal standards) does not want to be the woman he has pressed upon her. She rebels. In Tender is the Night we also see a rebellion, though much slower than and not as dramatic as throwing oneself into a sea. The revolt is simple, a run for happiness and joy. Nicole sees a chance in a new man though it means leaving the security of what she has known. This clueless man also struggles with an ideal. In this case, Dick Diver invests more of himself into the ideal of this daughter like figure that he can protect. He would always have played the doctor and father to her if she would have let him.

Lolita acts as an experiment to that which occurs when the ideal and the stakes become dangerous. Humbert Humbert idealizes a lost love, “incarnating her in another”. This other is Lolita a young girl who is the victim of obsession. This situation acts a little more like a prison, here; the victim has little power physically in this relationship. Lolita acts as a more concrete version of what the other Heroines progress through. She too rebels and runs away. The interesting thing about it is we get a glimpse of life after she made the choice to move on. She is not nearly as happy as she could be. This is a jolt for those who love the romantic questions that follow the reading of novels such as The Awakening and Tender is the Night. Lolita does not allow for guess work. Nobokov hits us twice with Lolita's decision to stay away from the man whose false ideals had imprisoned her. We see that life was not glamorous, star studded, or falsely optimistic in anyway, however, she makes the choice to live free as an individual and accepted for the woman she is, not the nymphet Humbert Humbert wanted her to be. This is what truly makes the uneasy heroine heroic.

The clueless man is used as a way to trap the protagonist. His idealization of what a woman should be causes them to rebel and become who they truly are, this doesn't always mean an easy life, but it is a free one. The clueless man does not have one idea about a woman, or even a bad idea in some cases, Mrs. Ratignole was very content with playing the “Mother Woman” part, but it is when men try to place a woman in a box that creates the conflict. Placing any man's idea of a woman on a woman will be inaccurate. Women are as different from other women as they are from men.

When fiction uses the clueless man device to make a point, it brings with it many notions of gender, masculinity and ties in a universal element everyone can relate to. Real life men may be able to take away lessons from these novels. Do not place women in a box, they will rebel, maybe not with suicide or affairs, it may be as subtle as unhappiness. Understanding how these fictional devices work exactly and what makes them so popular taps into what we bring to the table as a reader. It taps in to the outside “texts” that we hold in the back of our minds when understanding literature. It may even help to change some of those “texts”.

I once read a feminist text book that, in one portion, said that opening doors for a woman is sexist because it mocks the woman's social standing and also implies that she is weak. I think this is overly aggressive. I open doors for everybody, male or female, because it is the polite thing to do.

That being said, the rest of this is me bitching about blatant sexism in comics. Like I said, tough, sexism is on a scale not an either/or. Sexism can be found in pretty much any context, even when the writer or artist is a woman, simply because it is an example of other works that may be harmful to the political atmosphere, the social atmosphere or the religious atmosphere and how those atmospheres effect women.

After I list a few examples, I will talk about ways to overcome the sexist stereotypes and how to make a story better for women readers, and also the social, political and spiritual worlds that each of us is a part of.

Extreme Exaggeration of the Female Anatomy

When I first began looking for an artist in the comics field I put up advertisements stating that I wanted well drawn, natural looking women. It was a requirement. Out of the 50 or so pages of submissions I got only one or two of them had bothered with sending submissions of women that had been drawn well and respectfully. The vast majority of submissions were by artist who exploited the female body to try and gain financial profit. I'd asked one artist, who's work was otherwise extremely well drawn, if he could draw women with breasts sizes that weren't exaggerated and his reply was that he wasn't going to compromise his artist vision for profit. Yikes. That is how some people define artistic integrity? Okay, well, he won't be getting the job from me. The thing that sucks is he is almost certain to get it somewhere else.

What gets me upset about this is when people talk about how men are drawn with just as much exaggeration. I used to be one of these people, to be honest, until I looked at it a little closer. The women's bodies are almost always identical. If you take women from a specific comic and remove details from her costume that would identify her, you would have no idea who she is. The only differences between women characters are hair style and sometimes one will have a cleft chin. The men have exaggerated bodies, too, but they are varied and reflect the personalities and powers of the hero. Captain America is very different from Spiderman, Wolverine and the Hulk.

Comics are, for the most part, written by heterosexual males, writing about heterosexual males, for heterosexual males. The sexuality is only obvious when it comes to women. The vast majority wear next to nothing most of the time or dress in clothing that emphasize the breasts, buttocks and thighs. A prime example is Power Girl. Her breasts were abnormally large for a teenage girl as Supergirl, but as a grown up Power Girl they are enormous and her costume has a hole cut out to show cleavage.

The thing of it is, though, it isn't just the breasts being too large or overly exposed. The vast majority of body parts are exaggerated on the women in ways that men simply aren't. The stomaches are made extremely thing, the thighs are muscular and the heads, hands and feet are smaller than normal.

Recently a woman, Jodi Picoult, was hired to write Wonder Woman and asked DC comics if she could alter Wonder Woman's costume. One of the things Jodi had wanted to change was a simple addition of shoulder straps. DC said no. I assume they thought that it was vital to the character profile that she not have shoulder straps.

After Jodi's short run on Wonder Woman, DC comics hired Gail Simone to replace her. Gail argues that the fact that Wonder Woman makes the eyes pop out of your head is what makes her special. Gail Simone once stated on a message board I frequent, that she believes the fact that Wonder Woman is a strong, intelligent, beautiful woman is what makes her a feminist icon.

Women In Refrigerator

Gail Simone has a history of fighting to improve the standard treatment of women in comics. She once wrote about how women in comics tended to be little more than plot devices. Women are mostly used as a way to motivate the hero and are often killed in horrible ways, like, being chopped up and left in the Green Lanterns fridge. Yucky. Creepy. It seems that, extremely often, female characters are killed or abused in bizarre ways. This is something I understand and am repulsed by at the same time. I understand wanting to make the girlfriend of the hero the victim because it creates an immediate need for the hero to do something. However, at the same time, it is a damn shame that the stories default setting is girl in trouble and guy saves her.

As I posted on Jennifer De Guzeman's blog, I believe there are times when a character needs to be misogynistic, in order to express how bad that can be, you sometimes these really bad people have to do something really nasty to women. What we really need though is for a truer to life balance. When women can be intelligent, strong, well written characters and you have a blatant sexist in the story, fine, but when it is rehashed garbage that is simply written to perpetuate a story of girl in trouble and guy saves her, well, then you just suck at writing or an obviously only think of women in terms of weak and defenseless. In other words, you lose.

To learn more about the Women In Refrigerator syndrome of the comics world, please visit the Women In Refrigerator website.

Pin Ups

Okay, I understand the women in comics are sexualized beings from the get go(see the first portion), but why are Pin Ups almost always copied from pornography? Is there really a need to see Catwoman take off her clothing, in a full colored two page splash, when her clothing is so skin tight that we can see the excellently researched muscle patterns? No, it isn't necessary. There are times when nudity and sexual expression are appropriate, but this goes far beyond that. It is tasteless and disrespectful to the serious art and story telling that is taking place, often in the same comic.

1/3rd the Population

On average, the female population of the comic book world is less than 1/3 of the overall population. Why is it that we can write men to fill in all of the little blanks, like say the bank teller when Clark and Lois go to try and cash his first pay check, or the mechanic who fixes the batmobile, or a doctor who operates on Tony Stark, why are they always men?

Secondary characters are an important part of story telling, they can be used to be the victims in a superhero tale, and furthermore can be seen as simply a blank slate in any given situation. An example would be, say, in the Punisher. Let's pretend that Frank Castle is out shooting bad guys or what ever. Now, there are a number of stories in this simple example, but why not write one from the perspective of a woman who happens to see him?

And please, if you write something like this, don't make it all about her kids. Women don't have to be moms. Variety is the spice of life. Women can be anything.

Fully Defined

Women should be written the same way the men are. They should be written with the intent of telling a story about how people act and we as writers need to look past our own perspective. If you are a 20 year old male and are writing your first comic, think to yourself about how your actions will define the story later on. Are all the sketches of your male characters vivid and full of life? Probably not, but compare them to the female characters. Don't think of female characters as a place to draw what you find attractive but rather draw the women you think would best aide the story. Write about people who are flawed and yet honest representations of women you know.

Variety is the Spice of Life

Women do not need to be any of the following types of characters. They can be. And sometimes that particular role NEEDS to be a woman, but if you are writing a woman please think of her as a human before any of the following:

• Mother
• Sister
• Daughter
• Model
• Hottie Girlfriend
• "Girl Next Door"
• Shrewd Unmarried Professional
• Prostitute
• Nurse
• Victim
• Popular Girl who Ignores Hero
• Sexy Girl who is at all times thinking of sex

Each of those is a tired cliche. If you need to write a characters mother for some reason, do so and write her as a person, not as a mother. Get it? No? Let me elaborate.

While women are mothers, daughters, sisters, and so on, they do not think of themselves as this, not primarily. When people think of themselves they do so thinking of themselves as the center of the world. This isn't meant to be snide or suggest that women are spoiled. All people are self centered. People can give frequently to charity, fight for the rights of the under privileged and will still think of themselves as a complete and undefinable person. When men tend to write male characters, they write them as whole beings with entire personalities all their own. When it comes to female characters, how ever, we find that most men write them either with out personality or as a very tired cliche.

Virgin Mary vs Mary Magdalene

One of the weirdest things about sexism is how obtuse it can be. We've discussed the hyper-sexualization of women, but what about making women completely asexual? Women through out history are portrayed in many art forms, even the bible, as either being completely asexual or virginal or the very opposite, a prostitute or an incredibly sexualized woman. Women exist on this spectrum in many ways, shapes and forms.

An example of this is best in Spider-Man. I have a very limited knowledge of Spider-Man, but from what I've read the nerdy Peter Parker dates(and eventually marries) mega-hottie Mary Jane Watson. His poor Aunt May, however, never seems to date anybody. In fact, the only times I remember seeing Aunt May take an interest in ANYTHING other than providing for Peter Parker was when it directly related to the story. If Aunt May says that she is going to church, a bad guy attacks the church later in the issue. If she goes to coney island to play skee ball, a bad guy attacks coney island.

Just Who Do These Things Happen To Anyway?

Something that I've noticed is that when a woman is attacked or harmed in a comic, her personality, disposition, world view, and sense of self is never altered. She is essentially the same being she was before her super powered boyfriend accidently sent her into a coma.

I've watched Superman nearly kill Lois Lane several times and she hugs him afterwards. Superman will feel tons of grief, anger, disillusionment within himself, but Lois remains unchanged. The incident doesn't even register. The same can be said for many other girlfriends or wives to superheros.

It isn't just this, when a villain attacks the girlfriend of a super hero, she never leaves the superhero. She never confronts him about her own safety or questions if the relationship is in her best interest. What does she do? Usually she gets kidnaped and rescued, but other than that, she does nothing. Again, women are portrayed as weak. They are portrayed as little more than plot devices and sexual fantasies of bondage and dominance.

How Can We Overcome This?

In the interest of fairness, I'd like to point out that DC comics is branching out and trying to create a market for the girl readers. They are hiring talented writers who have written prose books for young adults and asked them to write stories that young women can relate to. I love these books and I'm a male. I think this will usher in more women writing comics as more might start reading them.

Success comes in a lot of ways and this is just one. Hopefully, eventually, I can stop talking about this stuff.

What can you do? If you write comics, and I hope that you do, you can think about women as more than something you enjoy looking at. Consider their personal goals, ideals, weaknesses and strengths.

Another thing you can do is show the people in your life just how wonderfully written women can be in comics by showing them books that feature strong female characters. There are wonderful comics out there which are on the lower end of the sexist spectrum than what we've discussed. Know the individuals interest, first, because everybody has their own taste. Some will gravitate towards wonderful stories like The Sandman while others still towards Persepolis and even still others will love books like One! Hundred! Demons! Or, and this is a long shot, they may like all of them. Show these books to men and women both, because both genders should see women as unique individuals, not as plot devices, sexual fantasies and mothers.

I…[a]m urged by your propinquity to find
Your person fair, and feel a certain zest
To bear your body's weight upon my breast…

The use of “you” in these lines does little more than place blame on the other party. The speaker feels she cannot accept any responsibility for the events that take place, or for the relationship itself. She plays it off with the words “the needs and notions of my kind,” saying that she cannot help what she says, does, or feels, that it is all the result of her nature as a woman. Millay's subject is slick, going so far as to give fault to the design of life so that she receives none of the heat. She, being a woman, cannot take the blame.

Then again, the speaker apparently finds herself to be a victim as much as anyone in a relationship. She refers to her clouded mind and the battle of her “stout blood” and “staggering brain”-this reveals that the external argument is not truly the issue at hand. It's the dispute she is having internally that is what really matters.

So subtly is the fume of life designed,
To clarify the pulse and cloud the mind,
And leave me once again undone, possessed.

Millay's use of the word “fume” is significant, as she uses it in reference to life itself. The insertion of so concrete a word as “fume” causes it to resonate throughout the poem; fumes are often viewed as irritating or offensive, so to say that life is a fume is shocking. What follows is a tremendous statement, to say that life is something that impairs one's reasoning, and to go on to say that it leaves her “undone” and “possessed.” The speaker strongly advocates this sentiment-that life itself is the great problem and that there is no real solution but to live it the best way one can.

The speaker goes on, though, to take control of the situation and stand up for what she feels is true-the relationship isn't real. Again, Millay exercises strong diction, referring to the relationship as a “frenzy.” The word choice is powerful, trivializing any feelings felt on either end of things as a state of madness. This has the potential to wound, allowing the speaker to escape the situation she is in. The end of the poem signifies the end of the debate of sorts:

Think not…I shall remember you with love, or season
My scorn with pity,--let me make it plain:
I find this frenzy insufficient reason
For conversation when we meet again.

In this, the speaker is saying that she will not think back on her lover fondly, nor will she even feel sorry for him. She finds the feelings she's experiencing to be worthless and implies at the end that she will never so much as speak to him again; a fitting ending for such a bitter, self-involved message.

Though not from a man's perspective, perhaps the grittiest description of the filth, bugs, and exhaustion of living at rock bottom on inner city streets can be found in George Orwell's story Down and Out in Paris in London. Amidst this description lies a sickening account of a young girl held against her will to be sold to men for sex. All of these accounts show the danger of living at the bottom of the social and economic chain in cities, especially for women. Initially, one might walk away from these stories with an ache in their heart for the situations of the women. However, one can also look deeper to a secondary role of women in these pieces of writing. These roles might not be the leads, but they show that in due course, it is the women of these cities that hold the ultimate power, despite their circumstances.

Anyone who has seen the play West Side Story is aware of the two main themes, circling around the ideas of gang violence and the love affair between Tony and Maria. In addition, viewers are also aware of how the love story becomes the victim of the gang war. However, when considering the gangs, one must determine at least some of the reasons why turf wars seem so prevalent in the cities. One very rarely sees knife fights, fist fights, and death over a bale of hay or an acre of land in the rural areas of our country. A significant portion of the problem is the restriction of space. When people flock to America, because “everything is free in America” the population skyrockets but that does not mean the amount of living space also increases. A place to call home is important to families and cultures around the world, be it in the United States or Puerto Rico. When someone tries to walk in to your home uninvited, we feel ready to take on the world to protect what is ours. In city life, crossing over into another's home, or community, is all too easy to do when space is so limited.

When we have little, we are more apt to fight harder to keep it and protect it. This is exactly why the turf war develops between the Americans and the Puerto Ricans. The territoriality festers and escalates until it climaxes into full blown war with another culture. Both cultures also feel territorial over the women of their families. To cross over the line drawn between cultures on the pavement was just as dangerous as engaging someone who was not in your family in conversation, much less as embrace. As one can observe in the dance seen in the play, Bernardo is quick to put an end to the relationship developing between Tony and Maria. Bernardo stops the clasping of hands between the young lovers, and orders Maria home immediately, telling her “We are family, Maria. Go.” Maria must succumb to the orders of her brother in law and to the danger of the escalating situation as both sides are put on the offensive. A number of times in the play, the women are sent away for their safety or while the men plan ways to stake claim to their territory. As a woman, Maria does not have power of her situation. She must listen to Bernardo, and she appears in potentially violent situations.

What is interesting, however, is that ultimately Maria is the one to make a decision that sets to action the eventual deaths of both Tony and Bernardo. As the story develops, Maria and Tony fall in love despite the hatred around them. Tony's love for Maria blossoms so he is willing to do anything for her. When Maria asks Tony to stop the fight-to-end-all-fights between the Americans and the Puerto Ricans, she is ultimately sending Tony to his death. It is a woman the dictates the fate of the two powerful men. It is very unlikely that a scenario like this one could have played out in any other environment. The elements of why a turf war exists in a city and the love between Tony and Maria make for the ingredients of a story that could only occur in the city. Instead of the city being a dangerous place for the women, it is a fateful place for the men.

Like Maria in West Side Story, we also see Maggie in Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets be subjected to the dangerous woes of city life and its male occupants. Maggie's world is suddenly expanded after she falls in love with Peter, a true man of the city. Peter treats Maggie to shows and reveals to her a glitzier side of the city that previously was unbeknownst to her, and she “saw the golden glitter of the places where Pete was to take her” (28). Soon, Maggie's love for Peter is matched for her love of being part of the city-life environment. Maggie wonders at the splendor of the costumes (32).” She falls prey to that love, and ultimately is heart-broken and homeless when Peter moves on. Maggie must live in danger as she makes her home the streets. Survival of the fittest reigns, and Maggie must learn to live in the danger if she wishes to survive. Maggie explains, for example, to always look as if one is going walking with a purpose, for those who do not garner unwanted attention on the streets. At the end of the story, Maggie's loses her battle to an undisclosed death while living on the streets. Her downfall is directly attributed to falling in love with the glitzy side of the city and Peter.

Important to look into deeper though, is the catalyst for Maggie's downfall. While she held Peter's attention and mild affection briefly, Peter himself was drawn like a flame to an old flame, named Nell. For as much as Maggie worshiped the idea of Peter and the tastes of the city he had to offer, Peter was even farther under the spell of the sophisticated Nell. It was the unexpected appearance of Nell that instantly dimmed Peter's affection for Maggie. Nell cast a spell on every man about her as she “reduced Pete to a pulp” (64) during a dinner conversation when she simply informed Peter she did not find him particularly interesting. Although Maggie suffered the hardest hit upon the loss of Peter and his city, the ultimately most powerful individual was the femme-fatale, Nell. The city that savvy Nell, “a woman of brilliance and audacity” (82) thrived in cultivated her into a female force to be reckoned with. In a place where many women suffered the fate of Maggie, a few managed to rise above even the jauntiest city men. At the end of the story, we see Nell get the last laugh as the woman of brilliance and audacity gathers up Peter's money and deems him a “damn fool” (83) after he passes out drunk in his dinner. Though Maggie dies as a woman of the streets, the reigning champion of the city and story is a woman of brilliance and audacity.

In Geeta's world in Mumbai, India, the women are also brilliant. The efforts of the community to get Geeta and other pavement dwellers out of the city were fruitless once the women decided to take it upon themselves to rise about their lives of poverty and filth. Although both of Geeta's parents held jobs, their efforts combined were not enough to provide a true house for their family. When their “home” was not being torn down by city workers or members of the community, it was a flimsy structure of “two piece of cardboard and a sheet of black plastic for a roof.” The pavement dwellers were reliant on members of the community, like employers and neighbors, for basic necessities such as water and clothing. If they had lived in the country, the likelihood of finding individuals willing to part with such things would be significantly less likely. The city was also able to provide employment opportunities that were not available in the rural parts of India. Despite these advantages, though, city life for pavement dwellers was dirty, dangerous, and disease-ridden. There was a heavy burden placed on Geeta and the female family members to provide for the family.

Although the men were the primary decision makers in the Indian culture, it was the women who had to support the family, especially in Geeta's circumstances. It was not until the women of the pavement dwelling community pulled together and saved that improvement in living standards occurred. Officially having an address allowed children an education and better access to health care. Again, all of this arose exclusively from the efforts of the women as they banded together as a Mahil Milan group. The group was able to accomplish in very little time what the men were not able to provide. Even more, the women stepped in when spouse abuse occurred, as “the women of the committee go to their house and try to work things out” to better the lives of the women stuck under the abuse of the men. Geeta goes as far to say she does not wish to be married because of the control her future husband would have over her. By avoiding what is intended for every young woman, Geeta is retaining her independence and control of her own life. Without what she and the female members of the pavement dweller community have accomplished in their city lives, Geeta would have to face a much different, powerless fate.

Much like Geeta's story, the one of George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London also provides some of the most graphic depictions of inner city life at the lowest, poorest levels. The reader is drowned in descriptions of the filth, bugs, disease, and desperation that those below the poverty line contend with on a daily basis. There is an unprecedented amount of desperation and dirt oozing out of these individuals. An important concept to consider is why anyone would remain in the city if the living conditions were as such. The answer to this question lies in what the city has to offer that a rural life does not: opportunity. Just as we see the Puerto Ricans in West Side Story choosing to immigrate to an inner city, we see the narrator of Orwell's writing choose city life for the opportunity it had to offer. In this narrator's case, there lies a heavy focus on finding a job to make ends meet. The city offers a much higher chance of landing a job than if one chose to bumble around the rural country-side instead.

The journey is as important as the destination, and we see the narrator take a few side trips during his life. One particularly graphic side trip involves shelling out precious monies for a guide who leads him to a whorehouse. It is in this establishment that the reader gets his first glimpse at the hell the city has to offer the women. Having paid his fee, the narrator darts into the room and begins forcing himself on the very young woman held there for his use. “She have a whimper of fright. With a bound I was beside the bed . . . I seized her by the throat - tight! She struggled, she began to cry out for mercy, but I held her fast” (13). The passage only continues to the graphic rape of the young woman. Although ultimately the narrator feels regret and revulsion, he allowed the audience to view the true horrors to which women of the inner city life are subject. Even today, fear of rape or attack lies in the hearts of all women who live in the city, especially at the lowest levels where desperation is a disgusting catalyst for despicable and lowly actions.

Seeing as how this account falls so soon into the text, one might feel inclined to feel that all women in the city will eventually be condemned to a powerless fate due to men. However, small and even passing references bring forth a small vindication for some women. After the narrator joins forces with his old friend, Boris, the latter feels that his fate lies in the hands of his former mistresses. His is quite confident that he “will only have to ask, and they will help” (29) him in his destitute. With this statement, Boris quickly and surely hands back some of the power stolen from women in the city. Instead of being at the whims of men, women suddenly become the very thing that Boris feels will pull him out of the trenches of poverty and hunger. Although not vindication for the appalling situations of some of the women, it is still a small victory.

Later in the story, the women once again get the last laugh, this time at the expense of the narrator himself. The chance of starvation looming largely, the narrator's jog down this path is temporarily suspended thanks to the good graces of a woman named Maria. Although poor herself, this woman of the city is still able to score the food that the narrator himself could not. Desperate enough to pray to Sainte Eloise, the narrator is also finally humble enough to want to pay thanks in the form of lighting a candle in her honor. At this point in the tale, the women get the greatest laugh once the true identity of “Sainte Eloise” is revealed. The idea to appeal to the saint was sparked by an old painting on the narrator's current residence. Once he points this out to Maria, she cannot contain her laughter when she informs the narrator that the saint in the picture was really Suzanne May, “the famous prostitute of the Empire” (88). The kudos must go to the deceased prostitute as well as Maria for their ability to accomplish what the narrator and Boris cannot. While this victory is not equal to the horrors situated on the women of the streets of the city, it adds up to something greater.

In conclusion, men and women in the inner cities face danger and despair regularly. Although these are a result of living in the city and are induced because of things like territoriality, the drawbacks are oft offset by advantages, such as a greater opportunity of success. However, it is the women who ultimately face the greatest danger and are subjected to the worst fears and treatment. Seemingly on the surface, men control the lives and futures of the women. However, if one takes the opportunity to look deeper, it becomes apparent that the women have the ability to make their mark, even with the odds stacked against them. In most literature that displays the despair of women in inner cities at the poverty level, there are also displays of the power of these very same women. This leaves the audience to wonder, what would women of a higher social and economic class be able to accomplish in the cities around the world?

Manfred's wife, Hippolita, exemplifies the overpowering belief of man's superiority and woman's inferiority. Acknowledged as the ideal wife, nothing is expected of her but loyalty, obedience, submission, and subordination. For instance, when presented with Manfred's decision to divorce, even at the cause of her own happiness, she confesses “she would not oppose the separation” (Walpole 91). Manfred expects no less of her, presuming “she would not only acquiesce with patience to a divorce, but would obey, if it was his pleasure, in endeavouring to persuade Isabella to give him her hand” (Walpole 44). Willingly acknowledging the conventional guidelines of society to which she has been entreated to conform, Hippolita goes to no end to please her husband, putting his needs and welfare before her own. Trapped under the expectations of the social order, women were expected to comply with the wishes and whims of their husbands, attaining little sense of identity or autonomy. Unable to fulfill her duties of providing an heir, Hippolita's sterility strongly diminishes her sense of being; if not a mother, she is left with only the role of wife to flesh out.

Manfred's daughter, Matilda, embodies the innocent character of the beautiful, virtuous virgin. Undertaking her own responsibilities of the “dutiful daughter” (Walpole 86), she obediently caters to Manfred's demands and requests, while bearing his indifferences. The concept of being seen and not heard unless called upon, would suitably apply to Matilda's supposed duties; women served little purpose to men other than to marry and bear children. Individual actions were not taken, should they impede upon and oppose the pleasure and peace of mind of the female's father or husband. In addition, Matilda strengthens the stereotype alluding to women as weak and unable to handle stressful situations, by fainting upon receiving news of Theodore's execution. Unexpectedly and uncharacteristically, Matilda opposes Manfred by objecting to the idea of his divorce and by releasing Theodore from imprisonment; on account of these atypical instances, she momentarily steps away from abnegation of self decision and identity.

Matilda's damsel, Bianca, encourages the typecast of the unmindful, frightened, fretting female. Upon discussing the idea of marriage prospects with Matilda, she points out that “…a bad husband is better than no husband at all,” sharing society's general consensus that in order to survive, women need men (Walpole, 46). Yet again, Walpole reinforces the overly emphasized idea of the female's reliance and dependence on the male and the inability to survive on her own. Bianca inhabits neither the role of daughter nor wife, but still find herself under the bidding of Manfred, as his servant; the creation of her persona can only be to support the already distinct picture of the inferior woman lacking authority and power. Further illustrating the weakness in women, Walpole forces Bianca to leave the castle after being markedly terrified by the general accounts of the supernatural.

Marquis of Vincenza's daughter, Isabella, is helplessly contracted into a marriage agreement with Manfred's son. Treated more like an economic transaction and less as a human being, her life is never really in her own control; like Matilda, Isabella respectfully adheres to her father's decisions with neither defiance nor judgment. This unquestioning acceptance of the way things should be is the core of female deference and passivity. Interestingly enough, even though Isabella is the victim of her father's insensitive barter, she seems to be the only individual who does anything about the uncomfortable predicament that befalls her. Although escape is perpetuated by the threat and fear of Manfred's pursuance, Isabella nonetheless saves herself from her own foreboding future. Her active efforts to flee set her apart from the females who cannot take care of themselves.

By creating simple characters with limited substance and depth, Walpole presents a relatively straightforward and general opinion regarding the inferiority and submissive qualities of women. Furthermore, as noted, certain individuals in every society tend to exist and conflict with conventional ideas and social norms of the time; with regards to

Walpole and the portrayal of women, individuals undeniably existed who contradict certain "set" gender roles and the social order. However, the majority of women existing in English society during the 18th Century, seem to be shown as helpless victims in need of rescue. Walpole successfully depicts his characters to reflect this general view of women using his female characters, Hippolita, Bianca, Matilda, and Isabella to illustrate lack of privilege, decision, independence, and sense of identity.

 

Senseless acts of violence against women have become a major problem in all walks of life today in all nations women are put at risk. Domestic violence even rape is a world problem against women world wide even young girls in American colleges are subject to rape.

As the worlds growing trend of violence against women rises women are at risk for a life time of domestic abuse even rape. Countries need to get these problems out in the open for the safety of women . Women are left with out hope as long as rape and domestic abused is not taken on by all countries through laws and courts.

Acts of senseless violence against women is growing around the world today. More laws and support is need to secure life for all women to not be abused or raped. Rape and domestic violence leaves both mental and physical scars that never completely heal.

Women who suffer through daily acts of domestic violence some women even rape will never feel completely safe again. Rape and abusive violence against women by men who build their man hood off the physical abuse of women need to be stopped with more jail time even counseling would help.

Rape even abuse takes away a woman right to live without daily fear in their life it's a problem world wide that needs national attention to help save the life self respect and dignity of these women. Until women are secure in all nations women are at risk by continuing abuse even rape.

Both domestic violence and rape have become a cause for all human rights groups to fight for these women who are victims of both. Countries need to deal with these problems to secure all human rights for all women every where.

Countries even families need to work together world wide to help slow the rising crime of rape and domestic violence against women every where. There are not nearly enough women shelters to help house and keep all these women safe.

Women need to report all these crimes to the police where ever they live to make sure that laws and more arrests with convictions are made. Until better ways of dealing with both rape and domestic violence are found families need to prepare and protect their daughters from any abuse like this.

These two acts are acts of senseless violence that degrades all women living in any city or country. Women must walk away from lives where daily abuse even rape happens before the violence escalates to death . These are not just crimes they are degrading demoralizing even takes away the bond of safety that should be between a man and woman.

Many women stay in abusive relationships thinking they did something wrong to deserve the constant beatings and verbal abuse that comes with a life of domestic violence. These are also acts of human rights violations against women . Total support by all people in all nations are need to help save more young women from becoming life time victims even victims of rape.

Families in all countries can help by stooping any acts of domestic violence from happening to any of their daughters for parents who allow these acts are just as guilty as the ones who perform or commit acts of violence against any woman.

Human rights are for all people acts like rape even domestic violence are human rights violations against women world wide. Until all women are free to live as they choose without being abused or raped the need for help from more families even courts along with police will be needed to stop these crimes from happening.

Women must be educated to realize that no violent acts are their fault that these are just crimes of power even years of families in third world countries letting this happen to their women. This article just shows more reasons why all people must have all human rights in their daily life.

Until the world is free of all acts of violence the battle to bring all human rights to all people will continue. For life without human rights is not life just daily pain and torture.

Early on we can discern that Juliet is concerned with marriage. She expresses this in relation to Romeo in the lines, “If he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding bed.” (Act 1 scene 5, lines 136-137). From this we know that before Juliet even considers other romantic possibilities, marriage is foremost in her mind. On the topic of love, Juliet is both practical and negative. While talking to Romeo during Act 2, scene 2, she appears to be very doubtful of his love: “O, swear not by the moon, th'inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circle orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable,” (lines 109-111). In addition, Juliet seems to look down on love alone as something impure: “If that thy bent of love be honorable, Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow,” (lines 143-144). In these lines she is asserting the fact that marriage is most important, and acts as a form of approval or justification for feelings of love.

Romeo, in contrast to Juliet, holds love in his highest respects. He believes it to be an unstoppable, infinite force: “With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls; For stony limits cannot hold love out,” (Act 2, scene 2, lines 66-67). Despite the impracticality of this statement, it vindicates his positive outlook on love. Romeo also often associates and confuses love with the concept of beauty. His first description of Rosaline focuses only on how beautiful she is: “And she's fair I love,” (Act 1, scene 1, line 209), and when seeing Juliet for the first time, he is immediately entranced with her appearance. At this, he falls in love with her and forsakes his love for Rosaline; “Did my heart love till now? Foreswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night,” (Act 1, scene 5, lines 54-55). In this statement he is directly relating beauty to love, as if beauty were a measure of love in his “crystal scales”. In terms of marriage, Romeo appears to be completely uninterested. He sees it more as a transient phase that will allow him to further pursue love: This explains his hastiness in getting married to Juliet. There is also a possessive and binding element to Romeo's conceptions of both marriage and love. When first seeing Juliet, he remarks, “What lady's that which doth enrich the hand of yonder knight?” (Act 1, scene 5, line 44).This shows that Romeo thinks of Juliet as an accessory; an object. He emphasizes this idea again during the wedding scene: “Then love-devouring death do what he dare -It is enough that I may but call her mine,” (act 2, scene 6, lines 7-8). This shows that much of what love meant to him was the ownership of Juliet.

Lady Capulet is similar to Juliet in her approach to marriage. In Act 1, scene 3, the first point of discussion she brings up with Juliet is marriage: “Well, think of marriage now,” (line 69). As she continues to speak of Paris, she seems to imply that his beauty is a measure of how marriageable he is, and that marrying Paris will open the doors for love: “This precious book of love, this unbound lover, To beautify him only lacks a cover,” (lines 87-88). This relation of beauty to marriage is similar to the men's relation of beauty to love. However, Lady Capulet seems to avoid the topic of love in its lone form, and never speaks of it when not in relation to marriage. This implies that she is disapproving of love without marriage, or has negative thoughts on love. Lady Capulet's approaches to love and marriage are in many ways similar to Juliet's.

Mr. Capulet, on the other hand, believes in love coming prior to marriage. When speaking to Paris about his proposal for Juliet's hand, he says, “But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart; My will to consent is but a part,” (Act 1, scene 2, lines 16-17). By these lines he is implying that Juliet's love is worth more than his fatherly consent. This asserts that Mr. Capulet, like Romeo, believes that love is highly important. However, upon the death of Tybalt, everything changes and Mr. Capulet suddenly becomes highly interested in marriage: “a Thursday, tell her, She shall be married to this noble earl,” (act 4, scene 1, lines 20-21). Mr. Capulet's sudden interest and hasty marriage plans were probably the result of him realizing his own morality, as explained in his comment on Tybalt's death in the same scene: “we were born to die” (line 4). From this we can infer that he associates marriage with the concept of countering death. Mr. Capulet certainly has the most complex and trivial approaches to love and marriage, as his opinions on the two subjects change repeatedly. However, it is clear that he has similar views to Romeo.

From this we can see that the men and women of Romeo and Juliet have approaches to love and marriage that contrast each other significantly. Shakespeare wants the audience to realize that the differences in these approaches are realistic, and that misunderstandings due to them have the potential to cause later problems.

Eleanor and Marianne

Sense and Sensibility, Jane's first published book in 1811, features Eleanor and Marianne Dashwood. Here we see two passionate sisters, although Eleanor (the older) is more in control of her feelings and is considered cold and unloving by Marianne at times. We see Eleanor struggle with a long and faithful love to one man, whose family do not approve of her, while Marianne falls instantly for a handsome and lovable man, who is not as open and honest as he first seems. On the sidelines stands a man who genuinely loves her and Marianne develops through the novel to maturity and the realisation of true love.

Lizzie

Pride and Prejudice, published in 1813, created Jane's most likeable heroine. In Lizzie, she developed a character who is honest, independent and vibrant. Called headstrong and foolish in the book, Lizzie is loved for her flaws and quick temper as much as anything and although she may have shocked some of the 19th Century ladies, she is likely to have been admired and considered an inspiration by many.

Fanny

Fanny Price in Mansfield Park is taken to live with her rich aunt and uncle and brought up as the poor relation. She is never considered to be on a par with her wealthy and beautiful cousins, but she nevertheless finds her own sense of worth and refuses to settle for a man, who her uncle promotes as a good match, but whose devious tendencies Fanny has seen for herself. Fanny almost seems unremarkable in this novel, however she is stronger than she appears and although young and inexperienced like the majority of Jane's heroines, she travels an emotional journey to happiness.

Emma

Emma, of the book of the same name published in 1815, is a matchmaker who whilst appearing to scorn love finds herself unexpectedly swept off her feet. Whilst this novel is still entertaining and original, Emma has to be considered one of the most universally irritating and self-obsessed characters in fiction. Even when she appears to understand that she has only hindered her friends and acquaintances with her actions, her first thought appears to remain with herself.

Catherine

Catherine Morland, in Northanger Abbey published posthumously in 1817, appears to the reader to be the most immature of Jane's characters. She is yet another woman who's path to happiness cannot be smooth and her naivety and inexperience are clear throughout. As she encounters difficult characters and many with ulterior motives, her maturity begins to progress and she realises that she cannot rely on and trust everyone she meets. Northanger Abbey is more in the vein of a Gothic novel, with Catherine being an avid reader and admirer of the Gothic novel and allowing her imagination to run away with her.

Anne

Anne Elliot, of Persuasion, Jane's last book to be published posthumously in 1817, appears the most autobiographical of her works, as a woman who refused the man she loved at the impressionable age of 19 as a result of the disapproval of her family. She continued to remain single and regret her actions for the following 8 years. Her love for this man was "constant" and whilst she is pitied for getting older and being unmarried, the reader can see that she is merely unwilling to settle for anything less than she would have had the first time around. Anne does appear quite weak at first, but her strengths show themselves in her manner of handling her difficult family, her kindness to a sick friend and in her honesty and loyalty.

Conclusion

I bring this article to a close almost where it began with Lizzie, who will follow her heart and who is still one of the most admirable females leads today. A woman with beauty, intelligence and charm who can still make the same mistakes and errors in judgment as the rest of us.

Chinua Achebe shows women as having little to no power in society in his book, Things Fall Apart. Achebe writes: “And when [Ojiugo] returned he beat her very heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace…It was unheard of to beat somebody during the sacred week” (Achebe 29-30). Okonkwo severely beats his wife for a small problem, not being home during dinner. However, the only reason he gets in trouble is because it is the week of peace. In fact, it is often encouraged that men beat their women for punishment of “wrongdoings”, and the women have no recourse against it.

Women are not only without protection, but also denied social status. They cannot meaningfully participate in social affairs. This is demonstrated is the way feminine concepts and words are used to refer to weak things. Achebe writes about Okonkwo speaking to a man who contradicted him: “Without looking at the man Okonkwo had said: "This meeting is for men." The man who had contradicted him had no titles. That is why he called him a woman” (26). Although the women's lack of power is very clear when looking at society, it is very obvious in the language employed by the Ibo in Things Fall Apart that women do not have any social power. They cannot do beyond what they are told. This is consistent with real Ibo culture, where social repression of women is happening still today, even though women have gained some power (Okonkwo). This means that his representation is accurate and therefore fair. So, Chinua Achebe accurately represents Ibo women as having little say in the community in his book, Things Fall Apart.

Despite their lack of a social status, Chinua Achebe depicts women as having worth and being emotionally strong. Although they aren't seen and respected as equals to men they are often emotionally strong, and are revered for some reasons. After Okonkwo's exile, Uchendu speaks to Okonkwo on women and their role: “It's true that a child belongs to its father. But when a father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in its mother's hut…Your mother is there to protect you…And that is why we say that mother is supreme” (Achebe 134). Although the full capacities of women are never recognized by Ibo society or men, some qualities of them are recognized and the women were emotionally strong. Achebe writes: “As a matter of fact the tree was very much alive.

Okonkwo's second wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food, and she said so. Without further argument, Okonkwo gave her a sound beating…” (38). The ability of Ibo women to remain and function in the culture in the face of the ever present threat of violence, lack of social status, and common mistreatment shows a large amount of emotional strength. This reflection of Ibo women that one gleans from Things Fall Apart can also be seen in real Ibo culture, as women are treated and act in very parallel ways. Women carry out the same duties as listed in the book, and are treated similarly. Under these conditions, they would have to be emotionally strong to survive. Thus, Achebe is fairly and accurately representing women in Things Fall Apart.

Chinua Achebe demonstrates that the patriarchy of Ibo society has existed for a long time and now cannot be removed. He does not pass judgment on this, but merely shows what it is like. He writes on Okonkwo's thoughts of other tribes and cultures: “'The world is large…I have even heard that in some tribes a man's children belong to his wife and her family” (74). The way Okonkwo says this is in disapproval and amazement that some other culture could have these standards. The man he is talking to has an equal reaction. This clearly shows that the patriarchal system of Ibo society is ingrained in the lives and culture of the people so that they don't even question its existence. Rather, they take it as self-evident fact. Achebe writes on the tradition of the egwugwu: “These women never saw the inside of the hut. No women ever did…No woman ever asked questions about the most powerful and the most secret cult in the clan” (88). One of the most powerful traditions of the Ibo people includes the exclusion of women, showing how the system of male dominance has become stuck in Ibo culture. To be fair, religious ceremonies are often carried out by certain types of people, but the exclusion of women from ever being a part of it proves the point all the same. Chinua Achebe paints a picture of how women relate to Ibo culture, but only presents it in the story. The only “opinions” he gives are ones that are telling the story, so they are not opinions so much as pieces of information used to aid the telling of the story.

In Chinua Achebe's book Things Fall Apart, women are repressed by an entrenched structure of the social repression. However, they remain emotionally strong and revered in certain ways. This is consistent with real Ibo society. But because he never condemns or advocates this system, or passes any judgment on it, the reader has to formulate their own opinion on the system and what its implications are. Achebe merely focuses on telling a story of another culture through the lens of that tribe. Therefore, it is a fair representation of women in Ibo culture because he is merely reporting the facts by telling a story.