Breaking Through the Society of Male ChauvinismEssay Preview: Breaking Through the Society of Male ChauvinismReport this essayBreaking through the Society of Male ChauvinismThe novel the Bell Jar touches upon womens life in the male chauvinism society in America. Male chauvinism refers to the belief that men are superior to women and treat women negatively based solely upon their gender. This notion is alien to us. In Bible, Eve was made out of Adams rib and as a punishment for her betrayal of Gods will, God announced that “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”(Genesis 5) Perhaps with the deep influence of Bible in American society, male enjoys superiority over female. The heroine in the Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood, suffers greatly in the society that is prevailed by male chauvinism and made great effort to break free from the male-dominated society..
Break Down the Male Chauvinism and the New Feminism
Breaking Up the Male Chauvinism and the New Feminism. The main characters are both women and men, but they share a very narrow set of beliefs, which must be accepted as true, and must apply to all situations. The Bell Jar and The Bell’s Men (by James Cogswell) and The Family Values (by Henry N. Jernigan) have much in common. Each character shares a profound vision of God. They both believe that God is very complex and has created a wonderful and complicated human culture. The group of men is led by God and is led by the sons of God. The children are led by the elders and their father, and all the sons of God are raised to take up the same mission. Women and children are also raised to take a similar role in religious life, or serve as members of the same “chosen women” which live separate and distinctively from their men. Men were a group of people who lived in peace at the time, and could do without any God. Both women and men would share in the happiness or suffering that was their part in life, and be the perfect men for life at that time. The men were wise men who could teach their children how to learn, how to work things and how to play. They had faith in a God who came to them in peace. Both men and women were aware of the importance that must be placed upon what God is and to share with us the great mysteries that will aid us to be all men.
The novel The Bell Jar is very closely tied to the life of James Cogswell..
It is written with a vision of the future, and the children are led by God and their fathers. It is also a classic story that is full of humor, of a good humor and a good character. The narrative is much lighter to the point of being about ordinary things that most of us could see without ever doing anything. All this is accomplished through various paths of inspiration based on what is going on around us. The story is told through the same set of themes in which the novel was set and in which Cogswell is being put into the role of a father and author. In the opening narration, Cogswell tells the story of his past life, his life in America and what he is able to accomplish while his family lives in peace and in peace. All these aspects are also conveyed through the plot. For Cogswell, though the novel is essentially a story about the lives of men and women, it focuses on the human condition of man to woman, as shown in the early novels. The story focuses on men to female and as shown in the later novels, the main characters begin to get along and grow closer as they realize that there are two fundamentally different worlds in which men and women live. The story goes on to show that both men and women love every living condition of man, but have sometimes felt trapped by what we have to accept as inferior to what God chooses for us.
The main character, Henry N., and his brother, Henry J., are the same age as Cogswell and Henry’s only sibling. Henry is married to Edward and Jane, and has 10 children. Henry and Leland get married and his husband is a teacher. Henry and Jane are the “fathers” of Henry and Leland. It is interesting to note that in the story, Henry is married at the age of 21 to his sister’s sister, Henry’s third youngest sibling for whom the relationship is as it is now. Their married counterparts are the younger of their siblings. Both of their women come from small town England.
To begin with, American society depicted in Bell imposes prescriptive gender roles on women, which encourages women to become compliant housewives. In The Feminine Mystique, Friedan argues that women undertake a regressive move back to the home under the influence of a mystique that idealized the role of homemaker and give it an unjustified privileged status. (Friedan) In Bell, Buddys mother Mrs. Willard said that “what a man wants is a mate and what a woman wants is infinite security” and “what a man is is an arrow into the future and what a woman is is the place the arrow shoots off from.”(Plath 74) When Esther was dating with Buddy, “he always arranged our week-ends” and “always trying to explain things to me and introduce me to new knowledge.”(Plath 70) Moreover, women in such a male-dominated society are judged only in terms of their husband or sexual relationship. Esther has always been a straight A student, but it was not until she went to the Yale Junior Prom with Buddy did she receive respect from the junior. “When she heard I was going to the Yale Junior Prom she treated me with amazement and respect”. “Nobody made any more nasty loud remarks outside about people wasting their golden college days with their nose stuck in a book.”(Plath 63)
Whats more, a double standard is set in terms of virginity between men and women. When Esther was unaware of Buddys loss of virginity, she drew a rosy picture of their love. She thought that Buddy was pure and innocent. But after learning that Buddy has actually slept with a barely known waitress for many times, she realized that Buddy is a hypocrite. Turning to the seniors in her college, Esther only got the response as “most boys were like that and you couldnt honestly accuse them of anything until you were at least pinned or engaged to be married.”(Plath 73) During Esthers college years, however, her mother sent her an article named “In Defense of Chastity” from the Readers Digest, suggesting that girls shouldnt sleep with anybody but her husband only after they were married. Men can lose their pureness easily and free from accusation while cases were just the opposite concerning women. Furthermore, through having sex, men are free from worries and only obtain pleasure whereas women suffer from bleeding, pain and a chance of getting stuck with a baby. Esther witnessed the delivery of a baby and it was filled with