--Later--

• 11Jun 06

  English

  Daniel Portoraro
  The Role and Abuse of Women in Miguel Street
  
  Role of Women in the Society of Miguel Street
  1. Women are supposed to stay at home, take care of the house, yard and children. We see this through the majority of the female characters in the novel who stay at home rather than find jobs.
  2. The role of women is to depend of their husband for financial support. If it is the woman who finds a job and supports her husband, she is not looked down upon, like in other societies, but rather it is the husband who is shamed.
  “His wife used to go out and work … Hat said, ‘Popo is a man-woman. Not a proper man’” (19)
  3. As they stay at home, women are expected to raise a large family. One woman having a family of eight is nothing out of the ordinary.
  “Laura had eight children. There is nothing surprising in that” (107)
  This is a contrast to other societies during that time where the average family had one, two or sometimes three children, but more than that was considered out of the ordinary.
  
  How Women are Perceived in Miguel Street
  1. Women aren’t expected to stay loyal to their husbands or boyfriends. We are given the impression that the men of Miguel Street see women as immoral beings.
  “Hat said, ‘How much jail he get? A year? With three months off for good behaviour, that’s nine months in all. And I give she three months good behaviour too. And after that, it ain’t going have no more Emelda in Miguel Street, you hear.’” (24-25)
  2. Women are said to marry or be with a man only for his money. This take on women by the men of Miguel Street reinforces their idea that women are immoral and materialistic people
  “Hat said, ‘Well, boy woman these days funny like hell. They go run after a dwarf if he got money.’” (119)
  
  Abuse of Women in Miguel Street
  Physical
  1. Beating is quite common and frequently used. We see this throughout nearly every chapter in the book.
  2. Beating is encouraged and accepted, to a certain extent. There comes a time when the men of Miguel Street decide that enough is enough, and the beatings should stop. A man who beats a woman in excess is looked down upon.
  “Hat said, ‘Is a good thing for a man to beat his woman every now and then, but this man does do it like exercise, man.’”(136)
  3. Even though the woman may be right, the man often wins an argument by beating his wife. While the woman relies on logic and argument, the man relies on physical abuse.
  “Mrs Bhakcu kept on claiming her right to stand up for her husband, and Mr Bhakcu kept on rejecting the claim. In the end Bhakcu had to beat his wife.”(153)
  Verbal
  1. The men of Miguel Street consider physical abuse to be acceptable, but verbal abuse is considered vulgar and unneeded.
  “We were none of us chivalrous, but Nathaniel had a contempt for women which we couldn’t like. He would make rude remarks when women passed.” (110)
  “The woman used to run out screaming … we would hear the man shouting and cursing and using language so coarse that we were all shocked.” (133)
  
  
  • Posted Jun 11, 2006 8:08 pm PT
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• 5Jun 06

  MLA Documentation

  Daniel Portoraro
  Date Due: 5th May 2006
  Submitted To: Mrs. Grimsley
  
  MLA Works Cited List
  
  1. Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Garden City: Nelson Doubleday, 1972.
  2. Munro, Alice. Lives of Girls and Women. Toronto: Penguin, 1997.
  
  
  • Posted Jun 5, 2006 7:55 pm PT
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• 5Jun 06

  Essay

  Daniel Portoraro
  Submitted To: Mrs. Grimsley
  Date Due: 5th June 2006
  Word Count: 1051
  
  Two Characters, Two Different Societies, Too Similar?
  Comparative Essay
  
  One is a world famous novel on a boy’s trials through life; the other is an important tale of a girl’s experiences through life. Both Great Expectations and Lives of Girls and Women by Charles Dickens and Alice Munro respectively introduce us to a wide variety of characters and locations from two different time periods. However, in this essay, I will focus on the comparison of two characters: Estella and Del and the manner in which they were brought up, their expectations in society and what they become at the end of each novel.
  
  Estella Havisham is often referred to as Charles Dickens’s first convincing female character. The reasons for this are due in part to her manipulative, coldhearted and evil nature. Being brought up by Miss Havisham, a wealthy albeit cruel and miserable old woman, Estella was taught to break the hearts of men whenever possible and never to love anyone. We see this when Estella, using daylight as a metaphor for love, tells Miss Havisham that “…if you had taught her, from the dawn of her intelligence, with your utmost energy and might, that there was such a thing as daylight, but that it was made to be her enemy and destroyer, and she must always turn against it …”(289). However, during the time of 18th century if one was a woman, finding a job instead of finding a husband was unheard of as was starting a career rather than a family. So under the guidance of Miss Havisham and the expectations of Estella’s society, she was anticipated to marry someone, even if she did not love him, of equal or higher social standing and raise a family. In the end of Great Expectations, Estella did just that. She married Drummle, a close heir to baronetcy, even though he was unpleasant and in no way attractive to Estella. In the unpublished ending in the novel, we learn that Drummle died and Estella was remarried to a doctor. “The Shropshire doctor was not rich” (449), but still Estella followed the rules of society and got married, and rather than Estella finding a job, “they lived on her own personal fortune.”(449). So even though Estella didn’t remarry someone of high standing, she abided by the rules of society and stayed at home.
  
  Throughout Lives of Girls and Women, we follow the life of Del Jordan, the kind, intelligent and curious daughter of Ada and father Jordan. Del grew up in a small town in Canada: Jubilee. Del’s mother wasn’t like other mothers during the 1950s. She taught her daughter to think for herself, and to question everything. Often, Ada shared her scientific and moral theories with her daughter starting from a young age. She goes against the norm and asks her young girl such ominous question as “What is Death? … What is being dead?”(52). As Del grew up, her mother’s influence took a toll on her. She went against the typical mold for young women. For example instead of considering reading books like “chewing gum, a habit to be abandoned when…adult life took over.” (130), Del kept reading, she “…was happy in the Library.”(130). This example shows how Del was brought up to be different from all the other girls. Del’s expectations in life were also different from those of most girls in Canada during the 1950s. Instead of getting married, having kids and looking after the house, Del wanted to continue her studies at university and become a writer. This difference in Del’s upbringing and expectations is obvious when Naomi came over and “Her conversation, when she came over to my house […] was full of their diets, skin-care routines, hair-shampooing methods, clothes, diaphragms” (196) which bored Del. However, regardless of her high expectations, Del failed to get a scholarship and get into university because of one thing; she fell in love. The man’s name was Garnet French and because of him, Del slacked in her studies. After their break-up, Del failed the scholarship exams and instead of going to university, she pursued a career in writing.
  
  When we look at these two characters, we notice certain differences and similarities in the way they were brought up, their expectations and what they become in life. Estella was brought up in a harsh, coldhearted household, while Del lived in a happy home with parents who wanted her to lead a joyful and intelligent life, unlike Miss Havisham who simply wanted her adopted daughter to break the hearts of men everywhere. Miss Havisham treated Estella more as a tool to get back at men than a human being, while the Jordans treated their young girl as any caring family would. One similarity that the two characters share however is that both societies in which they lived in, regardless of the fact that they’re set 100 years apart, expected them to get married and raise a family. Miss Havisham expected this of her daughter; however, Ada Jordan especially anticipated Del to go to university via a scholarship and pursue a career that would test her intelligence and mental abilities. However, while Estella managed to achieve her goal, Del failed at doing so. Estella was successful in marrying Drummle, although he “…used her with great cruelty, and who had become quite renowned as a compound of pride, brutality, and meanness.” (449). Del didn’t get into university, but she still managed to find a career in writing. However, it is important to note that the alternative ending to Great Expectations, Estella was remarried to a doctor, who wasn’t very rich as she originally intended. So we can see that both characters got what they were looking for, to a certain extent.
  
  In conclusion, both novels portray two very important female characters. One is a desirable, wealthy woman from England who follows the typical mold of society and the other is an intelligent, unique and independent young girl from Canada who unlike her friends, makes her own decisions based on what she wants, and not what is expected of her. As we can see, although these characters are different in many ways, they are similar in others. Seeing the similarities between these characters raises the question whether or not North American society in the 1950s was really so different from that of 18th century England.
  
  
  
  
  
  • Posted Jun 5, 2006 7:26 pm PT
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