Commentary On "The Hurled Ashtray (Nora Ephron)"

Posted by anjila | Posted in , , , | Posted on 3:23 AM

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The writer of this essay appears to be tactful and careful while giving her opinion regarding how men and women should behave in the new context. To make her point clear, she presents two events in London restaurant where first Mr. and Mrs. Cooper and later Mr. and Mrs. Korda face a challenging situation created by some mischievous hooligan boys.

However, the same sort of incident has been handled differently by these two couples. In the first incident, the women simply follows the action of the man with her own reaction. In the second incident Mrs. Korda objects to her husband acting unilaterally while dealing with the boys. These two women represents women of pre-movement and post-movement respectively. Finally, the writer gives her own opinion in an intelligent way. She seems somewhere in the middle position. If such situation occurs in her life she doesn't want to be treated like Mrs. Cooper but at the same time she wants her husband to handle this kind of situation after having consultation with her. By giving safe solution to the conflict that arise between man and woman, Nora wants to assert that men and women need to co-operate with each other without claiming to be totally independent of each other.

Writer understands that relationship between men and women have been compounded by the feminist movement, especially after the first world war. But she also understands that they need to get on with one another by seeking wise solution to the eternal problems between men and women. Thus, this essay gives a clear cut vision of the writer who has had experiences of men and women relationship in the both context before the movement and after the movement.

Feminist Reading of "The Great Gatsby"

Posted by anjila | Posted in , , | Posted on 8:41 PM

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The novel shares Tom's views of patriarchal gender roles. He comments that women should confirm to the patriarchal gender roles for the stability of patriarchal family. In the novel, Tom seems to be the agent of male in patriarchal society who is quite hypocritical (saying one thing and doing another in nature). He maintains that these days people have forgotten by sneering the institution of family by involving in intermarriage (marriage between blacks and whites) but he keeps an extra-marital affair with Mrs. Wilson in the novel. In fact, he himself has contaminated the sacredness of marriage and the family. Similarly, Gatsby is of the opinion that daisy was his formal lover, and now she has been married to Tom, but today he has accumulated wealth and property so he can get his love back. His thinking shows the fact that in patriarchal society women are regarded as objects to be sold and bought rather than one to be respected.

The novel also shows the true picture of America in 1920s (After War Period. Before the war, women did not have any freedom. They had to remain within the prescribed limit of male ideals but now they are quite free and are seen smoking and drinking like men. The society in the past would see it with doubtful eyes to those women involved in smoking and drinking, as they were regarded as exclusively male habits but in the novel women have openly challenged it. Main female characters in the novel like Daisy, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle Wilson directly challenging their traditional roles as "kitchen creature". They all prefer the excitement of night life than the more traditional enjoyments of home and children. There is only one child among them, Daisy's daughter Pammy. Pammy is well-looked after by a nurse and affectionately treated by her mother. Daisy's life does not revolve exclusively around her maternal roles. All three women Daisy, Jordan Baker and Myrtle Wilson have openly challenged patriarchal sexual taboo: Jordan engages in pre-marital sex, and Daisy and Myrtle are engaged in extra-marital affair. These three women's clothing and hairstyle are pretty modern unlike their mothers and grandmothers in the past and are equally guided by freedom seeking tendency. The patriarchal concept that women should behave modestly in public by avoiding liquor, cigarettes and immodest dancing is openly challenged by them in the novel. Hence this novel is full of the instances of the domination of females by males and the opposition of traditional male idealogy by the women.

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