Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
He stood there. She said nothing. She had simply shut him out." Tom waits: "saying nothing at all, for some minutes. He thought: 'She'll have to say something if I stay.' But the minutes went past, with no sign." Tom has fantasized that he can be tenderer than the other workmen, and therefore he assumes the woman will be more forthcoming to him than to his crude companions. Like the other construction workers, this 'Peeping Tom' cannot separate fantasy about what they call this modern "Lady Godiva" from reality: it does not occur to him that the woman has a sense of her own sexuality, independent of his feelings of her: like the real Lady Godiva, he feels she should only disrobe for a reason, to satisfy male desire.
The story suggests that Tom's sentimental feelings about the woman are just as unreal as the pornographic scenarios created in the minds of Stanley and the other men. The men view the woman's actions with a mix of paternalism and propriety, and act as if men 'own' all women and as if women cannot make decisions about their...
"I bet her old man put his foot down," said Stanley, when the men think that the woman is not on the roof one day. In actuality, she is merely on a different section of roof, to hide from them, which indicates that she has been sunning herself to enjoy the weather, not engaging in an act of exhibitionism, as they assume.
The women who meet with the workmen's approval are women who are appropriately deferential, like the middle-aged woman who waters her flowers within their view: "the woman came to water a yellow window box opposite them. She was middle-aged, wearing a flowered summer dress…They exchanged pleasantries, and she left them with a smile and a wave." Because she is not like 'Lady Godiva,' or the woman in the bathing suit, she is praised. Women must be cheerful and flirtatious, regardless of how they actually feel, in the moral code of these males.
Works Cited
Lessing, Doris. "A woman on a roof." February 10, 2010.
http://www.csuchico.edu/~pkittle/101/womanroof.pdf
Works Cited
Lessing, Doris. "A woman on a roof." February 10, 2010.
http://www.csuchico.edu/~pkittle/101/womanroof.pdf
Deborah is believed to have played a key role in public arena. Even in the male dominant society of Israel, Deborah's orders were followed and people looked up to her for advice. In the position of a prophetess, she could give orders which were readily followed: "She sent for Barak...and said to him, 'The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: "Go, take with you ten thousand men..."" Barak was
Women in the American Revolution Social Status of Women in the Revolution Molly Pitcher - the real story Evidence supporting her existence Evidence denying her existence An American Icon Other Women who took up Arms Women as Spies Ann Bates Miss Jenny Life as a Camp Follower Women in Supporting Roles The winds of Equality Abigail Adams Patriotism Men's views on Women in the Revolution Women as a Symbol of the Comforts of Home Women in the American Revolution played a deciding factor in the success of
1 THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN FILM: HIS GIRL FRIDAY, SEMI-TOUGH & FLIRTING WITH DISASTER The history of women in the cinema can be traced back to the early days of film production, beginning ca. 1896 with films by director Alice Guy Blache, such as "The Cabbage Fairy" and "The Bewitched Fianc?." With the advent and popularity of the so-called "silent era" of film production, women began to be
Canebrake Night Woman Sex in the Canebrake and Night Woman On the surface, "The Canebrake" by Mohammed Mrabet and "Night Woman" by Edwidge Danticat are two completely different stories. The former is about a disgruntled housewife; the latter is about a prostitute. However, there is a fundamental theme that ties these two stories together. That is, each story explores how female sexuality can be exploited to gain power and control. It is
But domestic violence has not been eliminated. Nor have other discriminatory traditions, such as polygamy. "Although the practice of polygamy is declining, it continues to be a threat to women, as it undermines a woman's dignity, perpetuates notions of male dominance, and above all creates domestic environments where women become vulnerable to abuse because they are in the difficult position of agreeing to their husbands' marriage or asking for
The comparison between Jan's bright eyes and the "red balls" that hold the same station in Bertha's animalistic face, as well as Bertha's size and girth in comparison to Rochester (his equal in size) and Jane, small young and proper is meant also to show Bertha as a tyrant, though her size has nothing to do with choice it is a point of comparison which separates her from the