‘Instructor’s Name’
Discussion on Short Stories That Depict How Traditional Gender Roles Promote Violence
Exploring the theme of violence portrayed in literature, is a complicated task. When violence is discussed, it is mostly centered on physical assaults, and thus discussed one-dimensionally. In reality though, violence is multifaceted and is perpetuated by various motivations, and is experienced in varied different ways. Violence inflicted by individuals, sometimes is a product of various culturally instigated motivations. Violence on women is one such phenomenon, which has its roots in the centuries old male dominance over the other gender. Gender based violence and violence against women are two terms which are often used synonymously, as in almost all such cases women are the victims. Short stories often describe scenes of physical and emotional menace experienced by female characters, in the course of their lives. This essay examines the role of women in three such short stories, who are involved in various violent incidents either as victims, witnesses or as silent observers.
Short stories, apart from portraying explicit physical violence inflicted on women, also use physical assaults as a symbolism to the oppression inflicted on women by the patriarchal society. Raymond Carver’s ‘So Much Water So Close to Home’, is one such story where the character of the dead girl, carries a symbolic message apart from its obvious implications. The story is about a wife’s inner turmoil, after she discovers that her husband and his friends found a naked corpse of a young girl during their fishing expedition, and took their own sweet time to report it. Claire, the wife, is disturbed by how her husband, Stuart, handled the entire situation, and it further strains their already troubled relationship.
The dead girl in this story is used as, a symbolic representation of all the things men do to women. They kill their identity, they take whatever they want from them, they don’t respect them, they act on their selfish impulses, and they completely ignore their needs. The actions of the men in this story, whereby they ignore a dead corpse for a couple of days before reporting to the authorities, is in essence the outcropping of the characteristic attitude of men ignoring even the most serious problems of women. Traditional gender roles, have granted men an inflated sense of self importance, and it takes a great emergency to make the men turn their attention from whatever is it that is important in their life, like their careers or social life, and take heed to the needs of the women in their life.
Throughout the story, Carver establishes how Claire feels empathy towards the girl who got killed. Claire feels a strange connection with the dead girl.
“I look at the creek. I’m right in it, eyes open, face down, staring at the moss on the bottom, dead.”
This empathy of her reflects how she understands, the pain of being ignored and not being taken care of even in dire situations. Her not trusting the man in the pickup shows that, not just her husband, she perceives the entire men folk, to be not trust worthy and capable of inflicting violence on women. Her numb submission to her husband’s sexual advances in the end of the story, exemplifies the way in which a woman has to meekly submit to her gender role in a marital relationship, surrendering her identity and self-worth in the process.
According to Joyce carol Oates, many of the patriarchal paranoia are born out of fear, which makes them equate feminine gender with evil. This paranoia coupled with a sense of impotence, according to her, often gives rise to gender based violence. An example of this can be witnessed in her short story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Set in the 1960s, when the established gender behavior was questioned, and women started displaying overt sexual freedom, this work of Oates depicts an intense struggle by a girl, who espouses the new morality which emerged in America during that time.
The story is about a teen ager, Connie, who is a free spirit, quite opposite to her submissive and dutiful sister. Her rebellious nature is showcased by the constant arguments she has with her mother. She spends her evening picking up boys in a local restaurant, and one day when she is alone in her house, one of the boys she met during her outings comes to her home. He calls her for a ride, and Connie slowly realizes that he is older than he pretends to be and becomes scared. Later he becomes threatening and sensing he might harm her family, she submits to his will and steps out of her house.
This story exemplifies the vulnerability of women to rape and violence. Oates has portrayed both the female body and the interior of her house, to be symbols of her privacy and freedom. Connie is a young girl who is in search of independence, and she is met with violence in the form of Arnold Friend. He embodies all the insecurity, men encounter when they are in the presence of an independent woman.
"Connie, you ain't telling the truth. This is your day set aside for a ride with me and you know it," he said, still laughing. The way he straightened and recovered from his fit of laughing showed that it had been all fake.”
He is older but he tries to act like a teenager, which further highlights his insecurity. He acts as if he believes in his charm and his ability to lure girls, but when Connie calls his bluff, he resorts to violent threats. Arnold is a representative of the patriarchal forces that curbs a woman’s quest for sexual independence. He is the male invader who does not respect the spatial limits of a woman, and forces her out by threatening her. Connie, in this story, is punished for showing sexual independence and for her sense of adventure.
Physical violence is not the only sort of violence inflicted upon women, but they are frequently subjected to other forms as well, like verbal abuse and psychological assault. Selina Davies, of ‘Let Them Call It Jazz’ is a victim of this type of violence. Being a female white Creole writer, Jean Rhys was able to realistically portray the plight of an immigrant woman in an urban culture. Selina was marginalized and discriminated based on both, her ethnicity and gender.
She is a West Indian woman who is not able to find a job in the 1970s London. Her trouble starts when her landlady demands a month’s rent in advance suddenly. She does not give prior notice or an explanation and verbally abuses her. From there on her trouble never cease to end as she tries to find a place to live.
“He’s the husband it seems and he stare at me worse than his wife – he stares as if I’m wild animal let loose”
She is not welcome by any of her neighbors, who rebuff her friendly gestures. Later she is branded a prostitute and ends up in jail.
Selina’s vulnerability is exploited by various men, who offer her shelter and alcohol. Her story is a perfect example of patriarchal assault on women. She does not draw sympathy from her neighbors, who treat her with scorn and contempt. She shows her protest to the insinuations and insults aimed at her, by singing loudly. Her songs are her way of protesting against the marginalization of women, and her arrest shows that her noise has penetrated the patriarchal sensibilities of her neighbors.
The stories discussed, have tried to expose the heart of the gender based violence inflicted on women: a sense of personal impotence. Be it Stuart or Arnold or the men who exploited Selina, they all needed reassurance of their superiority. Independent behavior and self sufficiency of women were loathed, and resulted in violent behavior, both physical and psychological, towards the female characters. Throughout the world, almost one out of every four women experience violence of some sort based on their gender, most of them inflicted by their own family members. Traditionally the patriarchal society has reinforced gender roles that stimulate male violence, and when a man’s masculinity is threatened by a woman’s independence, he retorts by using his physical strength. Literature is a medium through which an author expresses his/her views about the society in which he/she is a part of, and through these short stories the authors have delineated, how women have suffered violence by the traditional gender roles.
Works Cited
Carver, Raymond. So Much Water So Close To Home. n.d. Web. 1 March 2014.
Daly, Brenda O. Lavish Self-divisions: The Novels of Joyce Carol Oates. Mississippi: Univ. Press of Mississippi, 1996. Print.
Oates, oyce Carol. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been. 1966. Web. 1 March 2014.
Rhys, Jean. Let Them Call it Jazz and Other Stories. New york: Penguin Books, Limited, 1995. Print.
