Trained by gender roles
You throw like a girl.
It's the ultimate battle: pink vs. blue. A woman is having a girl; her baby shower is themed pink, the nursery's walls are splashed with pink paint, and the baby is brought home, swaddled in a pink blanket. And if she has a boy? Expect all the same, just trade the pink with blue. Society naturally conforms children to gender roles starting on the day they are born. Though the pink vs. blue argument is a minor example of people being conformed to gender roles, it is where the snowball starts rolling, and how people can be straitjacketed into feeling the pressure of being the perfect example of a girl or a boy.
Gender roles are commonly portrayed in literature as strict and unbreakable, often causing conflict. It is a major theme seen in several literature pieces like, A Doll House, by Henrik Ibsen and Pride And Prejudice, by Jane Austen.
It's a mAN'S WORLD
This is a man's man's man's world
But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl
James Brown "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" (1966)
But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl
James Brown "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" (1966)
Nora Helmer, a headstrong character was dragged into the cracks of a lifestyle surrounded by gender roles. She was living in a household where she had to live under the values of her husband - the man of the house - Torvald Helmer. Through the play, the readers are given several different examples of Nora conforming to the "it's a man's world" scene. Like when he attempted to engage in sexual advances toward Nora, upon her refusal, Torvald responded by saying, "You're only playing your little bird game with me; aren't you, Nora? Don't want to? I'm your husband, aren't I?" (Ibsen 51). This interaction between the couple showed how Nora was treated as an object to Torvald, rather than the wife he is supposed to love. Another example of Nora's confinement to a man's world, was when Mrs. Linde was helping her with her costume for the party. When Torvald arrived home, she told Mrs. Linde to "go in to the children for awhile. Torvald can't stand to have sewing around." (Ibsen 29). This illustrated how Nora often conforms to small, petty things that Torvald likes or dislikes. This whole scene was a perfect example of Nora's conformity to the man's world, as after Mrs. Linde left the room, Nora told Torvald, "wasn't it nice of me to go along with it?" her husband responding, "Nice? To do what your husband tells you?" (Ibsen 29). Torvald was not hesitant to put Nora in what he believed was her place by making sure she knew that she was expected to always do what her husband tells her to do, resulting in Nora conforming to the world and lifestyle of a man's expectations for his wife, giving way to the strong confinement of gender roles surrounding Nora's household.
This Huffington Post article is great to help understand what a Man's world truly is, and why it is important that we understand that we are still living in it
< This image was taken on the set of A Doll's House by Classic Theatre of San Antonio in November of 2017
|
It's how we're brought up
When are you getting married and having kids?
As Nora Helmer described it, she was born into the same type of household that she was currently living in; with a lot of money, a maid and a nurse to take care of the children, while the wife remained at home without a job. Nora explained to Torvald that, "That's the way it's always been, Torvald. When I was home with Daddy, he told me all his opinions, and so they became my opinions too... Then I came to your house" (Ibsen 56). She was distraught about the fact that she had always been in the same type of household with the same type of male figure in the house. Nora said that she had, "passed from Daddy's hands into yours... You have great sins against me to answer for it, Daddy and you. It's your fault that nothing has become of me." (Ibsen 56). Nora had been raised in a household that greatly resembled the household she was married into. She had never questioned the strict gender roles, as that is all she ever knew. She had never been taught how to properly care for herself or children, and she was able to blame her father and husband for that, as they both raised her without teaching her anything. Though Nora is smart, she was able to discover these issues and exposed Torvald for treating her only as a "doll wife" as her father had treated her as a "doll child" (Ibsen 56). The way she was raised never taught her how a true marriage was supposed to go, only for them to have "fun when you played with me." (Ibsen 56). Nora's childhood is what shaped the demise for her marriage to potentially fall apart.
Being brought up by gender roles wasn't only showed in A Doll's House, there were also major examples shown in the film, Pride And Prejudice. The Bennet family, a mother and father with five daughters, felt the social pressure of needing to marry off all five of them because of the societal gender roles and the need of them to marry a wealthy man so the family is secure, and the daughters would then be the husbands problem. It was a fact that the Bennet girls knew this from the very start of their life, and they were raised knowing that they had to find a wealthy man to take care of them. This was not only seen with the Bennet ladies, but with Charlotte Lucas as well. As a "27 years old with no money and no prospect" she could not "afford to be romantic" (Pride And Prejudice, 2005). With the gender roles this generation grew up on, women were not able to support themselves without a husband as women could not work. They grew up looking for husbands just so they could be financially secure, whether they were happy in their marriage or not. Of the Bennet daughters, one of the youngest, only at age fifteen, was first to marry. This hadn't been questioned, rather celebrated as the family had gotten one of their daughters married off early. This proved that even at a young age, the women of this generation knew how important it was for them to take advantage of any opportunity they had to marry a financially secure man.
This is the scene of Charlotte telling Elizabeth about her engagement. This entire interaction shows a lot about the impact of gender roles in their society and how all they knew was to rely on a husband to be financially secure.
|
The themes of gender roles in the works of Ibsen and Austin were highly profound. It was one of the main themes seen in this great pieces of literature. It gives people of today's generation an idea of how strongly gender roles affected lifestyles, and how it has changed, and even how we can expect it to change in the future. The strong braces holding society in the grasp of gender roles has loosened a lot, though we are still being held by it and change in the future can be expected, as we have seen huge revolutions from that of the past.