scholarly journals A Feminist Stylistic Analysis of Characterisation in Doris Lessings A Woman on a Roof

2019 ◽  
Vol IV (III) ◽  
pp. 309-316
Author(s):  
Abdul Qayyum ◽  
Mujib Rahman ◽  
Henna Gul Nisar

In her book Feminist Stylistics, Sara Mills (1995) argues that characters in texts are not simulacra of humans. They are merely words which represent men and women in accordance with stereotypes that are found in society. This study takes up D. Lessings short story A Woman on a Roof (1963/1990) and looks at the characterisation in it by using Mills model (1995) at the level of discourse. The aim of the study is to find out whether the representation of male and female characters in this story is gendered or not. The results of the study show that female characters are represented negatively while the male characters are represented positively. On the basis of these findings, it is recommended that these representational practices need to change in order to bring about a change in the thinking of the people.

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haley Morales ◽  
Daniel Olivo

The Bechdel test, used to examine the frequency and portrayal of women in film, consists of three criteria – (1) a movie must represent two or more women, (2) who have names and speak to each other, (3) about anything other than a man. In order to answer the research question “Based on the Bechdel test, how does the Avengers series portray their female characters compared to their male characters?”, this paper utilizes and extends beyond the Bechdel test by performing a conventional content analysis of same-gender conversations in four top-grossing superhero films – Marvel’s The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). By combining the simplicity of the Bechdel test with a qualitative approach to code dialogue, this paper illustrates the underrepresentation of female characters and specific differences between the portrayal of men and women in modern Marvel films. While the films improved in the amount of female characters and female-to-female conversations over time, there is still a small amount of female-to-female conversations in these films compared to male-to-male conversations. Furthermore, while male characters rarely spoke to each other about women, female characters spoke to each other about men very often. Some common elements of dialogue for both male and female characters were worries about danger, discussions of violence, and insulting others. Implications regarding this portrayal’s impact on female viewers are discussed.


PARADIGM ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Asri Furoidah

<p>Eka Kurniawan's Corat-coret di Toilet short stories compilation book contains twelve short stories that tell about light stories everyday but full of social criticism. Some of the short stories that portrayed female characters presented women who were not free in their lives, one of which was titled Dongeng Sebelum Bercinta and Si Cantik yang Tak Boleh Keluar Malam. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the position of women and their resistance toward patriarchal domination. This is interesting to be studied further by using feminist theory to find the position of women in literary works written by male writers. This research will focus on the actions of female characters which shape their position in the story. The data used in this study are in the form of words, sentences or expressions from short stories that show the dominance of patriarchy towards women and their efforts to get out of domination. From research using feminist theory it was found that patriarchal domination arises in the closest male characters to female characters such as fathers, male friends and husbands. Women resistance in the story was a form of false resistance which in turn strengthened the dominance of patriarchy and the dichotomy between men and women. This was found based on the fact that every resistance made by women turned to weaken women themselves.</p><p> <em> </em></p>


Author(s):  
Dr Maha Farouk Abdul Qader Al-Hindaw

This research is an attempt to reveal the manifestations of (Homosexuality), which is any attitude, deed or language issued by both men and women that says the inferiority of the female, and how women resist it at different levels, the most important of which is (language) in an Iraqi novelist text (Al- Muhboobat) by (Aliyah). Mamdouh) published by Dar Al- Saqi in Beirut in 2003, and the recipient of the Naguib Mahfouz Prize for Novel from the American University in Cairo in 2004. The method followed in this study was the analytical method, which came on three levels: 1. Quantitative content analysis: in which the number of male and female characters as they appeared in the novelistic text was compared. 2. The qualitative analysis of the content: It included a comparison between the specifications given to the male and female characters in the novelistic text. 3. Analyzing the homosexuality of the dominant language in the text: by which we mean the way in which language is employed in this text. The research concluded that the number of female characters exceeded the male characters in the novel. Andthe heroine’s desire for rejection, Suhaila, to the reality of tyranny and the invasion that she suffered in the homeland and exile through the rejection letter that represented her in the novel, in contrast to the state of complacency, surrender, and weakness suffered by the son Nader, which was represented by the letter of his machine that he adopted in the novel.


Author(s):  
Ohood Ali Mohammed Saif Al-Nakeeb

This paper examines the fragmentation of the fe/male characters in a one-novel corpus (henceforth, FFFS Corpus). The text is Final Flight From Sanaa, a Yemeni novel written by Qais Ghanem and published in 2011. The paper unfolds how the fe/male characters are introduced and talked about as anatomical parts in order to describe differences or similarities in gender representation, and to explore power relations and cultural differences between the eastern and western men and women. The analysis is done qualitatively using the feminist stylistic approach set out in Mills (1995) and quantitatively with the help of the corpus linguistic tool Wmatrix. Results have demonstrated that although the female and male bodies are almost equally fragmented, they are depicted differently. For example, female characters are introduced in terms of their physical attractiveness and sexuality while their male counterparts are focalized via their colors, physical deficiencies, skills, personality traits and the level of power they possess (whether physical or social).


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 408
Author(s):  
Winda Khoirun Nisak ◽  
Furaidah Furaidah ◽  
Gunadi Harry Sulistyo

<p><strong>Abstract:</strong> This research is a study of assessing the representation of gender in elementary school textbooks used by an international curriculum that is widely used in 160 countries throughout the world. The content analysis used to lead the representation of the male and female on the textbooks. The findings of this study indicate that the gender representation formed in the textbook shows the existence of gender equality which is reflected in the balanced emergence of male and female characters that appear in textbooks, the prevalence of the professional picture of men and women and the balance of household activities reflected in the textbook.</p><strong>Abstrak:</strong> Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian mengenai representasi gender di buku teks siswa sekolah dasar yang dipakai oleh kurikulum internasional yang tersebar luas di 160 negara di seluruh dunia. Konten analisis dipakai untuk melihat representasi dalam buku. Temuan dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa konstruksi gender yang terbentuk dalam buku teks tersebut menunjukkan adanya kesetaraan gender yang tercermin dari berimbangnya kemunculan karakter laki laki dan perempuan yang muncul dalam buku teks, meratanya gambaran profesi laki-laki dan perempuan serta berimbangnya kegiatan rumah tangga yang tercermin dalam buku teks.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hashamdar ◽  
Fahimeh Rafi

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between social identity and the taboo words men and women use in order to express their anger. Moreover, this study went further and investigated the relationship between using taboo words in male and female participants who had a university degree and those who did not. In order to do the research, 20 female and 20 male adults, whose professions were similar in pairs, were randomly selected. The researcher recorded their voices when they were in an angry mood. After recording data, the researcher made a transcription of the first fifty words uttered by each participant. Then, the taboo words- words which were considered offensive or shocking and that were discouraged in public places - were calculated. Finally, the percentage of taboo words used by each participant was calculated and compared to that of the others. The findings of the study confirmed that the percentage of using taboo language by male characters, in different social identities, was much more than that of female characters. On the other hand, by dividing the participants into two groups of those who had a university degree, and those with no university degree, the researcher came to the conclusion that both male and female participants with a university degree used less taboo words than those without a university degree.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (132) ◽  
pp. 77-96
Author(s):  
Farah Hafedh Ibrahim

There has always been a belief that women in general are treated oppressively, viewed as inferior to men and subject to personal and institutional discrimination. Since literature reflects the way people think and shows the relationship between linguistic choices and socially construed meanings, this paper tackles Katherine Mansfield’s “Miss Brill” through a feminist stylistic approach to find out how female characters are represented. It also aims to explore whether the writer of the text under investigation reinforces or challenges the stereotypical image of women by viewing them as inferior or equal to men. Conducting a feminist stylistic analysis, by utilizing Sara Mills’ (1995) model of analysis involves the employment of a three-tiered level of analysis i.e. the level of the word, the level of the clause and the level of discourse. From the analysis of the short story under investigation, it has been concluded that the way women are represented is socially influenced by the prevailing held beliefs that women are passive, submissive, dependent on men, inferior to and unequal to men.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (S-1) ◽  
pp. 175-178
Author(s):  
Sinduja T

The country that enhances the pride of the woman has risen in this earth. In today's age of information technology, women are progressing in various fields on par with men and more than men. They are confident that they can achieve anything in life. But a woman cannot live alone in society. They live on orders in one way or another. In the end, the woman's condition is reduced to a very bad state, no matter what mistakes the woman makes in her life. Women bear more responsibilities. Whether a man makes mistakes or a man makes mistakes, the woman ultimately accepts the consequences. In this way, the problems caused by men to women in devibharathi short story are manifestations of male and female relationship. The article is titled Male Characters A Feminist Vision in Devi Bharathi Short Story, focusing on psychological complexity and the effects of caste discrimination.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Junying Song

Doris Lessing is one of the Nobel Prize winners and &ldquo;A Woman on a Roof&rdquo; is such a famous short story of hers. In the patriarchal society, women are in the lower status, but the woman in the story struggles bravely to fight against the male power. During her fighting, the woman has doubts and hesitation, but she finally forces the three males to put off their prejudice. This paper focuses on how the woman strives for her own rights, and talks from the perspective of Existential Feminism, taking the main male and female characters in &ldquo;A Woman on a Roof&rdquo; as examples, so as to explore women&rsquo;s self-survival in the dualistic society. Through studying her feminist thinking in the short story, the paper points out that the woman finally transforms her role from the Other to the Subject and then she is in an equal position with the three males. Though the two genders does not reconcile with each other as it seems to be with the purification of rainwater in &ldquo;A Woman on a Roof&rdquo;, the woman has made a big progress in the pursuit of her own transcendence.


2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-146
Author(s):  
Michael Butter

Abstract This article analyzes the first season of Damages (2007) as an early example of the representation of ‘difficult’ women on television. More specifically, I investigate the relationship between the show’s character conception and its complex narration. I argue that all the major male and female characters on the show are ‘difficult’ in the sense that the audience experiences close alignment but troubled allegiance to them. However, the two female protagonists – top-notch lawyer Patty Hewes and her young and initially idealistic associate Ellen Parsons – are also opaque characters about whose thoughts and plans the audience is largely left in the dark. This opacity is mirrored and enhanced by the narration, which constantly teases the audience by withholding information about the plot, suggests inferences that then turn out to be wrong, and generally provides far more insight into the male characters than into the female characters.


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