(PDF) An overview of the literature on sexual harassment
Added on 2020-10-23
6 Pages1195 Words460 Views
Introduction To Literature
Table of ContentsESSAY.............................................................................................................................................1Women, Melancholy And Ravishment.......................................................................................1THEME 1: Sexual Violence........................................................................................................1THEME 2: Feeling of revenge is not what it looks like.............................................................2Symbols and Motif......................................................................................................................2REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4
ESSAYWomen, Melancholy And RavishmentThe Round of House by Louise Erdrich is one of the rarest masterpiece in which author is able tomake a mixture of bigotry, sex, violence, racism, betrayal, superiority by expressing through theactions of protagonist of the book i.e., Antone (Joe) Coutts, Antone (Bazil) Coutts, GeraldineCoutts and Linden Lark. THEME 1: Sexual ViolenceFrom the starting Erdrich is successful to simplify the conditions of native women who havebeen facing sexual violence on the basis of tribal, gender, reservations etc. For instance in thefirst chapter only, main character Geraldine was raped brutally by Linden because she helpedMayla to sneak away from linden though she was murdered by him only in latter chapter (P. 17Chapter 1). In the other part, superiority as a white men is shown in the coming chapters inwhich possessiveness over Mayla drives him to killer her so that his ego would besatisfied(Chapter 8). In other plot, Governor, Curtis Yeltow also sleeps with underage Maylawhich shows that they have no respect towards the women and what important for them is sexualfavour (Chapter 11). Besides this, Joe also treats Sonja disrespectfully and forces her to show astrip dance.“You’re crying, aren’t you? Cry all you want, Joe. Lots of men cry after they dosomething nasty to a woman... I thought of you like my son. But you just turned into anotherpiece a shit guy. Another gimme-gimme asshole, Joe. That’s all you are.” (Sonja to Joe, Chapter9)Apart from this, another character, Whitey's Joe uncle also beats her wife Sonja. The only personwho has show clean in terms of respect towards women is Joe's friend Cappy who loves Zelia.Even Joe's father Bazil also harassed his mother as it was imply from the paragraph,“Now you listen to me, Joe. You will not badger me or harass me. You will not go afterhim. You will not terrify me, Joe. I’ve had enough fear for my whole life. You will not add to myfear. You will not add to my sorrows. It is all a violation.” (Chapter five, Geraldine to Joe).So it can be said that full book and its circumstances is based on a theme of sexual harassment orviolence against the women. This shows the picture of older years in which women weresuppressed with the power of manhood.1
End of preview
Want to access all the pages? Upload your documents or become a member.