English Essay: Exploring Gender and Emotional Fate in Literature

This essay delves into the theme of gender and its impact on the emotional lives of characters in Cate Kennedy's short story collection, "Like a House on Fire." The essay examines how gender roles and societal expectations shape the experiences of characters in stories such as 'Flexion,' 'Laminex and Mirrors,' 'Seventy-two Derwents,' and 'White Spirit.' The analysis highlights how characters' emotional states are often influenced and sometimes limited by gender stereotypes and expectations. For instance, the essay discusses how the male character in 'Flexion' struggles with his ego, leading to his wife's dominance, while the young woman in 'Laminex and Mirrors' compromises her dreams to fit societal norms. The essay concludes that gender plays a crucial role in shaping the emotional destinies and distress of the characters, illustrating how these factors can affect their choices and overall well-being.

Running head: ENGLISH ESSAY 1
English Essay
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Date

ENGLISH ESSAY 2
English Essay
In this essay, it would be misleading not to mention that gender has nothing to do with
the emotional fate of the characters within the book “like a house on fire”. The premiere story
‘flexion’ introduces the reader to an extremely egocentric family man, Frank Slovac, who
always resists asking for help from anyone (Kennedy, 2008). As such, he is run over by a
tractor, and due to his nature of not willing to be regarded as being weak, he chooses not to
ask for help. During this time, his wife, Rebecca goes through the ordeal and for some reason
perceives that he might not survive. Subsequently, things take a different turn when the man
becomes helpless; therefore, Slovac’s wife chooses to become dominant. In this regard, it
would be correct to state that gender has everything to do with what happens to the man
(Lipman, 1984). Concisely, had he chosen to drop his ego and pride and asked for help,
things would have been different.
In the story ‘Laminex and mirrors’, the reader is introduced to an 18-year-old who
works as a cleaner at a local hospital. Her motive is to earn money so that she can travel
around world. However, she does not like her job a single bit. Whereas she does not like her
fellow cleaners, she pretends that she cares for them. As time passes by during one of the
trips, she begins to create special bonds with patients, Mr Moreton in specific (Whelan,
2102). The man is battling cancer and frequently requests the lady to get her cigarettes, but
she is afraid she might lose her job. Within the course of her work, she develops compassion
and love. She finally gives in to Mr Moreton’s request and agrees to help him have his last
cigarette (Whelan, 2012). Women are known to be or should be submissive, which could be
one of the reasons that put the young lady in that kind of dilemma. She has two options to
weigh: submit to Mr Moreton or lose her job, she chooses the latter (Basow, 1982). She
jeopardises her dream of travelling the world while trying to be fit into the society’s norms of
what a woman should and should not be.

ENGLISH ESSAY 3
The very last story in the collection is ‘seventy-two Derwents’ which is a journal
written by Tyler for her teacher Mrs Carlyne. The story introduces Shane who is Tyler’s
mother’s boyfriend, and every time he is around she is uneasy. The theme of poverty stands
out, which is demonstrated by the families making toys for a living. Despite these challenges,
the mother is keen to give her daughter the dues garnered from hardwork. Tyler’s mother
helps her daughter ease the tension she acquires when the boyfriend is around (Shiells, 2012).
While Tyler’s mother chooses to be with Shane at the expense of Tyler’s comfort, remains a
mystery. However, chances are that she feels indebted to be with him. More often than not,
she is seen to be emotionally disturbed and resorts to crying. The path that she chooses results
to wrong decisions, which indicates she weighed her options wrongly. In this case, there is
the need to note what is worth fighting for. As such, her daughter’s comfort should be a
priority vis-a-vis being with Shane.
The story of the ‘white spirit’ revolves around a woman working in a block of
community housing, where she hires two artists that depict the overall community
expectation (Lynch, 2012). As time goes by, she begins to feel belittled and ashamed and
further begins to question the validity of the project she is undertaking. Analysing this story
in depth, gender has everything to do with how she starts to feel. Women for a long time until
recently, have been known to be inferior to men. This inhibits her from giving her career her
best, as the cliché goes, what a man can do a woman can do better (Basow, 1992). She has all
it takes to flourish, but for the reasons mentioned therein, she is not capable of pursuing those
interests.
Conclusively, in the above stories, an aspect of gender is evidenced as a limiting
factor towards the characters’ emotional statuses. From the very beginning, Mr.Slovac’s
egocentric nature leaves him paralysed and his wife getting dominant over him. The 18-year-
old in the ‘Laminex and Mirrors’, give in to a patient’s demand while trying to be submissive

ENGLISH ESSAY 4
at the expense of her job. Therefore, it would be prudent to articulate that all the characters’
gender has everything to do with their emotional fate and distress.

ENGLISH ESSAY 5
References
Basow, S. A. (1992). Gender: Stereotypes and roles. Belmont: Thomson Brooks/Cole
Publishing Co.
Kennedy, C. (2008). Flexion. Harvard Review, (34), 122-130.
Lipman-Blumen, J. (1984). Gender roles and power. Virginia Beach: Prentice Hall.
Lynch, A. (2012). The aspirational [Review of Kennedy, Cate. Like a House on
Fire. Australian Book Review, (346), 29.
Shiells, J. (2012). The house of memories [Book Review]. Bookseller+ Publisher
Magazine, 92(1), 21.
Whelan, M. (2012). Like a house on fire [Book Review]. Bookseller+ Publisher
Magazine, 92(1), 21.