It’s Never the Woman’s Fault! Women’s role in society and the family are constantly changing. What was expected of the women 25 years ago has made a complete 360 to what women are expecting today. Stories from now and then reflect this greatly, yet there will always be the stock woman character. Some women’s lives have been affected and afflicted by these expectations of a woman’s role, and in the end has had a negative impact on their lives. Women in stories such as: ‘A Rose for Emily’; , and ‘Eveline’; , reflect this negative impact, and they show how women’s ‘roles’; have impeded their growth as a normal grown woman. Emily, from the story, ‘A Rose for Emily’; , was heavily affected in her later years by the role which she played to her father.
As a young girl her mother died, leaving her to be the woman figure in her father’s household. Emily eventually evolved into a replacement of her mother. As a result of living her life this way, Emily was never able to form healthy relationships with men, other than her father. After her father’s death, Emily’s lovers repeatedly left her. Though she was a grown woman now, she was unable to handle the relationships that normal women could. In the end, her emotions and feeling were so mixed up and misinterpreted, she ended up killing the man, so as not to leave her like the rest, and ended up keeping his body and lying with him.
The Essay on My Father’s Life by Raymond Carver
The last paragraph of this essay is my favorite by far, “…in their beautiful voices out of my childhood. Raymond. ” The author of this story made it so tangible the dislike Raymond Jr. had for his birth name that it felt like a true revelation when the character finally embraced it. To hear his father’s name echo as his own name and to enjoy it leaves the reader with the same sense of happiness. ...
Of course, unacceptable behavior of a normal grown woman, considering her upbringing, her actions are less than shocking. Eveline’s story is same in the beginning, yet her fate is a little different. When Eveline’s mother died, she filled in the role of ‘lead woman’; . Eveline was responsible for cleaning, going to the market, and taking care of her abusive father. She on the other hand formed a relationship with a young man from South America. They were in love.
Frank was going to be her ticket out; her life raft of rescue from the dark and haunting waters of her father’s world. Eveline knew this, and had agreed to leave with him one day. As Eveline stated, she was going to go to a place where people would respect her. The day of her great escape, Eveline was unable to set foot on the boat. She was trapped. Not physically, but because of the way she was forced to live her life, mentally Eveline was trapped.
Eveline would return to all that she has ever know, and would live that way the rest of her life, because of the role which she was expected to play to her father. These women and millions more are scarred by the roles in which they are forced. The roles for the majority are changing daily, but to the ones which have been left behind, this is their fate. Eveline and Emily, are just two examples on how the roles which they played negatively impacted their lives. Women are suppressed everyday because of these so called ‘roles’; while many are dying inside.
