Male & Female Images in Fiction

In some cases, the image of the dominant male is a cultural given, something accepted as natural because of a hierarchical social system that solidifies male dominance. In the story "Maharaja's Elephant" by K.A. Abbas from India, for instance, the dominance of the Maharaja is assured in society, of course, but also indicated is an acceptance of male dominance over women in that the Maharaja has seven wives--indeed, one indication of the power of the maharaja is the size of his harem (1378). In such a hierarchy, there are males who are more dominant than others, while the females are generally presented as docile in the face of males as such rather than only certain males, such as the maharaja. The hierarchy in these societies involves a dominant class and various lower classes, and often the dominant class takes special pains to keep the lower class in its place. In "The Birth" by Pramoedya Ananta Toer of Indonesia, class differences are very important and are felt by those in the small town where the story is set. The narrator's father is a teacher, and his mother tells him why this is something the authorit

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deference, more respect, and more attention simply because he is a male. She expresses the fact that women are expected to be docile in her society, to watch their movements, to hide their desires for food, to be careful of every thought and action. So strong was this social requirement that even as a child of 9 the girl felt shame and impurity and sat behind the door of her room crying. The image presented by Nawal al-Sa dawi is of a young woman who hates herself because she is female and not male. This derives from much more than the idea that males have advantages. It also is an expression of the loathing of femaleness that her society has made a primary cultural belief. In the case of most of the women in this society, the result would be the production of a population of docile women who accept their lot in life and accede to the dominant males. In the case of this young woman, however, her self-loathing becomes a badge of honor as she determines that she will prove herself to be smarter than her brother and smarter than all men. She will demonstrate that she is capable in the face of the belief on the part of males that no woman can be as capable as they. This is a woman who fights against the docility of her kind
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Approximate Word count = 1685
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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