The Language And Gender Sociology Essay

The Language And Gender Sociology Essay Language, gender and society are three complex and closely interwoven terms that I will attempt to explore in this chapter. The question of whether language reflects or shapes the social life and consequently gender relationships and expectations is a central one which I will also attempt to tackle. In other words, is it language which transmits gender thoughts, beliefs and actions? Or, conversely, does language determine men and womens relationships and behavior? Is it possible to define language as a naÃÆ' ¯ve mirror translating the social and cultural reality? Or it is the norms, traditions and values that introduce a basis for the creation of any language? Does society define women and mens language, choices and action? Or it is simply the interaction between language and society which gives birth to gender stereotypes and sexist language? The answer to these questions will help us understand how men and womens space, speech, perspectives and choices are both determined and reflected by language. There are so many questions that I would like to answer and examine in this chapter, but will not be able to answer them all. Instead, I will try to highlight some important notions related to the subject. For example how do the socio-cultural factors interact with language in order to determine men and womens relationships in society? Why and how is gender deemed to be an important and powerful component in social interaction? How does its influence go beyond peoples thoughts, attitudes and beliefs? How can society explain the learning and maintenance of gender? How is gender negotiated in language and across cultures? How does the social construction of society shape women and mens personalities in terms of social roles, expectations, language choice, traditional beliefs and so on? The aim of my work will basically be to explore the importance of both language and society in determining and reinforcing female and male differences in speech (form and content), beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. The emphasis will be on how gender is negotiated and represented in language and society, and how the linguistic form may reflect and shape the social and cultural conditions under which women and men live. Language, a product of society, is considered to play a significant role in human interaction; the human being, language and society are an interwoven texture. (Bennouiss, 2001:20). Accordingly, society is conceived to be the mold which shapes people through determining not only their behavior, but also their identity. Society controls individuals through gendered practices, which are defined as a social process created and renegotiated in interpersonal relationships and encouraged and maintained through social interaction (Weatherall, 2002: 85). Therefore, gender is considered to be social because it connotes all the complex attributes ascribed by culture (s) to human females and males (Lott Maluso, 1993: 99). One may conclude from the two quotes that gender is used by society as a basis or a support to the socialization of both females and males, and is also maintained by social and cultural forces. Gender issues and stereotypes seem to be universal. They are heavily rooted in history and through the social and cultural life, which has a strong influence in defining the individuals identity, behavior, role and occupation. All societies consist of men and women who use language in the interaction of everyday life, and develop ideas and thoughts about how women and men should think and act in relation to social norms. Therefore, it is believed that gender is socially constructed and is reinforced by cultural forces; however, gender contents may differ across cultures. Beall (1993: 131-132) argues that across cultures, ones biological sex does not necessarily imply that one will engage in certain activities or that people will believe that one possesses certain attributes. She goes on to say that some cultures perceive more than one gender, and cultures vary in their beliefs about the nature of males and females (1993: 134). This means that cultures are rich and curiously different from each other. Womens beliefs and actions in Morocco are different from womens thoughts and behavior in England, even if sometimes it seems that British women are not so different from the Moroccan unveiled women in physical appearance. However, there are many variations concerning their ways of thinking and acting. In the Muslim society, boys are given more independence and freedom, and are expected to achieve or occupy different roles and positions. The difference between the two sexes in terms of appearance, behavior, role, and occupation is very much strengthened and encouraged by the traditions, the customs and the habits of the Moroccan society, whereas in the British context, norms and traditions are transgressed, and modern ideologies present men and women as equals in all life spheres. Besides, the authority or dominance of one gender over another is not practiced openly anymore. In other words, the strength and activity differences between the male and female stereotypes are greater in socioeconomically less developed countries than in more developed countries. It also tends to be greater in countries where literacy is low and the percentage of women attending the university is low (Best Williams, 1993: 227) although in many cases, the education people receive in school and universities does not mean that they are not influenced by gender stereotypes. In short, there is a lot to be said about the universality of gender prejudice. Class, education, religion and geography all play a part in determining subtle differences and peculiarities, some of which this work aims at revealing. First, some claims: 1) Men interrupt women more than vice versa. 2) Women are more communicative than men. 3) Men do not give verbal recognition of the contributions in the conversation made by women. 4) Men curse more than women. 5) Women gossip more than men. 6) Women talk more with one another than men do. 7) Men speak more comfortably in public than women. Gender and sex Sex: a biological condition, i.e. defined as a set of physical characteristics Gender: a social construct (within the fields of cultural and gender studies, and the social sciences) Today a return to separate single-sex schools may hasten the revival of separate gender roles Wendy Kaminer, in The Atlantic Monthly (1998) General usage of the term gender began in the late 1960s and 1970s, increasingly appearing in the professional literature of the social sciences. The term helps in distinguishing those aspects of life that were more easily attributed or understood to be of social rather than biological origin (see e.g., Unger Crawford, 1992). Linguistic origins of Gender According to Aristotle, the Greek philosopher Protagoras used the terms masculine, feminine, and neuter to classify nouns, introducing the concept of grammatical gender. Many languages specify Gender (and gender agreement) (1) Greek o andras i gyneka to pedhi the.masc. man the.fem. woman the.ntr. child (2) German der man die Frau das Kind the.masc. man the.fem. woman the.ntr. child (3) French l(e) homme la femme the.masc. man the.fem. woman  Ã¢â‚¬   Indoeuropean had gender distinction; Swahili has 16 gender distinctions. And many others dont! (e.g. English, Astronesian languages) But gender appears on pronouns: (1) He left. (2) She left. (3) It left. (what types of things does it refer to?) Gender correlates with other perceptual (and possibly grammatical) categories like humanness, agentivity, and animacy.

New Zealands Agriculture Essay -- Climate Environment New Zealand Ess

It is safe to say that New Zealand is largely a farming nation since farming makes up a high percentage of the country's export earnings. The country's climate ranges from regions in the north that are considered "warm subtropical", to "cool and temperate" in the south. These diverse areas allow for numerous kinds of farming which are vital to New Zealand's economy. All over the country there are deer, llama, ostrich, goat, cattle and sheep farms, and though they get no subsidies from the government, they still play a large part in contributing to overseas markets with their beef, wool, dairy products, other meats, hides, venison (from deer), and goat fiber. It is said that there are about 20 times as many sheep as there are people in New Zealand, but since the country has become increasingly more developed in recent years, this figure has dwindled and continues to do so. This is not to say that the development of human civilization in New Zealand is the preeminent concern for threat ening the country’s animal farming industries. In fact, climate change is a greater concern, and if global temperatures continue to rise as they have been over the years, New Zealand ’s animal farms could take a hit. Animal farms aren’t the only widespread economy drivers in New Zealand. In addition to animal farms, New Zealand is also rich with tree farms. This way they can harvest trees for lumber without touching the indigenous forests, most of which are protected indefinitely, like the huge rainforest on the western side of the south island. 30 percent of New Zealand is covered in forest, including both natural and "planted production" forests. This is a large and seemingly healthy percentage relative to most other countries in the world. Sin... ...oxide in the air might actually assist the overall growth of some vegetation. Whether the positive aspects of a warmer climate will prevail over the negative aspects remains to be seen, but it will certainly have an impact on agriculture in New Zealand and elsewhere. Humans have never been in this situation before so it will be something that we surely will find out in the future unless something is done to regulate the amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted into the atmosphere. Bibliography Jebson, Mike. â€Å"Climate Change and Agriculture and Forestry: Impact on Industries† http://www.maf.govt.nz/mafnet/rural-nz/sustainable-resource-use/climate/impact-on industries.html Jebson, Mike. â€Å"Climate Change and Agriculture and Forestry: Issues and Responses† http://www.maf.govt.nz/mafnet/rural-nz/sustainable-resource-use/climate/issues-and-responses.html

Pistols as the Symbols of Hedda’s Defeat and the Triumph of Masculinity

Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler, though belonging to the works of literary Realism, is not devoid of symbols. Many things in the play have a symbolic meaning, like pistols, the manuscript, Jorgen’s slippers, Hedda’s and Thea’s hair, etc. Pistols are one of the most obvious symbols. They are definitely the phallic symbols, the symbols of masculinity and everything related to men. Weapons, and especially firearms, are always associated with men; they belong to the men’s world and are alien to the women’s world of love, tenderness, and family values. Pistols belong to Hedda, so they symbolize Hedda’s masculinity. Still, pistols become the cause of Hedda’s downfall, thus symbolizing Hedda’s defeat and the triumph of masculinity over a woman who wanted to be a man. On the face of it, pistols seem to be the material twins of Hedda, symbolizing Hedda’s masculinity. There is even some similarity in their appearance. Hedda has â€Å"steel grey† eyes that remind of the cold metal of weapons; â€Å"her complexion is of an even pallor† again reminding lifelessness of the metal (Ibsen, act 1, p. 175, line 26). Even Hedda’s way of behaving bears some resemblance to the cold indifference of a potentially dangerous weapon that kills with cruelty and tranquility. Her eyes have a â€Å"cold, clear and dispassionate† expression (1. 175. 26-27). She seems to be heartless when talking to Aunt Julia with absolutely no care about Miss Tesman’s feelings and trying to take control over everybody around her. She believes that Miss Tesman’s hat belongs to the servant though Aunt Julia just bought it, and shows absolutely no interest to things that are dear to Jorgen, like his old slippers (1. 76-177). Hedda’s desire to have power is obvious from the very first steps: she orders about opening or closing the door, the curtains, firing or leaving the servant. As the story goes, she demonstrates little care about anyone except her and commands the other’s lives and deaths with a heavy hand, ordering Lovborg to shoot himself (3. 246. 16) and burning down his manuscri pt (3. 246. 24-27). With this power over life and death, cruelty, coldness and heartlessness, Hedda is as dangerous as the firearms, being a human embodiment of pistols and a female trying to become a male. Still, a closer look at Hedda reveals that she did not manage to become a â€Å"man† spiritually, despite the complete abandonment of feminine values. The image of a man traditionally comprises the values of courage, resolution, and vigor. Yet, this is exactly what Hedda lacks. She possesses the opposite qualities of cowardice, dread of a scandal, and inclination to achieve her goals by the intrigues rather than by action. â€Å"Yes, Hedda, at bottom you’re a coward†, says Lovborg to Hedda concerning her inability to carry out the threat and shoot him down, and Hedda replies: â€Å"An awful coward† (2. 219. 26-27). In this relation, Hedda fails to adopt â€Å"masculine† way of behavior, and thus loses resemblance to the absolutely â€Å"masculine† pistols, that are alien to all emotions. She completely depends on the public opinion, and the driving motif for her actions – or inactions – is a dread â€Å"of a scandal† (2. 219. 25). Because of this â€Å"dread†, she could not follow Lovberg whom she apparently loved, neither could she shoot him down. Because of this â€Å"dread†, she finally shoots herself. Thea, who does not have any â€Å"masculinity† at all and is absolutely â€Å"feminine†, has much more of courage: she leaves her family and follows Lovberg despite the blame. In the pursuit of her goals, Hedda prefers to act indirectly resorting to intrigues rather than acting and speaking openly, and this is again mostly characteristic of women’s way of achieving their goals and hardly has something in common with â€Å"masculinity†. When Thea comes to her with the news about Lovborg, Hedda carefully finds out all truth about him and Thea (1. 186-190). In relations with Lovborg, she guides his behavior by exercising purely woman’s power over him. First she makes him go to Brack’s party saying that Brack thought that Lovborg simply dared not go with them (2. 23. 1-3), then she orders him to kill himself and do it â€Å"beautifully† (3. 246. 16). Thus, Hedda does not do anything by herself, she prefers someone else to do the dirty work. This is not the â€Å"masculine† way. Thus, having rejected â€Å"feminine† values and chosen to be more â€Å"masculine† then the men themselves, Hedda fails to adopt a truly â€Å"masculine† way of life. She plays both with pistols and with men and masculinity rather than becomes â€Å"masculine† herself. She tells to her husband that she needs pistols â€Å"to pass the time with† (1. 197. 2), and later shoots in the air for amusement despite the danger to hit Judge Brack (2. 199. 13). With the same easiness, she plays with the men in her life. She marries a man whom she does not love but can control; she flirts with Brack without any intention to commit adultery; she orders Lovborg to drink or not to drink according to the changes in her mood. This breaks her connection with pistols as symbols of masculinity and makes it superficial and artificial. The pistols belong to her but they do not serve her. They begin to serve the men, and finall y betray her. Thus, Hedda is defeated by masculinity, and her devotion to â€Å"masculine† values does not help her; it rather makes the tragedy inevitable. Pistols as symbols of masculinity and men as the embodiments of masculinity spin out of her control. First, Lovborg does not play the role she prepared for him and does not â€Å"do it beautifully† – he is found shot in the bowels (4. 259). Then, the pistols do not play the role their mistress prepared for them – they do not serve to kill Lovborg and, instead, serve to bring the danger of a scandal to Hedda. The pistols now serve Judge Brack, in fact. He recognized the pistol found in Lovborg’s breast-pocket as Hedda’s and uses it to blackmail Hedda (4. 261. 19-28). Masculine values also do no good to Hedda. Being a daughter of a military, she inherited the idea of honor, and when the honor is lost, she chooses the last resort – a suicide. This was a commonly recognized measure to restore the honor in military circles. Hedda shoots herself in the temple (4. 264). Thus, pistols kill her both literary and figuratively. They become the psychological cause of her downfall and death, because they are the blackmail leverage in Brack’s hands. Hedda’s last talk with Brack is focused on pistols alone: she tries to find out how much Brack have understood about her role in Lovborg’s death, and reveals that he knows enough to make her life unbearable and provoke a scandal that she is so afraid of (4. 262). Thus, the pistols threaten her now. They also become the direct cause of her death as being used for suicide. Therefore, the pistols have the double symbolical meaning: they symbolize both Hedda’s masculinity and Hedda’s downfall. In fact, this is Hedda’s masculinity that kills her. She rejects the values of an ordinary woman, but the circumstances do not allow her to practice masculinity and go unpunished. The world does not admit a woman with man’s ambitions. In addition, this woman is still a woman – she didn’t become a true man spiritually, and she ceased to be a true woman having rejected the â€Å"feminine† values. She plays with the pistols and with the men, and she is defeated by the pistols and the men. Masculinity does not allow any attempts from women’s side to conquer men’s world.

Nathaniel Hawthorne A Brief Biography - 1277 Words

On July 4, 1804, an author by the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne was born (Meltzer). As Hawthorne grew, he began to develop a view of himself as â€Å"the obscurest man in American letters.† Through the use of popular themes such as isolation, guilt, and earthly imperfection, Hawthorne was able to involve much of his life and ancestral past in his work to answer his own political and religious wonders (â€Å"Nathaniel†). Hawthorne successfully â€Å"confronts reality rather than evading it† in many of his stories (Clendenning). Due to yellow fever, Hawthorne’s father passed away at an early age. Because of this incident, his mother went into a deep depression and rarely showed Hawthorne the love and affection a young boy hungers for, thus affecting†¦show more content†¦Again, Hawthorne was seen using his ancestral past as an influence for his writings. Religiously, Hawthorne suffered. The reader obviously noticed this in â€Å"The Ministerâ⠂¬â„¢s Black Veil.† Hawthorne wrote, â€Å"As he prayed, the veil lay heavily† (Arvin 12). This quote showed the reader that a weight needed to be lifted off Hawthorne’s shoulders. Hawthorne wrote about his struggles with his faith by using the tone word â€Å"heavily† to show that Hawthorne may have felt like his prayers were pointless because he was so low in his Puritan faith. The summary of â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil† made it obvious that the minister had a secret. The minister could possibly represent Hawthorne himself. Hawthorne wrote, â€Å"The subject had reference to secret sin and those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them† (Arvin 13). Heading back towards the theme of guilt and isolation, Hawthorne was possibly hiding something while isolated in his writing room. Hawthorne may have felt guil ty for whatever it was he was hiding because he knows â€Å"the Omniscient† still knows what he had done no matter how hard he tried to hide it. Religion is not the only area Hawthorne suffered in. There was much anxiety in his marriage. Because Hawthorne enjoyed writing about his life, this anxiety was visible in â€Å"Rappaccini’sShow MoreRelatedA Brief Biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne856 Words   |  3 PagesNathaniel Hawthorne once said, â€Å"I do not want to be a doctor and live by men’s diseases, nor minister to live by their sins, nor a lawyer and live by men’s quarrels. So, I don’t see that there is anything left for me but to be an author† (Nathaniel). This statement describes Hawthorne’s personality and life in a way that no other quote could. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an Anti-Transcendentalist writer meaning that he had a negative view of all humans. The Anti-Transcendentalist movement was a pessimisticRead More Hawthorn es Young Goodman Brown – Poverty in the Tale and in the Life of the Author1565 Words   |  7 Pagesof the Author  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚   Henry Seidel Canby in â€Å"A Skeptic Incompatible with His Time and His Past† mentions of Hawthorne that â€Å"human failures and their causes were more interesting to him than prophecies of success, one might truly say than success itself. †¦He was not, I think, really interested in escape, except in moods of financial discouragement. . . . (57). Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† embodies traits of the modest lifestyle which the author had to subject himself to becauseRead More Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown – Poverty in the Tale and Author’s Life1650 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Twice-Told Tales: A Blend of Stories† makes reference to the widely-known poverty of the aspiring writer,Nathaniel Hawthorne: â€Å"True enough, Hawthorne planned more than once to write groups of tales and sketches somehow linked into a whole; but he could not get a publisher for them. When he did get a publisher in 1837, it had to b e through the help of the hack-editor, Samuel Goodrich. . . .† (107) Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† includes traits of the modest lifestyle which the author was forcedRead More Poverty Within and Without Young Goodman Brown1420 Words   |  6 Pagessimplicity within the Nathaniel Hawthorne short story, â€Å"Young Goodman Brown,† might be an expression or reflection of the utter poverty within the life of Hawthorne? It is the purpose of this essay to clarify this issue.    Hawthorne’s impoverishment probably begain with the untimely death of his father, and continuedfor most of his llife. Gloria C. Erlich in â€Å"The Divided Artist and His Uncles† states that â€Å"Robert Manning made the esential decisions in the lives of the Hawthorne children and isRead MoreNathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown1063 Words   |  5 PagesIt seems necessary to write down some lines about the author. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. Because of the involvement of his ancestor in the Salem witch trials , Nathaniel later added a w to make his name Hawthorne in order to hide this relation. He entered Bowdoin College in 1821, and graduated in 1825. Hawthorne published his first work, Fanshawe, in 1828. He published several short stories after that which he collected in 1837 as Twice-Told Tales. His masterpieceRead More The Theme in The Minister’s Black Veil Essay2601 Words   |  11 Pagesinterplay between the guilt of the individual, Reverend Mr. Hooper, and society’s guilt, underlies all of   Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil† from beginning to end. In fact, the parson’s final words emphasize this fact: â€Å"I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!    But is guilt the main theme? Clarice Swisher in â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne: a Biography† states: †When Hawthorne called his stories ‘romances,’ he meant that they belong within the romantic movement that . . . Read More Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown – A Psychological Short Story2837 Words   |  12 Pagesâ€Å"Young Goodman Brown† – a Psychological Story      Ã‚  Ã‚   Let us discuss the psychological aspect of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing as evidenced in his tale â€Å"Young Goodman Brown.†    Peter Conn in â€Å"Finding a Voice in an New Nation† explains Hawthorne’s mix of psychology and theology. His chosen terrain lay between the realms of theology and psychology, and allegory provided the means of his explorations. . . . Concerned with individuals as specimens or types, he endowed his characters withRead More The Minister’s Black Veil– External, Internal Conflict Essay2734 Words   |  11 Pages      Ã‚   Based on the evaluations of literary critics, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil,† contains both an external and an internal conflict, about equally treated in the tale. It is the intent of this essay to explore both types of conflict as presented in the story.    R. W. B. Lewis in â€Å"The Return into Rime: Hawthorne† implies internal and external conflict in his statement: â€Å"Finally, it was Hawthorne who saw in American experience the re-creation of the storyRead More Stylistic Features in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay3839 Words   |  16 Pageslack of consistence between the scorn that our younger critics shower upon Hawthorne’s moral creations and their respect for his style. They admit a dignity in the expression that they will not allow to the thing expressed† (62). The style found in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† has not only a â€Å"dignity in the expression† as stated above, but also many other interesting aspects, discussed in the following essay.    Canby continues:    Hawthorne’style has a mellow beauty; itRead More The Minister’s Black Veil - Characterization Essay2609 Words   |  11 Pagesâ€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil† - Characterization  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   This essay will demonstrate the types of characters present in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil,† whether static or dynamic, whether flat or round, and whether portrayed through showing or telling.    R. W. B. Lewis in â€Å"The Return into Rime: Hawthorne† states: â€Å"†¦ there is always more to the world in which Hawthorne’s characters move than any one of them can see at a glance† (77). This is especially true with