Women in Literature: Reading Through the Lens of Gender

Contents......Page 8
Foreword......Page 20
Preface......Page 24
Introduction......Page 32
Women's Roles and Influence in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn......Page 42
The War against the Feminine: Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front......Page 45
"Doctor She!" Helena and Sisterhood in William Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well......Page 49
Mother, Wife, Fallen Woman: Marital Choice in Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina......Page 53
"Young Lady" or "Slut": Identity and Voice in Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John......Page 56
Righteous Activist or Confrontational Madwoman: Sophocles' Antigone......Page 59
Female Resistance to Gender Conformity in Kate Chopin's The Awakening......Page 63
Mothers and Children in Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees......Page 67
William Faulkner's Male Myth: The Bear......Page 70
More Than Skin Deep: Robin McKinley's: Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast......Page 73
Sylvia Plath's: The Bell Jar: Trapped by the Feminine Mystique......Page 76
Toni Morrison's: Beloved: Maternal Possibilities, Sisterly Bonding......Page 79
Richard Wright's Black Boy and Black Women......Page 82
Culture, Tradition, Family: Gender Roles in Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima......Page 85
Girls into Women: Culture, Nature, and Self-Loathing in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye......Page 88
Founding Women's History: Christine de Pizan Writes The Book of the City of Ladies......Page 91
A Dystopic Vision of Gender in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World......Page 94
An Immigrant Girl's Quest for the American Dream in Anzia Yezierska's Bread Givers......Page 97
As My Mother's Daughter: Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat......Page 101
Non-conformists and Traditionalists: Buchi Emecheta's The Bride Price......Page 104
The Symbolic Annihilation of Women in Jack London's The Call of the Wild......Page 107
Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: Gender in the Middle Ages......Page 110
Sex, Violence, and Peter Pan: J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye......Page 113
Paths to Liberation in Alice Walker's The Color Purple......Page 116
The Women in Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment......Page 120
Witch-Hunting, Thwarted Desire, and Girl Power: Arthur Miller's The Crucible......Page 123
"A Nice Girl Ought to Know!" Henry James' Daisy Miller......Page 126
Redefining Female Absence in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman......Page 129
Black and White Womanhood in Sherley Anne Williams' Dessa Rose: Mammies, Ladies, Rebels......Page 132
Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl: Writing a Self—The Female Adolescent Voice......Page 136
The Slammed Door that Still Reverberates: Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House......Page 140
Frozen Lives: Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome......Page 143
Catherine Barkley: Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms......Page 146
The Invisible Black Female Artist in Alice Childress' Florence......Page 149
Daring Creation: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein......Page 153
Shattered Rainbows in Translucent Glass: Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie......Page 156
What It Means to Be a Lady: Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind......Page 159
Patriarchy and Property: Women in Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth......Page 162
No Expectations at All: Women in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations......Page 165
Beautiful Fools and Hulking Brutes: F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby......Page 168
Reading between the Lines: Connecting with Gertrude and Ophelia in William Shakespeare's Hamlet......Page 171
Freedom Reconsidered: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale......Page 175
When Women Shape the World: Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland......Page 178
Girls and Women in Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street......Page 182
Living in a Borderland: Cultural Expectations of Gender in Julia Alvarez' How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents......Page 185
A Song of Freedom: Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings......Page 188
Good Mother, Bad Mother in Joanne Greenberg's I Never Promised You a Rose Garden......Page 191
Bobbie Ann Mason's: In Country: A Girl's Quest for Her Father and Herself......Page 195
The Invisible Women in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man......Page 198
Be True to Yourself: Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre......Page 201
"Thinking Different" in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club......Page 204
Gender Bending: Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness......Page 207
What a Teacher Learns: Ernest J. Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying......Page 210
The Foreignness of Femininity in Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim......Page 213
Boys' Club—No Girls Allowed: Absence as Presence in William Golding's Lord of the Flies......Page 216
Unnatural: Women in William Shakespeare's Macbeth......Page 219
Emma Rouault Bovary: Gendered Reflections in Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert......Page 222
The Road to Nowhere: Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (A Story of New York)......Page 226
(Re)surfacing: Main Street by Sinclair Lewis......Page 229
Critiquing "the We of Me": Gender Roles in Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding......Page 232
Beauty and Gender in Alix Kates Shulman's Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen......Page 235
Where No Role Fits: Maggie's Predicament in George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss......Page 238
Herman Melville's: Moby-Dick: Epic Tale of Male Destruction......Page 242
Images of Possibility: Gender Identity in Willa Cather's My Àntonia......Page 246
The Good Woman: Kamala Markandaya's Nectar in a Sieve......Page 249
Boyhood Unraveled: Elie Wiesel's Night......Page 252
Sexuality as Rebellion in George Orwell's 1984......Page 256
Homer's: Odyssey: "The Iliad's Wife"......Page 259
Jocasta and Her Daughters: Women in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex......Page 262
Women Stripped of Humanity: John Steinbeck's: Of Mice and Men......Page 265
Role Traps in Ken Kesey's: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest......Page 268
Under the Burden of Yellow Peril: Race, Class, and Gender in Yoshiko Uchida's Picture Bride......Page 271
Woman and Art in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man......Page 275
Truths Universally Acknowledged: Stereotypes of Women in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice......Page 278
Undue Influence in Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie......Page 281
Exploring the Gender Puzzle of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion......Page 284
Seasoned with Quiet Strength: Black Womanhood in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun......Page 287
Heroism against the Odds: William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet......Page 291
Molly Bolts and Lifelines: Rita Mae Brown's Ruby fruit Jungle......Page 294
"A" as Hester's Autonomy in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter......Page 297
Female Freedom in Other Places and Inner Spaces: Suzanne Fisher Staples' Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind......Page 301
Gender in Silas Marner by George Eliot......Page 305
Empowerment through Writing in Mariama Bâ's So Long a Letter......Page 308
Wearing "Her Favour in the Battle": The "Go-between" in D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers......Page 312
Riding Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire......Page 315
Agent or Victim: Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles......Page 318
An African-American Woman's Journey of Self-Discovery in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God......Page 321
Fragmenting Culture, Fragmenting Lives: Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart......Page 324
"Just a Lady": Gender and Power in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird......Page 327
Women Righting Wrongs: Morality and Justice in Susan Glaspell's Trifles......Page 330
"For Such as We Are Made of, Such We Be": The Construction of Gender in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or What You Will......Page 334
The Power of Mothers in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin......Page 338
A Chinese-American Woman Warrior Comes of Age: Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts......Page 341
The Will to Survive in Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place......Page 344
Procrustean Bed: Gender Roles in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights......Page 347
Negotiating Tight Spaces: Women in Michael Dorris' A Yellow Raft in Blue Water......Page 350
Appendix: Thematic List of Books......Page 354
F......Page 360
S......Page 361
Y......Page 362
A......Page 364
B......Page 365
C......Page 366
D......Page 368
E......Page 369
F......Page 370
H......Page 372
I......Page 373
M......Page 374
O......Page 377
P......Page 378
R......Page 379
S......Page 381
V......Page 384
W......Page 385
Y......Page 386
About the Editors and Contributors......Page 388