Gender as a Theme in American Literature

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Gender as a theme in American Literature: Issues and Implications

Introduction         

For many years, human societies have usually assigned different roles, codes of behavior and morality, and even different thoughts or feelings to women and men. I doing this, people use biological distinctions of gender, between feminine and masculine, to construct and enforce the social distinction of gender. Gender roles have been seen to affect access to many factors of individuals. Such factors which include experience, education, financial support and time, have their influence on the manner in which women and men could participate in literature as writers, critics, readers and arguably even as characters. This essay analyzes the issues as well as implications of gender as is seen in American literature. It shows how the theme of gender is addressed in American literature. There are three texts that will be analyzed namely: ‘Woman Hollering Creek’ by Sandra Cisneros, ‘Maggie: A Girl of the Streets’ by Stephen Crane and ‘The Crucible’ by Arthur Miller.

The role of women in the American society has changed drastically since the formation of colonies. On the frontier, women were expected to take care of their families and homes as well as work in the fields. During times of harvests, most women worked alongside their husbands in the fields. They did this and still maintained their roles as house-makers and mothers doing their conventional jobs such as cooking, sewing and cleaning (Nylund 57). The present gender roles were enforced by capitalism with women’s place becoming their homes, while men became the bread-winners of their families. There are external factors such as loss of husbands, family ties, sexism, racism and assumed notions of feminism that have always affected the lives of women.

There are many texts that tell stories of what women deal with in their lives. Stephen Crane in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets is one such literature piece. He gives a story of a young girl by the name Maggie Johnson who lived in New York in the late nineteenth century. Maggie encounters violence both on the streets and in her home. She is physically abused by her bother Jimmy and her mother. After being rejected by Pete, she tries to reach out to her family but also ends up being rejected (Nylund 60). Another story that shows the suffering that women endure is ‘Woman Hollering Creek’ by Sandra Cisneros. Cleofiles moves from her home in Mexico to Texas in search of a better life. She marries Juan and is hopeful of a great love. Her new life in the United States is supposed to bring her out of the poverty she had experienced in Mexico and give her quality life. However, her dreams do not come true as she is subjected to a miserable and torturous life at the hands of her husband (Katherine 4).

Another aspect about gender is in American literature is the depiction of men as cruel and mean people. Most cases where men are seen as cruel usually results in domestic violence for the women involved. The position of men is designated as biological species which is a feature that defines further privileges that they are accorded. Men have status that gives them the position of masters or lords. Women on the other hand are perceived as mothers, properties, servants and wives. They are usually submissive which contributes to their being mistreated by men. The dialogue between Pete and Jimmy also reveals men to be mean people (Nylund 59). These two guys take great pride in telling stories of bar brawls and street fights. The same is the case that is seen in Cisneros ‘Woman Hollering Creek’. After getting married to a husband in Texas, the woman lives a horrible life of being tortured by her husband. The man is seen to be cruel and inhuman from the misery that he piles upon his wife. Juan is confident of his powerful position and is aware of the fact that Cleofiles was submissive. He uses this to his selfish advantage by mistreating her. In this case, women are portrayed as victims of abuse at the hands of men.

Some texts are centered on attempts to deconstruct gender identities. There are a lot of gender biases that exist in many societies. Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’ is a good example of a literature that shows gender inequality. In this story, Abigail is the evil child that is responsible for the hanging of several people. Female sexuality was a major theme throughout the witch trials in the story (Sarmiento 2). Here, female sexuality is depicted as the only driving force behind the tragedy that transpired in Salem (Sarmiento 3). The behavior of Abigail is determined by the actions of John. She had lust on john and was willing to do anything just to have him. This shows that women are capable of using their sexuality, or rather gender, to do evil and have things their way. Although John is seen as a man who cheated on his wife with a child, he is only a victim of Abigail’s malicious conspiracies. This is one aspect about gender that is not usually addressed in most literature. Most of them focus on depicting women as victims rather than offenders.  

Another crucial aspect concerning gender is about wedlock. Sandra Cisneros in ‘Woman Hollering Creek’ best presents a literature on this aspect. She tells a story of a girl who left her home in Mexico to Texas to get married and perhaps get a better life as well. The type of marriage that takes place in this situation is explained to be a patriarchal arrangement with her father, Don Serafin, giving her to Juan (Katherine 4). This type of marriage puts women in an unfavorable position (Shejbalova 30). It is seen that Cleofiles is economically dependent on her husband and is also unable to make social contacts which isolates her in her domestic sphere. Like most women in these cases, she loses touch with the outside world and her identity becomes limited to that of a wife. Cleofiles is submissive as per Chicano tradition which further contributes to her husband’s unfair treatment of her (Shejlabova 31).