The Comparison of the Position of Women in Girl, by Jamaica Kincaid, and The Werewolf, by Angela Carter Essay Example For Students

The Comparison of the Position of Women in Girl, by Jamaica Kincaid, and The Werewolf, by Angela Carter Essay Both Girl, by Jamaica Kincaid, and The Werewolf, by Angela Carter are the stories concerning about women position; therefore, in this essay, I am going to illustrate the position of women in these two stories according to two points of view: the individual point of view and the social point of view to work out the point that although there are some differences between the position of women in these two stories, but the similarity outweigh the differences, they are the lowest ones in the society. Firstly, if standing on the point of view of the young girls in the stories, which is the individual view, we can see the girl in Werewolf has a stronger position comparing with the position of the girl in Girl. To illustrate this point, my first reason is that what they need to face is totally different, the girl in Girl has a traditional woman-liked position; she needs to learn washing clothes, cooking, sewing, ironing, housekeeping, and also behaving like a lady. What her mother tells her to do prepares her to be a perfect, sweet and traditional woman and wife. In the story, her mother says dont squat down to play marblesyou are not a boy (523) and on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming (523), which attribute to the traditional woman-liked position of the girl in Girl. On the other hand, what the girl in Werewolf needs to do is totally different from the girl in Girl. She needs to overcome many obstacles and risks. Firstly, she is required to accomplish the task of bringing cakes to her grandmother knowing that she herself may come to many dangers, such as the wolves, and then she is so unlucky to come across a wolf, which means she needs to f ight against it only counting on her fathers hunting knife, at last, a tragedy that her grandmother is actually the werewolf comes to her. Now, do you think the role she is playing is still a little girl under the circumstance that she has come over so many crises? She is acting like a hero, a man. The writer has given the girl in Werewolf a man-liked position, a position stronger than the position of the girl in Girl since what the girl in Werewolf needs to do is more risky and heavy. The second reason why the girl in Werewolf has a stronger position comparing with the position of the girl in Girl according to the individual point is that their characters and attitudes are totally different. In Girl, the girl has a character which totally suits the character of a traditional woman, soft, weak and obedient. As we can see in the story, the girl never says anything to respond to her mother during the so long instruction of how to be a traditional woman, except for one time that her mother tells her not to sing benna on Sundays or in Sunday school, her daughter eventually cant endure her accuse anymore; therefore, she says: I dont sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school.(523) Nevertheless, it was the only time the girl fights against her mother. She is so obedient that she continues to absorb everything her mother says without pointing out any question or opinion. At the end of the story, she responds to her mother again, the significance is that her r esponse is not an against one, but a response supporting her mother. Information Technology And Expansion Of The Europe EssayFurthermore, I have to mention something more about the consequence of the society forcing the women. In Girl, although the mother is keeping telling her daughter the instruction to suit in the society, she has also mentioned about how to bully men at the very end of the story: this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you;(523), which I consider she is telling her daughter how to protect herself in spite of her wish to make her daughter a follower to that society. In Werewolf, we can see the same situation the old woman is protecting herself. As she is in the lowest position in that society, she feels hungry and helpless. She needs to protect herself from being lonely and hungry. Because of this, she accepts herself to become a villain and to eat her granddaughter. To both of the women in these two stories, their behaviors are acceptable since its just a way to protect them while standing on their positions of being bullied. Nevertheless, in the social point of view, their actions are considered to be an aggressive one, which means they are fighting against the society, I have to admit that its true since their actions are not acceptable to the society; therefore, the society considers them the enemies as everyone thinks that the old woman in Werewolf is the evil in the society. Actually, the real evil is the society since what she does is what the society forces her to do. The old woman in Werewolf is very poor since she is not the winner at the end and it shows how powerful the society is. It controls everything, no matter what you do, you cant be the winner and this causes the very low and obedient position of women in the society. To conclude my second point of view, I think both the positions of women in these two stories are very low and unnoticed. I have to emphasis that in Werewolf, the significance focuses on the old women while in Girl, the significance focuses on all the women. Furthermore, we can know more in these two stories, which is that their positions are like a circle, never stop, from one generation to another one. To conclude all of my points, although there are some differences between the positions the young girls in these two story, I think the difference is the way the author of Girl wants to make her story unconventional, although the girl in Girl has a heroic image in the society where woman is unnoticed, it doesnt mean that the girl wants to fight against the society, it is just a unique characteristic in Girl. Therefore, I dont consider we can see the real position of woman in Girl by the position of the young girl, which means that the individual point of view is a way to show the individual positions in these stories. My idea is that I think the social point of view is more important than the individual point, which means that the similarity outweighs the difference. The position of women in these stories is very low and unnoticed.