What Makes You Successful (Essay Sample)

Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Gender roles have been greatly explored in literature. Many works, including films and books, pose as feminist narratives. These books explore the position of women in society and how this affects their lives as well as society as a whole. Some of the texts we've covered in this course explore femininity through characters and through the plot. "White Rabbits," "Eraserhead,” and “Replacements” are great examples of feminist narrative since they portray violations of traditional gender roles. These texts explore women’s traditional gender roles, how they perceive these roles, and how they affect their lives. However, these texts differ in how they extend they violate these roles. "White Rabbits" violates virtually all of them, while "Eraserhead” and “Replacement” stick to mimetic orders. “White Rabbits” delivers a more meaningful message to the readers since it perfectly portrays feminism as the story violates all the mimetic orders.
"White Rabbits" is an effective feminist narrative as it portrays virtually all violations of realistic gender roles. In “White Rabbits,” femininity is portrayed differently from the way society defines it. Generally, from a typical feminine perspective and from the book's historical perspective, women are expected to be very much concerned about their bodies, including their beauty and hygiene. Besides, society expected women to be submissive, especially to males, including their husbands, fathers, uncles, and even brothers. Their domestic duties should also be limited to taking care of the children and meeting the husband's needs. However, these societal ideals are violated in "White Rabbits." In this story, women are less concerned about their bodies. They can do whatever they want with their body, including neglecting body hygiene and beauty. This shows feministic ideals; a woman’s body is her own property, and she is at liberty of doing whatever pleases her with it. The woman the narrator encounters use her long black hair to clean the dish she used to carry bones fed to ravens when the ravens are done feeding on them. The woman also carries around decomposing meat, which she feeds to her pets, the rabbits. The way the narrator reacts when to the woman when she asked rotten demonstrates that society does not expect a woman to mess around with such filth.
Besides, the story shows that a woman can make decisions without her husband's permission or other significant male figures. Traditionally, all decisions, including who lives with the family, would be a man's decision. However, in the story, the woman also disobeyed her husband by letting the narrator enter the house without the husband's permission. The women's husband, Lazarus, appears upset, but her wife defends the narrator and even suggests she should stay with them. She says to the narrator, "In seven years, your skin will be like stars, in seven years you will have the holy disease of the Bible, leprosy!” (Carrington 279). However, the narrator becomes terrified and runs away as to her this is one the least thing one can expect from women. This behavior and personal attributes show that the woman does not follow the rules of greater society but instead follows what she thinks is right for her. Additionally, the woman takes on duties that are not assigned to her. Taking care of domestic livestock is a duty that was reserved for men as it is one of the economic activities that help support the family. During the World War era, men were responsible for feeding and nursing cattle, goats, sheep, and rabbits and not women. However, this role is reserved for a woman in this story, and the man does some of the economic activities.
Besides “White Rabbit,” femininity is also explored in “Eraserhead.” Like “White Rabbit,” Lynch shows that both men and women play different roles as assigned to them by society, but they don’t stick to these roles. A woman can assume a man’s role and vice versa. However, unlike “White Rabbits,” there are still areas where men and women still stick to their society-assigned roles. For example, Mary X is demonstrating a typical role of a woman of her time. She is pressured by her mother to get married and have children. “You wouldn't mind marrying me, would you, Henry?” Mary believes that she needs to rely on his husband for social and economic support. She is also meek and fragile, with a plain dressing style. Mary takes care of her hair and has designed them into serpentine coils hanging all over her forehead. These traits make her an ideal candidate for a submissive wife, a trait that society expects from women. Mary also lacks a job that brings her any income, and that is why she is forced to marry Henry so that she could be able to raise the baby. All these qualities contrast those of the woman in “White Rabbits” and Jemmy in “Replacements.” Both women are bold and have jobs. One rears rabbits and the other works at a top position.
However, Mary X starts to violate these gender rules following the birth of her child. Contrary to what most women would do, Mary X is the least concerned parent regarding nursing their newborn. She becomes frustrated by her hideous spawn and starts to demonstrate cruelty, bitterness, and disrespect. She lacks empathy for her husband and leaves him alone with their child. In a patriarchal society, this decision would be considered abandonment and blatant disregard of wifely duties by a mother. Besides, Henry's failure to stop her wife from leaving and even his duty to look after the baby and do other domestic chores when his wife is available show his characteristic passivity. For example, Mary asks Henry to carve chicken with confidence, and Henry just accepts, happily and gladly. “Of course. I'd be happy to. So I just, uh... I just cut them up like regular chickens?" This phrase shows how Mary and Henry believe food preparation is not just for women but also for men. Mary X’s new traits contrast from Jenny’s roles. Even though she now has a job, Jenny does not ask her husband to help her complete household duties. Similarly, in “White Rabbits,