Contemporary World
Two texts were studied, one being "Crusoe's Daughter" a novel written by Jane Gardam set in the early 20th century, and the other "Top Girls" a play written by Caryl Churchill set in the early 1980's.The novel "Crusoe's Daughter" is about a young girl named Polly who is taken to live with her aunts at the age of six. This novel takes us through the journey of her life and, as it is set in a time period where very significant historical events and changes took place such as, World War I, the reader is also taken through history. Where as the play "Top Girls" is set after major changes had taken place in the pervious decade and it takes us through how the population is coping with these changes. This play concerns a woman, Marlene who has "made it to the top" in the work force and portrays the sacrifices that she had to make to get to her current position.Although very different in context, both of these texts contain similar themes and issues. Some of these issues and themes are the roles of women, religion, education discrimination, cultural difference, class, opportunity, gender, sexuality and changes in the society, the most significant ones being the role of women and changes in the society.
This shows how social attitudes towards females have changed significantly from the past. ' Change is still taking place in our modernized industries. Even though is play is written after 1970's where most acts in favour of women took place, for example in 1975 the Sex Discrimination act was placed which supports women in the workforce, Churchill outlines that there are still problems with sex discrimination. " Industrialization and urbanization are some of the other issues which are also present in this novel. Opportunities do not only concern gender but also class. This is an extremely significant emotional cost. She did not see the children as her own; she referred to one of them as "It was Walter's child to do what he liked with. Marlene not only abandons her daughter for her career she also abandons her femininity and picks up on male properties, such as becoming more competitive, aggressive, short-tempered and arrogant. With many men dieing or becoming physically unable to work, women were depended up on to take over the typical male roles at work and also at home. As a few of the guest were concerned with religion for example, one of the guests was a Pope (Joan), the other a Buddhist nun (Nijo), and another a clergyman's daughter (Isabella) the subject of religion was brought up but they tried to steer off of it as none of them had a common view on religion, Marlene says "I don't think religious beliefs are something we have in common.
Common topics in this essay:
Zeits Jew,
Marlene Marlene,
Crusoe's Daughter,
Pope Joan,
Top Girls,
Dull Gret's,
Daughter Polly,
Alice Gardam,
Rolls Royce,
Joan Buddhist,
crusoe's daughter,
pope joan,
top girls,
roles women,
aunt mary,
'working class',
crusoe's daughter polly,
changes society,
public schools,
attend school,
love husband,
brought readers' attention,
readers' attention polly,
sex discrimination act,
|
Acceptance Essays
