Abstract This paper examines a psychological condition known as Oppositional Defiance Disorder, which is a somewhat generalized collection of symptoms and behaviors in children and teens that result in hostility and negativity.
A look at the themes of nonconformity and defiance in Sophocles's ?Antigone,? Henrik Ibsen's ?A Doll's House's and Tennessee Williams's "The Glass Menagerie".
Abstract Questions of social conflict between the society and individual are discussed in the literary works of Sophocles, Henrik Ibsen, and Tennessee Williams. The paper shows how these renowned playwrights utilize the theme of defiance and the nonconformity of the protagonists in their plays with a twist: instead of putting the situation in its proper, "normal" order as what the society expects them to be, these playwrights opted to defy the norm of "normalcy" in their plays. Instead, Sophocles, Ibsen, and Williams ended their plays by justifying their protagonists's actions and resolutions at the end of the play. It explains how the main characters of the plays leave an indelible mark in the minds of the audience because of the radical means and ways that they chose to act in order to assert themselves and to not become, again, the victims that they were before. The following texts discuss the important points mentioned, using support material and passages from the texts of each author's plays.
From the Paper "More often, in the depiction of real life situations and events in literature, conflict happens in cases where the protagonist acts or behaves that defies the norms dictated and followed by the society. Non-conformity and defiance to social norms is a theme that has been discussed and analyzed in numerous works of literature. However, defiance and non-conformity in these cases result to resolutions that restore one again the status quo in the society. What if literary works uses this theme without returning things back to the proper order of things, or restoration of the society's norms and standards?"
Abstract This paper discusses Tom Robbins's article, "In Defiance of Gravity: Writing, Wisdom and the Fabulous Club Gemini," as it appeared in "Harper's Magazine". The paper examines how Robbins takes a serious look at the lack of playfulness and cosmic wisdom in Western literature. The paper explains that he uses his personal experience to emphasize how important this element is. Robbins's article is effective because he is taking a serious event in his life and using it as a teaching tool.
From the Paper "Robbins also calls this playfulness "crazy wisdom" (Robbins), which is "the opposite of conventional wisdom" (Robbins). While this mindset might be difficult and unpopular, it is something to which we should strive. This can be seen in Robbins own experience on the bridge. Something as simple as a cat's meow triggered something in his memory that caused him to think of this playful state of mind. It was not something that Robbins set out to do on the bridge but the moment changed his life and how he thinks about life and writing. It is interesting because if Robbins had not been on the bridge, he might not have had this revelation. Strangely, he had to be at one extreme point in his life to see another extreme aspect of living. Without the desperation that led him to the bridge, he might not have had the insight or courage to realize what he did."
Abstract This paper examines the character of Hester Prynne as a symbol of resistance to the ubiquitous Puritan oppression in early colonial America in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter".
From the Paper "Society hastens to oppose those who deviate from the norm, often condemning them as outcasts or pariahs. Such "outcasts" or "pariahs" are commonly ridiculed or ostracized for their differing beliefs and actions. A literary example of such an outcast is Hester Prynne, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Scorned and isolated by her Puritan community after they discover her act of adultery, they punish her with imprisonment. They also mandate that she wear, at all times, a scarlet letter ?A? on her chest, which is to serve as a constant reminder of the sin she has committed. Hester wears the scarlet letter on the outside, but inwardly defies and rebels against the strict Puritan regimen, thus becoming a symbol of resistance against Puritan oppression."
Abstract This paper analyzes the feelings and emotions of the townspeople in Shirley Jackson's tale of perverse ritual and strict conformity in "The Lottery". The author discusses the cruelty and blind obedience of certain characters, and the intense guilt and defiance felt by others in participating in the lottery.
From the Paper:
"In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery we see an exciting game of chance turn ugly, as the winner of this lottery is subsequently sentenced to death at the hands of the town people. The town runs amok with various rebellious, evil, and utterly insensitive people who lie in wait for their next annual victim. Playing the role of judges, juries, and executioners, many of Jackson's characters depict a strong underlying theme of the evil, prejudice, and rebellion that is so prevalent in our everyday lives. All the characters' roles, as well as their names, were precisely chosen in order to awaken our hearts and minds to the callousness and rebellion that lies at the heart of every man in the face of habitual conformity."
Tags: anne, hutchinson, tessie, dunbar, rock, warner, old, adams, summers
Abstract This paper focuses on the elements of rebellion and conformity that make frequent appearances in Charlotte Bronte's novel, "Jane Eyre". It looks at the many instances of rebellion and also the few occasions when the protagonist chooses to conform to societal and religious traditions. It shows how the book could be considered a healthy and balanced blend of defiance and peaceful surrender and explores the reasons for it being one of the best-known works of the Victorian era.
From the Paper "In Jane Eyre, we notice those first few sparks of rebellion, which later resulted in active feminist movement in England. While the novel itself is not free from Victorian strictures, there are certain moments when an independent rebellious voice surfaces and takes hold of the very proper and logical Jane Eyre. We need to understand that the novel itself is not about rebellion or conformity, as some novels of early 20th century, but it does contains thought-provoking instances which allows the readers to get a glimpse of a repressed feminist streak of the novelist. Even though it cannot be completely regarded as a feminist novel, it certainly can be termed as the first novel, which passively and rather subtly discarded the Victorian restrictions. But in Jane Eyre what really puzzles the readers is the quick and complete behavioral transformation of the protagonist when she enters into adulthood."
Abstract This paper discusses the movie "The Mission" and seeks to uncover the fratricide that Robert Deniro's character, Rodrigo, performs in the movie. By understanding Jeremy Irons' character, one can see how this relates to the absolution of the film with its plot. The writer demonstrates the response to this act of defiance in the priesthood, so that one may understand the complexities of the film's meaning.
Abstract The paper discusses how Rosa Parks, who held fast to her sense of dignity and worth as a person, risked imprisonment and physical assault, so that she could hold true to her convictions. The paper shows how Rosa Parks became one of the icons of the American Civil Rights Movement because she refused to relinquish her seat to a white man on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. The paper demonstrates how Parks' single act of quiet defiance more than fifty years ago helped touch off the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
From the Paper ""To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, -- that is genius," writes Ralph Waldo Emerson at the beginning of his essay "Self-Reliance." (Emerson, 1841) And, one might add, for all women too! In his famous essay, Emerson writes that genius, and true self-reliance and bravery comes from resisting accepted norms, and refusing to follow the crowd, and the mass, popular opinion. Such was the case with Rosa Parks, who held fast to her sense of dignity and worth as a person, risked imprisonment and physical assault, so that she might hold true to her convictions."
Abstract This essay examines the ideological roles of women in society. Clarissa Dalloway's unhappiness in marriage reflects defiance in the social ideal. Clarissa's marriage to Richard Dalloway is an action, which supposedly, should make her feel complete. Instead, marriage contributes to her sense of non-being. Clarissa's internal and external state of being is analysed in the first section of the essay. This section looks at Woolf's narrative technique. Woolf uses juxtaposition of male, female; internal, external thought to highlight Clarissa's inability to act upon desire. The second topic of analysis in the essay is Clarissa's loss of identity. Clarissa becomes "Mrs.Dalloway" and defines herself by her new title. She plays the role that is expected in her social group. Though she works hard to maintain the perfect image she is not truly happy with her life. The third part of the essay examines Clarissa's interest in alternative lifestyles as a result of her unhappiness. Clarissa dreams about achieving goals that are unheard of for women of the time. She thinks about alternative relationships with both men and women. Though to weak to act upon such thoughts, Clarissa expresses defiance through her desire. Clarissa's internal resistance is intimately connected to the ideology of her social system.
From the Paper "In Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf, the actions, thoughts and experiences of Clarissa Dalloway reflect the pressures on women to play ideological roles in society. Clarissa is an upper class mother, wife and hostess, whose thoughts and desires challenge her domestic role. She is not happy, yet she chooses to maintain the illusion of happiness in her life as a means of survival in a society that shuns independent women. Woolf's narrative serves to deconstruct the politics of gender and masculine privilege through Clarissa's internal discontent. Clarissa Dalloway is externally controlled by the dominant systems of belief in her high-class society. Clarissa's internal resistance to social order is apparent in her state of division, loss of identity, and interest in alternative lifestyles. Through the social interactions and thoughts of Clarissa Dalloway, the ideological and the internal are intimately connected."
Abstract This paper will investigate women as rebels against social standards and norms, and against the expectations and values of familial life as exemplified in ideals western, white patriarchal culture established. The thesis is simple and straightforward enough; namely, that defiance is not of a single character or type, but shares similar meaning in that gender equality is what is strived for. This striving occurs in the face of hostility, usually hostility deeply rooted in the culture in which the defiance take place.
Abstract This paper discusses the history, life and works of the poet Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. It discusses her defiance of Catholic Order and her learning, including her large library of books and musical and scientific instruments. The paper then discusses her expression of her feminism and her argument, in her best known work, that women need to be educated. The paper discusses the symbolism of some of her poetry.
Table of Contents:
Juana's Defiance of Catholic Order and Her Learning
Her Feminism
From the Paper "Much of Sor Juana Ines' poetry centers on the old chestnut of the Golden Age, which is the role of art in breaching the boundaries between illusion and reality and between dream and waking (Kantaris 1992). In her famous Poem 152, "Verde Embeleso de la Vida Humana," she describes life as a waking dream of twists and turns, and in Poem 102, "Decimas que Acompanaron un Retrato Enviado a Una Persona," she brings out the feelings of the "original" woman who sent her. In it, Sor Juana Ines questions the primary of the original over the copy, of reality over art, of the empty presence of the body over the entire world of art, imagination and the intellect. Her clever use of pronouns clouds the gender of the sender and of the recipient (Kantaris)."
Abstract This paper examines the role of women in Shakespeare's classic play; their reactions and coping abilities within the Elizabethan patriarchal society. Katharina is often looked upon as a threat to the system. She defies the expectations of society upon women and plays with masculine characteristics. In her defiance, she gains power. She discovers a power within her choices. To play along, or not to play along? Her realization of existing oppression is power in itself.
From the Paper "Elizabethans were attentive to the world's digression from the ideal order. Shakespearean comedy is farcical with a comic re evaluation of social norms. The ideal order consists of a hierarchical system in which everything and everyone has a fixed place. The family was to follow a corresponding order within the divine system. Tensions concerning Elizabethan faith in the order were heightened by the Puritan challenge to the established regime. The feisty and independent Katharina reflects the increasing threats to authority in society. Katharina inflates the attempt to re establish order within the familial system in Shakespeare?s, "The Taming of the Shrew". Katharina communicates the notion that freedom is not absolute as she plays with accepted social restraints."
Tags: constraints, elizabethan, oppression, patriarchy, women
Abstract This paper examines the novel from the perspective of what Shelley herself would have felt was the true level of horror in the book, which is the investigation of what it means to be human and the terrible things that we might each do ? and in turn have done to us ? if we were somehow to lose that quality of ourselves that sets us off from all other living creatures as uniquely human.
From the paper:
"While Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus is often considered to be a work of Gothic fiction, it is a much more finely and complexly crafted novel than are most examples of this genre ? so much more skillfully formed that in many way it transcends the genre entirely. While on one level the novel (published in 1818) is in fact a story about a prototypical "mad scientist" who creates a monster that eventually kills him, it is also a serious investigation into the nature of the human soul. "
This paper contrasts and compares the characters of Creon in the play, "Antigone" by Sophocles and Henry in Arthur Ramsdell Gurney's play, "Another Antigone."
Abstract The paper is a comparison of two plays, and two characters. The author discusses the characters, Creon in the play "Antigone" by Sophocles, and Henry in the play, "Another Antigone," by Arthur Ramsdell Gurney. These two characters are the protagonists in each of their respective plays. The paper examines how their actions affect the outcome of the plays and how their similar characteristics lead to similar outcomes in the stories being told.
From the Paper "In Gurney's Another Antigone, Judy Miller, becomes more of a villainous character, due to her self-absorption which eventually leads her to assume and accuse others of ethnic discrimination. When she learns of the power that students actually have - a power of which she was previously unaware - she then uses it against Harper in precisely the same manner that she imagines it might have been used against her. After realizing that the professors actually need the backing of the students they teach, Miller first agrees to help Harper by telling others about a course he is hoping to teach, but then, when Harper foolishly makes a statement that Miller perceives as anti-Semitic, her ever-present, ever-simmering anger erupts once again, and she abruptly changes her mind."
This paper discusses the portrayal of the atmosphere that characterized the era known as Prohibition in Ann Douglas's book, "Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920s."
Abstract This paper examines a passage in Ann Douglas's book, "Terrible Honesty," that deals with New Yorkers flaunting their defiance of Prohibition in the 1920s. The writer looks at the language of the passage itself and discusses the significance of the choice of words and phrases. The passage itself is reflective of New York during the period of Prohibition when there was excitement in just doing something illegal. Prohibition is a theme that comes up throughout the book and this particular passage on page 101, touches upon how life was changing during this period in history. According to the author, this passage serves as a bridge between the past and how the technological advances affected life as it had been known in the big city.
From the Paper "Prohibition figures so prominently in this book because it was an important and heated issue, but as we have seen, it was also related to politics, suffrage, religion, and many other highly emotional issues. It was not just about getting a drink on a Saturday night, it was about the right of women to vote, to worship where you choose, and make your own personal decisions. It was an issue of too many laws, and the government trying to tell people how to live their personal lives. Drinking may be addictive and dangerous, but people have the basic right to choose, and if they choose to smoke, or drink, or vote, or visit a specific church, they have the right, and they may also have to suffer the consequences."
