High School for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering @ CCNY

Study of Gender Roles in Literature

John Woo
Ms. Walker
January 15, 2019
Still I Rise (1978)

By: Maya Angelou

Analysis

This poem was written by Maya Angelou, who worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

and Malcolm X as a civil rights activist. In 2010, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts by

then President Bill Clinton. Furthermore, in 2010, “she was awarded the Presidential Medal of

Freedom … by President Barack Obama” (Parker 1). She was able to achieve these

accomplishments despite the hardships that she went through as a black female that grew up in

the United States. Problems started as early as the age of 8, when at the age of eight, she was

sexually abused and raped by her mother’s boyfriend, named Freeman. Angelou did not allow

these setbacks to take away the gift of poetry and resilience that she had and wrote many

impactful pieces of literature.

In the poem ​Still I Rise ​by Maya Angelou, Angelou alludes to the time she was sexually

abused and looked down upon in life because she was a woman. Throughout the poem, she

shows strength, after sharing hardships, by using the words, “I’ll rise.” This allows readers to

picture the narrator as someone that will not be knocked down no matter what happens to her.

Gender is specifically tackled when Angelou writes about her private parts. The narrator asks the

reader “Does it come as a surprise / That I dance like I’ve got diamonds / At the meeting of my

thighs?”(26-28). The reader is meant to be anyone that has abused a women and the narrator is to

be anyone that has been a victim of abuse. Relating her private parts to diamonds shows that she

knows that they are precious and to be treated with care. Asking if it a surprise implies that they

did not know of this fact and they are being educated and corrected by the narrator of this poem.
This is not specific to a personal experience of Angelou in particular, rather of all women that are

sexual abuse victims. Many men seem to not be aware of the value of the woman and abuse them

wrongfully.

Gender in ​The Scarlet Letter

In ​The Scarlet Letter ​gender is constructed with a strong barrier separating two genders,

male and female. Throughout the text, Hester portray traits of herself that are seen as

“masculine” to Puritan Society and steers away from many “feminine” traits that she has. From

the beginning, she is able to show fierceness and power. Men are seen to have a lot of power

over women throughout the novel. There are times when women (Hester) are manipulated for the

personal gain of men. For example, Dimmesdale’s secret of having a baby with Hester was to be

kept so that he keeps his noble class, while Hester suffers from agonizing pain raising a child

with no father. All of the people that have power and say in the way the society runs are all men

and get to enforce rules and punishments. This makes women in the text be seen as powerless

and weak. The reason for Hester in the novel is to present the readers with a contradiction of

many of the views that are common in Puritan Society.

Quote Analysis

“‘Speak, woman!’ said another voice, coldly
and sternly, proceeding from the crowd about
the scaffold, ‘Speak; and give your child a
father!’
‘I will not speak!’ answered Hester…”(45).
In this quote, there are men that are clearly
attempting to pressure Hester into spilling a
secret that she wants to keep. These upper
class men think that yelling at her will get
them an easy answer out of her and
overpower her. However, they are met with
Hester Prynne, who denies them their false
power they have over women and says no.
Being fierce and assertive portrays
“masculine traits” onto the readers of this
novel.
“Women derive a pleasure, incomprehensible
to the other sex, from the delicate toil of the
needle” (55).
“Such helpfulness was found in her, —so
much power to do, and power to sympathize,
—that many people refused to interpret the
scarlet A by its original signification. They
said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester
Prynne, with a woman's strength” (107).
“Much of the marble coldness of Hester’s
impression was to be attributed to the
circumstance that her life had turned, in a
great measure, from passion and feeling to
thought” (109).
In this quote, Hawthorne writes about the
love women have for pulling a needle and
thread and finding so much joy out of it. This
is a traditional house-caring job that is being
portrayed and Hawthorne attaches it to
women and their love for it. Modern day
readers deny that women actually love to just
sit around and thread. Rather, it was a job
given to women by men because they were
thought to not be able to do jobs outside of
home that require intelligence and strength.
In this quote, Hawthorne nearly
acknowledges the strength and power capable
of women then draws back. She is said to
have so much power to do but that “to do”
was to sympathize, instead of to hold
intellectual thought. The quote ends with the
words, “... so strong was Hester Prynne …”
and readers are to believe that Hester Prynne
is finally being acknowledged for the strength
and passion she has shown throughout the
story. However, a woman’s strength in the
eyes of Puritan Society is nothing compared
to the strengths of a man. Strengths of woman
consist of taking care of kids and working at
home, which, by modern society, is
considered a job that both parents are
responsible for.
In this quote, Hawthorne shows a trait that is
considered “masculine” to Puritan Society.
They believed that men were the intellectuals
and the ones that held the idea of thought.
Hester transforming into a person of thought
can be perceived ultimately as Hester
becoming further alienated from society
because she will not receive acceptance from
either women or men. However, modern
society, does not believe that she is exhibiting
“masculine” traits, rather just acquiring
stronger traits as a human.
Gender in ​Tess of the D’Urbervilles

In ​Tess of the D’Urbervilles a​ difference between men and women are portrayed,

however it does not directly favor one gender over another. There are many times where the

beauty of Tess is emphasized internally and externally. Readers of Hardy’s time may not

recognize any of Hester’s internal beauties, however modern readers are able to identify and

cherish the way Tess for example, is able to love someone. Along with the importance of beauty

of women, the idea of the man being the “head of a family” and taking action during difficult

times is an underlying idea that is spread throughout the novel. This is evident with Angel from

when he enters the novel, all the way to the very end. However, this also supports a partial

imbalance between the two genders in that men are the ones that are thinkers and are strong and

women are not to be intellectual. This is an often trend throughout the novel, where the man

doing something “masculine” leads to an imbalance in the two genders.

Quote Analysis

“...looking at Tess as she sat there, with ehr
flower-like mouth and large tender eyes,
neither black nor blue nor gray nor violet;
rather all those shades together, and a hundred
others, which could be seen if one looked into
their irises…” (90).
In this quote, the beauty of Tess is strongly
emphasized and valued. It is said that no man
could think that Tess is unattractive and that
portrays her as an angel, or a goddess. Her
eyes are not dismissed as “sexy”, rather
described using multiple lines of text. By
doing this, Hardy is implying that there is
more to Tess than just her beauty and more to
women as a whole.
“‘It is the only way for you to get past. Stand
still. Nonsense -- you are not too heavy! I’d
carry you all four together. Now, Marian,
attend,’ …” (143).
“...and he took advantage of the fog to emerge
from the mansion and fetch tea, bread, and
butter from a shop in a little place two miles
beyond, as also a small tin kettle and
spirit-lamp, that they might get fire without
smoke” (397).
“It was then, as has been said, that she
impressed him most deeply. She was no
longer the milkmaid, but a visionary essence
of a woman -- a whole sex condensed into one
typical form” (131).
In this quote, the action of Angel was
being a courtesy to Tess and the milkmaids
when they are dressed nice and trying to get
to church. He did not have to carry them
across the puddle, but he wanted to be of
service and was not trying to get any personal
gain from this. Readers know this because he
was in a position to almost kiss Tess, but
respected that Tess might be uncomfortable
and did not kiss her. This further depicts the
“masculine” traits of men through literature.
In this quote, Tess and Angel are taking
shelter in an abandoned mansion and Tess is
getting rest. Angel takes initiative and goes
out and gets food and beverages for them so
that they can keep moving when Tess wakes
up. He is pictured as the “head of the family,”
and this promotes Angel’s “masculine” traits
once again. This is once again emulated when
the cops are surrounding Angel and Tess
while Tess is sleeping and Angel asks them if
she can just get her rest before they take her
away. It is clearly evident that Hardy puts in
masculine promoting events throughout his
novel.
In this quote, Tess’ beauty is recognized
by Angel and their love story begins. The
beauty of Tess is so amazing to Angel that he
dreamed that all of his thoughts of women
were put into one woman and that woman was
Tess. This however is followed by Angel
calling Tess “Artemis, Demeter, and other
fanciful names half teasingly…”(131),
however Tess did not like this because she
was not as educated as Angel was and did not
know what those names were.
Title: ​Hester’s Prisons : Sex, Intellect, and Gender in ​The Scarlet Letter
Author(s):​ Nina Tassi
Source: ​CEA Critic, Vol. 60, No. 3 (SPRING/SUMMER 1998), pp. 23-36
Published by:​ The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL​: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44377290
Accessed: ​15-01-2019 10:52 UTC
Tassi, Nina. “Hester's Prisons: Sex, Intellect, and Gender in ‘The Scarlet Letter.’” ​CEA Critic,​ vol. 60,
no. 3, 1998, pp. 23–36. ​JSTOR,​ JSTOR, ​www.jstor.org/stable/44377290​.
Summary
- This article begins by analyzing the works Hawthorne has done before and directly
connects it with ​The Scarlet Letter.​
- Characters from the two works are similar and share many of the same characteristics and
values.
- The main thesis of this article is to portray the “vortex” that Hester is in where various
aspects of her mind and body lead to a series of prisons where the narrator struggles to
free Hester and perhaps the narrator/author also struggling.
Analysis
Nina Tassi’s thesis that Tess and perhaps the author and Hester are both stuck in a twister
between different aspects of the mind and body which lead to states of confinement. This is
evident in the way Hawthorne begins an idea in his writing, then ends up portraying something
else to the readers. For example, according to Tassi, “Even as he clings to his belief in the
“natural” differences between the sexes and to the corollary that civil order depends on keeping
these divisions firm, he upsets the balance himself” (27). This ambiguity in his writing evidently
describes the confinement he’s in with a battle between two gender roles. This imprisonment is
also shown through Hester in that Hester continues to inherit “manly” traits throughout ​The
Scarlet Letter a​ nd becomes more masculine as Dimmesdale becomes more “feminine”.
Hawthorne then writes of “an ideal male-female relationship that could come to fruition only if
the sexes were equal” (28). He is referring to the relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale
that had potential, but was brought down due to the fact that Hester was trapped between
genders.
Conclusion
Through this research of gender roles in literature, many conclusions can be made about
the 4 texts in which was analyzed. However, what stands out the most is how without even
knowing, women are represented unfairly in literature. Due to the way society has formed,
writers constantly degrade women by way of a stronger, more dominant male. Maya Angelou is
able to maintain confidence in regards to her race and gender through all of the hardships in her
life. In contrast, characters like Tess deteriorate throughout the novel and at the end seem
lifeless. Although, her beauty is glorified, dominant male figures prevent her from striving and
she dies without caring about much anymore. It needs to be known that females having
“masculine” traits are not them turning “masculine”, and expand the limits to what a female is
and what male is, as we are all equal. Modern literature and media has brought a light to this
problem and we see many books on women empowerment and even movies with
female-dominant roles like Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot).

About the Author

John Woo is a 16 year old New York Times Bestselling author. He wanted
to start writing when he was 15 years old and found the talent that he always
wished to discover. He writes for 15 hours every day but does not publish 97% of
his finished pieces. The lucky 3% that do leave his office are always bestsellers
and receive multiple awards. He has analyzed ​The Scarlet Letter, Tess of the
D’Urbervilles, Still I Rise, a​ nd ​Hester’s Prisons: Sex, Intellect, and Gender in the
Scarlet Letter​ very closely and will write a book about the four texts soon. Stay
tuned.
 Work Cited
 

Hill, Luke. “In the Garden: How Tess of the d’Urbervilles Shows Gender Inequality.” BritLit,
Baylor.edu,blogs.baylor.edu/britlit/2018/11/13/in-the-garden-how-tess-of-the-durberville
s-shows-gender-inequality/.

Parker, Stephen. “Maya Angelou.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation,

www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/maya-angelou​.

“The Scarlet Letter.” Sex-Segregation in the Parade of Nations | Gender, Sexuality, and Women's
Studies, University of Pittsburgh, www.gsws.pitt.edu/blogs/cas157/scarlet-letter.

Tassi, Nina. “Hester's Prisons: Sex, Intellect, and Gender in ‘The Scarlet Letter.’” CEA Critic,
vol. 60, no. 3, 1998, pp. 23–36. JSTOR, JSTOR, ​www.jstor.org/stable/44377290​.