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The Colour Purple

The Colour Purple by Alice Walker

  Alice Walker’s The Colour Purple was a literary work which took place in rural Georgia and was published in 1982. Alice is an American author who won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1983. This story is mainly about the life of an African-American women who went through lots of struggles due to the low position which was also the domain issues in American social culture during that time. The summary of this novel is about Celie, a fourteen years old girl living in the Southern United States experiences too much hardships due to the social class discrimination towards women at their time. She have faith and believe in God who she herself cannot even imagine how is God looks like but she uses to write letters to the God that she thinks that everythings will be fine with the presence of God. Celie uses to be rape by her father, Alphonso and gave birth for twice but both the babies have been brought by her father. She has a sister, Nettie who is also being rape when she is being arranged to be with the mister and being sexually abuse. However, Alphonso is just a stepfather to both Celie and Nettie but not their real father. Celie is waiting for Nettie’s letter where she says that she will write to Celie everyday but the truth only shows when it comes to the end which shows that is Shug who manages to get one letter and saying that is Mr….. that hides all the letters which causes Celie assumes that Nettie is die. The story continues with the presence of two characters who believe are the two children that belongs to Celie, Samuel and Corrine. When Celie goes to Alphonso to ensure the truth from him about all the things happened and she starts to lose faith in God. Celie tends to love Shug which shows the homosexuality in this story. After 30 years of her life without Shug, Shug finally comes back and Nettie and Celie get to be gather again. 

  In my opinion, I think Celie is undergoing numerous issues which causes her to lose faith in God. This story is portraying the discrimination of women at that time where Celie was abused by her father and she has been asked to take care of her sister which her father asks to do so. Alphonso gets to rape Celie for several times and this conveys that Celie had to face these due to her low class position. She even has a great believe in God and tends to write letters to God. Since Celie was born, she did not even get any love from that man but there were only abuses. Celie undergoes two times of pregnancy but both her children had been taken by her stepfather. The discrimination really shows deeply to Celie. Once her father forced her to separate with her sister, Nettie, this can clearly shows her disgrace from the father. I say in this way because her father sends her to the mister instead of the sister. The women discrimination continues when she was asked to marry off to a person who she never knows. Celie thoughts that the man may love her and is different from her father. Furthermore, Celie was never get to have education just because of her father that does not love her at all. Problems never being solved and the man who had been married to abuse her too. Celie was asked by her husband to in charge of everythings and do whatever he asks for. She was mentally and physically abused. She stills hope that she can reunite with her sister. I sincerely feel sad when Celie who is only so young has to undergo so many hardships where she cannot even share her pains with anyone. I admire her because she has the spirit that she has to survive and live well even if she has been abused and treated badly by the society. 

  Last but not least, female during that time experienced all these gender discrimination but I think that this is still happening in the society now. I remember that I heard my friend told me about her cousin’s bad experiences since she was a female and was not educated so her family members treat her badly and did not even give her foods to eat. I always tell myself that I pray for the best for the gender issues in the world and hopefully the society can change one day.

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The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

   Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye published in 1970, and this was the first novel written by Morrison who is a African-American novelist. This novel insults about the racism towards people with dark skin and people who do not have good looking from their appearances escpecially female. Thus, Toni wrote this novel in order to express what had happened during the fall of 1941 when just after the Great Depression, in Lorain, Ohio. Pecola, the protagonist of the novel experienced what had happened due to her dark skin, black, and that is the reason why she hoped that she have blue eyes as people will prefer to love her instead of her dark skin and the appearance which cannot be accepted by the society. Toni wrote this novel where Pecola was staying together with Claudia and Frieda who are the siblings between each other. Pecola had been brought together to stay with them and also their parents, Mr. Henry. Cholly and Pauline are the parents of Pecola who always drunk and abuses each other and keep on fighting constantly. This causes Pecola to think that if she is pretty or if she has a fairer skin then her parents will tend to treat her well. However, Toni’s The Bluest Eye is portraying the discrimination towards women who tend to have darker outlook and being discriminated by the society or even their own family. Women had been treated badly as they do not have good looking which use to be fair and pretty. Everyone deserves a fair treat no matter what skin tone they have or any other elements which use to being discriminated.

   The main idea that I want to discuss is the discrimination towards skin tone among women. A person with fair or pretty outlook does not mean to be good in contrast a person with darker tone does not mean to be bad or weak. In my opinion, Pecola is really a pity girl who has to experience all those suffers. Pecola uses to be abuse by the parents when they are drunk. The consequences of the parents who keep on quarreling between each other will make a bad impress to the children and they do not deserve all these. Pecola starts to whether if she got a blue eye or slightly a nicer look then her parents will treat her well or even being good to each other. This shows that the relationship between parents will definitely affect the minds of their children. I really feel pity towards Pecola when I read through the novel. Her life is difficult and she keeps on asking herself whether if she is the one causing all these to be happened？

However, there are three prostitutes living in Pecola’s house who tend to use money from men and have sex with them and worst come to worst they even teach Pecola about sex and all those non-sense things. Women discrimination started when a person does not have a fair skin and good looking. Even until today, people still have the feeling of discrimination towards black people which I think is unfair to them because that is not what they want but is originally in that way. Pecola’s life is somehow too tough that she was been teased by boys and girls at the school which I also saw this happen in real life. Pecola just simply being discriminate since she has a dark skin tone. She had been accused as the one who kills the cat around the neighbourhood and in result that her mother yell at her and kick her out from the house. Based on my point of view, Pecola is the one who has to accept the discrimination in the society just because she is not good looking and has a different skin tone with the others. Therefore, this can clearly prove that women had been discriminated just because of the appearence instead of from the real personality. This should not be happen because as we know God create different races in this world and everyone has the right to get the same treat. Black women do not mean to be bad or other bad impression because they born to be in dark skin but not they choose to be have dark skin. 

  Last but not least, Toni’s The Bluest Eye also discussing about the issue where whiteness as the standard of beauty. Nowadays, I think there are still several countries having this issue where people who have white skin tend to get good treat from the society but the one with darker skin tend to be left aside. I strictly disagree with this because I also see that some of the people when they are sitting in the bus, they tend to stay away from the dark people when the person is sitting next to them. This sickness in the society has to be corrected. Thus, luckily my family does not tend to have this issues where treat people based on the appearance. Pecola deserves better life and this is also the reason why Toni wrote this novel because she herself is a dark skin tone women and this novel may related to her own experiences. 

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The Handmaid's Tale

Tha Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

   Based on Margaret’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”, feminism plays an ideal role which had been portrayed by the characters. The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel written about the role of female during that time and what they had experienced and being published in 1985. The novel mainly expresses the journey of the protagonist, Offred who is a handmaid through her whole way of life. Handmaids are use to be the one who has to forbid in order to use their birth names and follows with the name of their masters or who they serve. This story is portraying the coda of women during patriarchal society and they have be assumed as the sex partners for those higher position people. Thus, Margaret uses this story to tell about the gender discrimination during patriarchal period and how women had suffered from all these. In my opinion, I feel so sad and scary when I first read this novel because me as a female writer, I cannot imagine if I am the one who experience all these terrible hardships.

   This novel clearly shows the women’s facing gender discrimination where they use to be the political instruments through their bodies. Since Gilead was formed due to the decreasing of birthrates, so women had being aimed as the instrument to give birth through several different ways such as having sex with their commanders which can be seem from Offred. Women be the sexual instruments just for the birthrates that the country wishes to maintain the rate. They are treated as nothing more than a set of ovaries and a womb. This should not be happened as women are human as well and nobody deserves to live in this way. This is also the reason why I said I cannot imagine how terrible will the condition becomes if I am the one who involves in all these. However, female is being considered as nothing as the handmaid’s names say nothing about who they really are but their identity are just to be the Commander’s property. I understand these as gender discrimination because men are the one who use to enjoy and get their desires without thinking about others and women are suffering with all these situations which they cannot even get to refuse or they will be punished in cruel ways. Women also being discriminated through the forbidden of reading, working outside the home or even spending money. The minority are used to become baby-making machines which is too suffer for them. I still remember the worst scene in this story which Serene, the wife of the commander is staying beside her to hold Offred’s hand just for her to have sex her husband. Even through the imagination, I feel disgusting towards this action of them. Apart from all of this, Offred has to carry on doing all the works being instructed by the commander which I feel too bad to her as women are only seen as sexual instrument and what to do with all those works such as serving the commander and do whatever they ask to. I think this has overly exceed the pride of a woman. How terrible is a woman goes through when the wife of commander, Serena asks Offred to have sex with Nick and gives off the baby to them?

   Furthermore, gender discrimination also portrays through the way where the handmaid’s name, Offred is not being exposed or revealed which seems that women during that time were not given chances to be the writer or being one of the high class people. Luckily, this never happens around my childhood until now but I do believe that there are still some women suffer from all these. Hence, I think that women should stand up to voice out their rights. This is so scary and women are creation from God as well, but why have been treated differently from men? The society which makes these situations becoming worse, women tend to give birth but not as the sexual “toy” or instruments.

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Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is produced on 6 October 1847 potraying the ideas of female disrimination and how they have been treated in several cruel ways. Charlotte expresses that females have been treated badly through education, marriage and social class. Jane, the protagonist of the novel experiences different kinds of discrimination throughout her life. She is an orphaned girl who lives with her aunts but unfortunately Mrs.Reed does not treat her nicely and even allows her son to harrass Jane. However, Jane does not have much defences towards everythings happen to her and when she does, it results in her situation where she has been locked in “the red room” where her uncle died. They send Jane to the Lowood Institute when they find out that nobody can take care over her anymore. Jane knows Helen when she moves to Lowood and Helen had eventually influenced Jane in order to get good results. Helen dies due to an epidemic of typhus breaks out at the school. Jane’s luck continues to be bad when she meets with Mr.Rochester. They fall in love with each other and eventually got married. Mrs.Reed is falling sick and Jane forgives her from doing all those things to her. Bad thing will always come to Jane. On Jane and Rochester’s wedding day, Bertha comes and this is what happens when Jane only gets to know all about Rochester. Rochester claims that he has not getting marry yet and Jane leaves. However, the ending sounds nice too as Jane becomes a housekeeper and nurse for Mr.Rochester but she hopes that he could asks her to marry him. 

  In my opinion, I think Jane’s luck is really quite bad as she experiences a lot of struggles since young. However, Jane is very strong in order to face with all these issues. My concern is that female has not be treated well during old time. Jane had lost both her parents when she was young and she was staying with her aunt who treat her as nothing and even lets her son to do all bad things towards Jane. Jane is just a normal girl, she does not deserve to be treated like that. However, good things never happens to her as she is being locked once she starts to speak for her own and voice out what she thinks. I think instead of locking her in the room, children should be teach in other ways. On the other hand, Jane meets Helen in Lowood and I can feel how she enjoys that friendship which can finally gets her out from all those bad treatments. Unfortunately, her best friend died due to the sickness being spreaded throughout the school. Apart from all what Jane has experienced, I agree with the idea of sending to Lowood Institute because this will be better so that she can gets away from her bad aunt. Women are always being lied by men. This statement is very common in the society right now. I say so because of Mr.Rochester does not tell Jane that he was married as his wife went crazy, who named Bertha. Although Jane gets to stay near to Mr.Rochester who she likes but I still cannot agree with the idea where men lie to women.

  Last but not least, I personally feel pity towards Jane because she has to face with cruel aunt since young and when she finally gets her own friend, illness takes her friend away. She thinks to get her own relationship but on the wedding only she knows about the truth behind her fiance. Charlotte conveys the issues nowadays based on women where people with high social class have fully powered the society. However, women get into the issue of marriage where they do not get what is true through the appearances but they do not know the truth start from the very beginning. Women during that time also do not have the chance to get good eduation as women are being potrayed as housewife who can only do housechores at home. Female discrimination is still happening until today in several countries where female have been asked to stay at home instead of getting education like men. I strongly disagree this to happen because every genders deserve the same things. Luckily there are no more gender discrimination around me especially my family.I still get everythings from my parents as the same with my other siblings. Lastly, I strongly disagree when women are being treated badly just because they are female. Everyone in this world has the right to get what they have to get and what they deserve to be.

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The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

  Based on “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator is being described as she suffers from depression due to her give birth of children. John, who is her husband seems her illness as “hysteria”. Since the husband is a physician, so the narrator usually listening to his advice and follows everything that her husband says. However, the husband does not allows her to write and eventually stop her from writing. Unfortunately, this is her only talent, but her husband stops her from doing that. After her husband prohibits her from writing, she just spends her time sitting and looking at the yellow wallpaper in the room almost everyday. In the end, her condition becomes worst and she starts seeing someone from the wallpaper which she eventually thinks that there is a girl behind that who wishes to get freedom from there. She tends to tear down the wallpaper as to get herself a clear vision of the real background.

  “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is conveying about the subordination of women in marriage. In facts, women during old time were not given much attentions by the society. They only tend to be a person who have to take care of all housechores and the children instead of being given chances to go for a work. In this story, Gilman uses the idea of horror tale to portray women’s position during that time as they had been practiced by the high class people. John does not give priority to their kids but he insists of buying a house to his wife and let them stay together. He always go out and when he discovers that his wife gets the illness of depression, he stops her from writing which is her favourite work to do. I think this should not happen because her husband knows that the wife facing with the depression, and in the real society we know that the wife should be taken care and gets more attention from the family members. Since the husband has stopped her from writing, she gets to face the yellow wallpaper everyday in the room which is being asked by the husband. In my opinion, the husband does the wrong thing to the wife. Women have to be respect as well no matter they are normal person or facing with any illnesses. This sounds very pity because they do not expect that to happen to them. The condition of the narrator becomes worst when her obsession grows, the sub-pattern of the wallpaper becomes clearer. It begins to resemble a woman “stooping down and creeping” behind the main pattern, which looks like the bars of a cage. Whenever the narrator tries to discuss leaving the house, John makes light of her concerns, effectively silencing her. Each time he does so, her disgusted fascination with the paper grows. Thus, the wallpaper is actually occurs regarding to the narrator herself. As the husband is the physician, he should have give the best to his wife. Women are human also and everyone of them have to be treat well. Therefore, my idea is that women are not only be useful through sexual or cooking or even through the housechores, but they are also having the right to do everythings that they wish to.

However, this condition is actually happening around me too. I still remember that I have a cousin who has her grandfather who is sick living together with her. They tend to close him in the room. Old people has already facing with the illness but there is another pressure from the family that everyone does not tends to treat them well. The feeling is very bad and they did contributed for the house when they were young.  This is very cruel and the younger generation should not learn all these from the older generation. In conlusion, I review that women should not be look nothing even in a marriage because everyone has the right to live as the same as the others.

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Mala by K.S.Maniam

 Mala is a short stories written by K.S.Maniam and edited by Mohammad A Quayum in 1998. This short stories is mainly about a simple, ethnic Indian girl, named Mala from the word “Malas” in Malay but her name is actually called Malati. Mala get her name due to the busy body neighbourhood that assuming she is a lazy girl. Mala experiences everything either in her village or town. K.S.Maniam wrote this story in order to expres the social cultural representation of Indian society and the feminism issues. Mala who is hoping for freedom from the annoying hometown so that she can get away from the neighbourhood that causes her to be in bad condition. The story also encapsulates the suffering of Asian women who endured all hardships in the family. K.S.Maniam’s Mala recounts the life of a young Indian girl being abused by her parents and then she get herself a husband who does not treats her well. Mala married to Sanker so she can get the freedom that she always want to but her husband exploits her sexually to meet with the clients. 

 Based on Mala by K.S.Maniam, the gender identity had been portrayed by the protagonist in the story. This is because the author objectifying women through different ways. The domain of the ideas of this story is that it mostly portrays on negative approach towards girls and women. In my opinion, I felt so bad when I first read the story because women and girls are being described as bad images such as Mala, the protagonist has been used for her husband as an attraction to get more customers or clients. However, women are being treated badly as the society consists of the idea that women are only as an sexual object. Mala who born in the village had been called by the neighbourhoods with several bad names and they even laugh at her when she went to her friend’s house as they said that “O!O! The mangoes want to fall into some man’s hands!”. I cannot imagine if people talking me like this. This feeling is so terrible and unacceptable. Thus, Mala is trying to find her freedom in oder to get out from all these situations. 

 Furthermore, Mala is being portrayed as an Indian girl which brings out the social culture of Indian society. Since she was young, she lived in the small village with her family but unfortunately her family does not tend to treat her well as a daughter and sister. I personally think that Mala is really a strong girl because she managed to get through all these hardships by her own. As can see from the story, her family members do not want to talk to her and until the day she failed her exam, the parents start to abuse her. This is not the way of parents to educate their children. I cannot stand with this kind of situation if I am the one become Mala. How bad I felt when I read until the end of the story and get to know that Mala, who is trying to get freedom so she married to a guy but she ended up being sexually abuse by her husband. I disagree with all these negative behaviours of men. Therefore, the story is conveying the society of Indian where women are not the persons that can be treated well and they usually use to be somethings or someone in order to being entertained by the others. Well, this is not happening around me. I am grateful for being coming from a good religion family and all these behaviours are not be allowed.

 Lastly, we can clearly see that Mala is really pity in her whole life. She get through all the bad words from the society and thinking to have freedom but she does not get to imagine that when she gets to marry with a guy in town, the condition becoming worst. There are the first wife of her husband teaching her all the lessons and she does not even manage to have her own lifestyle as her husband asks her to meet with clients even with all those sexual harrassment. Mala just wants to be a normal lady with baby but her husband keeps on claiming that “When he got money…”. This can be proved from the statement “At night he persuaded her that she must learn to take care of herself when he was absent. He emphasized how important it was for her to be courteous to them” (page 81, paragraph 2, Line 1) . Oh dear! I hate guy doing all this thing. Therefore, K.S.Maniam’s work reveals the cruelness of Indian society and I think that this is not only happens to the Indian society but all people.  

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I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

I am Malala; The girl who stood up for Education and was shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai and co-written with Christina Lamb is published in 8 October 2013. The synopsis of this story is a girl who named Malala Yousafzai was born in 1997 in Pakistan. Malala grew up in and out around school as her father's wish is to found a school. She hopes to be able to go school with her friends. Thus, she stands up for girls rights in order to fight for the right to go to school. The first part of Malala's childhood is quite easy for her as her family had some money. Unfortunately, the school of her father was better off when the school began to do well. Pakistan began to change after 9/11 attacks happened. When Malala was ten years old, the violence of Taliban began and was led by a man named Fazlullah. There were so many restrictions at that time such as women should remain in purdah and girls are not allowed to have education. Malala was unable to accept the last rule as she was hoping for education. Therefore, her father and her started to voice out against Taliban. After few years of her family being stayed outside of Swat, they came back and realized that the Talibans had never left there. Malala's father was afraid of being targeted by them. When Malala was on her way back home from school, she was being shot. Half of her face was shot but luckily she got to survive and her family was moving to Birmingham,UK. They never went back to Pakistan and because of the shot, Malala used the voice to speak out on a larger stage for girl's education.

Based on I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and co-written by Christina Lamb, the message that we can found is the bravery of Malala who stands up for what she believes is right and fights for it for the others. However, girls as the minority of the gender had brought the issues where they were not allowed to have education likes other countries. This contributed to the gender and sexuality issues in Pakistan at that time. Malala who wished to go to school with her other friends tried to stand up and speaks out what she thought every girls should deserved. Although her thoughts had been rejected by the majority for several times, she still did not care much about them but she believed everything will going to be fine. In my opinion, I think that she was quite pity as her bravery resulted her being shot by the Talibans. Luckily, she managed to survive once and her life changed millions of people around the world.

The gender issues which I can found from this story is that women in Pakistan during that time were not given chances to have education. Malala's father whose dream to bring up a school but he also had to be aware when the Taliban reached Swat and had new rules towards them. Women at that time were being treated badly. When Malala went home from school one day, she had been asked for her name and got shot by Taliban. When I first read the story, it was so scary. I also watched the video of this story and it impressed me so much of scary and fearful scenes. I still remember that I was crying when the moment Malala got shot. It was so bad when you saw what a girl who spoke out for the whole genders but she is the only one who got hurt. From my point of views, Malala can be known as a girl who is living in third wave feminism as her father was living in the second wave of feminism. This can be proved as her father as the second wave who tried to stands up got women rights to be educated as he owns a school and had several teachers who are willing to teach the students. Both Malala and her father were standing up to speak out for women rights when Taliban set the rules against women rights.

Furthermore, the story of Malala recalled back my minds when my grandparents did told me that they did not have any chances to further their studies when they were young. During their time, women were asked to marry at an very young age and becomes a full time housewife at home instead of going to universities. Thus, I felt so grateful as I got the opportunities to study now. My grandparents always asked me to teach them some simple words and languages. Lastly, this was also what happened to Malala in Pakistan when she was at the age where every children deserved to be educated. My personal view is that her father made an ideal decision where he was the one started to own a school in order to provide the chances for the girls to go to school. Malala herself had a very strong dedications as she conveyed that girls must went to school and be educated likes others. Women should be treated as the same of other gender. Malala's bravery had successfully changed millions of people around the world and she also impacted me to study hard as there are still a lot of children who do not have the opportunity to go to school. I respect her because she never gave up of her dream and thoughts even after she had been shot by the Taliban but she still managed to stand on a larger stage to voice out her ideas and spoke for women rights.

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