SEXISM IN FLANNERY O'CONNOR'S “WISE BLOOD”

Hayder Gebreen, Mustafa Talib Jawad

Abstract


This research paper aims to explore the theme of sexism, particularly within Flannery O'Connor's novel “Wise Blood”. Historically, societies have upheld a patriarchal structure where men were considered the standard while women were viewed as exceptions. For instance, Aristotle famously asserted that women were inferior to men but superior to slaves, elevating men as the epitome of human perfection. Despite progress over time, deep-seated prejudices against women have persisted, manifesting in various forms such as sexual harassment and domestic violence. Consequently, sexism permeates multiple aspects of life, not confined to any single domain. In recent years, there has been a notable increase in women's educational attainment, with more females attending college and graduating with degrees in traditionally male-dominated fields like the sciences. However, despite these advancements, disparities persist, with fewer women pursuing careers in areas such as science and academia. Numerous factors contribute to perpetuating sexism, including societal expectations surrounding motherhood and family commitments, early socialization patterns that shape interactions between genders, institutional barriers within certain fields, and even conjectures rooted in biological differences. This paper endeavors to examine these multifaceted aspects of sexism in both literature and contemporary society.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


sexism, early postmodern literature, Flannery O'Connor, patriarchy, Wise Blood

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ackroyd, Peter (1993). The House of Doctor Dee. London: Hamish Hamilton. P. 13, 18.

Baudrillard, J. (2001). The Uncollected Baudrillard. Sage. p. 21

Benatar, David (2012). The second sexism: discrimination against men and boys. John Wiley & Sons. P.10-12.

Bennington, G., & Derrida, J. (1993). Derrida. University of Chicago Press. p. 13.

Brann, E. T. H. (1992). What is Postmodernism?, The Harvard Review of Philosophy, Spring. P.12.

Burns, C. L. (2003). Postmodern Historiography: Politics and the Parallactic Method in Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon. Postmodern Culture, 14(1).

Correll, S.J., Bernard, S., and Paik, I. (2007). Getting a job: is there a motherhood penalty? American Journal of Sociology, 112 (5), 1297–1339.

Couturier, M. (1985). Metafiction-The Theory and Practice of Self-Conscious Fiction-Waugh, P. 15.

De Beauvoir, Simon (2010). The Second Sex. Judith Thurman. P.650.

Doody, M. A. (1997). The true story of the novel. Rutgers University Press. p. 17

Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy (2009). Ethical Slut. New York

Dr. Sheeba (2017). Postmodern literature: Practices and Theory, Excellence International Journal of Education and Research 4(3). Retrieved from https://jncollegeonline.co.in/attendence/classnotes/files/1622902164.pdf p. 4

Ecklund, Elaine Howard. (2003). Catholic women negotiate feminism: A research note. Sociology of Religion 64.4 515-524

El Saadawi, Nawal (1973). Man and Sex. Dar Al Saqi‎, Beirut. P. 52.

El Saadawi, Nawal (1974). Women and Sex. Dar Al Saqi‎, Beirut

Elkind, Andrea Knopf (1985). The social definition of women's smoking behaviour. Social Science & Medicine 20.12 1269-1278.‏

Expósito, F., Herrera, M. C., Moya, M., & Glick, P. (2010). Don't rock the boat: Women's benevolent sexism predicts fears of marital violence. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34(1), 36-42.‏

Farmer, O. and Smock Jordan, S. (2017) Experiences of women coping with catcalling experiences in New York City: a pilot study. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 29 (4), 205–225.

Flint, R. W. (1963). The Benefactor, by Susan Sontag (Book Review). Commentary, 36(6), 489.‏

Foucault, M. (2019). Power: the essential works of Michel Foucault 1954-1984. Penguin UK.‏ p. 9

Glick, P. and Fiske, S.T. (1996) The ambivalent sexism inventory: differentiating hostile and benevolent sexism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 491–512.

Haber, H. F. (1994). Beyond Postmodern Politics: Lyotard, Rorty, Foucault. Psychology Press.‏ p. 14.

Heberle, R. (1956). A note on Riesman's The lonely crowd. American Journal of Sociology, 62(1), 34-36.‏

Holder, A. (1968). What Marvelous Plot... Was Afoot?" History in Barth's" The Sot-Weed Factor. American Quarterly, 20(3), 596-604.‏

hooks, b. (2014). Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, Routledge, New York.

Jackman, M. R. (1994). The velvet glove: Paternalism and conflict in gender, class, and race relations. Univ of California Press.‏

Jacobsen, C. B. (1998). Gravity's Rainbow and the postmodern epic novel.‏

Johnson, C., Dowd, T. J., & Ridgeway, C. L. (2006). Legitimacy as a social process. Annu. Rev. Sociol., 32, 53-78.‏

Jones, Edgar. "The psychology of killing: the combat experience of British soldiers during the First World War." Journal of Contemporary History 41.2 (2006): 229-246

Kawin, B. F. (2006). The mind of the novel: Reflexive fiction and the ineffable. Dalkey Archive Press.‏

Ku, M.C., 2010. Sexism. In M. A. Hogg, ed. Encyclopedia of group processes and intergroup relations. Los Angeles: Sage, pp. 744–749.

Lechte, J. (2007). Fifty key contemporary thinkers: from structuralism to post-humanism. Routledge.‏

Lemert, C. C. (2015). Postmodernism is not what you think. Routledge.‏

Lerner, G. (1986). The Creation of Patriarchy, Oxford University Press, New York.

Malmgren, C. D. (1985). Fictional space in the Modernist and Post-modernist American novel. Bucknell University Press.‏

McCaffery, L. (1979). Death Kit: Susan Sontag's Dream Narrative. Contemporary Literature, 20(4), 484-499.‏

McKeon, R. (Ed.). (2009). The basic works of Aristotle. Modern Library.‏ p. 8

Merrill, R., & Scholl, P. A. (1978). Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five: The requirements of chaos. Studies in American Fiction, 6(1), 65-76.‏

Mott, F. W. (1919).‏ War neuroses and shell-shock. Henry Frowde: London.

Nasrullah Mambrol (2018). Analysis of Ernest Hemingway’s Novels, Literary Theory and Criticism. Retrieved from https://literariness.org/2018/06/04/analysis-of-ernest-hemingways-novels/

Nasrullah Mambrol (2018). Analysis of Ernest Hemingway’s Novels, Literary Theory and Criticism. Retrieved from https://literariness.org/2018/06/04/analysis-of-ernest-hemingways-novels/

Nasrullah Mambrol, 2018, Theories of James Joyce, Literary Theory and Criticism. Retrieved from https://literariness.org/2018/03/02/key-theories-of-james-joyce/

Notohara, Nobuaki (2003). Arabs and Japanese Perspective. Dar Aljamal. P. 49.

O’Connor, Flannery. (1962). Wise Blood. 1952. Collected Works

O'Connor, Flannery. (1962). Wise Blood. 1952. Collected Works

O'Conner, Flannery (2016). Wise Blood. Hartcourt, and Brace Company.

O'Connor, Flannery (1988). The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor. Macmillan

O'Connor, Flannery. (1986). Wise blood. Rinsen Book

Pokswinski, Stephanie (2013). The pursuit of wholeness: Jungian themes in Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood and The Violent Bare It Away. California State University, Dominguez Hills. P.1.

Rivera, L.A. (2017). When two bodies are (not) a problem: gender and relationship status discrimination in academic hiring. American Sociological Review, 82(6), 1111–1138.

Robinson, K. S. (1983). The Novels of Philip K. Dick.‏ p. 16.

Rodríguez, Y., Lameiras, M., Carrera, M., & Failde, J. (2010). Evaluación de las actitudes sexistas en estudiantes españoles/as de educación secundaria obligatoria. Psychología, 4(1), 11-24.‏

Rogers, Jonathan. The Terrible Speed of Mercy: A Spiritual Biography of Flannery O'Connor. Thomas Nelson Inc, 2012. P.2.

Rosenau, P. M. (1991). Post-modernism and the social sciences: Insights, inroads, and intrusions. Princeton University Press.‏ p.11.

Royce, Tracy (2009). "The Shape of Abuse." The fat studies reader. P.20

Simpson, Melissa (2005). Flannery O'Connor: A Biography. Greenwood Publishing Group.‏ p.2.

Smith, S. (2013). Pynchon and history: metahistorical rhetoric and postmodern narrative form in the novels of Thomas Pynchon. Routledge.‏

Sontag, S., & Sontag, R. J. (1982). A Susan Sontag Reader. Macmillan.‏ p. 82

Sponsler, C. (1992). Cyberpunk and the dilemmas of postmodern narrative: the example of William Gibson. Contemporary Literature, 33(4), 625-644.‏

Stephanson, A., & Jameson, F. (1989). Regarding postmodernism--A conversation with Fredric Jameson. Social Text, 3-30.‏

Szymanski, D.M. and Feltman, C.E. (2014) Experiencing and coping with sexually objectifying treatment: internalization and resilience. Sex Roles, 71, 159–170.

Weatherford, Doris (2009). American women during World War II: an encyclopedia. Routledge.‏ p.22.

Wolf, Naomi (1991). The Beauty Myth. William Morrow Company.

Wood, W., & Eagly, A. H. (2012). Biosocial construction of sex differences and similarities in behavior. Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 46, pp. 55-123). Academic Press.‏

Wright, D. (2010). Norman Mailer, The Naked and the Dead. Research Guide to American Literature, 6, 144.‏

Yaeger, Patricia. (2009). Dirt and Desire: Reconstructing Southern Women's Writing, 1930-1990. University of Chicago Press.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejls.v5i1.517

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The research works published in this journal are free to be accessed. They can be shared (copied and redistributed in any medium or format) and\or adapted (remixed, transformed, and built upon the material for any purpose, commercially and\or not commercially) under the following terms: attribution (appropriate credit must be given indicating original authors, research work name and publication name mentioning if changes were made) and without adding additional restrictions (without restricting others from doing anything the actual license permits). Authors retain the full copyright of their published research works and cannot revoke these freedoms as long as the license terms are followed.

Copyright © 2018-2023. European Journal of Literary Studies (ISSN 2601-971X / ISSN-L 2601-971X). All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library. All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and standards formulated by Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002), the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (2003) and Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003) and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyrights of the published research works are retained by authors.