FEMINIST CRITICISM

Feminist criticism concern itself with stereotypical representations of genders. It also may trace the history of relatively unknown or undervalued women writers, potentially earning them their rightful place within the literary canon, and helps create a climate in which women's creativity may be fully realised and appreciated.

One will frequently hear the term "patriarchy" used among feminist critics, referring to a traditionally male-dominated society. "Marginalisation" refers to being forced to the outskirts of what is considered socially and politically significant; the female voice was traditionally marginalised, or discounted altogether. This is a way to challenge the male-centred outlook of authors. Feminist literary criticism suggests that women in literature were historically presented as objects seen from a male perspective.

Feminist literary criticism emerges only during the 1960s as a self-aware movement. This movement questioned the patriarchy and wished to establish the role of females at the centre. This criticism examines the economic, political, psychological and social operation of women. A feminist literary critic resists traditional assumptions while reading. In addition to challenging assumptions which were thought to be universal, feminist literary criticism actively supports including women's knowledge in literature and valuing women's experiences.

It was Mary Wollstonecraft (English writer and early feminist who denied male supremacy and advocated equal education for women; mother of Mary Shelley (1759-1797)) who first talked about how patriarchy oppressed females in her essay "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman". She viewed that patriarchal ideology made females weak. After her many feminist critics like Virginia Woolf (English author whose work used such techniques as a stream of consciousness and the interior monologue; prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group (1882-1941)), Simone de Beauvoir (French feminist and existentialist and novelist (1908-1986)), and many others resisted the patriarchal ideology. Feminist literary criticism minutely observes and examines how females have been marginalised in a male-dominated society. During the interwar period, Virginia Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a central figure in the influential Bloomsbury Group (An inner circle of writers and artists and philosophers who lived in or around Bloomsbury early in the 20th century and were noted for their unconventional lifestyles) of intellectuals. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando(1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929), with its famous dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." Similarly, Simone de Beauvoir says that society makes a woman a woman not human. Males are defined as intelligent, strong, rational and so on whereas females are thought to be weak, submissive, emotional and so on. Even language is biased. Terms like spinster, call girl, slut, are used with a negative connotation to females. However, bachelor, call boy, and stud are used with positive connotations for males.

Feminist literary criticism questions all the mentioned hierarchy and marginalisation. Patriarchy treats women as others. Education, convention, tradition, culture, law and language have determined the role of males and females. The roles have been determined to give priority to males. Even literature is male centred by raising questions against patriarchal ideology, feminist criticism, and reviews in every field. Till the second half of the 20th century females were marginalised but the feminist movement made females aware of their rights. 

Thus, with the contribution of different feminist writers, feminist literary criticism emerged as a reaction against patriarchal ideology. Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir and many other feminists contributed to the development of the feminist movement. 

FEMINIST PREMISES:

Feminists share a common belief that patriarchal ideology assigns traditional gender roles to men and women in order to maintain male dominance. Patriarchal ideology has a pervasive, deeply rooted influence on the way we think, speak and see ourselves, and view the world in which we live. The premises, and assumptions that different schools of feminists share are:

• Patriarchal ideology has oppressed women economically, socially and psychologically.
• Women are considered the second sex or “other” (the male being the first). They are marginalised (not considered important) and objectified.
• All the fields like arts, literature, religion, science, education, politics, economics, laws, business etc. are products of patriarchal ideology.
• Sex (male/female) is biological whereas gender (masculine/feminine) is a product of patriarchal culture.
• All feminist activity, including feminist theory and literary criticism, aims at promoting equality, justice, and the right of women.
• Gender issues affect every aspect of human production and experience, including literature.

TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES

Feminist criticism asserts the idea that females have been given pre-determined roles. This concept places men as rational, strong, protective and decisive whereas women are treated as emotional, weak and submissive.

It is patriarchal that defines the role of males and females. Males and females are biologically different. This biological difference should not be the reason for natural superiority and inferiority. Gender categories are constructed by society. This view is known as social constructionism (The act of constructing something). By marginalising the role of females, males place themselves in the centre. Educationally, socially, and culturally females have endowed the marginalised roles. It is the society that defines the functions and roles of males and females. By means of patriarchal oppression, gender roles are defined.

Therefore, women should feel that they are socially, politically, economically and psychologically dominated. They are thought to be the “second sex” as Simone de Beauvoir says. Western philosophy is phallocentric (Relating to or having male dominance) out of which they think there is no world. So, feminist criticism first pre-sends the role of females in a male-dominated society and persuades them to revolt against traditional gender roles. Gender roles have been given only within the patriarchal framework.        

FRENCH FEMINISM

French Materialistic Feminism

French Feminism refers to a branch of feminist thought from a group of feminists in France from the 1970s to the 1990s. It values social and political activism to give justice for females. They give importance to the philosophical dimension of women’s issues between the two different forms; one is materialistic feminism which shows social and economic oppression of women, and the other is psychoanalytic feminism which shows psychological experience and trauma (mental shock) for the women. The main motto of French feminists is also to go beyond the patriarchal system which makes women emotionally and socially helpless and handicapped. In the patriarchal society, a woman is not considered as a person in her own right, rather she is considered less than a man. |Actually women are not born feminine. Rather they are conditioned to be feminine by patriarchy. It is what Simone de Beauvoir calls social constructionism.

French materialistic feminism presents the concept of the physical and economic condition as under the control of males. Patriarchal law is biased and it intends to dominate females from an economic perspective. The ‘second sex’ by Simone de Beauvoir developed the theoretical framework. She develops the concept that females are marginalised in society. Only males are thought to be responsible for the change in society. Females are considered as the other. Influenced by Beauvoir, Christine Delphy coined the term materialistic feminism. She presents the concept that within society and even within the family women are presented as the workers. But they are unpaid domestic labourers. |Moreover in the labour market women labourers are paid less than men for the same work. Collette Guillemin views that only males are thought to be important decision-makers. The property lies within the reach of males. She criticises the conventional law saying that children are thought to be the legal property of the husband, not the wife. Similarly, females are bound to accept what males assert.

Like American Feminism, French Feminism believes in the importance of social and political activism to ensure equal opportunity and justice for women. French feminists give more emphasis on the philosophical aspect of women’s issues. Beauvoir observes that although all women do not want to have children, patriarchy convinces them that they are unfulfilled as women without having children. Moreover, she declares that unlike other r oppressed groups like oppressed classes and oppressed racial and religious minorities, there is not a historical record of women’s oppression as if they are not worthy to be mentioned in male-dominated history.

Simone de Beauvoir, Christine Delphy, and Colette Guillemin are the three major materialist feminists. All of them view that males oppress females mostly because of unequal distribution of economics. It is only on the basis of economic prosperity that the condition of society is determined.  

FRENCH PSYCHOANALYTIC FEMINISM

French feminist psychoanalytic theory is based on the concept that there is a psychological influence upon females by males so as to control them. Helene Cixous, Luce Irigaray, and Julia Kristeva are some of the feminists within this group. They all give priority to how individual psychology is influenced by means of different techniques.

Women’s psychological experience is always influenced by patriarchy. Patriarchy unconsciously dominates the females that’s why the liberation must be psychological liberation. Cixous reveals that the language is biased. It is so because words for females are used with a negative connotation. The words for males are used with a positive connotation. It is done to make females silent. She likes to develop creative feminine: feminine writing which expresses female thoughts and feelings. She observes that our language shows the hierarchical binary oppositions such as father/mother, head/heart, sun/moon, culture/nature,  son/daughter, husband/wife, etc.

Irigaray suggests that psychological repression is done through language. Males in society have defined females in terms of their own needs, fears and desires. She criticises Sigmund Freud for presenting females’ feelings from males’ perspectives. In this regard like Cixous, Irigaray also thinks that the way to go beyond patriarchy is by means of women’s language. In her view, it is more multiple and complex as well as subtler (Able to make fine distinctions) than patriarchal language.

However, Julia Kristeva is different from other psychoanalytic feminists. She believes that both women and men can go beyond patriarchal language and patriarchal thinking through the semiotic (also called semiotic studies; the study of meaning-making, the philosophical theory of signs and symbols) dimension of language. Language has both symbolic and semiotic dimensions. In the former different words and phrases take on meaning as sign symbols. The latter includes such elements as intonation (Rise and fall of the voice pitch/the act of singing in a monotonous tone), accent, tone, rhythm and body language. Even infants use the semiotic dimension of language through vocal sounds and bodily movements which are non-verbal forms of communication.  It is the convention and culture that determine semiotics so it must be changed. 

In this way, different feminists that fall within psychoanalytic feminism give importance to how females’ psychology is influenced by male convention, culture and use of language.  

MULTICULTURAL FEMINISM

Awareness of one’s own identity is a feminist goal. Even the experience of poor black women, lesbians and uneducated women across the world must get an expression. Multicultural feminism is not a unified feminist movement. The feminist movement emerged in different ways in different countries due to the variation of social structure. The experience of lesbians is different from the experience of heterosexuals, and the experience of white women is different from that of Blacks. For this reason, multicultural feminism brings voices of marginalised females into foremost.

Black feminists analyse the patriarchal oppression not only from the point of view of gender. It is so because they are oppressed by black males and white females as well. They face this double oppression. Similarly, gender issues were analysed on the basis of cultural context. In different cultures the ways of oppression are different. In the Afro-American community, the colour becomes the means of oppression. In different ethnic groups, females are excluded or exploited by males. Politically, economically as well as culturally they are marginalised.

It is not only a patriarchal framework but also the framework of colour, religion, nationality, race and other different ways to dominate the females in different societies. By developing different parameters females have become victims in the male-dominated society. According to the Victorian ideal, a ‘true woman should be submissive, fragile, and sexually pure or virgin. The same ideology still influences the patriarchal thinking of today. But this ideology is not applicable to marginalised black women and poor women of all races, because they are bound to do physical labour and are vulnerable to rape and sexual exploitation in the workplace.

GENDER STUDIES AND FEMINISM

Gender studies discuss how a person as a male or a female is treated differently by society in different institutions and professions like medicine, the law, education, etc. This is to say, males are naturally masculine or aggressive in nature while females are naturally feminine or submissive in nature. Generally, it has been considered that Gender studies and feminism are interrelated and they refer to the same concept. However, these concepts are partly associated. It is so because our thinking is guided only by the patriarchal framework.

It is the patriarchal assumption that asserts that males are “naturally masculine” and females are “naturally feminine”. However, it is not so in reality. Gender studies deal with the alternative way of patriarchal thinking. It differentiates between sex and gender. Sex is a biological matter whereas gender is a social and cultural matter. Even if males are defined as aggressive and strong, this definition is patriarchal definition. It is so because all human beings have bi-sexual qualities. Even if they have one dominating sex, they contain the qualities that are shared by both males as well as females. Feminism is the self-aware movement that studies how females are socially, culturally and traditionally dominated by males. This movement analyses and represents and reinterprets the literary texts giving importance to the feminist voice. That’s why feminism and gender studies are intimately related.

Both of these concepts give importance to justice. Moreover, these movements intend to blur or erase the lines between masculinity and femininity. Equality between men and women is the thirst of this movement. That is, feminist criticism challenges traditional patriarchal notions and establishes the perspectives and experiences of women, which have been neglected for ages.

Thus, gender studies and feminism try to dissolve the line between masculinity and femininity by presenting the concept that it is the society that divides masculine and feminine concepts. Only by empowering females and developing the concept of equality, do gender studies and feminism intend to fulfil the objective. The gender-biased concepts are erased only by showing the similarities between men and women. It can be done only when human thinking is changed.

A FEMINIST READING OF “THE GREAT GATSBY”

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby represents an excellent example of how patriarchal ideology operates in literature. The novel presents the social, cultural and patriarchal mode of the early 20^th century. Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson and Jordan Baker are the major female characters. Gatsby, Tom and Nick are the dominating characters. The novel is written having the concept that a patriarchal framework establishes the moral structure of society. Like Tom Buchanan, the novel shares the domineering view of patriarchal gender roles.

The Great Gatsby highlights the behaviour of New women during the 1920s. The New women during the 20^th century were defined on the basis of their dress-up and their habit. Daisy, Jordan and Myrtle Wilson belong to the group of New Women.

However, the narrator Nick who is a male presents nature and characters with a negative connotation. The women characters are portrayed as negative types, dishonest, narrow-minded, superficial, hypocritical, etc. At Gatsby’s parties, women show their true colours. Unlike the negative portrayal of female characters, male characters like Nick Carraway, George Wilson, and Mr Michele are portrayed as gentle, simple and hard-working, who are tolerant of the changing role of women. Once, in reference to women, Nick says, “Dishonesty in women is a thing that you never blame deeply.” His characterisation of Daisy is not very positive. He presents her as shallow and exhibitionist. By showing Daisy and Myrtle engaged in an extra-marital affair, Nick shows that he judges women within a patriarchal framework. The narrator narrates Jordan as immoral because she involves in premarital sex. He doesn't treat Jordan with any positive concept. The unsympathetic characterisation of Mrs Wilson is equally important. It is so because Nick can’t see any positive qualities in females. 

Daisy has been shown as an unfaithful, selfish and remorseless character who kills Myrtle but still doesn't feel guilty or regretful. She hits Myrtle and lets Gatsby take the blame. Gatsby willingly takes the blame for Daisy’s sake. Myrtle has been shown to be establishing a sexual relationship with Tom, and Jordan Baker: a professional golfer, is a liar and cheat, and is criticised for her dishonesty. Jordan is accused of cheating through bribery and is therefore unable to support herself righteously.

Daisy, Jordan and Myrtle are put into the category of bad girls not because they are bad but because society thinks that they are bad. They are typical characters of the feminist movement. It is so for this reason that they wish to change the perspective that females are kind and submissive. Different crimes committed in society are directed toward females. Though females are the victim of the crime, the victims are criticised. It is gender prejudice.

The novel is written within a predefined framework. Females have to be able to see the framework and the real experience in real-life situations. It holds the mirror to depict the society in which females are marginalised and subordinated to males. Every event is analysed only from the male perspective. Feminists wish to change society by revolting, breaking and blurring the framework of patriarchy.