Feminism

The varieties about women’s roles were constructed In ways that have been altered or erased for social and political purposes. The roles of black women were undermined during slavery and Hawaiian women’s roles were taken away after colonialism. Women’s roles should be recognized because it makes a significant contribution to decentralization and resistance. The erasure of women’s roles have been constructed In favor of white supremacists and colonists, thus, keeping knowledge about women’s roles away from the public view.

This week’s readings reflect the counter-forces that fight against this trend. The two examples discussed In this paper will help demonstrate how the recognition of women’s roles make significant contributions to decentralization and resistance. Black women’s role during slavery was undermined In the Monomania Report. Angela Davis critiques the history of slavery aspect of the Monomania report because it fails to recognize the significance of black women’s role in slavery claiming that matriarchy comes from the legacy of slavery.

Davis challenges this Idea by arguing that matriarchy did not come from slavery since matriarchy Implies power, which enslaved black women did not have. Davis indicates that although black women did not have power of the law/state, they created their own modes of power. She also indicates the reason why black women played a significant role during slavery is because they made resistance possible for others in the African American enslaved communities. Since women had the double burden of working in the fields and doing domestic work, they became the maintainers of the slave headquarters.

This allowed women to recognize how much the master depended on them, giving women the consciousness of resistance. This is an example of how knowledge Is distorted In he Monomania report since It falls to address the truth about women’s roles In slavery and falsely concludes that black families are unstable because they are matrilineal. Recognizing black women’s roles during slavery is imperative to eradicate the myth that black families are unstable because they are matrilineal and how they made resistance possible for others.

Another example of the recognition of women’s roles is the inclusion of indigenous feminism. Lisa Keelhauled Hall indicates the importance of recognizing the erasure of indigently, specifically Hawaiian women in the united States as a result of colonialism. She critiques the conceptual erasure of U. S. Imperialism In the Pacific. The erasure of Hawaii in contemporary understandings of the united States, and the racial erasure of indigenous peoples.

She argues indigenous feminism should counter these erasures “because colonization relies on forced forgetting and erasure, the need to bring the past forward Into our consciousness” Is Important for decentralization (Hall, 279). Although Hawaiian women’s roles were unrecognized, Hall contends that Hawaiian women held significant power until the colonists stripped political power and voting rights from them. Additionally, Hawaiian women were aced with the imposition of Christianity, monogamy, and heterosexual marriage.

Indigenous feminism Is Important to the process of decentralization for Hawaiian women and other indigenous women because it “grapples with the ways patriarchal 1 OFF analyzing the sexual and gendered nature of the process of colonization” (Hall, 278). Although women’s roles were constructed in ways that were altered or erased, which favored white supremacists and colonists, Hall and Davis produced scholarly works that enabled people to recognize that women’s roles made a significant contribution to the process of decentralization and resistance.

Macro sociology- large scale patterns Ex: Illness: macro could be you get sick and have a lot of doctor bills macro could be there aren’t room in hospitals for all the sick people Ex: unemployment: macro could be you don’t have any money to buy yourself clothes macro could be a recession BC people don’t have Jobs Why study sociology? Making informed decisions, understanding diversity, social and public policies, thinking critically, and expands career opportunities. Making Informed decisions Sociological knowledge will help you make Informed decisions Second guess common sense claims Methods as a criteria

See the big picture understanding diversity Central theme in sociology Leads to understanding differing characteristics Social and public polices Be able to engage in social change Society Research Theoretical perspectives Involved in applied, clinical, and policy settings Thinking critically Enhances knowledge and problem solving Takes into consideration all views and data Expands career opportunities Sociologists find careers in Administrative support Management Social services Counseling Sales and marketing Origins of sociological theory Augusta Comet Papa of sociology Coined term Info should be empirical

Info should be based on data Saw sociology as study of Social static Ex: education and politics Social dynamics Change over time Harriet Martinets The mother of sociology Translated the work of Comet Wrote the 1st sociology methods book Data collection Objection analysis A feminist and opponent of slavery and rights to elderly Dismissed as too radical Emilee Druthers Believed in the study of social facts Discussed division of labor in society Researched social integration Druthers social facts Believed sociology should study social facts Social facts are external and measurable 3 types: material-demographic on material- communication social currents Druthers Division of Labor Division of labor connects to social solidarity Division of labor-interdependence of tasks Social solidarity-social cohesiveness Druthers Social Integration First study of data to support a sociological theory Suicide meaningful relationships=vicissitude???????

Ask some Karl Marx Capitalism Class conflict Alienation Marx: Capitalism Said capitalism produces division Capitalism: ownership of means of production in private hands Breeds 3 social classes Capitalists-owners Petit bourgeoisie-small business owners Proletariat-masses of workers Marx: class conflict Society comprised of haves and have onto Capitalism leads to class conflict haves: exploit workers have onto: resist but depend on haves Bloody revolution lead to classlessness Marx: Alienation Capitalism leads to alienation Alienation- feeling of separation from society Both classes are alienated Proletariat b/c they don’t own Capitalists b/c purely profile ? Akers HOW: read rest of chi 1 Tuesday September 2 Thinking Like a Sociologist (chi 1 part 2) Max Weber: Social Organization Society is shaped and changed by: Ideas, religious values, ideologies, and charismatic leaders Understand society wrought Social organization and interrelationships Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism Max Weber: Subjective understanding Subjective understanding of behavior Overstress Direct observational understanding Explanatory understanding Max Weber: value- free sociology Value free sociology Separate personal from the scientific Provide knowledge not personal ideology Jane Adams Co-founded the Hull House (social worker) Leader in the peace prize winner Nobel peace prize winner Contributed to symbolic interactions and criminally Ignored by her male colleagues W. E. B.

DUBOS Wrote books on African and black Americans Received PhD from Harvard Helped found NAACP Race problem one of ignorance Seen as radical Beef with Book T. Washington Contemporary Theories Functionalism Conflict theory Feminist theory Symbolic Interaction Functionalism: Overview Founders Comet and Druthers Interdependent parts working together Spence’s organic analogy Vital organs functioning together Functionalism: society as a social system Society is composed of major institutions: Like education, government, and more Have structures, organized units Connected Where behavior occurs Functionalism: functions and dysfunctions Each structure has functions

Purposes and activities Contribute to stability and survival Organized units also have dysfunctions Patterns with a negative impact Functionalism: manifest and Latent functions Two kinds of functions Manifest Intended and recognized Latent Unintended and unrecognized Criticisms of functionalism Glosses over inequality of power Narrow view White middle class male lens Application of functionalism to fashion Fashion houses show new styles every season Some catch on and are adopted Wealthy distinguish themselves through fashion Functions to distinguish between classes Conflict Theory overview Emphasizes how and why groups Disagree, struggle, and compete Sees disagreement and change positively Conflict theory: sources of conflict Source of economic inequality race, gender, and other factors acknowledges society functions but asks: Who benefits? Who is at a disadvantage?

Conflict Theory: on social inequality Society as a system of Widespread inequality Tensions Between haves and have onto Criticisms of Conflict Theory Overemphasized competition At expense of cooperation Have onto can increase their power Presents a negative view of society Application of Conflict Theory to Fashion Fashion is a way big players a make profit Introduce new options to keep people buying Distracts workers from larger problems Maintain equilibrium Feminist Theory overview Takes conflict theory a step further Women suffer injustice Believe in fair and equal treatment by: Gender, race, age, and more Frees women from traditional expectations Feminist Theory: research on women Lack of research about women Not until after the sass was their research on: Gender roles, fathers, or partner violence Feminist theory: many perspectives Liberal-social and legal reform Radical- male dominance in institutions Global- intersection in developing Critiques of Feminist theory

Avoids different points of view Focus on white female middle class Downplays social class Focus on personal issues Application of Feminist theory to fashion Fashion as patriarchy Takes time and money Fashion imprisons women Symbolic Interactions overview Micro-level perspective analyzing behavior: Knowledge, ideas, beliefs and attitudes People interpret or define actions Symbolic Interactions: constructing meaning Society is socially constructed Meaning is created and modified through social interaction People take into account others in behavior Symbolic Interactions: symbols and shared meaning Subjective interpersonal meaning of symbols Words, gestures, or pictures That stand for something Have different meanings Effective interaction involves: Shared meanings-agreed on definitions Definition of the situation-> perception and reaction to reality Definition of the situation taught by Significant others-relatives and friends Critiques of Symbolic interactions Overlooks macro level factors Optimistic and unrealistic view of choices Ignores the irrational and unconscious Application of symbolic interactions to fashion Clothes as symbols Helps communicate: Who we are Who others are HOW: chi 2 pas 21-30

Thursday Seep 4 Examining Our Social World Social Research Social research Has systematic rules and procedures Scientific Method Involves: Exact measurement Accurate recording Once data is collected researchers Conduct an analysis Interpret If possible generalize Basic Concepts Concept Abstract idea representing social life Social changes in different conditions Types of variables Independent Cause Occurs first Dependent Effect Occurs second Control Constant Hypothesis Expected relationship between variables Typically based on previous research Reliability and Validity Approaches to examining relationships Deductive-general to specific Begins with theory Then data collection Inductive- specific to general Begins with observation Collects data Hypothesis that could be theory Sampling: population vs.. Sample Population Entire group of interest Expensive Time consuming At times impossible Types of Sampling Probability Equal opportunity of selection Random selection Possible to generalize Non-probability No attempt at representing the population Exploratory research The Research Process 1 . Choose a topic Guided by theory 2.

Summarize related research Literature review 3. Formulate a hypothesis 4. Describes the methods 5. Collects the data 6. Present the findings 7. Analyze and explain the results Provides new results Refines existing theories Qualitative vs.. Quantitative Qualitative-examines nonnumeric material In-depth description Quantitative-numerical analysis Generalization Correlation and causation Can’t prove cause-and-effect Many alternate variable at hand Instead researches use correlation Strength of relationship between variables Sociologist suggest or indicate relationships Correlation does not mean causation Surveys Systematically collects data from respondents Come in many forms

Questionnaires, face to face, or telephone Some surveys use a combination Administer by researchers or self-administer Types of surveys random sample survey random digit dialing computer assisted telephone interviewing surveys sent by computers Inexpensive Simple to administer Fast turn around Face to face have high response rate In depth interview provides rich detail Survey Disadvantages Mail has low response rate Easily discarded if misunderstood Social desirability bias People lie Telephone Secondary analysis of existing data Info collected by someone else Can include many different materials Longitudinal-across time Cross-sectional-at one time Secondary Data Analysis Advantages Convenient Can examine trends Secondary Data Analysis Disadvantages Not have info needed Historical data difficult to obtain Field Research Observing people in their natural surrounding There are different types: Participant observation Nonparticipating observation Ethnologist Field Research Advantages Provides in depth info More flexible Field Research Disadvantages Can be expensive May need to learn a language Can be dangerous Read rest of chapter 2 Tuesday 9/9 Content Analysis Systematically examines communication Speeches, newspapers, songs, and poems

The usual view of men’s anti-sexism is that it centres around men who find it personally important to challenge the pressure to conform to a ‘macho’ image plus a handful of politically aware men wanting to assist on what are seen as feminist issues. In fact any man giving it serious thought will come to see domestic violence, rape, care of their children and suchlike as being men’s issues. However, the average man will not be drawn into men’s groups by these issues, and will tend to see men’s anti-sexism as a movement without a cause.

But I believe it’s a movement which has remained marginal by failing to acknowledge its biggest cause. Men’s groups tend to look for a personal response to the contradictions their members face – THEY are the problem, they must change. This seems to be unrelated to the impersonal world of politics and the hard realities of jobs, pay, working hours and conditions, etc. But this is exactly the area where anti-sexism could have its greatest impact. Because, in spite of the effects of massive unemployment, little has changed men’s ideas about work.

The classic picture of man-as-incomplete-person that men’s groups invoke – emotionally retarded, distant from his children, competitive at work and dominant at home – describes a man well moulded to the career world. The stereotypical male values closely match the qualities desirable in competitive work. Despite the ‘personal politics’ of a few men, the nature of work itself has not changed and continues to reinforce the same traditional male values. But there are now women working successfully in most professions – so why should male values continue to dominate? It is because of the strict division between full-time and part-time work.

It’s in full-time work in the majority of occupations that men and traditional values prevail – women in these jobs work on men’s terms. Part-time work on the other hand is clearly the province of women – over 90% of part-timers in Britain is female. In fact, much of the recent increase in women’s employment has been in the part-time sector. So what are the differences in these two areas of work? Full-time jobs are valued more highly, often paid a ‘family wage’, and require the specialisation of skills and continued commitment that would merit the title ‘career’ (though the principle is the same from bricklaying to brain surgery).

This continuity is very important – women (in Britain) are permitted usually only a token break for maternity and men generally none for paternity. Outside this career world, there is both unpaid domestic work, including childcare, and formal part-time work – with pay, conditons, prospects and job interest generally worse than full-time work. There are two results of this duality of working situations. Firstly, because of women’s unavoidable involvement in caring for their babies, career work favours men.

Full-time work has changed little to accommodate the increasing number of women in it, who have to accept the limitations imposed by men such as avoiding children or delegating their care to the domestic/part-time sector. Secondly, the domestic and part-time workforce is not only economically inferior to the career sector but actually services its interests and sustains it. This relationship is the framework for exploitation of both capitalist and patriarchal nature. So, women having children must be free from work from late pregnancy until the baby is weaned at the very least.

As men are generally not permitted any reasonable paternity leave it is necessarily the mother who continues to look after the child at least until school age (unless the parents are willing and financially able to pay someone else to do so). If these considerations did not keep the woman out of full-time work in the first place, they are likely to do so for some years at this stage, especially since this whole situation increases the likelihood that the father will be earning more than her at this financially critical time.

While this rigid division of work exists, therefore, women wanting children will be disadvantaged in full-time work, and many women having children will have to accept the limitations of part-time work. Men, if they are able to get full-time work, will almost always take this in preference to part-time work – and when they become fathers are likely to be under financial pressure to keep their full-time job, at the expense of their involvement with their children. Some European men, notably in Belgium, have come up with ideas that could break down the rigidity of this full-time/part-time division.

They have lobbied the European Parliament for the establishment in the EEC Constitution of what they call the Flexible Work Right. This would be the legal right of anyone to choose how many hours a week to work, being paid accordingly. It would be a move against the binding domination of full-time work and the undervaluing of part-time work, which would allow a balance of working and domestic life to suit the priorities of individual men and women. In particular, parents would be free to share childcare and earning according to their own values.

A practical shift in the distribution of the tasks between the sexes would open the door to many other changes. If the responsibility for financial support was no longer borne principally by men this could undermine the damaging tendency for manhood to be measured by economic success – which is often won at the price of being a second rate parent. And for women, work on these terms would mean not only an increase in real economic power and independence, but with this a greater participation in public and political life.

Also any overall reduction in average hours worked could help to reduce unemployment in the right circumstances. So how might these ideas be realised in practice? Three possibilities for change are better provision for job sharing, more flexibility of working hours (especially total hours worked) and better parental leave allowances. As far as trade unions are concerned, defending the interests (primarily financial) of those in work comes before freeing members to work less.

So small reductions in the working week, (which would probably serve mainly to increase overtime payments), take priority over genuine flexibility of hours and job-sharing provisions. Some forward-looking unions ARE seeking better paternity leave – most men take some time off whether it is officially available or not (94% in a recent Equal Opportunities Commission study). Better parental leave entitlement would go some way toward the goals of this anti-sexist men’s politics, especially since the right to flexible work will surely only be won in slow stages. And here the EEC is already playing a part.

The EEC Commission has issued a directive aiming to set minimum standards for parental leave in all member countries (three months for men and women during the child’s first two years, in addition to maternity leave and at no extra cost to employers). Despite agreement of all other members, and within Britain support of the House of Lords and the Equal Opportunities Commission, the British government has so far vetoed the passage of this Directive into Community law. So there’s no doubt that some aspects of anti-sexist thinking are as political as they are personal.

But the anti-sexist angle on work doesn’t end there. Poor working conditions and occupational safety may be sustained by ideas of what is ‘manly’. The notion that men who complain of bad conditions and danger are soft is sexist and encourages mistreatment of workers – not to mention alienating and excluding women. The response to noise, pollution and heavy lifting may be headaches, ulcers, heart disease and backache; human conditions too are important – if work is a hostile or authoritarian place men may take it out in drinking or violence outside work. A humane workplace is essential for a humane world.

The goals of this ‘men’s politics’ in fact complement those of feminism despite their separate and apparently selfish motivation. This motivation is crucial since the issue of work as a major limitation in their lives is one with which many could identify. This idea – men seeing themselves as ‘work objects’ – paves the way for a wider view of anti-sexism, encompassing the aspects of personal change and ‘feminist’ causes important to men’s groups now. It would suggest too, a positive attitude of relating some of the less desirable trappings of maleness to the situations which shaped them, rather than blaming them on maleness itself.

If men looked objectively at the unnecessary sacrifices they make on the altar of work, anti-sexism would suddenly seem relevant to many more men than the few involved at present. (C) Five Cram POSTSCRIPT The above article considers one interesting proposal for breaking down the male-dominated character of paid work. For example, as this issue went to press, a Bill introduced by the Labour MP Harry Cohen, which would introduce a statutory right to a period of parental care for parents of young children, was due to receive a second reading in the House of Commons.

Under this Bill, employees with children under two years old (five if the child is disabled or adopted) would be entitled to 13 weeks paid leave if both parents are in paid work, 26 weeks if he or she is a single parent and 4 weeks if the other parent is ineligible for parental leave, for example because of unemployment. The entitlement is not transferable between the parents. The scheme would be paid for by employers and the Government. Under this Government – and probably any currently realistic alternative – it is unlikely to become law. I think it is an important step forward, but how can we as men help it to happen?

Schemes of this sort, although less generous, already exist in ten of the twelve EEC countries – why not here? Even if employers, unions and the Government could be persuaded that this sort of parental leave provision is in their interests, there is a danger that it would divert attention away from the need to extend workplace nurseries and local authority childcare provision, and further privatise the provision of ‘care’ in our society. Another important issue is how, ‘parental’ schemes like this should be linked to more general ones like a Flexible Work Right.

Which should have higher priority, and what would their effects be on the level of unemployment? Finally, I doubt if such voluntary schemes would be enough to bring about major changes in the distribution of labour between the sexes. Particularly in times of high unemployment and low wage increases, when the perceived priority of maximising the ‘breadwinners’ earnings is greatest, many men would not willingly reduce their hours worked. Schemes involving paid leave avoid this problem, but inevitably involve smaller changes in hours worked so as not to be prohibitively expensive.

Compulsory schemes, such as legal limits on basic hours of work and overtime (to encourage men to invest more time and effort in the home) would probably also be needed, but care would be needed to avoid reducing low-paid workers’ wages oven further. But, to end on a positive note, it is true that there is a long-term trend towards fewer hours spent in paid employment by each male worker – the average has fallen by over one third in the last 100 years. Let’s hope it continues and that employed men make good use of the growing part of their lives spent outside paid jobs.

In this article, we address the division of household labour by examining its general situation and exploring different approaches used by different sociologist to account for it. The five approaches are namely exchange theory, resource theory, Marxist feminist theory, radical feminist theory and social construction theory will be discussed. With the evidence of previous researches, the situation of division of household labour is explored and evaluated in terms of its degree of as manifested.

In the second part, the situation is being accounted by those five approaches so as to determine whether the situation can be altered. Household labour can be defined in a variety of ways, however, in this article, we acquire those employed by Shelton (1996), that is defined as unpaid work done to maintain family member and/ or a home, which, emotion work and other “invisible” types of work are typically excluded.

Meanwhile, it is a job described as monotonous, fragmented, with low status not being treated as a “real” work, bring no financial remuneration, isolated with inherent time limits, and often received no recognition Oakley (Morris 1990:81). Since mid 1960s, researches on comparing the division of household labour between men and women has been mounting, it is not only due to the great impact of household labour on the family life of contemporary married couple, but also due to its implication of gender equality in the society to certain extend.

In this article, we address this issue by examining its general situation and exploring different approaches used by different sociologist to account for it. Through this process, it is hoping to find out the most comprehensive approach so as to determine whether the situation can be altered. A great amount of researches on the division of household labour have evidenced that women share the majority of the housework with especially the responsibility for regular, routine repetitive and childcare related housework. While for men, they are more likely to perform non-routine tasks.

For instance, from Chu’s research on the household distribution between women and men in Hong Kong (1997) revealed that “wife alone” occupies the largest share in taking up the actual responsibility of all the regular housework such as foodstuff buying, meal making, dish washing and . etc.. Whereas, husband’s involvement is limited on those irregular tasks such as car washing, bill recording and maintaining and repairing household apparatus. He also find that more than one quarter of the 230 interviewed households rely entirely on wives alone to do eight items of housework.

One may doubt the situation in western countries. Would the westernized value system decrease the discrepancy in the household division of labour? This is clarified by numerous researches done in UK and US recently, which suggest that the “traditional allocation of domestic work to the woman hold firm” (Morris, 1990:86). Martin and Roberts echoed with the above conclusion by reporting that 73 percent of wives and 72 percent of husbands said that most of the wife did most or all of the housework.

Though, the percent decrease when the wife is in employment, yet, majority said that wife did majority of the housework. Abbott & Wallace, 1997). From all these findings, we can conclude that the most notable characteristic of the current division of household labour is that whether employed or not, women continue to do the majority of housework. This pattern should never be ignored since as pointed out by several sociologists that the women’s rare continuous full-time careers or small labour-market participation are greatly affected by their family responsibilities especially the existence of dependent children (Abbott & Wallace, 1997).

The family responsibilities born by women despite their employment status create a dual role for them and the effects have been conceptualized by Morris in terms of “role strain”. She proposed that “it is manifest as a ‘wide’, distracting and sometimes conflicting array of role obligations” (1990:94) where the source of strain comes from the accumulation of roles and their contradictory, incompatible role expectations or from the competing demanding for time and attention.

This result in overload of total demands on time and energy for women in general and may turn employment from a mean of offering positive social and psychological rewards and a major contributing factor to women’s increased liberation and independence (Pearson, 1990), to a stress for women. The tension for women between career and family is therefore is due to the unequal household distribution in the family on one hand. The inequality in power, status and wealth between men and women on the other hand is another reflection from the household distribution.

However, what contribute to this pattern of household labour division? In the following, we explore five approaches in accounting this situation and concluding if it is possible for the unequal situation to be altered. The five approaches are namely exchange theory, resource theory, Marxist feminist theory, radical feminist theory and social construction theory. “Exchange theory with a view to examining family cohesion from the perspective of reciprocity and the exchange of rights and duties between husband and wife” (Morris, 1990:82).

It sees marital satisfaction such as companionship, empathy and affection was attained from the instrumental exchange between economic provision and domestic labour from husband and wife respectively. From this approach, we can get inference that men spend more time in paid work while women spend more time in domestic work as they are naturally assigned to. Therefore, it fails to take account of differential power within marriage and of social status outside the marriage. That is it cannot explain why there is such exchange pattern, why man as a breadwinner and women as a housekeeper?

Resource theory, an alternative approach may provide some explanation for it. It is proposed by Blood and Wolfe in 1959 (see Morris 1990) who applied the idea of differential control of valued resources and elaborated its application to the organization of household labour. This approach sees the division of housework as reflecting resources men and women bring to relationships. The possible critical resources proposed are the educational attainment, occupational prestige and the amount of earning from labour market.

It formulated that the more powerful spouses do least household labour and that if the wife does most household labour it is because she wields least power. In other words, the individual with most resources can use those resources to negotiate his/her way out of housework (Brines 1993: quoted from Shelton & John 1996:304). Thus this approach assumes that housework is viewed negatively by both women and men and that they are therefore motivated to reduced their share of it.

So, in this approach, division of household labour is actually an indicator of power and through which, we can understand the specific negotiations and decisions arrived at by individual couples in the organization of domestic life. Blood and Wolfe continue to argue that base on cross-cultural comparison, husband’s relatively low contribution to domestic labour is not ideologically based but a result of rational resources distribution. In other words, the man has strength in the labour market and the women have time.

Nonetheless, this approach have not addressed why men has more strength in the work field with higher educational attainment, higher earning and higher occupational prestige. According to above two approaches, division of household labour should be more equally shared with recent growth of married women’s employment as well as the release of many men from the rigours the occupational system by unemployment, when, women are provided with chances to gain more resources and independence.

Young and Willmott (1973; Quoted from Morris, 1990) proposed that the middle classes were at the forefront of a move towards symmetricality in marriage in which the role of husband and wife will become more identical. Wong stand in the same line with Young and Willmott stated that industrialization has substantially increased employment opportunities for women and as a result, has significantly advanced their position within the family. He observed that the wife’s paid employment has contributed to much greater equality between spouses, in sharing of household duties and in decision-making (Leung, 1996).

However, hitherto tasks of wage and earning and domestic labour are still largely segregated. Many researches can only give little evidence of male unemployment leading to major responsibility for domestic work, nor even to their taking an equal share. It is because most of the researches which asserted male have participated more in domestic labour are actually based on proportional sense but not absolute sense (Morris, 1990; Chu, 1997).

In this sense, the proportion of man’s contribution rises with the wife’s employment is only due to her own household labour time falls rather than to his rise. This kind of “cutting back” or the kind of “role expansion” as mentioned above is not a real reappointment of household labour. The following three approaches can provide a more in depth explanation to account for such persistent pattern of unequal household division pattern between men and women. The emergence of capitalism with the related rise of mercantilism, industrialization, and a cash-based economy, eroded the position of women by shifting the centre of production form the domestic until to the public workplace. This separation not only devalued women’s labour in the home, but it also made women more economically dependent on men” (Tilly and Scott, 1978; quoted from Anderson, 1997). This view of devaluation in women’s status is clearly linked to the raise of industrialization and capitalism.

It is claimed that industrialization make the home became separated from the place of work and gradually women became associated with the domestic sphere, while men with public sphere, earning a wage and participating in politics. Then capitalist benefited from this segregation in domestic and earning labour as “women’s domestic labour reproduce the relations of production and also contributes to the maintenance of tolerable living standards for men and may reduce political pressure for radical change”(Abbott & Wallace, 1997:201).

From this approach, the division of domestic labour is related to the sexual division of labour in paid employment and this is why Marxist feminists derived women’s oppression from capitalism. It is this benefit for the capitalist help keeping the division of domestic labour in a way that trapped women in the domestic sphere by decreasing women from opportunity of promotion and high earning.

This view set out to analyze the situation not simply the relationship between domestic labour and the capitalist system, but also queries the nature of the relationship between paid worker and the domestic worker. Nonetheless, as Morris pointed out, once we take the feminine nature of the domestic role as our starting point then the focus of analysis need to be directed from an exploration of the relationship between capitalism, waged labour and domestic labour, to a focus on the nature of the male-female relationship (1990:83).

This change of emphasis leads us to the post hold by radical feminist, which holds that the sources of women’s oppression and domination at unpaid labourers is not capitalism but patriarchy that is “a system of values that asserts and maintains man’s dominant position in society” (Morris, 1990:83). Abbott and Wallace also proposed that it is men’s control over financial resources that gives them power in marriage and makes it difficult for a wife to be independent from her husband. Radical feminist argue that patriarchy in the patriarchal mode of production existed long before the development of capitalism.

Yet, the line between patriarchy and capitalism is ambiguous as they are both historically induced from industrialization, in which separation of paid and unpaid work, and development of the role of “housewife” is evoked. This in turn developed capitalism and patriarchy intertwiningly. The picture provided by capitalism and patriarchy for domestic labour distribution is not complete if we did not take social construction theory into account. It explain why the above two ideologies about the economic structure and men respectively can have a spiral effect in the society.

Sociologists who regard gender as social construction (Fenstermaker et al, 1991, Lorber 1986; quoted from Shelton & John, 1996) argue that housework produces both household goods and services and gender. It is pointed out that women’s time spent on housework and men’s general avoidance of it produce and transform gender. Therefore, researches find out that women and men may view their housework as expression of their gender and that women’s attempt to think of housework as nurturance and love rather than work.

This social construction of gender is a product out of the two ideologies as evidenced from institutional and normative forces and the cultural message about the role of male and female. As mentioned before, capitalism and patriarchy exploited women by depriving them to get as much power and status as men. When this is widespread and progress to become a social norm which in turn rooted into people’s mind and constructed an ideology of gender, a vicious cycle may be resulted.

For instance, they employers assume that is more central to women’s lives than in career and the limited and the low pay that the women receive may actually push them into marriage and motherhood. Women are then described to be trapped into the domestic sphere in an extreme sense as early in the family, , presentation of women’s role in mass media and the structure mode in society all promote the unbalance share of domestic household. This approach can account for findings about the conservative gender role held by most of women even nowadays.

It is found that a few women believed their husband were not doing enough and majority did not expect their husbands to share household responsibilities equally (Yogev, 1981: quoted from Morris, 1990:101). Undoubtedly, women’s right and status are increasing with more voices against gender inequality. Yet, whether the trend of more and more obligation for a married women to became a working wife or working mother can attenuate the role specialization within the conjugal setting, depends much on the how they perceive housework and how they define fairness in the household.

From the five theories discussed above, we can concluded that household labour division is inevitably a manifestation of gender inequality, while exchange theory and resources theory explain the situation with the most salient phenomenon such as material and resources allocation between men and women, Marxist feminist theory, radical feminist theory and social construction theory use a relatively more thorough approach to account for it.

Therefore, we can speculated that in order to breakthrough the long-drawn practice of unequal division of household labour, women should firstly be conscious that equal share of domestic household with men is a right that is reasonable for them to pursue and secondly she has to undergo the struggle induced from the rooted cultural predisposition on the role as being a women, that is a mother and a wife. Otherwise, the spiral effect caused by capitalism, patriarchy and social construction will resist the division of household labour to change.

The nuclear family can be taken to be two parents and their children. Is the nuclear family primarily to benefit the powerful rather than society as a whole can be perceived to be true. This point of view is associated with Marxism and the powerful are the ruling class or bourgeoisie. They own the means of production such as land, factories, machines and so on. Marxism is based on an exploitative and unequal relationship between two classes. The proletariats who are the workers are the majority and this is were the family comes in.

The family is controlled by those who control the economy and they control the family and manipulate the family into benefiting them. In any society the economic aspect (that is, the productive process involving the creation of goods and services for distribution and exchange) is always the most basic, fundamental and ultimately most significant aspect because it is only through economic activity that people can produce the things they need for their physical survival.

Marxists tend to see institutions like the family in terms of what they do to support the overall structure of capitalist society, their function within the limit of a particular form of economic production. Unlike Functionalist sociology, Conflict sociology tends to view these functions from more than one angle (for example, the family as an institution may serve useful purposes for upper class men, but not for working class women). Eli Zaretsky (“Capitalism, the Family and Personal Life”, 1976) a Marxists believes that the family is a prop to the capitalist society.

The capitalist system is based upon the domestic labour of housewives who reproduce future generations of workers. He also believes that family has become a vital unit of consumption. The family consumes the products of capitalism and this allows the bourgeoisie to continue producing surplus value. In this respect, people are not simply being socialised into “society”, the socialisation process is directed towards the integration of people into a specific form of social relationship, one that reflects the fundamental, structural, inequalities of Capitalism.

The ruling class ideology makes the family as an institution help to maintain and reproduce basic social inequalities by presenting them as “normal” and “natural” within the socialisation process. This creates a false class consciousness as they are not aware of their true identity as exploited workers. The family is a safety valve for people’s frustrations whereas the vast majority of males are relatively powerless in Capitalist industry, the family structure serves the purpose of disguising this powerless condition.

Males within the family have traditionally been powerful figures in relation the females. Marxists contend that this “illusion of power” within the family serves as a safety value for the build-up of tension and frustration at work. The feminist perspective on the family has tended to stress the following ideas. Men oppress women within the family, just as they oppress women within all other institutions in Capitalist society.

Feminist have tended to dismiss ides of gender differences based upon supposed biological / genetic differences between males and females that serve to legitimate male domination over women. Women have a role forced upon them within the family. Women act as “unpaid servants” within the home. This idea is linked, by Marxist feminists, to the economic relationship between Capital and labour, in the sense that labour is exploited by Capital in the economic aspect just as women are exploited by men within the family. They see family benefiting the powerful who are the men, this is patriarchy.

Functionalist sociology has tended to look towards the family as the cornerstone of social integration in any society by which is meant the idea that ways have to be found to make people feel that they belong to the society into which they were born – to feel and believe that they have something in common with the people around them. The family group represents the primary institution, in any society, for the initial socialisation of children. In this respect, any institution charged with this responsibility is going to play a significant part in the reproduction of cultural norms and values, therefore family benefits society as a whole.

The family as a unit of stability, of equal importance to this socialisation function, the family also represents an institution that acts as a stabilising force in society. In this respect, the family is seen to be an institution that is charged with ensuring the maintenance of social order. The basic relationship of the family institution to the whole social structure in society that is proposed by Functionalists is the family is a vital social institution responsible with the basic functions of socialisation and system maintenance.

Fletcher a functionalist thinker, identifies the main functions of the family as being: Procreation and Child-Rearing: The family structure provides a legitimate arena for the bearing and raising of children. Given the relative helplessness of children at birth, parental nurture and care is seen as vital – and the family provides a solid basis for such care and support in the early years of a child’s social development. Regulation of Sexual Behaviour:

In this respect, the family structure serves to limit and contain sexual jealousies and by defining the limits of sexual freedom, the family structure limits the chances of potentially damaging sexual relationships developing. Additionally, the family is a primary institution for the provision of love, care and emotional support for both children and adults. In short, it provides a sense of belonging and serves to clearly-define role relationships between men and women. Provision of a Home:

This idea expresses the assumption that people find comfort and security within primary social and sexual relationships. The “home” not only provides physical shelter, it also serves as the focal point of family existence. I recognise that the family group serves some kind of purpose in any society. Where Marxists tend to disagree with thinkers working in other perspectives, however, is in relation to the nature of that purpose and, for Marxists, the relationship between the family and the social structure of any society is one of unequal dependence.

Functionalists argue that social institutions develop out of the need to satisfy, fulfil and organise various human social needs. However I feel that the primary role of the family is not to benefit the powerful but in some societies it does to an extent conform to this idea. There are other functions of the family such as the socialisation of children also providing love and support for its members which does not always benefit the powerful.

But the same has never been accepted in any society of the world even though there are traces of such reactive that goes on off the curtain including India. Sherry Joseph through his study made an attempt to understand the Indian Gay and Lesbian movement through the wider perspectives of identity politics. In an era of gay and lesbian normalization, the homosexual immigrants of Indian subcontinent demanded in Britain and America: An agenda within a racist climate different from the agenda imposed by white gays and lesbians.

The impact of colonial history and concepts of orientation upon world- views and perceptions has played a central role in how non white people have been defined… Silenced in both south Asian patriarchal societies and the white gay communities in America and Europe, the south Asian gays and lesbians have had to invent themes, often with new terms of identification (2228). The identification of one”s sexual behavior is again the product of the western ideology as the entire West rests on Christian values as their prime ideological moorings.

In post colonial era scholars of the empire began to deliberate on a new terminology that can be conveniently used to identify people not preferring to be heterosexual. Thus came, the term alternate sexualities mainly as “an attempt to colonize the general notion and establish the existence of various expressions of sexualities surrounding scriptures, arts, life histories etc. “sheep: 2229). VOLVO. 1, ISSUE 5, JUNE 2014 www. Manipulability. Mom 41 Even with such terms the real scenario of gays and lesbians in India is that they continue to be a band of ostracizes group, socially excluded, and are subjected to homophobia. Attain is more concerned with the contemptuous view of the society upon the homosexuals what brought them down as a minority with a degradingly low social respect. He attempts to undo, if not legally approve, mainly homophobia, a ERM that refers to unreasonable fear of the gays or lesbians.

A subjectivity of human beings is again centered with an appeal to all that they may in every way be treated as human being the way the third wave of feminism vouch for treating women not as a gendered identity, instead they should be looked at and thought of as human beings first . A change of attitude is the central focus. It”s a fact that the majority of people in any given society are heterosexual and the identity is based on the penetrate heterosexuality.

Naturally, people with same sex behavior are not only a minority, but also practice of such is a taboo, inasmuch as the Judder- Christian values and beliefs held that non-procreative sexual acts were a sin against nature and consequently frowned upon in the culture. This value system shaped the legal binding on sodomy’s as a criminal offence as seen in the Indian Penal Code (EPIC) Joseph: 2228). The entire world is still in a suspended state as to its stand on validating gay marriages on moral grounds and value system.

The values also has undergone change over the years especially, after the postmodern scenario of anti essentialist and anti foundational. Gay and lesbian movement all over the world as caught the attention of people in general into thinking on the issue seriously. President and Founder of the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, Matt Slick feels his concern to write on the subject as: Homosexuals want others in society to accept them as normal people with normal sexual behavior patterns. They are working hard to change moral, social, and political opinion to be more in line with what they want.

They are not content to be by themselves. They want others to accept them as a philosophically, morally, and ideologically valid. They want to change the opinions of people. In short, they want to change society. Therefore, it is necessary to write about something that can so drastically affect the moral fabric of this country (Matt Slick. CARR). Attain also has felt the same concern for Indian homosexuals. Scriptural truth is a permanent reality, yet values keep changing over time with the multifarious development of the world in an ever changing world of ours.

Further, Attain is Justified in his handling the controversial issues openly in drama as in the West the Journal like Human Events has Justified the cause that: If we are on the right side of one of the greatest social, oral and spiritual issues of our time, then we need to dig deep, hold our ground, strengthen our commitment and redouble our efforts, regardless of cost or consequence on an almost daily basis, the mainstream media assures us of two things: Just as many conservatives and VOLVO. ISSUE 6 42 traditionalists were on the wrong side of slavery, segregation and women”s rights, we are on the wrong side of the gay rights issue today…… ( Traditional Osteoarthritis Values) Indian gay and lesbian movement gained ground during ass onward and they have common goals of opting for same sex marital relationship or like a living- gather like any other heterosexuals. Both of the communities might be disapproved by the general Indian mass, yet they differ in terms of the power relation they occupy or the space they could create for themselves.

Certainly, gays have greater dominance since they belong to masculine gender and India is always a male dominant society. Indian lesbians in the ass were part of the feminist movement but later on the tie is snapped off for the same reason of societal disapproval and homophobia. The active lesbian group like Khakis” in Bombay was initially a part of he feminist movement group, but later on it stopped receiving any communication or cooperation from the later. So, rightly lesbianism deserved its legitimate place in Indian society given the age old injustice to Indian women.

The present status of Indian gay and lesbian groups are rooted to the emergence of south Asian gay and lesbian group publications in Europe and America in ass of which Terrine, Sammie, and Dost were prominent. Whereas, at present only three groups in three metro cities like Bombay, Madras and Delhi are functional with least number of lesbians or women activists in them. Naturally, the lesbian women stand doubly marginal’s, first by being women and then by being lesbians.

Some of them may still be viewed as the marginal’s of the marginal’s who have been forced to be isolated -turned lesbians for being subjected to marital torture, dowry related oppression, sexual violence and so on. Thus, their sexual identification as lesbians is the result of their series of normalization and a shift of political consciousness. The gross normalization of the gay and lesbian community occurs from the dichotomy of home sexuality and heterosexuality.

The policy of domination by the majority to minority, or by the powerful to the powerless has been as old as subjecting Eve to eat the forbidden fruit by Adam and thereby bring the hubris upon the earth. Such prominent dichotomies are black and White races in America, immigrants and natives in Europe and the US, male/female and so on. Even among women, there are black and white women in the US, upper and lower caste women in India, and other common distinctions are based on class, race community all over the the world.

The third wave of feminism has some common causality with the gay-lesbian movement. Women are looked as stereotypical image as wife or as a shadow to a an. Singletons is not accepted as normal in India. Such situation forces women to go for a marriage of convenience as the case happens in the Do the Needful where Lata and Lapels accepts marriage to maintain the status quo and later on they use the liberty to pursue their own choices .

The gay movement”s claim of getting fair and equitable treatment as citizens of India is quite tenable and in unison VOLVO. 1 with the article 38(1) of the directive principles of state policies of the constitution of India that states : “The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which Justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life”( Directive Principles of State Policy) .

Drama functions as an intellectual sap to the society mirroring the actual happenings on stage and this particular drama has shown the exact picture of the functioning of all gay people in India. It has helped creating more tolerance and space for them than it was before. Now it”s common that the gays and lesbians come together from across the country to show their solidarity and a sense f belongingness as a community by lending all possible supports for one another.

Currently, India is on a path of new social and economic reformation of which class consciousness is replacing caste. Similarly, dominant social groups and structures based on tradition is giving way to differentiations which is again supported by its own discourse in a post modern setting that goes against any fundamental essentialist. On a Muggy Night in Iambi shows the intensity of gay love. The depth of experience is communicated through the stage setting in which the combination of the silhouette and the indoor present an outline of the condition of

Indian gay people as a whole to the audience. One of the prominent techniques of Attain is to create the dramatic tension which highlights the depth and breadth of not only a character but also engages the readers ‘audience into their own attitudinal turmoil to the reality of human experience. Individual talent and dramatic techniques help spinning a mindset of people toward more acceptances through a slow process of evolution.

It is slow because the impact reverberates into the minds of an audience and the same helps consolidate their rational approach to the vexed issue to be translated into acceptance. Attain”s themes are traditional Indian society and its design is to impact upon the gay, lesbian and on any one who is opposed to heterosexual as defined by society. The play is a realistic picture of society as to how does it affect an individual behavior when one is denied any self expression and hypocrisy is upheld for the sake of tradition.

This leads to the visualization of the character against social expectations and the same question Shard in On a Muggy Night in Iambi is haunted by as the national anthem, not as the celebrated Jan Gang, Man”, but as what Makes A Man A Man” (Collected Play: 55). This question teems from his quest for existentialist and as important as the national anthem. Samples is engaged with a love of convenience or sham- love for Samples who only makes an attempt of love, but his heart is engaged somewhere else what evokes Shard”s laments: “l wasted a year of my life being a house wife for you and all I get is a kick in the ass!

You beast (56)! Shard discovered that Samples was in love with Parka’s, but he too was a wounded lover, for Parka’s was more afraid of being banished by the society and hence, distanced himself. Shard loved Samples truly as he put on sinner”(vermilion) like traditional women ND wore bangles what he broke at a height of emotion, for what he found is now lost because of Parka’s. Shard helped him forget his lost-love with Parka’s but hardly could he do that as Parka’s kept cropping up to his mind painfully.

Shard could not conceal his frustration of unrequited love with Samples to Deeply”s catalytic remarks that they must be back to terms of their love -relations: “If I had a lover, would I be such a bitchy? ” Immediately, Deeply gets back to her natural sense of empathy for the female species saying that: Mimi can call yourself a dog, call yourself a pig, but never, ever insult a female” (59). Shard, while suggesting the guard to be shameless, accepts that the gay people are all shameless, but this comes as his deep protest against such societal taboo upon them.

Deeply is more of a flat character as she does not undergo any complex changes of life and performs more like filler, yet she is dynamic in her response to a conflicting situation which is expressive of her internal dialogues, put forward as external dialogues and reactions at various points in the dramatic narrative. That”s the reason that she retorts to the example of a bitchy. She o becomes more revelatory in her plea for an acceptance for gay people.

Hence, she as with Shard stands between the two categories of round and flat characters in its literary sense; or rather they are an admixture of these two and hence may be labeled as catalytic character, who help manifest the main or dynamic characters like Samples or Deed/Parka’s. She pleads for the gay men”s cause more than her own category of lesbians: “l am for gay men”s cause. Men deserve only men! (60). A distinct psychological mooring upon which one”s sexual behavior rests upon is set by the dominant discourse of any society.

Attain sets a discourse through everyday language and out-on -the- street characters through distinct mode of sexism. For example, Deeply and Samples never feel any love for each other in a sense of love- making. It”s made clear when Deeply expresses that if Samples were a woman, they could be in a love and the same is reciprocated in opposite terms and finally Deeply asserts: “If we were heterosexuals, we would be married” (65).

Deeply feels proud of being a woman: “Every time I menstruate, I thank God I am a woman”, the same word are suggested in a different way by Shard to register his contempt for all those who en any space for gay or lesbians: “Every time I menstruate, I thank God I am not pregnant” (66). Samples in the gathering of his gay and lesbian friends is obsessed with his lost love and separation with Parka’s and in turn he makes Shard”s life miserable. In other words, victim turns into victimizer.

Parka’s, at the initial stage of the drama is a victim of social pressure what is made clear in the words of Samples himself: “He left me because he was ashamed of our relationship” (69). Samples was visiting a homophobic psychiatrist to get rid of his depression but the psychiatrist plunged him into a worse situation out of his own abomination of such gay people, for he believed only in aversion therapy which brought further depression to Samples as he VOLVO. 1 45 recalls: “Until he said I would never be happy as a gay man.

It is impossible to change society, he said, but it may be possible for you to reorient yourself” (69). Arrant termed the doctor”s eccentric and homophobic view as primitive idea. In fact, the society is the great barrier what Attain”s dramatic technique and making of the characters unravel as an anti-venom against a venom of hatred for all these people who are trundling to be accepted as human beings and human dignity in the society. Bunny, the TV actor, too has experienced the same treatment of homophobia and non acceptance as gay.

While all the gay friends assembled at Samples”s residence to sympathize with the tragedy of Samples, Sheehan music was pouring in. They show their antipathy by turning on CD player, for they are anguished as no such celebrations are solemnizes for them and hence, such rituals or music is, filthy hot air” (73) for them. Here, one contrast is shown: one marriage is going on with social gaiety amid colors and USIA down stairs and upstairs apartment is witnessing a break up of a gay marriage with the chanting of parallel mantra: “…

This city and God are witness to my vow , I break all ties with Parka’s”(73). Love for each other for these two friends is so strong that Samples could not tear up the Joint photograph with Parka’s symbolizing their conjugal relationship. From the episode of separation between these two friends begins the tragedy of Koran, a dear sister of Samples himself. She was introduced to Deed by Samples since four years.

The gathering at Samples”s flat upstairs in Act l, is the hot bed of making ND breaking all gay relationship and the trauma they bear silently throughout their lives. Koran came to know for the first time in that gathering that her brother is being treated for depression. When she goes to the bedroom to unpack her belongings she is visible to the audience that she was placing a photograph on the side table indicating not only her knowledge of the relationship of her brother, but also as a powerful symbol of her ensuing tragic course of life.

All the three Acts are three in one. Psychic turmoil of all the characters, their pleasure and pain, frustration and evolve against the society are balanced placing them in the silhouette and the front show of the stage setting. This Juxtaposition of interior and the exterior or the front and the back stage against each other is to create a deep impression on the audience” s mind as to the conflicts that goes in their consciousness, yet how they struggle to reconcile with the stern reality of society- a reality divorced from free expression and fair play.

Samples the main character of the drama is brought in the Act II with brilliant dramatic technique in which he walks by Deed at the lonely park at round 8. 30 PM, yet not visible to the audience. He has throttled a few pegs to get rid of his depression and he divulges the fact of his coming to the park as to let someone know his story before he ends his life by committing suicide. Someone exactly listens to his story (history? ) who, in turn, is the exact cause of such wretched condition of life.

Social paranoia is what troubled Deed as he was a little more reactive to people”s suspicion about his gay relationship with Parka’s that turned him into hyper vigilant against any social threat from any quarter. Samples struggles or visibility of such relationship against the blind sensibility of average people: “They can”t see us at all, although we can see them. They must be blind” (81). Then, Samples asks Deed to close his eyes, stand behind him and kiss gently to discover: “Can you see how beautiful we are” (82)?

Through long pause and silence after this warmth of feeling of the two old lovers, fading light, slow music and then Samples”s appearance on front show of the stage to Join the gathering of his friends of Act I while the light reappears to create a sense of change of time and space, is a reliant technique of creating two distinct mental spaces into the minds of the audience: to recreate the subtlety of feelings of these two men off the glare of the everyday world in their minds and the dreary intercourse of the same world under the visibility of everyone in which hardly they could feel proud of and contented with what they are all about.

Surreptitious orchestration of pause and silence, music, light are done to heighten their speed of the stream consciousness natural to all human beings. Social pressure is so enormous that Deed”s psychiatrist could convince him that is love is the work of a devil and through regular church going alone could absolve him of such devil. Samples also believes it and so he wants to avoid showing the photograph of their love making to his own sister, Koran, who is now going to be married with Deed. On the other hand Arrant, an European immigrant, is contrasted with his Indian counter parts of gay community.

In Europe he has greater freedom of being honest to his sexual behavior but in India he might not expect the same degree of freedom: “There is such a thing as honesty. Or maybe it is the company you keep. Or maybe the company I am in” (88). Further Arrant is perturbed seeing closet homosexuals” in India and he regrets being an Indian on grounds of his vantage point of Western immigration. His statement to Bunny echoes the shifting subject of spirituality in Indian society: “l can”t seem to be both Indian and gay. But you are simply ashamed. All this sham is to cover up your shame (88).

The hypocrisy of Indian society is again substantiated through Bunny”s character. He belongs to Sikh community, yet he avoids wearing a turban as he would be subjected to stereotypical role of being a Seaward . The characters are designed skillfully representing every type and category of India gay and lesbian people on stage in an effort to producing a gay ambiance within an hour or two to show what India is passing through presently. The real plight of this marginal’s community is made clear in exact terms through Deeply”s words that it is more fear of being ostracizes or a subject of homophobia than any stigma of shame attached to them.

Basic human dignity is at stake for all these people in general. Being woman and lesbian is more pathetic in India when Deeply makes it pretty loud and clear: “It”s not shame, is it? With us? It”s fear… Of the VOLVO. 1 47 corners we will be pushed into where we don”t want to be” (89). Attain”s effort has been to widen this corner of Indian society to make it at least as large as to accommodate these innocent Boniface citizens of a sovereign country, known for its age old tolerance and universal acceptance.

Of course, India as a nation could be described in no better terms than the first address at the world parliament of religion at Chicago by Swami Vaccinated: “l am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth” (Vaccinated: 3). Naturally, Attain has every reason as an artist to reinstate the glory of this great nation by upholding the cause of the marginal people toward greater tolerance and acceptance for all. Equally fluctuating is the condition of Shard”s mind after being broken from Samples.

He too wants to force his way to be straight , to be a real man only to be accepted by the society, even though he knows deep down within himself that he is as gay as a goose” and seeks the advice of a psychiatrist only to invite a fresh misery in his life. Koran still thinks wishfully of a happy bond between her brother and Shard as she recalls her own life of solitude after divorce. She also warns about the gravity of misery a woman undergoes in this country Just because of male dominance.

Shard”s decision to act like a straight might shatter a woman”s life: “And think of the poor woman. You may end up marrying Just as a cover up for your shame” (102). Bunny accepts that he is a gay man and keeps deceiving people through his constant denial and in the process all such gay people vacillates between the world of reality and the world of sham, finding no permanent anchor to embrace with fullness of heart. The last scene of Act Ill lays bare the absurdity of life of all the gay people on stage who are representative of entire gay community.

Deed is the most pathetic character not only for Deeply, but also for every viewer or reader the way he has shattered the lives of Samples and Koran. He also could not remain immune to this wretched condition of life as a closure look and a psychological delving into his character reveals that he is more sinned against than sinning. His very purpose of marrying Koran was a matter of convenience so that he could continue his love for Samples without any suspicion from any one. Certainly, in the process he could save one life at the cost of the other and the other is a woman.

Koran, while looking at the photograph of Deed and Samples kissing each other, cries out through the open window leading to the vacuous blue sky of Bombay. She must have felt the void of the sky more than anyone else who has not passed through the tormenting labyrinth of life like hers. She is that subaltern woman, conditioned to tolerate torture and untold suffering. She remembers her past life as to how she used to be beaten up by her husband ND still she continued to accept and digest all these as she believed and felt that he loved her: “l felt he loved me enough to want to hurt me” (107).

She questions Deed”s motive of marrying her and the answer comes out as her dramatic monologue that all such gay people behave in a stereotypical manner VOLVO. 1 as “we Just don”t know what else to be” (107) ! The imagery of the photograph with Deed as the best couple on the floor that appears in her mind matches with the vacuous blue sky to condense the absurdity of her life. The explosion of fireworks, colored sights and loud screams of delight from the ground floor heightens the inner turmoil of a saddest thought, perhaps churning an existential dilemma in her mind.

Deed in utter shame and disgust for life is completely broken down: “Where do I begin? How do I begin to live” (111)? All the characters on stage are suddenly plunged into existential dilemma in the world of uncertainty and absurdity of life. The height of the dilemma in the last scene is accentuated by more firecrackers and lusty yells from the wedding below. Lights are slowly fading to beckon the void while the pictures of Deed and Samples and Koran ND Samples are slowly evanescent from the minds of the audience before it is completely engulfed into darkness.

The stage setting and delineation of the pathos of the characters, here, Just reminds one the most exact definition of short story by Arbitration Étagère: Simple events of life happy or sad, Some sad strings from the train of forgetfulness, Not fraught with heavy descriptions, Not crowded with events, No advice, no philosophy Only the feeling that the story is not yet over Although there is no more to read! (Bangladesh) Conclusion: The queer characters representing both the gays and lesbians of urban diddle class India undergo a tortuous Journey of visualization due to homophobia and social boycott of such people.

Attain has been true to his calling as a dramatist to show their painful odyssey of modern India, yet how the issue escapes the thinking mass to be considered for an acceptance and a right place in the society. It”s rightly an odyssey as the victims at times turn into victimizers; thereby bringing upon them a series of miseries, little knowing what exactly ails them. The dramatist has won the heart of every one by bringing this cause of ailment, the whole truth of it, on stage with all sincerity of purpose.

The Romantic era is the historical period of literature in which modern readers most begin to see themselves and their own conflicts and desires. As what was mentioned in the class and as what I have researched, English Romanticism in terms of literature is a shift from faith in reason to faith in the senses, feelings, and imagination; a shift from interest in urban society to an interest in the rural and natural; a shift from public, impersonal poetry to subjective poetry; and from concern with the scientific and mundane to interest in he mysterious and infinite.

There are various themes on how the authors of romantic literary pieces composed their works. Those themes were based on the main idea of the revolutionary movement initiated during that time which was CHANGE. These people want to veer away from what was ordinary and stale and they came up with this radical change. I do not know if my idea regarding the themes used by romantic poets and writers is correct that is why I made further research. As I went through the research, I came up with these insights regarding the subjects used by romantic writers.

Imagination ND emotion are more important than reason and formal rules; imagination is a gateway to transcendent experience and truth. Imagination was one of the keys used by romantic poets and writers to effectively stress out and reveal what they want to convey their readers. They treat imagination with high importance because it was their belief that the only way to attain the highest form of art is to use your imagination. Sometimes, some of the writers do not only rely on their “usual/ ordinary’ imagination.

Sometimes they use other meaner like taking addictive drugs which allows hallucination to happen. For example, Coleridge Kabul Khan was written when Coleridge was high with laudanum, a solution of opium in alcohol used for pain relief. In the last lines, “Weave a circle round him thrice, and close your eyes with holy dread, for he on honeydew hath fed, and drunk the milk of Paradise”, he is implying that writers like him would be feared for their power to make such poems with the use of extraordinary imagination.

Since change is the main idea and reason for romantic movement, having exceptional kind of imagination was one of their vital component. Romantic literature tends to emphasize a love of nature, a respect for romanticism, and a valuing of the common, “natural” man; Romantics idealize country life and believe that many of the ills of society are a result of arbitration. The Romantics inclined more on the natural aspect of the world rather than the urbanize and modernized sector because they have high respect on these entities.

For example, Wordsmith’s sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge accentuates the beauty of nature before man had touched and exploited it based on their needs. The lines “Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be soul who could pass by, A sight so touching in its majesty… Show the majesty of nature. The poem stresses out the reclaiming of nature’s own from what man has taken away from it. The poem also emphasizes the silence and stillness of nature which makes it great and marvelous.

Change is what Romantics aim for but they did not veer away from what natural things/nature should be. They treat nature with divinity and respect. Romantics were attracted to rebellion and revolution, especially concerned with human rights, individualism, and freedom from oppression. Since change is the main reason for Romanticism to upsurge, rebellion and revolution is evident in their works. For example, Flake’s The Chimney Sweeper talks about the abuse experienced by children who were chimney sweepers during that time.

The lines “That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned and Jack, Were all of them locked up in coffins of black” shows that children who were chimney sweepers suffered a lot of harm and their only escape was death. Flake’s work was an effective eye opener of what was happening during that time especially when it comes to child labor. Somehow, it ignites the fire of revolution but the thing about this poem was Blake ended it not with revolutionary kind of movement but with some sort of faith in God.

Still, he managed to emphasize the oppression that was happening during that time which may call and did call for upheaval. There was emphasis on introspection, psychology, melancholy, and sadness. Since the Classics tend to feature the theme of mock heroic epic (which was said to be a craft and “forced”), the Romantics deviate away from it. One of the emphases of the Romantic writers’ works was melancholy. For example, Wordsmith’s The Solitary Reaper has a tone of mystery, loss, nostalgia and loneliness. It was shown in the lines “Some natural sorrow, loss or pain, that has been ND maybe again? . Sadness was featured on the Romantic works because it was (somehow) the inspiration of the writers for not all of them lived Joyfully and vibrantly. Sadness was also one of the keys for an effective Romantic literary piece. Romantics were interested in the Medieval past, the supernatural, the mystical, the “gothic,” and the exotic. These things were also featured in the Romantic works. Authors were very interested in the supernatural, the mystical, the “gothic,” and the exotic. Most of the literary pieces do contain these things. For example, Coleridge

Rime of the Ancient Mariner highlighted these things. The lines “Her lips were red, her looks were free, her locks were yellow as gold: Her skin was white as leprosy. The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she, who thick’s man’s blood with cold” clearly depicts a mysterious woman who appeared out of nowhere aboard in a ship which was already wrecked. These lines (and this poem) lucidly depict the mystery that the Romantic poets’ aim to show the readers the beauty behind mystery and bizarre things which were part of their aim for change. II. Analysis of Romantic and Victorian Poems

Victorian period, which encompasses the optimism and progress of Englishmen, was the perpetuation of the Romantic period’s success in fulfilling its aim to obtain change and transformation. Romantic period was the time where the Englishmen perpetuated movement for literature, characterized by reliance on the imagination and subjectivity of approach, freedom of thought and expression, and an idealization of nature. This was also a call for drastic difference and divergence from what was ordinary and normal. This was also a way for the authors to show the reality behind the blindness of oppression and abuse.

One good example is Flake’s The Chimney Sweeper. The poem encompasses the details of the truth behind child labor and the cruelty experienced by the children who were employed in this Job. One can see that the poem shows how helpless the children were and there was no escape for them but death itself. It has a tragic and melancholic mode for children who should be given the right to have a good life and a chance to study and improve their condition were exploited and deprived. Flake’s approach was effective for the poem will surely catch the reader’s attention and emotion regarding the focus of the poem.

But even though he was successful in establishing these moods for the reader, his ending does not seem to fit the aim of Romantics for change because his ending was stated like “there would be angels who would open the coffins of these poor children and would accompany them to the Heavenly Father”. Nonetheless, the poem showed what should be changed in his society during his time and somehow, it is an eye-opener and it calls for a revolutionary change. A lot of poems during that time also embody this kind of theme. They, during their time, wanted freedom and transformation.

These literary pieces were their weapon, their defense. Movements made for change during Romantic era was successful. Freedom of expression was propagated, change was established. The Englishmen had the chance to grasp the power they were aiming for. They believed they were invincible and this led them to the Victorian period. Victorian period was the period of optimism. Since the Englishmen had the power in their hands, they will do everything to maintain the power that they have. Their craving for improvement, industrialization and education was fulfilled.

This is clearly en in some of the Victorian poems created during that time. Kipling Gung Din is a very good example. A lot of analysis given regarding this poem was focused on Gung Din, who was an Indian bassist or water carrier who serves water for British Soldiers. But one aspect that I saw regarding this poem was it entails the power that the Englishmen have. The poem shows that they were superior and even an Indian was very submissive to them even they were Just soldiers (disregarding the ending of the poem wherein the soldier says mire’s a better man than I am, Gung Din).

All throughout the poem, Gung Din was described as a poor, low and abused slave and this also indicates that these British soldiers have the power over Gung Din and they can do whatever they want to do on Gung Din and they can ask him to serve them wherever and whenever. Although what I analyzed regarding the poem when relating it to the power and optimism that the Victorians have was negative, still, it exemplifies such. This poem also shows appearances which the Englishmen is trying to do during Victorian period. The soldiers in this poem show power and prudish, unceasing their weaknesses in use of Gung Din.