Gender Roles and Marriage in The Proposal by Chekhov and Country Lovers

In the following essay I will compare and contrast gender roles and marriage between â€Å"The Proposal† by Anton Chekhov and â€Å"Country Lovers† by Nadine Gordimer to showing how women tried to survive in controlling their identity. This essay will compare and contrast each of the characters used by two very different writers. The early 1900’s era was not kind to people in their struggle for what they tried to accomplish with their lives. Nadine Gordimer was born 1923 in Africa. She was against the opposition that the black people of Africa had to face and stressed this issue in her writings. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1991. Anton Chekhov was also famous for Russia’s Pushkin Prize in 1888 and like Gordimer, he also wrote many short stories but sometimes ventured out into theater with several plays. Both writers lived abroad sharing the use of conflict in their writings such as unrealistic expectations, endowment and social status. They used symbolism more as a contrast instead of a comparison, but compared lower class to higher class status for each of their characters in the two short stories that will be featured in this paper. In the article written by Gordimer that is titled â€Å"Twenty-one Years Later she states that â€Å"since 1980 other media have taken over from the printed word as the most powerful means of free expression. I remain as totally opposed to censorship as ever, but I am in a quandary when I touch the wrong button on television set and find I’m confronted with a couple making Shakespeare’s ‘beast with two backs’ in a truly beastly and violent sexual display that certainly could frighten any of the many children left to amuse themselves playing the channel keyboard of television. I’m more co... ...p107, 2 p. Contemporary Review Company, Ltd. Gordimer, N., 2001 Twenty-One Years Later, Biography, spring, Vol. 30 Issue 2, p. 277, 2 p. Kenyon, O., 1989 Women Writers Talk, Carroll & Graf Publishers, ISBN-10: 0881847054. Miller, R., 2008 Sweat. February 8, Collins Harper, Retrieved Website:http://www.zoranealehurston.com. Ritchi, D., 2003 Doing Oral History, New York: O U P. Seyhan, A., 2001 Writing Outside the Nation, U K: Princeton University Press. Singh, G., & Kumari, D., 2011 History Revisited in Oral History by Nadine Gordimer, Language in India, February, Vol. 11 Issue 2, p 296-303, 8 p. Trump, M., 1986 The Short Fiction of Nadine Gordimer, Research in African Literatures, Fall, Vol. 17, Issue 3, p 341-369, 2 p. Winkelmann, J., 2002 â€Å"Restless Legs† in â€Å"The Wedding Proposal†, Acta Neurologica Scandinavia, April, Vol. 105 (4), p. 349-350.

Minister’s Black Veil: The Harbored Sin

Reverend Mr. Hooper approached the â€Å"meeting house† Sunday morning to preach his sermon as he did every Sunday, but on this day, he wears a veil that normally signifies mourning. The veil represents the good minister’s guilty conscience that masks a secret sin he harbors in his soul. From Hooper’s first sermon with the veil, the congregation recognizes the darkness he hides with the crape. The sermon makes â€Å"reference to secret sin, and those sad mysteries we hide from our nearest and dearest,† possibly Hooper’s. Later, the minister attends a funeral where the town’s people feel â€Å"the minister and the maiden’s spirit were wailing hand and hand. † In this scene, the inner death of the Reverend’s soul gives him a connection with the deceased. The guilt seizes the minister at the wedding he performs for the â€Å"handsomest couple in Milford. † He catches a look at himself in a mirror and â€Å"the black veil involved his own spirit in the horror with which it overwhelmed all others. † Obviously his guilt overwhelms him at this happy occasion. The sin he harbors in his soul also changes him and separates him from society. At first, Old Squire Sanders does not invite the minister to breakfast. As he continues to wear the veil, â€Å"the gentle and timid would turn aside to avoid him†¦the children fled from his approach. † Even his fiance leaves him because he cannot clear his clouded conscience. Mr. Hooper explains to Elizabeth, â€Å"I hide my face for sorrow. . . I cover it for secret sin. † That sin keeps him from happiness with Elizabeth. The reverend does connect, however, with other sinners. He uses the veil for â€Å"one desirable effect. † The veil’s â€Å"gloom, indeed, enabled him to sympathize with all dark affections. Converts felt â€Å"they had been with him behind the black veil,† signifying they share that secret sin Hooper hides. The Reverend’s â€Å"soul hath a patient weariness until that veil be lifted,† and the secret sin weighs on the minster’s soul. His soul must go to heaven in order to be saved. Unfortunately,  "on this earth† his soul suffers. While he remains human, his soul will bear the burden of sin. Not until God takes his soul can his body finally be cleansed from his impurities. Mr. Hooper wears the black veil to demonstrate to others the guilt he feel being a sinner.

From Hunter-Gathereres to Agarian Society - 1137 Words

Subsequently taking Western Civilization for the second time this semester’s I must say it was really interesting, and to be honest I never really enjoyed learning about western civilization at all, due to failing it in a previous semester. After this semester I found interesting and I was able to learn a lot so far specifically about the hunter gathers to the agrarian society. It really changed my view and I wanted to learn more. While attending more and more classes what I came to realize is that the way college history is taught it was very different from when learning about history throughout my years of high school. From my perspective when taking western Civilization one you learn about the beginning of man itself, and how the earliest humans evolved through time of discovery of technological advances. The earliest humans known to man started off as hunter gathers, but through the years of technology advances they transform into agrarians also known as an agricultural society. I asked myself why did these earliest human change from one drastic change to another, but overall how did this transition change their overall life style. It all started with the earliest human population also known as nomadic people and the nomads was a thriving race during that time as the first settlers of the Mesopotamia area. Nomads were the first and famous Hunter and gathers Hunters and gathers were people who adapt to whatever Environmental setting they traveled to, but also their main