Compare and Contrast - Grade: A PDF

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This was a compare and contrast assignment for Prof. Hendrys class ...

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Holroyd 1 Keota Holroyd!! Hendry ENC 1102 20 February 2019 The Roles Women Play In Society The works from “Girl” and “New York Day Women” are not from the same perspective. The stories are very similar and go more into depth about what is expected and taught to a woman or young girl. In both of the stories, the point of view is in first person. By having the stories in first person, the reader can imagine being in the characters shoes, which helps understand and expand on the story. In the story “Girl” the reader can see that the narrator is a mother or mother figure, talking to her young daughter. The story “Girl” goes more into depth about what a woman should be doing and what a woman should not be doing. Whereas in the story “New York Day Women,” the mother does tell her daughter what she should be doing. Although this story is from the viewpoint of the daughter already grown up, and she is remembering what her mother taught her. Having both stories in the same point of view can help the reader understand both stories to its full capacity. Women are expected to do various tasks, such as taking care of babies and cooking, but these roles should be extended more equally to men as well. In society, it is very common for other people to expect something from females, from food to cleaning duties, women can be taken advantage of. In “Girl” it states, “on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming” (137). This is just one of the many examples of the expectations from females. Another example is from “New York Day Women” and it states, “Would you get up and give an old lady like me your subway seat? In this

Holroyd 2 state of mine, I bet you don’t even give up your seat to a pregnant lady” (349). Both of these quotes emphasize what the role women play in society and what is expected of them. In “New York Day Women” the daughter is telling the readers about what her mother had taught her and what she is expected to do as a young woman. Both stories greatly emphasize gender roles for women and tell the readers more in depth about it. There is a continuous theme for both “Girl” and “New York Day Women” that are very similar. In “Girl” the theme is what a woman needs to do and what is expected of them. In “Girl” the narrator states, “always eat your food in such a way that it won’t turn someone else’s stomach” (137). The story tells about young women who is being told what to do and what not to do by another person who would be assumed to be the mother. The story “Girl” also talks about what she does on certain days and what she is allowed to do on some days but not others. In “New York Day Women” the theme is a little different. Another way to look at the theme would be to not expect everything from a woman. In the story “New York Day Women” a girl was walking down the street when she spotted her mother. Curious about what her mother was doing, the girl followed her and saw exactly what her mom did that day, and it was opposite of what she thought her mom did. Both stories are very passionate about a woman’s role in society. In both “Girl” and “New York Day Women” the main characters are very similar. In the story “Girl” the young woman has been told what to do as a woman and how to do it. The girl had expected chores to do and was told what to say and what not to say such as, “always eat your food in such a way that it won’t turn someone else’s stomach” (137). The main character in “New York Day Women” is a little different in such way as she was not told what to say but what she should do. The story emphasized the girl telling about what her mother had told her she should do such like, “Why should we give to Goodwill when there are so many people back

Holroyd 3 home who need clothes? We save our clothes for the relatives in Haiti” (351). Both of the girls in each story knew their roles as women, and they made sure to follow what they were taught. The roles of women are considered more feminine than employee jobs. According to a survey conducted by Evita March, “It was also predicted that regardless of the sex, those occupying a homemaker role would receive higher feminine scores than those occupying an employee role” (687). It is pretty clear that society assumes the female gender with babies and house cleaning and other tasks. According to Mary Beard, “Throughout the ages of attention to the phenomenon of woman, has been variously represented, as mysterious- an idea probably derived from the long mystery concerning the creation of human life” (1). Both of these articles, as well as the stories “Girl” and “New York Day Women” put a light on the female role in society as people who just clean and have babies. Both stories, especially “Girl,” show the reader what is usually expected for a woman to do for others. According to “Girl” “Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap…” (137). The story “Girl” goes into more detail about what she does each day because that is how she was taught. Woman are very important to society as they are creating it. While in society, today, women hold the same jobs as men and are very intelligent, does not necessarily mean that earning those titles was a walk in the park. Everyday women struggle to receive the same awards men do, and while society has been mostly accepting of this, it is important for women to remember where they came from, and where they are meant to be. The stories “Girl” and “New York Day Women” show the readers what is and was truly expected for them to do and some of their feelings about it, as well as a reminder to men of their motherly role in society.

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Works Cited Beard, Mary R. “Woman’s Role in Society.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 251, 1947, p. 1. EBSCOhost,

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url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eds jsr&AN=edsjsr.1024873&site=eds-live. Danticat, Edwidge. “New York Day Women.” Compact Literature. Pp 349-353. March, Evita, et al. “Current Prescriptions of Men and Women in Differing Occupational Gender Roles.” Journal of Gender Studies, vol. 25, no. 6, Dec. 2016, pp. 681– 692. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/09589236.2015.1090303. Kincaid, Jamica. “Girl.” Compact Literature. Pp. 137-140....