Gender Roles In Fences By August Wilson And The Rez Sisters
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Race and Gender
The representation of female gender stereotypes is clear in the plays Fences by August Wilson and The Rez Sisters by Tomson Highway. The female characters in the plays are portrayed as helpless and needy but, through their experiences these characters grow and become powerful. Traditionally woman care for the household but the characters break free from these stereotypes and take charge of their own lives because of their experiences. The male characters use their position to put the women down, objectify them, and push them to poverty. The female characters in both plays were negatively affected by the men in their lives which lead the to realize their own power.
The Rez Sisters focuses on the lives of seven women and roles their…show more content… The oppression of women are shown in multiple instances throughout the play. Pelajia talks about getting rid of the roads and making it better but was quickly shut down because she is a woman. “Bullshit! if that useless old chief of ours was a woman,wed see a few things get done around here.We’d see our woman working,we’d see our men working,we’d see our young men sober on saturday nights, and we'd see Nanabush dancing up and down the hill on shiny black paved roads” (Highway,114). Pelajia wants a female chief but it seems like that is something she can not reach because she is a woman. Highway uses this character to show the difference between a man and woman. The role of a woman is stereotypical as certain jobs are not available to Pelajia because she is a woman which means the expectation is for her to care for the household. The play Fences has represented woman as followers of men. Early on in Act 1 Scene 1 we see the role women are given in the play as Rose is preparing supper in the kitchen while her husband Troy is speaking to Bono.In the first part of the play, Rose is excluded from the conversation between Troy and Bono because they are having “men talk” (Willam, 5). Rose comes out and