scholarly journals Gender projections in the novel Soul in A Mask by N. V. Nedobrovo

Author(s):  
Marianna V. Kaplun

The prose novel by N. V. Nedobrovo Soul in A Mask, written in 1914, incorporates basic ideas of the writer’s work and continues development of gender (feminine) discourse of the modern era. To a large extent, the search for a “soul in a mask”, the ability to express a lyrical “I”, coupled with the theatricality of being, the need for a social masquerade, are characteristic of the majority of modernist works. The theme of masks is equally present in the lyrics of symbolism and close to Nedobrovo acmeism (for example, in the work of A. A. Akhmatova, Nedobrovo’s closest friend). The masquerade performs two functions in the novel — plot-forming and philosophical. Having made the center of the story of the reflecting heroine Olga, Nedobrovo displays a number of male characters, a collision which meant to reveal the title female character. Male / female opposition (masculinity / femininity) informs the main conflict of the novel, related to the inability of an intelligent woman of expressing herself in a male society without wearing a mask. The paper shows that the mask serves as a kind of gender projection and represents an attempt to overcome the social masquerade, which is always associated with an identity crisis. Mask, as applied to the heroine and her ready-made social mask gives an opposite effect, only emphasizing the gender difference and, accordingly, leading to the disclosure of the heroine’s femininity. Based on this, “female issue” raised in the story is resolved in compliance with patriarchal ideas of the conservative gender discourse of the turn of the century.

Author(s):  
Anthonio Adefuye ◽  
Markes Butler ◽  
Henry Adeola

Stigmatization is a putative structural barrier to health-seeking behaviour, and radical education of the populace is crucial to ameliorate its detrimental effects. Even before the classic work of Erving Goffman in 1963 on the social psychology of stigma, the practice of fear and avoidance because of the presence of a disease, in particular infectious diseases and in some cases non-infectious disease has been in existence in many societies. Similarly, infectious disease stigmatization – a standardized image of the disgrace of certain people that is held in common by community at large, on account of being ill by an infectious disease – has co-existed with human nature both in the pre- and post-modern era. At present, the ongoing novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created fear and anxiety in many communities globally and this has led to the widespread resurgence of social stigmatization. Instances of prejudice, racial discrimination, the rise of anti-foreigner sentiments and the blaming of certain groups of people for the spread of COVID-19 has been documented in many parts of the world [...].


2020 ◽  
pp. 125-135
Author(s):  
Asmita Bista

Setting the novel in different time-periods (Rana regime, Panchayat System and Maoist movement), Sheeba Shah’s Facing my Phantoms has depicted the condition of Nepali males and is considered a historical document. This article aims to examine the factors that constrain the male characters to traditional and anti-traditional gender roles. It also studies the consequences faced by the characters while performing and defying gender stereotypes. To address this objective, Butler’s and Connell’s ideas have been used as they have claimed that masculinity and femininity like any other human attributes are fluid; in fact, it is constantly reconstructed in response to socio-political changes under the pressure of social norms. According to Butler, gender is something that is not a corporeal thing, but it is reproducing, changing, and moving. The significance of this article is to find insights in understanding the condition of males in the Nepali society. It concludes that the male characters of Shah’s novel oscillate between traditional and anti-traditional gender roles. Under the social pressure, they perform the roles of an assertive and authoritative father, aggressive and ruthless lover/husband, and rational and responsible son. Likewise, when they get influenced by socio-political changes, they fail to stick to stereotypical gender roles. Consequently, they appear in the emotional, docile, dependent, confused, and unassertive roles.


Anclajes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-128
Author(s):  
Fermín A. Rodríguez ◽  
◽  

The Latin American literature of the last thirty years is crossed by displacement of bodies through plots that do not have the stability of the social and cultural borders that shape the nation-state. In a society where the ideal of well-being, happiness and longevity acquires a political status, Rodolfo Fogwill’s latest novel, La introducción (2016) constitutes a formal inquiry into the new spatializations of culture and new mechanisms of subjectivation and control that emerge in the novel of our turn of the century as indexes of transformations of power and forms of exploitation without which 24/7 capitalism could not function.


This research article focuses on the theme of violence and its representation by the characters of the novel “This Savage Song” by Victoria Schwab. How violence is transmitted through genes to next generations and to what extent socio- psycho factors are involved in it, has also been discussed. Similarly, in what manner violent events and deeds by the parents affect the psychology of children and how it inculcates aggressive behaviour in their minds has been studied. What role is played by the parents in grooming the personality of children and ultimately their decisions to choose the right or wrong way has been argued. In the light of the theory of Judith Harris, this research paper highlights all the phenomena involved: How the social hierarchy controls the behaviour. In addition, the aggressive approach of the people in their lives has been analyzed in the light of the study of second theorist Thomas W Blume. As the novel is a unique representation of supernatural characters, the monsters, which are the products of some cruel deeds, this research paper brings out different dimensions of human sufferings with respect to these supernatural beings. Moreover, the researcher also discusses that, in what manner the curse of violence creates an inevitable vicious cycle of cruel monsters that makes the life of the characters turbulent and miserable.


IJOHMN ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 11-19
Author(s):  
RASHMI Ahlawat

Aravind Adiga’s Man Booker Prize winning debut novel The White Tiger is sharp, fascinating, attacks poverty and injustice. The White Tiger is a ground breaking Indian novel. Aravind Adiga speaks of suppression and exploitation of various sections of Indian society. Mainly a story of Balram, a young boy’s journey from  rags to riches, Darkness to Light transforming from a village teashop boy into a Bangalore entrepreneur. This paper deals with poverty and injustice. The paper analyses Balram’s capability to overcome the adversities and cruel realities. The pathetic condition of poor people try to make both ends meet. The novel mirrors the lives of  poor in a realistic mode. The White Tiger is a story about a man’s journey for freedom. The protagonist   Balram in this novel is a victim of injustice, inequality and poverty. He worked hard inspite   of his low caste and overcame the social hindrance and become a successful entrepreneur. Through this novel Adiga portrays realistic and painful image of modern India. The novel exposes the anxieties of the oppressed.


2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Besin Gaspar

This research deals with the development of  self concept of Hiroko as the main character in Namaku Hiroko by Nh. Dini and tries to identify how Hiroko is portrayed in the story, how she interacts with other characters and whether she is portrayed as a character dominated by ”I” element or  ”Me”  element seen  from sociological and cultural point of view. As a qualitative research in nature, the source of data in this research is the novel Namaku Hiroko (1967) and the data ara analyzed and presented deductively. The result of this analysis shows that in the novel, Hiroko as a fictional character is  portrayed as a girl whose personality  develops and changes drastically from ”Me”  to ”I”. When she was still in the village  l iving with her parents, she was portrayed as a obedient girl who was loyal to the parents, polite and acted in accordance with the social customs. In short, her personality was dominated by ”Me”  self concept. On the other hand, when she moved to the city (Kyoto), she was portrayed as a wild girl  no longer controlled by the social customs. She was  firm and determined totake decisions of  her won  for her future without considering what other people would say about her. She did not want to be treated as object. To put it in another way, her personality is more dominated by the ”I” self concept.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khatija Bibi Khan ◽  
Owen Seda

Feminist critics have identified the social constructedness of masculinity and have explored how male characters often find themselves caught up in a ceaseless quest to propagate and live up to an acceptable image of manliness. These critics have also explored how the effort to live up to the dictates of this social construct has often come at great cost to male protagonists. In this paper, we argue that August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone present the reader with a coterie of male characters who face the dual crisis of living up to a performed masculinity and the pitfalls that come with it, and what Mazrui has referred to as the phenomenon of “transclass man.” Mazrui uses the term transclass man to refer to characters whose socio-economic and socio-cultural experience displays a fluid degree of transitionality. We argue that the phenomenon of transclass man works together with the challenges of performed masculinity to create characters who, in an effort to adjust to and fit in with a new and patriarchal urban social milieu in America’s newly industrialised north, end up destroying themselves or failing to realise other possibilities that may be available to them. Using these two plays as illustrative examples, we further argue that staged masculinity and the crisis of transclass man in August Wilson’s plays create male protagonists who break ranks with the social values of a collectively shared destiny to pursue an individualistic personal trajectory, which only exacerbates their loss of social identity and a true sense of who they are.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 462-468
Author(s):  
Latika kothari ◽  
Sanskruti Wadatkar ◽  
Roshni Taori ◽  
Pavan Bajaj ◽  
Diksha Agrawal

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a communicable infection caused by the novel coronavirus resulting in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV). It was recognized to be a health crisis for the general population of international concern on 30th January 2020 and conceded as a pandemic on 11th March 2020. India is taking various measures to fight this invisible enemy by adopting different strategies and policies. To stop the COVID-19 from spreading, the Home Affairs Ministry and the health ministry, of India, has issued the nCoV 19 guidelines on travel. Screening for COVID-19 by asking questions about any symptoms, recent travel history, and exposure. India has been trying to get testing kits available. The government of India has enforced various laws like the social distancing, Janata curfew, strict lockdowns, screening door to door to control the spread of novel coronavirus. In this pandemic, innovative medical treatments are being explored, and a proper vaccine is being hunted to deal with the situation. Infection control measures are necessary to prevent the virus from further spreading and to help control the current situation. Thus, this review illustrates and explains the criteria provided by the government of India to the awareness of the public to prevent the spread of COVID-19.


Think India ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 827-835
Author(s):  
R. Ramakrishnan

Hariharan’s versatility as an author with a mission to subvert the entire tradition can be recognized in every work of fiction she has created. For this purpose in her second novel, The Ghosts of Vasu Master she experiments with a male protagonist and a host of other male characters. Vasu is the protagonist of the novel. He is a retired school teacher from P.G. Boys’ school, Ellipettai. He leads a lonely widower’s life with two of his sons employed and settled away from home. This article scrutinizes the life of an idower is all aspects.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 150-158
Author(s):  
A. V. Zhuchkova

The article deals with A. Bushkovsky’s novel Rymba that goes beyond the topics typical of Russian North prose. Rather than limiting himself to admiring nature and Russian character, the author portrays the northern Russian village of Rymba in the larger context of the country’s mentality, history, mythology, and gender politics. In the novel, myth clashes with reality, history with the present day, and an individual with the state. The critic draws a comparison between the novel and the traditions of village prose and Russian North prose. In particular, Bushkovsky’s Rymba is discussed alongside V. Rasputin’s Farewell to Matyora [ Proshchanie s Matyoroy ] and R. Senchin’s The Flood Zone [ Zona zatopleniya ]. The novel’s central question is: what keeps the Russian world afloat? Depicting the Christian faith as such a bulwark, Bushkovsky links atheism with the social and spiritual roles played by contemporary men and women. The critic argues, however, that the reliance on Christianity in the novel verges on an affectation. The book’s main symbol is a drowning hawk: it perishes despite people’s efforts to save it.


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