Literature's Portrayal of Gender Roles in Society

In the plays Fences by August Wilson and A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, both represent gender roles, in similar ways. Significantly like today’s marriages, the male’s role is to provide for his family and the female’s role is to look after the children and prepare the dinner. Today, times have completely changed with marriage gender roles and generally how women are looked at. It is more common now in days for a women to be independent because not only do women have more rights now, but the roles have switched. In some cases, the husbands are now the ones that cook dinner for the family. However, parents in a marriage end up portraying their gender roles regardless. Not to mention, understanding how both plays share the complexities of their family life. Likewise, Fences and A Doll House are comparable because Torvald and Troy are portrayed as the man of the house, the ones who get the final say; while Nora and Rose are belittled when it comes to making important decisions. So the issue of gender roles in society is discussed in this essay by analyzing two literary texts: Fences and A Doll's House.

Both A Doll’s House and Fences analyze gender roles in society. The wives roles both are confined to the house and labeled unable to work for a wage or support a family. Meanwhile, the men are lacking in relationship with their families, but this is overpowered by their ability to provide and control because the female’s role is portrayed as not having a say in anything. These plays shed a light on the expected roles of mothers and fathers in a child’s life. The fathers have shown by example a position of power to the children. In contrast, Rose disciplines her children yet cares for them deeply while Nora simply “plays” with her children and is unable to care for them because she fears she will corrupt them.

Troy and Torvald both confuse the responsibility they have for their family with actual love. Both characters think that financially supporting their wives constitutes as loving them completely. Playing the role of the man of the house blinds them which ends up backfiring on both Troy and Torvald. Throwing money in the wives face can only do so much because the wives slowly start to build anger and then they start to resent their significant other. Similarly, Troy supports his wife and children in material but does not understand them or treat them well. Also, trying to control everything within his family, but it does not work out that way. Again, the gender roles have slightly switched since because the responsibility of being the man of the house is no longer represented only by the male who shows no emotion. In present times, the male role has to be more emotional and loving towards the wife and kids. Unlike Torvald, he treats Nora as a child, caring for her to certain limits, feeling responsible for her. He also refers to Nora as his “squirrel” and has no relationship with his kids.

Both Nora and Rose have sacrificed a lot for their husbands, which goes unnoticed. Although, Nora and Rose are both different people, they are in similar situations. For example, Rose continues to live under the same roof as Troy after the fact that he cheated on her, but her way of dealing with it is by separating her emotions towards Troy. Whereas Nora, she chooses to isolate herself from her family, which is a bit more extreme but it is the only way to get Torvald’s attention to fully understand what is at hand. Both characters resemble the image of the ‘old school’ house wife because of how they are portrayed; very obedient, they clean, and cook.

In both plays, the children become reflections of their mothers, which in these plays is the parent that is present the most. Nora’s children seem to play all day, just as she does. Cory shows more responsibility because he reflects Rose by being responsible and doing what is expected of him. Rose raises Troy’s child because it is the right thing to do just as Cory does as expected and gets a legitimate job to earn a living. Both stories exemplify that children will reflect the parent that has the most influence on them, usually the mother.

In conclusion, the plays Fences by August Wilson and A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen, both represent gender roles in society. This essay analyzes how Torvald and Troy are portrayed as the man of the house, the ones who get the final say; while Nora and Rose are belittled when it comes to making important decisions. However, parents in a marriage end up portraying their gender roles regardless. Similar like todays marriages, the father is looked as the strong one showing that you have to work hard and the mother is known to be more sympathetic, showing more emotion. The experience that both these plays give is something that can definitely be learned from. It goes without saying, gender roles can cause conflict and more complexities in the family because it should be looked as being a team and not based off on gender roles.

Works Cited

• Wilson, August. Fences. Penguin Books, 1987
• Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House. Dover Publications Inc, 1879