The Age of Innocence [1] by Edith Wharton and The Color Purple [2] by Alice Walker both paint a portrait of American culture in the late 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. This culture appears to be masculine, with no place for woman as a manifestation other than a trophy or a servant. However, in both cases, an unconventional woman arrives to draw attention to the fact that a women's culture also exists, however small and unknown it may be. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an original essay It is tempting to argue that both novels support the notion of female culture as both marginalized and, to a large extent, , secret or clandestine. . In The Age of Innocence, the use of a male narrator is of crucial importance to the idea of ​​a male-dominated American culture, particularly in the context of the late 19th century novel. Clare Virginia Eby describes the novel as "a novel set between the Victorian and modern eras, which provocatively examines women's potential for freedom through a male center of consciousness".[3] Certainly, Wharton, although feminine, uses the voice of the opposite sex, and it is from this perspective that she examines and critiques the marginalization of female culture. Carol Wershoven supports this point by asserting that "[Newland's point of view] is the only point of view in the novel, although Wharton distances herself from this point of view through irony and supplements it with authorial commentary." [4]. This leads us to question the merits of using a male narrator rather than a female narrator, thus offering us one more patriarchal voice, even in a novel heavy with the idea of ​​the necessary rejection of this patriarchy. One answer to this question is posed by Amy Taubin, who suggests that Wharton is one of several authors who aim to "examine the culture they grew up in from the fictional perspective of insiders, while they themselves were even foreigners”[5]. Taubin's view of Wharton as an "outsider" supports the idea of ​​an alteration of women and their culture within a patriarchal American society. Indeed, it is largely conceivable that Wharton would choose to tell her story from a male point of view in order to make her text compatible with a society in which both sexes effectively view culture from the same male point of view. Ultimately, transplanting her own opinions into the voice of a fictional male character allowed her to exert greater influence on her early 20th century audience than if she used a woman's voice. Ironically, she subscribes to the expectations of patriarchy only to challenge and reject it. Eby presents a point of view that aligns with this idea, as she states that "In a moment of rebellion...Newland expresses what no female character could ever say: 'Women should be free – as free as we are » » [6]. Coming from a woman, this statement may not have the credibility of a male voice within the confines of patriarchy. Meanwhile, in The Color Purple, in stark contrast to Wharton's use of a distanced male voice in The Age of Innocence, Walker uses a character whose experiences and societal positioning are more aligned with his own. This alignment primarily comes from being a black woman born and raised in the deep south of the United States during the 20th century. However, although Celie's voice is not spoken in the same immediately masculine perspective as Newland's voice, it is heavy with the masculine influence of Celie's "father" and husband. This influence is, in fact, ifimportant that Celie's skewed female perspective is once again more in line with the perspective of the men around her than with her own raw, unaltered female views, further suggesting that American culture is indeed universally crafted from the man. perspective. For example, she calls Alphonso "Pa", due to the misconception he implanted in her mind that he was her father. Furthermore, she considers herself financially dependent on men, even though she is in reality the legal owner of her late parents' house, which she believes belongs to the false "Pa". This implies that although men and women do indeed view American culture from the male perspective, for the latter it is often the result of men's blind and powerless manipulation and lies. They believe the culture is masculine because that is what they have been conditioned to believe. Richard M. Gula highlights this effect by asserting that “we react to what we see. It's that simple. But we always see from a certain perspective, from a certain framework of meaning”[7]. Indeed, in the case of American society, this framework can be considered to be that of American patriarchy and masculine culture. However, Gula also suggests that the female perspective of culture is not lost forever, because by realizing that it has been hidden, women may reject the male view of society in favor of their own. He maintains that “Celie frees herself from male oppression only after having eliminated the cataracts of sexism which blinded her”[8]. The “cataracts” he speaks of symbolize patriarchy and the way male culture appears to be an obscuring force preventing women from embracing their femininity and the culture that comes with it. While both novels present a view of 19th and early 20th century American culture that is universally colored by the dominant male perspective, they also address the reasons why the female cultural counterpart remains unofficial, minor, and often actually clandestine. . The America depicted in The Age of Innocence is one in which the female voice is silenced just as the male voice is promoted. The best example of this is the character of May, who can be seen as a character conditioned to allow her views and preferences to become obsolete in the face of male culture. Eby supports this idea by stating that “it is May’s ‘duty’ not to think, speak, or think for herself; his duty is to wait for men to speak to him, to “have no past”, to acquire no experience, to remain an idol intact, even intact”[9]. However, this reference to "duty" suggests that, although oppressed, May is in reality neither naive nor blind to her husband's lies and indiscretions. This is evident as May tells Archer that he "must not think that a girl knows as little as her parents imagine." We hear and we notice. »[10] Indeed, it can be argued that May is representative of the way in which 19th-century American women subscribed to male perceptions of culture and society, not through manipulation as suggested above, but simply because that they were aware of society's expectations of their place in society. May is aware of her husband's betrayal but remains silent in order to remain true to the expectations and traditions of marriage that prevail in a patriarchal American society. Slavoj Zizek supports this idea by stating that "far from being an ingenue unaware of her beloved's emotional turmoil, she knew everything, but she persisted in her role as an ingenue,thus safeguarding the happiness of their marriage. »[11]. This suggests that, rather than understanding herself as a victim of Newland's infidelity and acting accordingly, she prioritizes the need to accommodate her husband's misplaced passion for another woman while continuing to act like the perfect wife. Lois Tyson argues that in Wharton's novel, "women are depicted as marital commodities sold to the highest bidder in their attempt to climb the socio-economic ladder of the American dream."[12] The implication of this view is that women are not only aware of their oppression and expected submission, but they also use it to better themselves in a society where a woman's success and worth are directly linked to the person she marries. It can be argued that female culture in The Age of Innocence is so minor and unofficial that success can only be achieved by allowing themselves to become pawns for the demands of male culture. Similarly, in The Color Purple, Celie begins as an entirely passive character. . Her rape by Pa symbolizes the destruction of the woman by the male, reducing her to serving an instrumental purpose to satisfy his male sexual urges. She is forced to marry Pa, thus fulfilling the masculine cultural practice of men choosing their wives with or without their consent. After Celie and Nettie are separated by Mr_, their relationship is reduced to communication via letters sent by Nettie. This embodies the subterranean nature of female culture, as the sibling relationship is forced to survive underground via discreetly written letters which, although intercepted and hidden by Mr_, are ultimately discovered by Celie. Additionally, Celie silently and secretly struggles with old Mr_'s derogatory comments about Shug. Although she mentally imagines a more visible form of revenge when she says, "I'm thinking about the crushed glass, I wonder how you crush it"[13], she eventually settles for simply spitting into his glass when he doesn't. don't look. This embodies the notion of a secret American feminine culture, incapable of operating in the open or rebelling against it. God and religion also play an important role throughout the book, as Celie's narrative is presented in the form of letters addressed to "Dear God".[14] However, her understanding of God fits a nation of male and white privilege, as she describes him as "all white... looking like a fat white man working at the bank".[15] Such a masculine perspective on theology can be seen as a contributing factor to the fact that women's culture remains unofficial and clandestine. In a Victorian society with a long history of Christian values ​​and priorities, women were expected to remain passive not only from a societal perspective, but also from a religious perspective, the Bible itself even fueling the prevalence of patriarchy for so long. that it had become deeply ingrained in the minds of men and women as the right, and more importantly, the only way to do things. Furthermore, by adhering to the idea of ​​God as a white man, he becomes something of a figurehead for patriarchal culture, justifying the oppression of women's culture by men. The implication is that if God is a white man, then by simply being physically closest to God, white men possess some divine right to dominion. Both Wharton and Walker highlight the female oppression of 19th and 20th century American culture by making comparable references. to other nations. In The Age of Innocence, Countess Olenska arrivesfresh from Europe and embodies the free-spirited and socially diverse culture that predominated in 18th-century Europe. When this view of European society is juxtaposed with that of America during the same period, the callous rigidity of the class structure and the expectation of gender-based roles becomes all the more visible. His lavishly European-inspired house with a window from which his bedroom is visible is described as being "in flagrant violation of all New York properties"[16], and highlights the difference between the sexual openness of Europe and America's prudish sexual double standards saw women expected to remain virginal until marriage. The contrast is further accentuated during Newland and May's honeymoon. May attempts to “show herself comfortable with foreigners [by] becoming more decidedly local in her references”[17]. His inability to divulge his decidedly oppressive American customs stands out against the exotically foreign environment. Unlike European women, her sense of culture was entirely defined by the society in which she was born and raised, with no room for individuality or creativity. Walker, on the other hand, offers us a comparison between the early 20th century United States and the indigenous culture of Africa, with the two actually seeming largely similar in their treatment of women. Indeed, in her letters to Celie, Nettie describes African tribal practices of genital mutilation and facial scarring, which serve to oppress and control women's sexuality in ways more violent and overt than the American threat of othering social. Nettie's assertion that "the Olinka do not believe that girls should be educated"[18], as well as an African mother's justification that "a girl is nothing to herself; is that for her husband she can become something… the mother of his children” [19 ], emphasizes that women should not learn any culture other than that related to the role they expect in masculine culture. This is reminiscent of May's expectation to remain silent and virginal and to engage only in behaviors seemingly correct for an American woman. Dave Kuhn supports this idea by insisting that "the use of African culture and rituals to dramatize the universality of women's oppression is the most significant manifestation of the African context in The Color Purple."[20] . In both novels, Wharton and Walker create a solitary female character who serves as proof that, even in the face of oppression and rejection, an underground female culture exists and endures. But they also show the negative repercussions for those few women who dare to stray from their adherence to American masculine culture. In The Age of Innocence, this character is the enigmatic Elena Olenska. In essence, Olenska effectively represents the feminine culture that occupies the small corner of what is considered human experience by a Victorian American society. When juxtaposed with the rigid customs of 19th century New York, her lack of conformity to these societal expectations makes her an outcast, leading her to be seen as an intruder as she refuses to be bound by expectations, class or gender and instead prioritizes their own. freedom. Elfriede Poder supports this view by stating that "Ellen Olenska is the 'other' defining a world outside of a very specific society and representing a set of values ​​that this (patriarchal and capitalist) society actually lacks and refuses to 'integrate'[21]. Indeed, after arriving in New York, Olenska is clearly a social outcast, asevidenced by the fact that the entire guest list at Madame Olenska's welcome dinner declines her invitations to socialize with a woman who not only left her husband, but was also rumored to have taken a lover. Olenska's snobbery by the entire New York elite suggests that her embrace of women's culture rather than men's culture poses enough of a threat to American patriarchy that society would prefer to look the other way and pretend she doesn't exist rather than face her own problems. Company. Indeed, Olenska becomes the victim of double standards with regard to female sexuality compared to male sexuality. Newland himself questions these double standards, noting that non-martial or adulterous sexual behavior is considered "undoubtedly foolish on the part of man, but somehow always criminal of the part of the woman”[22]. Sexuality is a key aspect of female culture for Olenska, and for women in general, but it is suppressed by social expectations of women as virginal creatures who become faithful wives. Women who, like Olenska, retain their sexuality and act on it are forced either to do so in secret or face rejection and harsh moral judgment. Much like Wharton's Countess Olenska, Walker depicts minor and unofficial female culture through the character of Shug, who is the embodiment of raw feminine qualities. She rejects the limits of female sexuality and embraces her desires, in a similar but more extreme way to Olenska. Mr_ vocalizes the same sexual double standards are present in Wharton's vision of New York, as he says that "young women are no good these days...They have their legs open to every Tom, Dick and Harry"[ 23]. Of course, Mr._ is somewhat promiscuous himself, making advances towards his wife's daughter and having Shug as a mistress, but as a man in a patriarchal society this is considered much more acceptable. These double standards lead to the alteration of Shug, who has a bad reputation for being indecent. When she is ill, no one in town other than M._ welcomes her and society rejects her, much like the invitations to Countess Olenska's welcome party. Like Olenska, Shug is the subject of much social speculation and disapproving gossip, such as the rumor that she has a "nasty woman's disease", or a sexually transmitted infection, which reflects the strong social stigma between female sexuality and promiscuity. The church preacher indirectly calls her a “whore in short skirts…slut, heifer and sweeper”[24]. Indeed, it illustrates why women's culture remains underground. Those, like Shug and Countess Olenska, who unabashedly adhere to broken feminine cultural norms are forced to live on the periphery of a patriarchal society that refuses to accept them. However, despite the apparent rejection and alteration of the characters of Shug and Countess Olenska, there is a contrasting sense that these women, unlike being anomalous stains on the portrait of patriarchy, are pioneers in an emerging opening of a much broader feminine culture. This is particularly evident in Walker's novel, where Shug lifts Celie out of the oppression of patriarchy and victimhood by teaching her to embrace her femininity. Sanguin supports this by stating that "Shug plays the role of mentor to a young and naive Célie"[25]. Indeed, it is under the influence of Shug and his bold assertion that the male perspective is not necessarily the correct one, that Célie frees herselfultimately from the constraints of patriarchy and comes to see the world from the perspective of a liberated woman. Contrary to Celie's description of the "fat white man",[26] Shug tells her that "God is not a he or a she, but an it".[27] Here she rejects a crucial part of male culture, which is male-oriented theism, in favor of her own ideas about God. Bruce Sanguin highlights Shug's rejection of the masculine culture of religion and God by asserting that "Shug, anticipating a postmodernist feminism, deconstructed the white man's version of the Christian faith." She learned to do her own theology. »[28] Indeed, in passing on his ideas to Celie, Shug takes on the role of a religious teacher as she frees her view of God from its marginalization and his influence begins to convert others. Furthermore, both Mr_ and Newland from The Age of Innocence are ultimately more attracted to these women who openly express their adherence to a feminine culture. M._, despite society's misgivings about Shug's open sexuality and femininity, openly declares his love for her, even telling his father that he "should have married her when [he] had it." 'opportunity'[29]. This is strikingly similar to Newland's declaration of love to the Countess when he tells her that "you are the woman I would have married if it had been possible for either of us".[30] This implies that women who do not give in to the force of patriarchal culture should not be shunned by society and seen as imperfect or abominations, but rather admired for their loyalty to their own feminine nature. Wershoven highlights this rejection of the stereotypical Victorian American woman in The Age of Innocence by asserting that "the female intruder becomes part of a romantic triangle in which a [male] hero must choose between a conventional woman and an intruder who cannot integrate. a conventional world”[31]. Indeed, Newland's preference for Olenska and Mr_ for Shug shows that women's culture should not be forcibly tied to men's culture, because their feminine differences make them far more desirable and admirable than women like May who seem to conform undoubtedly to rigid expectations. Perhaps by imposing limits on the uninhibited practice of women's culture, limits are also unintentionally placed on men's culture, to the extent that their desire for real women remains largely unfulfilled. Wershoven underpins this notion when she states that "the women in Wharton's novel are, with one exception, little girls who are never allowed to grow up."[32] In other words, with the general absence of real women like Shug and Olenska, men are forced to settle for conformist girls like May in order to remain conventional and respectable within the confines of American patriarchy. Contrary to the idea that women's culture only occupies the smallest corners of human existence, The Color Purple is actually full of the idea that women's culture, while largely underground, actually has a reach much larger among the American female population than it appears to be. A sense of community can be seen when women help and guide each other in their struggle to be truly free. Katherine B. Payant supports this idea by asserting that “pleasures and redemption are obtained exclusively through love and friendship between women. The men in this novel are the enemies”[33]. This is evident in the aforementioned scene in which Celie spits in old Mr_'s drink for speaking ill of Shug, while Celie is secretly fighting not for herself, but for another woman unable to defend herself because of his illness. JanetDoubler Ward emphasizes the importance of the female community to the protagonist by stating that "Celie is enhanced by her female relationships"[34], and Katherine B. Payant supports this by suggesting that Celie "finds independence, hope and finally transcendence. through his love of women”[35]. The key example of one of these empowering female relationships is the sexual relationship between Celie and Shug. At the beginning of the novel, Celie is merely a vehicle for the wants and needs of a predominantly male culture. In the physical sense, she is raped and sold to a husband who wants her more as a slave than as a wife. She comes to view sex as something that, at best, she has little say over, and at worst, is used solely as a form of cruelty. However, through her homosexual passion for Shug, she discovers her hidden feminine sexuality and learns to enjoy not only the pleasures of her own female body, but also the body of another woman. Additionally, Celie and Nettie's relationship proves incredibly strong, as Nettie never abandons her sister, and when Celie finally discovers Nettie's hidden letters, she finds the strength to move away from her controlling and abusive husband. The instincts specific to these feminine dynamics not only remain strong in the oppressed Celie, but so strong that they eventually inspire her to rebel against her husband, as is evident when she considers how she will even "avoid to kill him.” 36]. In contrast, this sense of community is apparently much less prevalent in Wharton's The Age of Innocence. Olenska, the only female character who truly rejects conformity to the masculine orientation of American culture, actually shows her preference for male companionship over female companionship. This is evident as she spends much of her time socializing with Newland and Julius Beaufort, and little time socializing with women. Indeed, the other women in the novel are in fact just as critical of their nonconformity, if not more so. At the table, during derogatory gossip about Olenska, Mrs. Archer says that it "was in better taste [for Olenska] not to go to the ball"[37], encouraging the otherness of the subject of her gossip. However, Countess Olenska shows some loyalty to other members of her sex, as she infringes on Newland's male right to marry the woman of his choice as she refuses him out of compassion for May . This highlights how she refuses to take away another woman's happiness in order to provide for her own or fulfill the desires of the male Newland. Upon discovering May's pregnancy, Olenska's decision to leave for Europe and completely sever her ties to Newland is an example of her indirect female connection to May. She refuses to leave her alone as a single mother because, as a woman herself, she can understand the possibility of such a situation. Instead of giving up their feminine virtues in order to fit into a male-centered society, the women of Color Purple are shown to use their feminine traits to fight against the oppression that forces them underground. This is supported by Catherine E. Lewis who argues that “the common experiences of women that have too long been underestimated, such as domestic and manual labor, can be used to overturn the systems that have imposed and labeled tasks”[38 ]. In Celie's case, a typical example is her sewing, which provides her with a means to channel her feminine creativity and artistic talent into clothing that can be displayed openly. The quilt created by Celie and Sofia can be seen as representing the coming together of the underground female community, as theycome together much like the needle brings together pieces of fabric in order to be part of a strong, whole and open feminine culture. Later, in one of Nettie's letters, she recounts how Corrine also made a quilt after hearing about Celie's quilting practice. This supports the earlier assertion that liberated women like Shug and eventually Celie can then liberate other women and introduce them to their own culture. Nettie describes the pieces of fabric used in making the quilt by recounting how Corrine "altered a square of applique figures with a block of nine patches".[39] The patchwork nature of the quilt suggests that in addition to symbolizing the female community, it may also symbolize the integration of women, as well as black people, into the white male-centered culture of 20th-century America. Much like the different colors and types of fabric featured in the quilt, the inference is that both genders should be displayed equally and openly, with female culture helping to make up the patchwork fabric of American society. Another way in which Celie's sewing serves as a means of combating masculine culture overshadowing feminine culture can be seen when she uses her skills to create pants. Indeed, Daniel W Ross suggests that "Celie's couture associates her with a select group of female characters in American literature who use their art not to reveal their shame, as Freud suggests, but to transplant it, place it where it belongs – on their male bodies. oppressors”[40]. Indeed, Daniel W. Ross argues that this woman making masculine clothing subverts restricted gender roles and asserts that feminine culture is not subordinate to masculine culture. He states that Celie's sewing is used as a way "to bind the sexes together so that both men and women can 'wear the pants'".[41] On a more literal level, Celie channels her creative sewing skills into starting her own pant sewing business. This progression toward economic self-sufficiency is proof that women's culture is emerging from obscurity, with its pants being worn by men creating a powerful image of women's cultural activities like sewing literally emerging to reclaim their place in an open society. The sewn fabric covers the man's genitals, much as patriarchy had once obscured the female community. In The Age of Innocence, although on the surface May seems either completely unaware of the fact that she is not free, or aware of this fact but accepting it in order to protect her marriage and fulfill her duty to marries as expected of him. she can be considered as a character who actually fights back just like Olenska, but in a much more discreet and thoughtful way. Like Celie, she uses her domestic duties and expectations imposed on her to wage a clandestine war to keep her husband. Mainly, May uses the expected feminine role of motherhood to her advantage. As Archer attempts to leave her, she reveals her pregnancy, dragging him into the unwanted duty of fatherhood. We can infer that she also used her virginal attraction to entice him to impregnate her, even though his heart was elsewhere. Indeed, the novel's single-mindedness leaves the audience with the suggestion that May intended to trap Newland all along, and her act of innocence is merely a facade. Unlike Celie, who uses the skills and physical duties assigned to her, May uses her intelligence and intuition. This idea culminates in the farewell party May throws for,