In Marge Piercy’s book, Woman on the Edge of Time, sex plays a major role in both the utopia and the dystopia. The portrayal of sex in the novel comes from a feminist point of view. The main character, Connie, is caught between a utopian world and a dystopian world where the takes on sex are on different levels. By using a feminist approach, the two worlds of sex can be examined and contrasted.
In the dystopia that is Connie’s present life, sex is a painful and often a violent experience. Rape, prostitution, and other sexual abuse are a dominant part of the characters lives. In the opening scene of the book, the reader is immediately introduced to this issue. Connie has to open her door to her only close relative, Dolly, only to see that she has been beaten by her fiancé who is also her pimp. Connie has had to live her entire life with the thought that sex is violent rather than an act of love. Piercy uses the feminist ideals that men are the cause of the pain for women in a very explicit manner. For example, Geraldo, Dolly’s fiancé, sho…
A Freudian Analysis of The Fatal Sisters
A Freudian Analysis of The Fatal Sisters
When the psychoanalytical approach is applied to Thomas Gray’s “The Fatal Sisters,”, each of Freud’s three main theories are glaringly apparent. A major factor in the poem’s psychoanalytical grisly texture is that the poem is sung by the giants at the loom as they weave. The language they use not only reflects upon the characters, but it offers new insight for Freudian analysis.
The most obvious example of Freud’s theories is phallic and yonic symbolism. (HCAL 132) War is being fought by the male warriors and all of the descriptions of the woof of war are rife with phallic symbolism. One prime example of this is line 22, “Pikes must shiver, javelins sing.” The valkyries–who are the only characters mentioned by name in the giantess’s song–are accompanied by appropriate yonic symbols. “Gondula, and Geira, spread/O’er the youthful king your shield” (31-32) The loom portrays an interesting blend of both types of symbols. The “Sword, that once a monarch bore,” (15) is one of the phallic symbols of the loom, dealing with the p…