Exploring The Women's Experience Analysis
In order to comprehend the progression and development of Elaine’s Risley character and personality, it is very important to consider the influence of cultural factors, discourse and power structures on Elaine’s character. In “Exploring the women’s experience”, Pavla Chudějová suggests that Elaine becomes conscious of the society’s gender restrictions for the first time when she starts going to school (34). At school, Elaine follows the rules where she has to wear skirts and “the girls hold hands; the boys don’t” (CE 50-51), as well as to enter the building through the girl’s door which is different from the boy’s door. This confuses her and leaves her wondering, “[h]ow is going in through a door different if you’re a boy?”
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Therefore, Elaine demonstrates how playing with girls was not natural for her instead it was something she had to learn to do. Elaine states that: “Playing with girls is different and at first I feel strange as I do it, self-conscious, as if I’m doing an imitation of a girl. But soon I get more used to it” (CE 57). Heidi Slettedahl Macpherson in her book Cambridge clarifies that since Elaine’s behaviour is learned and not innate, so it is a clear example of how socialization reifies behaviour or makes what is constructed appears natural. Grown up with a male mate, her brother, she does not feel comfortable to play with …show more content…
She joins the Toronto Night College of Art, where she takes on a course called “Life Drawing” which opens a new era in Elaine’s life (Karásková 22). As other girls in the course, Elaine tries to wear the same clothes and talks about the same things they do, but she confesses that: “I feel ill at ease with them, as if I am here under false pretenses” (CE 294). Then, Elaine begins to dress like the boys do, wearing black clothes, in an effort to escape her gender (Katarina Gregersdotter 76). One can see that Elaine’s performance shows that once she cannot achieve the supposed “natural” look of femininity, she exposes that gender identity not to be innate and this is the core of Butler’s
Therefore, Elaine demonstrates how playing with girls was not natural for her instead it was something she had to learn to do. Elaine states that: “Playing with girls is different and at first I feel strange as I do it, self-conscious, as if I’m doing an imitation of a girl. But soon I get more used to it” (CE 57). Heidi Slettedahl Macpherson in her book Cambridge clarifies that since Elaine’s behaviour is learned and not innate, so it is a clear example of how socialization reifies behaviour or makes what is constructed appears natural. Grown up with a male mate, her brother, she does not feel comfortable to play with …show more content…
She joins the Toronto Night College of Art, where she takes on a course called “Life Drawing” which opens a new era in Elaine’s life (Karásková 22). As other girls in the course, Elaine tries to wear the same clothes and talks about the same things they do, but she confesses that: “I feel ill at ease with them, as if I am here under false pretenses” (CE 294). Then, Elaine begins to dress like the boys do, wearing black clothes, in an effort to escape her gender (Katarina Gregersdotter 76). One can see that Elaine’s performance shows that once she cannot achieve the supposed “natural” look of femininity, she exposes that gender identity not to be innate and this is the core of Butler’s