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Effect of Gender on Conflicts
Being social creatures, we have an innate need to belong to and be accepted by a group. Through the eyes of others, we get a better understanding of the world around us. Our forefathers’ ability to endure in the ancient world was primarily due to this need. As a result of this collaboration, we have what we have today. In contrast, women are expected to be beautiful to obtain a “good husband” and are more emotional than men, who are viewed as more calculating (Graham, p.18). Males must also be formidable and show their masculinity. Assumptions about gender roles are only a handful of the many forced on us by our society. Is blaming society appropriate? This paper will discuss the effects of gender on conflicts as depicted in different societies from different sources.
The society is set up in a way that each gender should undertake different roles, failure to which conflicts arise. There are people in the society who run away from their responsibilities. This is represented by the theme of subordinated manhood in Irving’s Rip Van Winkle. Rip is a good man to the society, who is loved by everyone in his village and easily associates with people, except his wife Dame Van Winkle. He disappears to the mountains because he doesn’t want to work on their farm as his wife suggests, and he there takes a drink from men, which makes him sleep for twenty years (Irving, 14). By the time he wakes up, things are changed so much. This clearly reflects how men flee from domestic and wife responsibilities, which is a significant conflict when women are left to do their husbands’ duties. Dame takes up work, authority, and leadership. Fights and confrontations between Dame and Rip due to negligence lead to the breakage of marriage, sex, and responsibility. Certainly, conflicts must arise when women take up male responsibilities. Rip has to escape from his wife, and he prefers wandering outside his home (Irving, 3).
Escape from gender responsibilities also brings societal conflicts. The then society deemed an independent man as one who would rule over their wife, children, poor relatives, and other dependent people and take up political and economic responsibilities. Rip disappears at a period there is war in the country and comes back when it is done, and the nation is stable. This escape was an exile punishment for disorderly men, and therefore he would be termed ‘disorderly.’ Throughout Rip’s life, he does not meet any moment’s societal view of what a man should be. At one time, he is termed as an ‘obedient and a hen-pecked husband,’ who does not provide for his children’s education and respects his wife (Irving, 10).
The character of women in Irving’s Rip Van Winkle is also said to be a source of conflicts. Women are shown as temperamental and nagging characters. Rip’s escape is attributed to her wife’s nagging and temperamental character. The author refers to her as a ‘termagant and a shrew’ woman. She would nag her husband in the morning, in the noontime, and at night, trying to push him to carry out his responsibilities, to no attempt. In fact, he would go the village to get away from her. The villagers knew him as a kind man, but they would not understand why his wife was complaining, and thus they thought he was the bad one. All along, Rip was quiet. The author also captures that one of the women’s dogs was afraid of her, claiming that she had a vicious tongue. The portrayal of women as temperamental explains the family conflicts in this context. This is not lacking in the society today. There are families where men have fled from their homes due to their wives’ hot-temperedness.
The society also shows men who will do what they want, even if they do not accomplish their manly responsibilities, just because they are ‘the men’ in the family. Rip is such a character since he feels that his wife should not instruct him to do anything, which leads to conflicts between them. Rip comfortably helps his village’s wives and husband, but he won’t work on his own farm. It is the worst-looking farm in his village. He also teaches his neighbors’ children to fly kites and play marbles and narrates stories to them, but he doesn’t do so for his children. When his wife gets angry about it, he goes fishing, hunting with his dog, or gossiping with villagers.
Cooper’s ‘The Last of the Mohicans
Male chauvinism is a dominant theme in some societies, where male characters are dominant, and cannot undertake certain responsibilities because they are deemed feminine. Also, females in such a society are expected to be weak and submissive to men at all cost. In Cooper’s ‘The Last of the Mohicans,’ female characters are