Ascension through submission

There are many things that feminists seem to be sensitive to when analyzing texts. Please understand when I say “sensitive” I mean it in the sense of an acute awareness and not as some sophomoric generalization. The impression I get from the feminist readings so far is they are largely concerned with the societal structures that perpetuate this state of being, that state of being identified as the subjugation of women, and the societal structure being the model of the patriarchal society.

One such identification and distinction exercise occurs in the Jane Eyre reading in our text: “For a woman to become a member of the ‘master-class’ depends on her taking a sexual master whereby her submission brings her access to the dominant culture.” This quote exemplifies the kind of dominance that patriarchal societies thrive on and consequently it is the type of relationship that feminism descends on.

This “condition” of upward mobility or the illusion of upward mobility awarded to the women whom agree to this “condition” is present in literature as it is present in day-to-day life. To use a cliché “ art imitates life”.

The feminist sensitivity would identify several unjust impositions contained within the quote. First it insists upon a submission to a male in order to reach her goal. (Assuming her goal is upward mobility). This submission serves to devaluate women as it requires that first a woman must admit her inferiority to a man before she is allowed to ascend. Also the quote specifically uses the title “sexual master”. This term clearly supports the objectification of women as it implies that sex or in the best case child birth is the only thing of value a woman has to contribute to a males life or the male’s society in general.