Texts in Conversations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Texts in Conversations - Essay ExampleFinally, third wave wo custodys liberation movement continues through the contemporary ethnic landscape. In addition to large-scale political change, each of these movements is reflected in the artistic and cultural production of feminist writers of the time. This essay critically reviews salient(ip) texts from each of the feminist waves Virginia Woolfs Shakespe ares Sister, Simone de Beauvoirs the Second Sex, and Rebecca Walkers Becoming the Third Wave. Virginia Woolf was one of the most prominent writers within the first wave spectrum of feminist thought. Today her novels and essays remain widely read for both their literary qualities, as well as their prescient prospect on womens equality. In terms of her stance on womens equality, her text Shakespeares Sister represents one of her most powerful statements. Woolf begins this text with the exciting statement, It would have been impossible, completely and entirely, for any woman to have writ ten the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare (Woolf). In addition to holding significant rhetorical quality, this statement is an indictment of both 17th century Europe, as well as cultural climate of Woolfs time that severely restricts the rights of women. While Woolfs text expresses some(prenominal) of the concerns that will later be echoed in flash and third wave feminist literature, its clear that Woolfs formulations distinctly constitute proto-feminist concerns. As Woolfs text unravels its clear that it focuses upon the position of a woman in 17th century England. She seminally writes that any, woman born with a great gift in the sixteenth century would certainly have gone crazed, shot herself, or ended her days in some lonely cottage outside the village, half(prenominal) witch, half wizard, feared and mocked (Woolf). Even as Woolf is referring to the condition of the woman in 17th century Europe, its clear that her statements are reflective of her own social chall enges. The cultural climate of Woolfs time remain highly centered on the male as the breadwinner and this carried over into the process of education and social responsibility. In these regards, Woolf is articulating crucial aspects of the womans experience in her world namely the nature of patriarchal society as restricting the womans full electric potential and the abhorrent recognition of this reality. While such concerns are more emblematic of first wave feminism, they are reflective of the central of all feminist waves, and are reflected in both de Beauvoir and Walkers texts. Simone de Beauvoirs the Second Sex is recognized as a seminal text in terms of the second wave feminist movement. While Woolfs work examined broader feminist and human rights concern, de Beauvoirs text is more rooted in the cultural climate of her day. Its also clear that while Woolfs text is more concerned with the oppressive social mechanisms that restrict womens rights, de Beauvoir is further pointed a s she directly identifies men as the oppressive party. Consider de Beauvoir who writes, The whole of feminine history has been man-made. Just as in America there is no Negro problem, but instead a white problem just as anti-Semitism is not a Jewish problem, it is our problem so the woman problem has always been a man problem (De Beauvoir, pg. 102). In these regards,