Theme Synthesis Assignment: Man's Dominant Culture

Name:
Institution:
Date:
Course:
Man’s Dominant Culture
It is unfortunate that even in the 21st century most societies in the world are patriarchal and shrouded by male chauvinism. This culture has trickled down through many centuries in these societies and have suppressed and oppressed women whilst unfairly positioning men as the de facto rulers of the community. The challenges facing women living in man dominated societies have been captured by various authors and vividly described the underlying social structures that have continually exploited sexuality to the advantage of men. This essay hinges on few their works and describes how the societal structure has become the enemy of gender equity.
This Boys’ Life is a novel authored by Toby Wolff as a memoir of his boyhood which was plagued by dysfunction and hardship. After his parents divorced, he lived with his mother whilst his brother, Geoffrey, lived with his father. He was a victim of serious domestic abuse and neglect. Through his life, a mild yet compelling description of the place of a woman in America is accurately depicted. His mother, struggled to raise him after divorcing his father and she ran into another abusive relationship. Their plight came from societal structure marginalizing women and treating them as second-class citizens which scarred Toby’s life.
Rosemary Wolff, (Tobias mother) is a restraint mild tempered woman who is first married to Wolff and later by Dwight. She had an abusive childhood which explains her character of not striking or reprimanding Jack even after he steals from the Welch’s. She also leaves her first marriage and travels to another state in search of a better life for her son. She meets Dwight and gets remarried in an attempt to provide her son with conventional, family-oriented lifestyle and a stable home. She miscalculated this step as Dwight turns to be abusive and insensitive and makes life hard for her and her son. The society seems to be wired to ‘own and use’ women to alleviate the social standards of a man.
In one instance, Rosemary accompanies her husband to an event organized by NRA. She is a member of the organization and the at first the organizers are reluctant to include her on the list of participants. When she is finally accepted, her position is errored such that she does not shoot after her husband, Dwight who is the second person to shoot. My mother's number should have been called after Dwight's, but she wasn’t (pg. 71). This discrimination makes her shoot last and her son does not witness it. Apparently, her husband is not supportive of her idea to join the team or to participate in the shooting as he quotes some ‘rules’. Then he dropped his eyes again and mumbled something about the rules (Pg. 72). Seems the organization has some gender biased rules that forbid women from participating in such events and he performs dismally owing to the frustration of enlisting his wife as a competitor. Additionally, Dwight criticizes how his son assembles his weapon yet he could not figure out how it is done. Dwight couldn’t figure out how the rifle fit together, so I did it for him while he looked on. "that,' he said, 'is the most stupidly constructed firea...