A Womans Role :: essays papers

A Womans habit According to Judeo-Christian tradition, divine edict clearly relegates women to a slur of subservience beneath men, as expressed in the Genesis origin account. This idea of female servility has dominated Western culture for thousands of historic period with virtually no significant changes only in the past several(prenominal) decades has the notion of male dominance lost wide-spread acceptance in America. introductory to this cultural shift, American ideology mandated that women dutifully obey their husbands and confine themselves to managing the house and raising children, thus depriving them of any power beyond the sphere of the photographic plate and rendering them dependent on their husbands. This mentality is especially appargonnt in the movie, The Sound of Music. In The Sound of Music, female characters are portrayed to be highly dependent upon men, a central aspect of the traditional womans role. This is initially shown in the scene where Ralph and Liesl are singing and dancing in the gazebo. Liesl sings that she is frightened to face a world of men and would like to depend on Ralph in order to alleviate her fear. Ralph acknowledges and accepts her submission, telling Liesl that since he is older and wiser he will take care of her. Liesl offers to submit herself to Ralph in accordance with her preconceived notion of male-female relationships, thus fulfilling her yearning of security in social normalcy. She is voluntary to become dependent upon Ralph and cross the threshold into traditional womanhood. Although she may comport a mask of independence, Maria also fills the role of the traditional woman. liberty can be measured by the amount of control unmatched has over her own life, and, if Marias control over herself is analyzed, it is clear that she lacks independence. Initially, Maria appears to be independent when she ignores the Captains prescriptions for stern child raising and defies his direct ord ers by qualification the children play clothes. When Maria is reprimanded for her actions, she stands up to the Captain, criticizing the way he raises his children. by dint of these actions, Maria seems to deviate from stereotypical feminine behavior by dispute the Captains authority, however, upon closer examination, such is not the case. The children are traditionally the womans responsibility and are a matter over which she is supposed to have control.