How I Contemplated the World from the Detroit House of Correction and Began My Life Over Again | How Do We [Not] Become These People Who Victimize Us
In the following essay, Daly contends that the
characters in Oates’s writings (and therefore the
author’s imagination) do not transcend gender
conventions.
When Joyce Carol Oates tells us that ‘‘most novelists divide themselves up lavishly in their novels,’’ she implies that a writer’s imagination enables her to transcend socially determined gender categories. Nevertheless, as I shall show, Oates’s early fiction reveals a pattern of authorial self-division that conforms to gender conventions: her male characters, such as Richard Everett in Expensive People and Jules Wendall in them, assume the right to define themselves, whereas her female characters, Maureen Wendall and Nadine Greene in them, merely act out roles in some...
[The entire page is 3775 words long]
Join eNotes
The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:
Summary and Analysis – Themes – Characters – And much more...
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Related Topics
Tell a friend about How I Contemplated the World from the Detroit House of Correction and Began My Life Over Again at eNotes.
