The Portrayal Of Women Essay Research Paper

The Portrayal Of Women Essay, Research Paper

Women are portrayed differently in literature depending upon the societal

customs and the acceptance of women in the culture of the author. Although this

is true, it is only partially so. An author is not obligated to write about his

customs and norms, and in fact may use completely different ones in order to

show dissent to the ones he has lived with. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred

Years of Solitude takes place in a Latin American setting. The passage (1) used from the novel in the comparative analysis

involves a strong willed woman who is respected, however, is unaware of the

situation she is part of. The young woman is unknowingly sleeping with two men

who are identical twins. Similarly, Jorge Borges’ short story “The Intruder”,

also set in Latin America. The woman, in this case, is involved with two

brothers, but she is weak and her awareness of the situation is questionable.

Both selected pieces share common ties in situation, however, differing outcomes

arise, thus, a thoughtful analysis can be generated. Petra Cotes, the young woman in the selection from One Hundred Years Of

Solitude, intrudes in the narrative and distracts the Segundo twins from their

normal daily activities in the isolated village of Macondo. Aureliano Segundo

meets Petra Cotes while she is selling raffle tickets for an accordion. He

doesn’t reveal to her that he has a twin brother when she oddly greets him

familiarly. Petra likes Aureliano Segundo and his brother Jos. Arcadio Segundo.

She does not know that they are two different people. Aureliano Segundo

discovers after two weeks of sleeping with Petra Cotes that she has been

sleeping with his brother too. Once again he doesn’t clear up the girl’s

confusion that they are one person and instead he continues to share her with

his twin for two months. One morning Aureliano Segundo is really sick and he

does not know why. A few days later Jos. Arcadio Segundo becomes sick and tells

Aureliano that Petra Cotes is disgusted with the “low-life sickness” he has

given her and consequently refuses to see him. Jos. Arcadio Segundo never finds

out that his brother had shared Petra Cotes with him. Aureliano Segundo secretly

is cured of his sickness separately from Jos. Arcadio. He begs forgiveness from

Petra Cotes and once they live with each other, their animals begin to

proliferate at an alarming rate. A fortune is made by selling the extra animals

and through raffles. Aureliano takes advantage of his shared physical appearance with his brother

in order to sleep with a woman. Furthermore, he neither informs his brother, nor

the woman he “loves” that there he is a third party in the relationship. An

interesting element of the passage involves Petra Cotes’ name. Aureliano Segundo

describes the entire situation and after the line “Aureliano Segundo obtained

her pardon and stayed with her until his death” a new paragraph begins with “Her

name was Petra Cotes”. Aureliano Segundo’s future with Petra is revealed to the

reader before her name is. Does this suggest that her name is an unimportant

detail according to the Aureliano. Considering Aureliano Segundo irresponsibly

doesn’t inform Petra that he and his brother are sharing her it is a possible

assumption. Without respect for the truth, he may not have respect for the woman

involved. A deeper level involved with Petra’s name is that it means “rock” in

Spanish. She could be considered the “philosopher stone” of the novel due to

this association and her purpose in the story. Petra Cotes (the rock or stone)

brings wealth to Aureliano Segundo. The philosopher’s stone is a magical

substance in alchemy which will cause the transmutation of metals (e.g. a

plentiful supply of aluminum into gold), is a cure for all problems and can

provide immortality. This substance, however, exists only in the imagination. It

is relevant because Petra can propagate money (gold) by her supernaturally rapid

animal breeding. Also related to the stone is Aureliano Segundo’s preoccupation

with alchemy prior to Petra’s arrival, and his later obsession with making gold

fish in his laboratory. Garcia Marquez use of magical realism in his novel makes

this conclusion a fairly valid one. In Jorge Luis Borges’ short story “The Intruder” one woman is primarily

involved. The story is told by a man writing down the account of the Nilsen

brothers as he had heard it in a bar. The Nilsens names are Eduardo and

Christian. Christian Nilsen brings a woman, Juliana Burgos, home to live with

him. Eduardo, like his brother, leaves town to pick up a woman but he ends up

“thr(owing) her out” (2) a few days later.

Eduardo loves “Christian’s woman” (3). One

evening Christian tells Eduardo to “make use of her”. Eduardo realizes that

Juliana is an object to Christian and even so, from then on they “share

her” (4). The brothers

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