Simone De Beauvoir
Woman: myth and Reality

What is the myth of Eternal Feminine?
I feel that this myth means that women have always been considered to have feminine soft qualities, and that this should transcend though out the years not matter what; however this is not the case. As women gained freedoms they did not have to hold back are be a soft, quite, woman who let men stand in front of her. Also, it seems that women are looked upon and thought of as something different. Women are supposed to be feminine and demure, but in reality this is not always the case. For example when Beauvoir states,” This one, the myth of woman, sublimating an immutable aspect of the human condition-namely, the “division” of humanity into two classes of individuals- is a static myth” (Beauvoir 784). I am not sure if she is referring men and women or to idea of a woman and a woman in reality. For me it seemed that she was referring to the type of woman that come s up when you think of femininity and how in all actuality that is very different from the reality of a woman. This point came across in this said by Beauvoir, “If the definition provided for this concept is contradicting by the behavior of flesh-and-blood women, it is the latter who are wrong: we are told not that Femininity is false entity, but that women concerned are not feminine”(Beauvoir 785). Though this I understood that if this idea of eternal feminine is contradicted by real women that this idea is not un true, but that this idea is not a concern to all women of the time.


Works Cited
Beauvoir, Simone De. “Woman: Myth and Reality.” A World of Ideas: Essential Reading for College Writers. Ed. Lee A Jacobus. 7th Ed. New York; Bedford St. Martins, 2006. Pp 784-794.

Virginia Woolf’s Shakespeare’s Sister

The expected role of a woman in Shakespearian time was to be a man’s possession. By this I mean that women were nothing compared to men. They were just a part of life that was not given any credit, nor very much acknowledgment. “But what I find deplorable, I continued, looking about the bookshelves again, is that nothing is known about women before the eighteen century”(Woolf 768). Here Woolf states that there is no information about women in this period; this right here shows the presence of women in Shakespearian time. Women were not considered intelligent or something that would have thought, they were beings that men beat and possessed, that had no say in the matter. Another point of Woolf’s that made me understand the low credibility women has was when she said, “…I thought of that old gentleman, who is dead now, but was a bishop, I think, who declared that it was impossible for any woman, past, present, or to come, to have the genius of Shakespeare” (Woolf 768). This does not surprise me at all because traditionally from the past men have always been thought of as superior, however what shocked me was how the bishop also states that cats cannot go to heaven, even though they might have souls. This together kind of baffled me, but I feel like Woolf was trying to prove the point that this bishop tells someone that cat’s can not go to heaven, when this Bishop had not gone to heaven himself, so how can he say if cat s go to heaven or not, just like how can he state that a woman of the future or even the past could have been a genius like Shakespeare. Basically what I got out of it was that if you do not know is what to come or every little thing about the past then how can you make such a bias comment.


Works Cited
Woolf, Virginia. “Shakespeare’s Sister.” A World of Ideas: Essential Reading for College Writers. Ed. Lee A Jacobus. Trans. Stephen Mitchell. 7th ed. New York; Bedford St. Martins, 2006. Pp 764-776.

In part of Mary Wollstonecraft “Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinction Established in Society” she discusses women in the occupation of war and removing women for their domestic rolls. Wollstonecraft states, “for when they neglect domestic duties, they have it not in their own power to take the field and march and counter-march like soldiers,” (753). Through this quote it can be understood that Wollstonecraft is not saying that women need or should be on the front line, but if a women wanted or was allowed to do so, then this concept would in the end show movement towards equality. An example that Wollstonecraft uses is when Rousseau states, “How can they leave the nursery for the camp” (753). Meaning that how can women leave their family, along with their home duties to go out to war. Women in tradition are supposed to be at home with the children, while the men are the ones who go off to war. Another point Wollstonecraft makes is that, “the camp has by some moralist been termed the school of the most heroic virtues; though, I think it would puzzle a keen casuist” (753). Going to war is considered brave and is also considered a place of great learning, than why are women excluded from having these “heroic virtues” (Wollstonecraft 753). What I feel Wollstonecraft is trying to state it that women should have the opportunity to go to war and if allowed so, they should not be blamed for leaving their home life. Also along with this idea, women should have the chance to have the equality of men, so be if it means going to war.


Works cited
Wollstonecraft, Mary. “Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinction Established in Society.” A World of Ideas: Essential Reading for College Writers. Lee A. Jacobs. 7th Ed. New York; Bedford St. Martins, 2006. pp 748-758.

Robert B. Reich: Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer

What are “routine producers”? What will be their fate in the future?
Robert B. Reich’s idea of routine producers is that they are the type of workers who work in factories and do work that can and will eventually be taken over by machinery. Reich’s routine producers “boat” is sinking; this is due to the idea that factory jobs can and will be done in other countries by people willing to work for less than what people in the United States will work for. “The consequence is clearest in older, heavy industries, where high-volume, standardized production continues its ineluctable move to where labor is cheapest and most accessible around the world” (Reich 421). As technology advances, so does industrialization. Companies will take there business to where every they can get the cheapest work and now that technology can support this, routine producers will be out of jobs. An example of how technology supports low cost production is how in 1990, an airline employed 1,000 data producers in 2 different countries, who entered flight information that was then sent to a data base in Dallas. Being able to hire data producers in other countries, who are willing to work for less, eliminates jobs in America for routine producers. As these jobs are lost to machinery and to outsourcing, the role for routine producers in American society will vanish. The only way for this not to happen is if other countries standards of living rise and even out with Americans, so that there is not much of a competition between workers and the wages they are getting paid, in order for a company to make the profit that they want. However, this has a very slim chance of happening.

Works cited
Reich, Robert B. “Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer.” A World of Ideas: Essential Reading for College Writers. Lee A. Jacobs. 7th Ed. New York; Bedford St. Martins, 2006. Pp 420-433.

John Kenneth Galbraith’s “The Position of Poverty”

Insular poverty is when as group or area of people is poor, unlike case poverty where an individual is poor. The group of people is usually poor due to a problem in their environmental/ societal surroundings. “insular poverty—that which manifests itself as an “island” of poverty. In the island, everyone or nearly everyone is poor” (Galbraith 407). This idea of insular poverty as an island of poverty shows that the poor community is somewhat divided by the majority of the people in some way or form. This type of poverty explained by Galbraith can be something that one can be grown into and then is repeated through generations. “since it is the undoubted preference of many to remain in the vicinity of the place of their birth, a homing instinct that operates for people as well as pigeons, the people remained in the poverty which heaven had decreed for them” (Galbraith 407). This idea that Galbraith compares to the homing instincts of a person to a pigeon gives the thought of how he may feel about the poor. If he is comparing people to an animal that is looked upon as disgusting and as a rat with wings, then what does he actually think of the poor and their situation. Galbraith refers his “island” idea to his modern day in this quote “Most modern poverty is insular in character and the islands are the rural and urban slums” (Galbraith 408). This idea is still relevant today; most poverty is in certain areas or among groups of people whom are singled out.




Works cited
Galbraith, John Kenneth. “The Position of Poverty.” A World of Ideas: Essential Reading for College Writers. Lee A. Jacobs. 7th ed. New York; Bedford St. Martins, 2006. pp 406-413.

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx

The expanding world market affects the national identity due to nations idea of civilization affecting one another. “The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all instruments of production, by the immensely facilitated means of communication, draws all, even the most barbarian nations into civilization” (Marx 361). This quote by Marx’s is saying that the bourgeoisie way of living has affected how other countries run their business, which essentially affects how the world market is ran. The bourgeoisie idea uses massive production to the point where, “there is too much civilization, too much means of subsistence, too much industry, too much commerce” (Marx 362). This idea of over production eventually leads the countries, to whom which follow how the bourgeoisie run their trade, to become, “industries that no longer work up indigenous raw material, but raw material drawn from the remotest zones; industries whose products are consumed, not only at home, but in every quarter of the country” (Marx 360). The concept of overproducing and expanding to whom you trade with affects how the county is looked upon and identified with. The way the bourgeoisie runs business affects how other societies run theirs, in order for these other countries to keep up with, what the bourgeoisie, call civilization. “…so has it made barbarian and semi-barbarian countries dependent on civilized ones, nations of peasants on nations of bourgeois, the East on the West” (Karl 360). As the bourgeoisie build their trade and production it influences other countries to do the same, in order for them to keep their national identity.


Works cited
Marx, Karl. “The Communist Manifesto.” A World of Ideas: Essential Reading for College Writers. Lee A. Jacobs. 7th ed. New York; Bedford St. Martins, 2006. pp 357-377.