Contemporary World

A detailed Summary of Contemporary World

Two texts were studied, one being "Crusoe's Daughter" a novel written by Jane Gardam set in the early 20th century, and the other "Top Girls" a play written by Caryl Churchill set in the early 1980's.

The novel "Crusoe's Daughter" is about a young girl named Polly who is taken to live with her aunts at the age of six. This novel takes us through the journey of her life and, as it is set in a time period where very significant historical events and changes took place such as, World War I, the reader is also taken through history. Where as the play "Top Girls" is set after major changes had taken place in the pervious decade and it takes us through how the population is coping with these changes. This play concerns a woman, Marlene who has "made it to the top" in the work force and portrays the sacrifices that she had to make to get to her current position.

Although very different in context, both of these texts contain similar themes and issues. Some of these issues and themes are the roles of women, religion, education discrimination, cultural difference, class, opportunity, gender, sexuality and changes in the society, the most significant ones being the role of women and changes in the society.

In act one, even though each historical character comes from a tremendously different era and have different backgrounds they all have suffered similar kind of tyranny in the hands of men. Nijo was controlled by the emperor, lacked freedom and accepted rape "I belonged to him, it was what I was brought up for from a baby," Pope Joan was disguised as a man to fulfil her wants "Do you know why I went to Rome? Italian men didn't have beards," Griselda gave up her children for the love of her husband and was empowered by him; Dull Gret's children were killed. Churchill is outlining that through out the past millenniums the treatment of women has somewhat stayed the same. There may have been changes, but none that have made both women and men entirely equal. There may be acts in place, but this does not guaranty that in the social community people would act upon them.

Alice is a Gardam representation of a perfect modern woman, who is not dependant and who has overcome the stereotypical roles of women. Through her, Gardam has shown the reader how women can maintain career outside the house and also have a family at the same time. At the end of the novel, it is brought to the reader's attention that the two girls whom Polly had adopted have been extremely successful, with one being an international lawyer and the other marrying a parson. These two girls have achieved what Alice had achieved but at a latter time, proving that Alice was obviously ahead of her time.

But what the audience does not realize is that similar situations are still taking place, all these women in history sacrificed their children, and women at the present still do. It may not be for the same reasons, but it is still taking place, a perfect example of this is portrayed through Marlene. Marlene gives up the wonderful role of motherhood and passes the responsibilities of her daughter to Joyce, her sister. Marlene not only abandons her daughter for her career she also abandons her femininity and picks up on male properties, such as becoming more competitive, aggressive, short-tempered and arrogant. She is described by Mrs.kidd as "...one of those ballbreakers that's what you are. You'll end up miserable and lonely. You are not natural." The only actual time that Marlene shows a slight hint of femininity is when she gets intoxicated whilst talking with her sister. This is an extremely significant emotional cost.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Zeits Jew, Marlene Marlene, Crusoe's Daughter, Pope Joan, Top Girls, Dull Gret's, Daughter Polly, Alice Gardam, Rolls Royce, Joan Buddhist, crusoe's daughter, pope joan, top girls, roles women, aunt mary, 'working class', crusoe's daughter polly, changes society, public schools, attend school, love husband, brought readers' attention, readers' attention polly, sex discrimination act,

Approximate Word count = 2436
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English