Creative Writing

Résumé du document

This essay applies Judith Butler's ideas on gender performance to the novel 'Treasure Island.' By offering a Feminist critique to the novel, students are able to weave sociological perspectives in their essays, therefore, obtaining a higher grade.

Extraits

[...] For example, the only female character in the book Mrs. Hawkins, who has a brief role at the start of the novella, acts as a bridge between Jim Hawkins's masculinity and femininity. Mrs. Hawkins "weakness" compared to "the strength" Jim has in Chapter 4 at the bridge when she faints; a performative act that creates her femininity, is the catalytic moment that Jim begins to become a man, and where his coming of age begins. Not only this, but by portraying Mrs. [...]

[...] Although, gender can be subverted and challenged, through drag for example; Butler predisposes that people rely on a gender identity in the construction of the self, although she "takes identity based-feminism to be restrictive and limiting because it has a tendency, however minimally, to produce gendered identities as `real' or `natural.'" Gender is one aspect of the self and Butler neglects the intersectionality of how race, class and other factors in environmental upbringing affect our gender performances- race is largely ignored. The consequences of ignoring the intersectionality of gender performances leads to a generalised theory that dismisses the wider world and differing cultural influences upon people. Now, I will briefly turn my attention to establishing crucial historical influences of `Treasure Island,' before a successful application of Butler's theory can be possible. This is because without applying a historical understanding to the text, we cannot extrapolate Butler's works to Stevenson's literature. [...]

[...] During the battle, the performance of gender is dictated by the Captain who Stevenson introduces in the chapter as he "roared" with anger. The tone of such utterances the Captain makes demonstrates that the perception of a male leader is one of assertiveness, dominance and characterised by rational thinking. In comparison to Mrs Hawkins, who represents a female leader at the start of the novella; when she faints, relinquishes her power and the direction of the story is thus carried by men. The imperative language the Captain uses reinforces the hierarchy between the pirates: Jim "mechanically . [...]

[...] I will dedicate the first half of my essay to explaining gender performativity and what Butler argues in her writings. Then, I will proceed to apply these ideas to Chapter 21 of `Treasure Island' titled `The Attack', in which the pirates encounter a battle where their performance of gender is evident throughout. However, I will affirm that Feminist ideology encounters problems when applied to traditional texts; such as its relevance to Stevenson's traditional attitude at the time of writing. I will also highlight that Butler's works are controversial in the sense that what she says is reductionist and dismissive towards biology and its influence upon sex. [...]

[...] Treasure Island. New York: Penguin Group Secondary Sources Brooker, Peter, Selden Raman, and Peter Widdowson. A Reader's Contemporary Guide to Literary Theory. New York: Routledge Cohen, Monica F. "Imitation Fiction: Pirate Citings in Robert Louis Stevenson's `Treasure Island.'" Victorian Literature and Culture 41, no.1 (2013): 153- 173. Salih, Sarah. "On Judith Butler and Performativity." In Sexualities and Communication in Everyday Life, edited by Karen E. [...]