"American literature is masculine. To read the canon of what is currently considered classic American literature is necessarily to identify as masculine; our literature does not leave women alone and does not allow them to participate." Judith Fetterley (Walker, 171)Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Mark Twain's writings fall under this criticism in the minds of many literary critics, especially those of the feminist mindset. When it comes to Twain's art, the accusations against him on this front are familiar: his female characters tend to be severely limited, stereotypical, and flat. Meanwhile, all of his truly interesting, more well-rounded characters – with a few exceptions – are men. (Fishkin, 58) But it would be a mistake to equate the limited range of roles Twain gave women in his work with the idea that women had limited importance in Twain's mind. Twain's relationships with women, both in his life and in his writings, were far more complicated and interesting than this narrow picture suggests. (Fishkin, 53) Mary Ellen Goad defined the role Twain wanted women to play in his own life to inform his creation of female characters: Twain viewed the role of woman in a particular way and, for modern, strange spirit. path. He proceeded from the theory that the male of this species was rough and crude and needed the softening influence of a woman, or, if necessary, several women. The primary function of woman was therefore the reform of man. (Walker, 173) In Twain's stories, women frequently represent the moral standard by which men are measured. Changes in the perception of the realities of women's lives over the past hundred years reveal that although Twain may have used the idealization of women as the basis for many of his female characters, these characterizations play a vital, if not understated, role. esteemed, in the society of which they are part. apart. Although the male characters in the story perceive these roles only as occasions for rebellion or opportunities for heroic action, the women represent both the positive and negative values ​​of the society in which they live. (Walker, 174)Twain has received much criticism for his portrayal of women. However, although women's flaws have always been one of the main themes of humorists, Twain is rarely cynical in this regard. He doesn't point out flaws or make fun, rather he creates characters to depict the specific aspect of society he wishes to criticize. There are many passages in which Twain expresses his respect and esteem for women. (Wagenknecht, 125)The most prominent criticism against Twain's women, however, concerns the stereotypical way in which they are presented. When Goad discusses the female characters in Twain's work, she asserts that they are simply flat and stereotypical and that, in fact, they represent one of Twain's failures as a writer. “Twain,” she says, “was simply incapable of creating a female character, regardless of age, regardless of time and place, who was anything other than wooden and unrealistic.” (Walker, 173) In the same vein, Bernard DeVoto asserts that "none of Mark Twain's nubile girls, young women or young matrons are credible: they are all biscuit, saccharine or tears". (Fishkin, 58) Stereotypical female characters are perhaps the norm in the collection ofTwain, but there were occasions when he struggled to move beyond the genre conventions he usually conformed to. This is particularly evident in her portrayal of black women. Overall, his black female characters tend to have more depth and importance in the works that feature them. However, I will talk about it in more detail later in this article. The other instance where Twain was clearly campaigning for women was during the fight for women's suffrage. Twain always had a soft spot in his heart for women. There is an interesting passage in his autobiography in which hestates that the entire population of the United States is now financially rotten, but immediately adds that, of course, he does not intend to include women in this statement. In fact, most of the time when Mark Twain denounces the human race, it is generally accepted that he is only denouncing the male half of it. (Wagenknecht, 126) Even though he favors them, that doesn't mean he always thought they should have had the right to vote. Before the 1870s, he was an outspoken opponent of the women's suffrage movement, and his articles ridiculing the women's rights movement drew applause and laughter from male audiences from coast to coast. (Fonder, 88) He would acknowledge that justice was on the side of women's suffrage activists, but he insisted that women's suffrage would only increase mediocrity and corruption in government and, at the same time, would lower the status of women in government. Company. (Fonder, 88 years old) But his opinions on this issue were obviously hesitant. On one occasion, when his satires brought a response from a woman defending the suffrage movement, his humorous response was extremely weak. He conceded privately "that her task would have been easier if she had not had all the arguments on her side." (Founder, 89 years old) These hesitations ultimately led to her acceptance and support in the fight for women's right to vote. In a public speech in 1901, he said: "I would like to see the time when women will contribute to the making of laws." I would like to see this boost, the vote, in the hands of women. As for the government of this city, I don't want to say much, except that it is a shame, a shame; but if I were to live twenty-five years longer, and there is no reason why I should not, I think I would see the women in charge of the vote. If women had the right to vote today, the situation in this city would not exist. (Wagenknecht, 126-7) Twain began to speak frequently on the issue at public meetings for the cause. He now claimed that women's influence in politics would reduce corruption and increase the caliber of elected officials: I think it would suggest to many a man that if women could vote, they would vote on the side of morality; would not sit idly at home as their husbands and brothers do now, but would; put in place candidates who are decent human beings to vote for. (Fonder, 90) Although Twain obviously idealized the role that women could play in politics, this does not mean that he viewed all women as above criticism. When writing The Gilded Age, Twain was jokingly advocating a women's party, which is not the case. it is as much a positive good as it is a way to assuage the fact that “both major parties have failed.” (Founder, 90) In the winter of 1868-69, Twain discovered a type of politicized woman who did not require appropriations to supply Congress "with paregoric, with Jayne's carminative, withsugared almonds, etc. ”, as he had heard in his youth. Instead, he found the rascal who worked and bribed “with all her might,” not, however, as a voter or elected representative, but as a behind-the-scenes manipulator. (French, 111)The female he created was Laura Hawkins. In her role as a female lobbyist, Laura Hawkins is drawn with the greatest accuracy. Laura was on excellent terms with many members of Congress, and some suspected that she was a lobbyist, but "what belle could escape slander in such a city?" (French, 112) Both for the sake of the novel and perhaps for historical accuracy, Twain decided to present Laura as the most influential type of sophisticated lobbyist, who would lure her prey with a sexual lure and knew how to use sex like a weapon. (French, 114) In this case, Laura is not the simple stick or the false portrait so often alleged. She is a carefully constructed and historically significant female lobbyist, and her life story and motivations are not far from reality. (French, 116)Laura is the first female character Twain developed in depth and one who, even temporarily, has the potential to become a fully rounded figure. However, she fails to transcend conventional stereotypes. As Susan Harris writes: Never a literary feminist, Twain's portraits of women are constantly presented in one or another stereotypical mode, making them reducible to one or another literary paradigm and therefore controlled as more self-creating characters are not. Not only Laura, but all women are other-oriented in Twain's work; he could not imagine them other than in relation to men. (Fishkin, 59) Harris also believes that Twain killed Laura because he could not allow the presence of a “ring” to add to the chaos of the male world. She believes that Laura, this alienated woman, threatens to destroy Twain's project that the primary function of women is to ensure the safety of men. (Fishkin, 61) Twain's The Innocents Abroad shows a variety of stereotypical women. In a way that is not true to his private experience of travel, Twain omits the friendships he formed with women during his actual travels. However, women are not completely excluded from The Innocents Abroad. The encounters with female figures he recounts revolve around the perception that women are either angels or demons. Moreover, he dramatized his encounters with European women in terms emphasizing the privileged status of an innocent American man as opposed to experienced and sometimes repulsive European womanhood. (Stahl, 36) The sexual connotations are never clearer than in the story of his meeting with a pretty young employee during a film shoot in Gibraltar. Here, the woman is more of a demon than an angel. A very beautiful young lady at the store gave me a pair of blue gloves. I didn't want blue, but she said they would look very pretty on a hand like mine. This remark touched me tenderly. I sneaked a glance at my hand and somehow it seemed like a pretty nice member. I tried on a glove on my left and blushed a little. Obviously the size was too small for me. (The Innocents Abroad, 41) She teases him by claiming that the glove fits him perfectly and that he did not damage the glove which was too small for him. His friends tease him relentlessly by repeating the woman's praise of his skill in putting on gloves. The women featured in this travel book are one-dimensional and only appear in brief episodes where they play only minor roles.However, in A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, Twain devotes more time to his female characters. However, they still each represent a stereotype about women. In A Connecticut Yankee, Twain seems to suggest that in men the attenuation of pride and cruelty (the will to rule) is positive. At the same time, he also suggests that the only alternatives to the victimization of women are domesticity or heartless female cruelty, which he shows through the characters of Sandy and Morgan. (Stahl, 98)Connecticut Yankee also looks at the traditional roles of fatherhood and motherhood. This shows that the father can assimilate the mother's qualities, but the mother does not dare to usurp the father's qualities. Several episodes emphasize the mother-child bond as the woman's main defining characteristic. However, the qualities that men and women are allowed to share to different degrees, including gentleness and compassion, make men human but women angels. (Stahl, 117)The women in this novel present incredibly stereotypical roles. The ladies of the court are instinctively described as decorative, “that massive flowerbed of spectacle and feminine adornment.” (Stahl, 94) "Sandy; is a superficial simpleton." (Fishkin, 59) She rambles on and on without reaching an intelligent conclusion. Her incessant conversation with Hank is a “mill,” her tongue and jaws are “her works,” with the fatal flaw that she “finished without result.” (Stahl, 102) Hank's mode of thinking is linear and intentional, while Sandy is a comedic representation of an opposing feminine mode of expression. Another stereotypical figure in A Connecticut Yankee is Morgan le Fay. This woman plays a heartless, mean and cruel role. Morgan is the demonic woman, beautiful and cruel. Hank emphasizes her attractiveness as a woman: "To my great surprise, she was beautiful; dark thoughts had failed to make her expression repulsive, age had failed to wrinkle her satiny skin or mar her floral freshness." (A Connecticut Yankee, 96 years old) Her power as a woman, her sexual appeal, and her nastiness are inseparable. She is a completely evil and menacing figure, not only because she is a cold-blooded murderer, but also because she is completely in control. (Stahl, 104) Of course, one of the novels that Twain received a lot of criticism for was Huckleberry Finn. The object of praise, bans, and vexation in the hundred years since its publication, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn hasn't exactly been seen as a novel about women in 19th-century American society. Women tend to stand at the back and sides of the novel, nagging, inspirational, or often crying or hysterical. (Walker, 171) Most female characters come from traditional and generally unflattering stereotypes of women common to authors and readers. The novel could serve as an index to common attitudes toward women as reflected in stereotypical images. (Walker, 172) As members of the gender charged with upholding the moral and religious values ​​of civilization, even when those values ​​sanctioned slave ownership, women made male lawlessness and violence possible. (Sloane, 113) The Victorian definition of the woman's role as a moral guide would take into account characters such as Miss Watson, the Widow Douglas, and Aunt Sally, part of whose function is to "civilize" Huck. There are twelve women in Huck Finn aged fourteen or older. (Walker, 175) Many of them are just walking characters. For example, Emmeline's sisterGrangerford, Charlotte and Sophia, and Mary Jane Wilk's sisters, Susan and Joanna. Sophia Grangerford is one half of the couple Romeo and Juliet whose escape triggers a resumption of the feud between the Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords. She is portrayed as the stereotypical lovestruck young woman, always blushing and sighing. Huck Finn's most obvious reformers are the Widow Douglas, Miss Watson, and Aunt Sally Phelps. They are all vaguely defined civilizers who care about manners, dress, and religion. However, the key to the differences between these three people lies in their marital status. (Fishkin, 59) No matter how devotedly some women of the time clung to a state of “unique happiness,” marriage was the only widely sanctioned state for an adult woman. (Walker, 176) Widows fared somewhat better than singles in the public eye. At least they had a husband at one point. The image of the widow, once a wife and probably mother, is a little gentler. The spinster, presumed undesirable, is presumed to be ossified. (Sloane, 104) The married woman, supposedly in her element, provides the happiest image of the three and is therefore probably the gentlest reformer of all. However, in Huck Finn, the relationship between Huck and women is more complex and dynamic than simply responding to stereotypical characters. Miss Watson is a constant and tenacious presence, particularly concerned with Huck's manners and his upbringing. The widow is a much gentler reformer than her spinster sister and often intercedes between Huck and Miss Watson to alleviate the other's severity. But Aunt Sally, because of the particular stereotype she draws on, is an ineffective reformer, although reforming is clearly her function. (Watson, 179) Huck's response to Aunt Sally's discipline is to ignore her. He said, “it didn’t mean anything.” On the other hand, his reaction to the Widow Douglas's disappointment at his demotion at the beginning of the novel had been to try to "behave for a while" if he could manage it. (Walker, 180) The Widow has managed to touch Huck's humanity, but Aunt Sally simply touches his back with a switch. That Huck can ignore Aunt Sally's feminine authority speaks both to his own lack of significant maturity and to Mark Twain's awareness of the ultimate futility of women in his society. (Walker, 181) The three women who attempt to force Huck to conform to society's rules are derived from traditional stereotypes of women who can superficially be seen as mother figures from the same societal mold. (Sloane, 122) However, Huck's more complex and ambivalent relationships with them highlight the social realities they represent. His own childish immaturity at the end of the novel shines through his ambivalence towards women. (Walker, 172) Although Twain's white female characters tend to be static and stereotypical, there is nothing static or stereotypical about some of his most important black female characters. This is specifically demonstrated through "Aunt Rachel" in "A True Story" and "Roxy" in Pudd'nhead Wilson. “A True Story” has obvious goals. Two of them must clearly highlight the dignity of the black woman and the love of the slave family. Over the course of her narrative, Aunt Rachel emerges as one of Twain's most well-rounded character creations, and she lives up to the expectations her description provides: She was of powerful figure and stature; she was sixty years old, but her eye was intact and her strength intact. She was a cheerful and warm soul, and it was no more difficult for her to.. 1985.