Duffy presents gender in the poems Litany and Havisham through society's views and expectations of women, and the effects that this a on them show how being a woman harmed their well-being. .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Litany creates an example of the ideal, successful woman. The reference to the “American Tan” brand creates an image of an all-American woman – wholesome and patriotic, the perfect type of housewife, respectful to her husband and easily conforming to societal expectations. The women's "red smiles" allow the reader to infer that they manage to make an effort on their appearance for the benefit of their husbands, while taking care of the family and the home, and maintaining a positive attitude - again once, fulfilling the role of women globally. time. Alternatively, the red of their lips connotes pain (blood) and danger, showing that it may all be a facade, and that beneath the makeup they struggle and are unhappy with the unfulfilling and monotonous life that they lead. The "Pyrex" and "Pass the Catalogue" repeat the notion of the women being referred to as simple housewives and nothing else - even when among friends, they always talked about household chores, rather than anything that they could find something more pleasant; these women have literally devoted their lives to being unpaid domestic workers. It is Duffy who shows the context of the times she grew up: in the 1950s and 1960s, women were not expected to be anything other than mothers and housewives, and the patriarchal society had traditional values of nuclear families. Havisham creates an example of the unhappy woman of the time - the word "spinster" and the bitter tone that accompanies it presents the idea of ​​being over a certain age and being single as tragic and the embodiment of what women didn't want to be. Havisham's "yellowing" dress shows how the less than exemplary women did not take care of themselves, contrasting with the carefully made-up women of Litany. The dress no longer being white mimics how Havisham was not pure or healthy as the ideal woman should be. The "lost body on me" implies that she once had a body on her. implying that Havisham had sex before marriage, proving that she was impure; however, it was a taboo subject in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly for Havisham – Miss Havisham was a character in Dickens' Great Expectations, published in 1860, when society's expectations of women were even higher strict as in Duffy's time - women had an image of innocent, prim and proper, in contrast to the copper Havisham in Duffy's poem. Despite the way women were presented in Litany, Duffy shows how they were repressed beneath the figurative masks. The fact that "the language embarrassed them" shows how women were so reserved and so eager to be feminine that they demeaned themselves to maintain an appearance of perfection. Furthermore, the way they "balanced" their smiles demonstrates that it was a forced action that the women found difficult to do, again, only enduring it because everyone they knew they knew expected them to do so. The use of onomatopoeia with "crackle", as well as "cellophane" and "polyester" evokes the feeling that women and their lives are plastic, and therefore artificial and induced, none of it is authentic - it was all fake and for nothing. show, rather.