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When I look back sometimes I wish that I did read this novel sooner. If you still have not, do get your hands on it. Anne Shirley Cuthbert is an acquaintance that you would like to make.
The society is mostly governed by a handful of people’s opinion. As young children and adults we absorb these opinions and believe them to be true.
Growing up, most of the movies I watched, books I read were always filled with a protagonist who was fair, with long straight hair and brave. I was none of that. I always tried to fit myself into these protagonists who were nothing short than perfection embodied in beauty, talent and luck. Little that I knew then that there was actually not one perfect way to be, because everyone who exists is made perfect exactly as they are.
This is when I came across the novel by Lucy M Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables.
The protagonist Anne was anything but a mishap. With a face filled with freckles and an unruly bunch of red hair, she was a complete disaster in the 19th century English society filled with demure damsels with good fortune. But what she did have was a blazing soul that understood the nuances of nature. She had the intellect to understand the depth of philosophy, literature and science. In a society where women were just trained to grow up to be just meek housewives and have polite table manners, she had the passion and will to make something out of herself. And so she did.
But most importantly what made me fall in love with this character is that she saw beauty in everything like in a distant birch tree or a fallen leaf. For her everything was magic, everything was alive.
And know what? She too wished that she was more like the protagonists that she read about or saw around her. But her soul always rose above these desires and associated with just losing herself in her constructive imaginations or engage herself in a worthy cause.
I am still at a loss to understand how an author living in the early 19th century Canada could craft out a character who was actually so ahead of her century. Things like feminism, defying the beauty standards of the time and fanning the carefree soul of women is something that spills generously all over the novel.
Every time I went through the pages of this novel I was immensely inspired. Inspired to really soak in the moment I am in, to listen to my heart and accept myself as I am. When I look back sometimes I wish that I did read this novel sooner. If you still have not, do get your hands on it. Anne Shirley Cuthbert is an acquaintance that you would like to make.
About Lucy M Montgomery – I will be forever grateful to her, for introducing earlier unheard of concepts of feminism, defying outdated societal norms and fanning the spirit of being a woman in an era when it was unheard of.
The society is mostly governed by ideas. But when it is painted with constructive and progressive ideas of being, it creates a society that is healthy. And I believe Lucy M Montgomery’s contribution has somehow somewhere changed women’s concept of being with more progressive alternatives. I feel nothing but gratefulness for this woman who has changed the way women think, just because she was brave enough to put her progressive thoughts on paper and set it into the world. She was truly ahead by a century.
Image source: a still from Anne With An E
A Social Media Content Writer by profession. A writer by heart. A genuine foodie. Simple by nature. Love to read, create paintings and cook. Have impossible dreams. At the moment, engaged in making those dreams read more...
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If her home and family seem to be impacted by her career then we expect her to prioritize her ‘responsibilities at home as a woman’ and leave her job.
The entrenched patriarchal norms have always perpetuated certain roles and responsibilities as falling specifically in the domain of either men or women. Traditionally, women have been associated with the domestic sphere while men have been considered the bread winner of the household. This division of roles has become so ingrained in our lives that we seldom come to question it. However, while not being questioned does give the system a certain level of legitimacy, it in no way proves its veracity.
This systematic division has resulted in a widely accepted notion whereby the public sphere is demarcated as a men’s zone and the private sphere as belonging to women. Consequently, women are expected to stay at home and manage the household chores while men are supposed to go out and make a living with no interest whatsoever in the running of the household.
This divide is said to be grounded in the intrinsic nature of men and women. Women are believed to be compassionate, affectionate and loving and these supposedly ‘feminine’ qualities make them the right fit for caring roles. Men, on the other hand are allegedly more sturdy, strong and bold and hence, the ones to deal with the ordeals of the outside world.
Investing in women means many things beyond the obvious meaning of this IWD2024 theme, as the many orgs doing stellar work can show us.
What does it mean to invest in women?
Telling the women in our lives how great we think they are? That we value the sacrifices they have made? (Usually though not necessarily only – a sacrifice of their aspirations, careers and earning potential in order to focus on family).
No, thank you. Just talk is no longer going to cut it. Roses and compliments are great, but it’s time people, leaders, organizations put their money, capital, resources on track instead.
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