Waltz Essay Research Paper Themes in The
Waltz Essay, Research Paper
Subjects in The Waltz
The Waltz by Dorothy Parker was written during a clip when adult females were merely get downing to understand that they could asseverate their ain personal individualities. Dorothy Parker wanted to demo the motion off from the Victorian ideals of the twenty-four hours towards a more broad urban America. Women s emerging individuality led to the realisation that they didn Ts have to depend wholly on work forces. Women besides developed more political consciousness and used their political accomplishments to more greatly influence society. The Waltz shows how adult females were trapped in this male dominated society and the hopeless predicament of these pent-up adult females during the early Twentieth century.
In The Waltz, Dorothy Parker shows an autobiographical word picture of sexism in her life experience. In one portion of the narrative the storyteller is dancing with a adult male whom she doesn Ts attention for, nor likes and expletives herself while doing merriment of him in the procedure. When the dance spouse inquiries nevertheless, she forces herself to state she is holding a great clip and loves this dance with him. The storyteller besides tells us that dancing with this adult male is merely approximately every bit enjoyable as holding her tonsils taken out. By leting the storyteller to hold such verbal exchanges with her dance spouse Parker is demoing her malicious humor. She is besides demoing adult female s equal rights inside a sexual relationship during the altering times. The storyteller is fighting to be her ain individual, when she implores, Why can t he allow me take my ain life? The storyteller besides shows that she intends to kill the adult male because he wouldn t leave her alone to populate her ain life, which she feels is ne’er traveling to go on because of all females male opposite numbers, Die he must, and dice he shall, for what he did to me. The singular he seems to be used to depict all work forces, non merely one.
Dorothy Parker offers the storyteller of the narrative no topographic point to develop any single individuality or potency. She shows the societal unfairness exerted on adult females by seting the storyteller in a societal state of affairs where she is non given any chance to do her ain determinations due to the oppressiv
e nature of society s ethical motives and idiosyncrasies, which still exerted intense societal force per unit area even though the mores were being challenged. The storyteller s futile efforts at flight show sarcasm since its obvious that she can non get away this adult male merely like she could non get away the oppressive yoke of a male dominated civilization. Because the storyteller has no hint what to state to him ( Did you go to the circus this twelvemonth? ) she has to dance with him and subsume her consciousness to her male oppressor.
The storyteller of The Waltz besides shows the deficiency of chances and general powerlessness in society that adult females were faced with. Had the storyteller said no to the dance she would hold likely been considered rude and barbarian, a societal castaway and a pervert. The storyteller said yes to the dance ( the merely other pick ) and she was tormented with the adult male s bad dance ( he kicked her in the shin and stepped on her innersoles ) and his high energy, which she was, slightly sardonically, stating she admired but realistically hoped it would pall him out.
Other subjects Dorothy Parker portrayed in The Waltz were that of flight and the hunt for peace. In many topographic points in the narrative the storyteller told us that she wanted to be left entirely to wallow in her ain commiseration, to dwell over all [ her ] sorrows. If the storyteller is depicting this one clumsy adult male, whom she tells us she loves, and so calls him a hulking provincial she is demoing the ineluctable real property of work forces being a portion of every adult female s life.
Dorothy Parker s subject for flight and hunt for peace in this narrative shows that there are no agencies of any betterment in society. The storyteller shows that there are no avenues of flight in this male dominated universe from the wretchedness of any adult female during this dance, or in a wider facet, life. Parker shows in this narrative that all adult females are in some manner or the other doomed to populate in a society that awards and respects work forces, enslaves and mentally imprisons adult females. The Waltz shows all adult females s grief and disillusion with life as a whole and their powerless position in society where a life devoid of individualism and starved potency is non deserving life.
