ENGLISH QUOTES- gender and power

Question 1

She’s got the three things that matter in a wife… breeding, brains and beauty

Answer 1

Tricolon heightened by plosive alliteration
-strict confines women expected to fit
-shows societal expectations seek to confine and restrict women
-heightens the unattainable standard of perfection towards women

Question 2

I could see myself now… trailing in the wake of Mrs Van Hopper like a shy, uneasy colt

Answer 2

Similie comparing Narrator to a male horse
- uneasiness of being a woman illuminating androgynous characterization
-Lack of traditional femininity
-Inability to fit into the rigid confines of gender expectations
-Du Maurier critiques moral obligations based on women through narrators inability to fit gender role and rebeccas intentional eschewing of traditional expectations places upon women

Question 3

She sat there on the hillside, laughing, tearing the flower to bits in her hands

Answer 3

Symbolism of destroying the flower
-Represents Rebecca’s eschewing of gender expectations
-Flower symbolizes the delicacy and beauty of femininity
- Tearing flower represents tearing image of femininity to pieces