Comparing and Contrasting Stories

Comparing and Contrasting Stories

Introduction

In this paper we analyzed three short stories listed "From a vindication of the rights of women" by Mary Wollstonecraft, "Pornography" by Margaret Atwood and "From The Subjection of Women" by John Stuart Mill. “Pornography” is written from the personal views and knowledge of Margaret Atwood. As the narrator, Atwood writes an essay on how pornography is perceived by various cultures around the world as well as specific and generalized viewpoints of men and women. While one of the most important issues that Mary Wollstonecraft addresses in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is that of women's education and its place in society. Similarly “The Subjection of Women” has both detailed argumentation and passion in Mill's bitter opposition to the social and legal inequalities commonly imposed on women by a Patriarchal culture.

Analysis

In Margaret Atwood's essay “Pornography,” the issue of soft porn, erotica, and hard core porn is addressed in a negative way. Atwood questions, “Is today's pornography yet another indication of the hatred of the body, the deep mind-body split, which is supposed to pervade Western Christian society?” (Atwood, 1986 p. 380). Atwood brings home the idea that “porn” in the media is a bad influence on young adults; if they think porn is okay or normal, they will be questioning their self image and their morals for a long time. This is not healthy for the teens, and this will delay them in finding their true “self.” Society did not used to be so centered on this issue of self exposure. At first, revealing yourself in a music video was a social taboo; when Madonna did this everyone was shocked.

The key audience is the men and women of the world that have any knowledge or view point on pornography as a method of sexual power, and often described in this essay as a form of mutilating a human being, usually women. This is an appealing essay because it makes strong comparisons as to what pornography means to some as a form of personal pleasure and knowledge gain, and to others as a way of showing power and a way to get turned on at any cost. Being a serious subject, Atwood goes into great detail surrounding the actually brutality side of pornography and how wrong it is, as well as the purpose and need for pornography in general. It is written in a tone that almost seems offended at some points at what people come up with as excuses for view, making, and condoning pornography(Atwood, 1986).

The purpose of this essay is to inform people of the on goings behind scenes of what may be called the “lighter side” of the porn industry. What people do on their own time and how it effects the sexual education of growing children, who are even at times put up to tasks like pornography in horrific situations. The main idea is, and should be, to scare people through detailed stories and happenings around ...