The Role of Titles in Literary Works
Titles play a significant role in any kind of written or visual work which grabs the attention of the reader immediately. It provides a specific structure and allows the reader to mentally form an idea before indulging in the content of the work (Langford and Pearce).The Awakening and the New Woman fiction written by Ann Heilman focuses on the feminist and conceptual perspective relevant to an activity like swimming. This has been connected to the image of a new woman which was displayed by Chopin (Heilmann). Comparing the concept of Chopin to Edna Pontellier’s opinion on learning how to swim can be seen in the title of the piece that has been written by Heilman. The purpose of title is to make the reader aware of the work and let them get a hint of the essence that lingers in the text. The thesis of the paper is to extract various literary elements from the two texts, The Awakening and the New Woman fiction written by Ann Heilman and Tomboy Survival Guide written by Ivan Coyote. These literary elements will be studied in order to identify their relation with the title of the texts.
The second text that has been chosen is Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote is an entertaining memoir which is based on her life. The title that is provided will enable the reader to recognize the central idea which is being focused here. It aims at narrating events that is experienced by the author and the ways that she had owned to survive in a society which believes in specific gender labels and roles. If an attempt is taken to understand the content with the help of disintegrating the term, it can be seen that it comprises of the integral three words. These three words aid in explaining the essence around which the text is formed. The narrator and the author had attempted to create an amiable environment with the help of this book. She had focused on the transgender children and youth who feel left out or “different” in a social environment (González-Díaz). The written piece is seen to be a factor which can inspire children and youth making it appropriate as a guideline. The literary element is used in this text to make the readers aware that there are a lot of different kinds of individuals which come from different backgrounds. They perceive things differently and have their own preferences or comfort zones. Thus the societal standards and labels are not designed to fit everybody. “Coyote is especially critical of the school system that does not create a safe, respectful environment for all kids” highlights the struggle that is faced by several children during a particular age (Coyote and Tegan).
“The Awakening and the New Woman Fiction” deals with several critical topics like exploration of a woman and beginning the journey of knows herself, the autonomy of a woman’s body and the transformation of the position of women since the nineteenth century. The Awakening reveals the concept of women to give in their sexual desire and several relevant topics which were not explicitly mentioned in literature before (Heilmann). As mentioned in the text “The Awakening is closely affiliated to a female and feminist tradition of women’s writing” makes the space for women writers to express themselves .Thus, the title, The Awakening directs at the new era of women where they have learnt to explore and discover their emotions and their existence (Hyde). Edna Pointellier’s The New Woman Fiction focuses on the same genre where it aims to show the readers the new version of women who are being transformed The exposure of self awareness and inner independence that is achieved by the women of the new era is shown with the help of critically studying the position of women which was historically known along with the changes and transformations which have arrived (Ostman). The social political aspect which was instigated by the revolutionary feminist movement had affected the mentality and the position of women. Thus, Pointellier attempted to let the readers understand the image of a new woman who has left her past ideas, shackles and concepts behind to renew her thoughts with the help of communicating with the outside world, exploring, learning and discovering herself. Here, the title clearly states the integral terms which describe her image of a woman belonging to the transformed and revolutionary feminist era.
The Awakening and The New Woman Fiction: Exploring Feminist Ideology
Using the literary element of nostalgia, the text displays a time when the author was revisiting her pictures from the childhood and all she could see is a little tomboy. She mentioned that she did not have anybody to see the pictures apart from her which showed the essence of being different and alone at the same. The core elements like “Survival” and “guidelines” indicate the struggle that she had gone through all by herself as she did not have anybody beside her (González-Díaz). Coyote being an advocate for LGBT right had created this inspiring and relatable memoir which ridiculed and went against all the binaries and standards that were set by the people around. The struggle does not just end outside. It brought her “closer to strength” as interpreted by her. Coyote has shown that the struggle is continued even in the space of a homely environment. This brings to light the factor that has let several children to relate to this. The text seems to contain a recurring motif where Coyote’s father is seen to be a parent who is usually distant and does not seem to be supportive (Richardson). She vividly mentions the requirement of parental support which is crucial for a young child who is growing up. The “survival guide” in the title aims to deliver the methods in which deprived Trans children can still find hope and continue their journey just like she did. As extracted from the text “Coyote designs the content of most of the stories that are addressed to young people, which entails not talking specifically about the experience of being queer, but rather about the feelings of vulnerability that are connected to childhood and adolescence” shows how the way so many children found her struggles to be relatable (González-Díaz).
The ideal picture of a woman being calm, caring and nurturing as the society is imposing the figure of a mother on her was demolished in the text The Awakening and The New Woman Fiction as the comparison by the two women have focused on the new figure of the woman (Krismawati). The rights of women and their freedom to explore themselves were seen to be a political affair. This idea was thoroughly rejected here as the women claimed that such matters are nothing but personal. The lines “I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier’s possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose” makes the title significantly relevant. It title seems to be appropriate here as it shows the empowerment of women by rejecting every element in the society that has brought them down (Hyde).The significance of the title is designed to give an initial structure to the text. The display of women in the novels written by men and their stereotypical ideas were challenged(Raoufzadeh et al). This was done by giving a title which will in turn deliver a new shape or direction to show the rise of new and broad minded women writers. The text focuses on the status of women which is suppressed by the concrete structure of patriarchy and keeps the opinions, existence and voices lowered in the society (Heilmann). The title The Awakening and The New Woman Fiction is significantly revolutionary in nature as it shows the reader the main theme attached to it.
In conclusion, it is necessary to understand the role that is played by the title in visual and written works. The literary and key elements that are found in the text are related to the tile. This is done to identify the importance the significance or the purpose of titles in essay or texts. They are studied properly to find a proper and create link between the content and the title.
Coyote, Ivan, and Tegan Quin. “One Book One SFU: Tomboy Survival Guide| Ivan Coyote and Tegan Quin in Conversation.” (2018).
González-Díaz, Isabel. “Reassembling components: Ivan Coyote writes down difficult things.” The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 56.3 (2021): 416-430.
Heilmann, Ann. The Awakening and New Woman Fiction. na, 2008.
Hyde, Derek. New-found voices: women in nineteenth-century English music. Routledge, 2018.
Krismawati, Mela. Gender Inequality Reflected In Kate Chopin’s” The Awakening”: Feminist Approach. Diss. Prodi Sastra Inggris, 2021.
Langford, C. A., and Pearce, P. F. Increasing visibility for your work: The importance of a well-written title. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 31(4), 217-218. 2019.
Ostman, Heather, ed. Kate Chopin in the twenty-first century: new critical essays. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020.
Raoufzadeh, Narges, Fatemeh Sadat Basirizadeh, and Shiva Zaheri Birgani. “A Foucauldian Reading: Power in Awakening by Kate Chopin.” Budapest International Research and Critics Institute (BIRCI-Journal): Humanities and Social Sciences 3.1 (2020): 159-66.
Richardson, Angelique, and Chris Willis, eds. The new woman in fiction and fact: fin-de-siècle feminisms. Springer, 2019.
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