A look at why people choose the sex roles they choose in life. Specifically females.

Essay by hopperdUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, October 2003

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David Hopper

ENGL-1102

Research Paper

11 September 03

Why Do People Take on The Roles They Do?

There is a significant correlation between the types of behavior displayed by females/males in literature and the real world. The attitudes and behaviors adopted by characters in written works are often very similar to the attitudes and behaviors seen in many work settings. This is in part because of preconceived notions of behavior patterns that people believe "respectable" citizens of society should conform to. These patterns of behavior differ greatly from culture to culture but this paper will try to focus on the behavior patterns found in American society. In addition to this, if we examine some of the psychological aspects of human behavior we will find that there are many similarities between the behavior of both fictional and non-fictional characters.

One of the more common ideas, particularly in certain literary works, is that women are inept at handling money or financial matters in general.

A prime example of this would be the main characters in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House". In this short story Torvald Helmner treats his wife, Nora, as if she was a child and had no common sense at all. Ibsen also makes it clear in the story that women are not allowed to handle financial matters on their own; they are not even allowed to take out a loan without the co-signature of a male (Ibsen 682). During the time period that the story was written practices that denied women the right to exercise financial freedom, or even own property, were common. In today's world these practices and biases have long since been abolished, at least through legal means. However these biases may not have been totally without merit. There has been research conducted that provides evidence...