Revolutionary Road: Masculine Expectations of Society
Format
Oral Presentation
Faculty Mentor Name
Camille Norton
Faculty Mentor Department
English
Abstract/Artist Statement
Richard Yates’ novel Revolutionary Road examines the lives of April and Frank Wheeler, a couple crippled by the gendered social system that exists in suburban America in the post war economic boom. This presentation will focus on Frank Wheeler in particular, and the damage inflicted upon him by masculine expectations of society. His crises will be examined along with Nancy Chodorow’s theory of the “invisible father” and how that has greatly shaped the behavioral patterns that Frank demonstrates. Simone De Beauvior’s notion of the Other as seen in “The Second Sex” will assist in explaining Frank’s need to define himself in what he is not. This will lead to the juxtaposition of the male as culture and the female as nature. Overall, this paper will strive to illuminate the culturally damaging gender expectations facing Frank Wheeler in Revolutionary Road.
Location
DeRosa University Center, Room 211
Start Date
26-4-2014 9:00 AM
End Date
26-4-2014 12:00 PM
Revolutionary Road: Masculine Expectations of Society
DeRosa University Center, Room 211
Richard Yates’ novel Revolutionary Road examines the lives of April and Frank Wheeler, a couple crippled by the gendered social system that exists in suburban America in the post war economic boom. This presentation will focus on Frank Wheeler in particular, and the damage inflicted upon him by masculine expectations of society. His crises will be examined along with Nancy Chodorow’s theory of the “invisible father” and how that has greatly shaped the behavioral patterns that Frank demonstrates. Simone De Beauvior’s notion of the Other as seen in “The Second Sex” will assist in explaining Frank’s need to define himself in what he is not. This will lead to the juxtaposition of the male as culture and the female as nature. Overall, this paper will strive to illuminate the culturally damaging gender expectations facing Frank Wheeler in Revolutionary Road.