A Coming of Rage Story by https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q The (De)Construction of Female Anger in Women’s Literature en-us 2023-06-07 15:42:19 UTC 2026-02-18 18:50:23 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-uploads.storage.googleapis.com/2068637055/06290718565331af644ed8efebe2bae1/b52f1b8635c5c7513f4e42afb26bbdd9.jpg Write-Up gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617285281 In the long and winding history of Western civilization, women’s anger is perceived as deviant, monstrous, or even taboo (Kay 591). There is no place for a woman to be angry, and this is largely due to widespread gender stereotypes, which have affected the way people perceive emotionality between men and women. In general, women are believed to be more susceptible to their own emotions than men–but anger is situated differently (Smith 488) because according to Shields (235), “anger or aggressiveness, in contrast to nearly all other specific emotions, is considered a typical male response.” Diving into this further, anger is a form of agency. Anger is directed outwards and imposed on others, which is in line with the stereotypical idea of men being more agentic than women (Shields 236; Smith 488).

It follows then that women being angry is a direct violation of gender prescriptions because, in the act of expressing anger, women have to impose their own feelings onto others. What then becomes of angry women, such as me, who feel the need to subscribe to societal boundaries imposed on them? We swallow our anger down. We internalize it and silence ourselves for the comfort of others. Let’s face the reality: men are allowed to feel and express rage, yet women, are punished for doing the exact same thing. According to Chemaly (32), the punishment of women’s anger is a regulation that is maintained with the concept of upholding prejudiced and gendered power structures. Women’s anger cannot be legitimized because to condone it would necessitate a reckoning with centuries of discrimination and oppression.

In connection, to undermine and reexamine the sexist notions we were raised upon, we must seek representations where women can freely rage against what constricts them. According to Kay (594), the first step in using anger for social and/or political justice ends to speak of it. This theme presents three texts that do exactly that. “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell (1917), “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath (1981), and a film excerpt, “The Cool Girl Monologue” from Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (2012), along with a set of extension pieces, center women’s emotions, specifically rage, and how they operate within their societal contexts. There is something very intentional about how these texts subvert the previously discussed concept of female anger discomfiting society. You will find that for many of these texts, the women are so enraged that they are driven to the point of violence–some sort of literary rebuff against their own inequality. As I wrote in my proposal for this digital archive, the chosen texts depict rage as an empowered approach in which women forwardly violate imposed societal boundaries. So join me, and let us enter an era where women’s rage can mean something different. Rage is no longer a pathologized character flaw of women. It is no longer a symptom of overreaction or a boundary women can never cross. Rage can now be used as a valid tool to liberate women from archaic societal expectations or confines. Women now own rage and can do whatever they please with it.

]]> 2023-06-07 15:55:18 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617285281 Link to Full Text gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617286824 2023-06-07 15:57:05 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617286824 Link to Full Poem gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617288160 2023-06-07 15:58:36 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617288160 Excerpt gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617288389 There’s a stake in your fat black heart   
And the villagers never liked you.
They are dancing and stamping on you.   
They always knew it was you.
Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.]]> 2023-06-07 15:58:53 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617288389 Link to Full Monologue gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617291270 Watch here!]]> 2023-06-07 16:02:07 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617291270 Excerpt: "You think I’d let him destroy me and end up happier than ever? No fucking way. He doesn’t get to win!" gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617292915 2023-06-07 16:04:12 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617292915 Song: STFU! by Rina Sawayama gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617300524 "How come you don't expect me / To get mad when I'm angry? / You've never seen it though I know I'm not the only one / How come you don't respect me? / Expecting fantasies / Leave our reality, why don't you just sit down and / Shut the fuck up"

Across the various cultures of Asia, women are expected to restrain their anger. This conditioned silence is praised as a virtue, even though it actively puts women in danger as silence allows them to be susceptible to cycles of gendered, racist, and even domestic violence (“The Revolutionary Anger of Asian Women”). Rina Sawayama, a British-Japanese singer, uses her rage to resist these sexist expectations. She even references the fetishization or “fantasies” that Asian women are subdued to.
]]> 2023-06-07 16:13:07 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617300524 Extension Piece: Painting gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617302936 Similar to the themes of the short story, this painting looks at how fantasies of murder are cathartic expressions of desires for women's empowerment.

Artemisia Gentileschi’s painting depicts a biblical scene from the Book of Judith wherein a young widow Judith seduces warlord Holofernes when he lays siege to the city of Bethulie. Seduced by Judith’s beauty, Holofernes puts aside his vigilance and passes out. Judith then beheads him, and in the act of murder, liberates her nation. This painting is often seen as a beacon of women’s anger toward their oppressors (Auvray 3) as Gentileschi’s representation of the biblical feminine figure has made feel women across history feel seen through painting women as unwilling to submit and more significantly, untethering themselves to the oppressive masculine figures in their life (Auvray 5). Interestingly, enough Judith is not alone in this painting and is accompanied by another woman, a maid presumably, in the act. Echoing one of the processing questions, what can this tell us about women's solidarity, especially in the context of dealing with each other's emotions?]]> 2023-06-07 16:16:16 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617302936 Spoken Word: Porsha O.'s "Angry Black Woman" gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617307782 “I’m pissed the fuck off, I’m mad because above everything, at any given time and in any given space, I, as a Black woman, can suffer from racism, sexism, homophobia, classism.”

According to Ashley (27), the “Angry Black Woman” stereotype characterizes Black women as “aggressive, ill-tempered, illogical, overbearing, hostile, and ignorant without provocation.” These negative attributes actually derive from the external stressors and historical factors that Black women have endured for centuries. In her spoken word, Porsha O. reckons with the multiple factors that make her angry. Here, she is a woman not despite her anger; rather being angry is part of her womanhood. 
]]> 2023-06-07 16:21:46 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617307782 Pre-Reading Activity gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617311869 This digital archive is centered around the question: How does literature portray female rage, and how do these representations emerge as a response to the patriarchal status quo?

To begin engaging with this archive, I suggest ruminating on the concept of rage and how it is situated in your life. In no more than 200 words, answer in the comments:

What makes you very angry?]]> 2023-06-07 16:27:17 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617311869 Processing Questions gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617313712
  • Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters decide to hide the evidence that proves Mrs. Wright’s motive for murder, described as “something to show anger–or sudden feeling.” What can this tell us about women's solidarity, especially in the context of dealing with each other's emotions?
  • Would you say Mrs. Wright’s rage is silenced in the story by having her actions implicitly referenced? Or do Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, through their decision to be a “jury of her peers,” give Mrs. Wright a voice? 
    • ]]>     2023-06-07 16:28:39 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617313712     About the Text gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617313834 Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” is constantly referred to as a “feminist classic” for being an early depiction of women’s perspectives and female bonding in the realm of law in fiction (Bryan 1293). It tells the tale of two women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, who accompany their husbands as they investigate a murder that is believed to have been done by Minnie Wright, the accused. Glaspell creates a comparative lens on gender by showcasing the female characters being able to piece together the crime better, despite not being professionals like their husbands, because they understand the accused’s perspective better on account of being fellow women. 

    The comparative approach that Glaspell employs emphasizes how the traditional legal system is patriarchal as it exists as a space that men have created and is still a space wherein men dominate (Angel 781). The two women in the story are able to act as a “jury of her peers” for a woman who was potentially driven to violence through her own rage. ]]>     2023-06-07 16:28:48 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617313834     About the Poem gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617314060 Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” is a blunt, powerful poem wherein violence emerges from a place of rage and oppression. Considered one of Plath's anger poems, this piece uses rage to investigate womanhood (Perloff 2). In this case, we can observe how anger becomes an essential part of being a woman. 

    To contextualize the poem, violence in Sylvia Plath’s poetry is said to be a reaction against the lowest points of her life, including the loss of her father when she was only eight years old, her divorce, her obsession with suicide, her fears of cold war politics, the effects of the Second World War and the German cruelty against Jewish people (Mohammad 498). Plath uses “Daddy” to explore the dynamics of reckoning with her father’s image as an authoritarian and persecutor but also to reject the paternal authority of society. The archetypal feminine figure in “Daddy” deploys her anger to not only free herself from the authoritarian father figure but to also experience freedom from the psychological difficulties that are linked to her father and other repressive male authorities (Strangeways & Plath 373).

    ]]>     2023-06-07 16:29:04 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617314060     About the Monologue gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617316721 The Cool Girl monologue is one of the most popular scenes from the movie ‘Gone Girl’ because it is a turning point in the film wherein Amy Dunne, the main character, reveals herself to have staged her disappearance to frame Nick for his infidelity. At this moment, she is no longer the victim of the story, but the culprit at the scene of the crime. Representations of female violence, such as in this monologue, resonate with the female audience as it allows women to negotiate their rage in the current political climate. Amy Dunne’s character, deviant and very much considered unwomanly, is a raging response to the patriarchy (Barnes 307).]]> 2023-06-07 16:32:11 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617316721 Processing Questions gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617316870
  • Rage, especially when coming from a woman, is always thought of as an overreaction–an emotion that can never be justified. Do you think Amy Dunne’s enraged response to her husband, as explained in this monologue, is justified? (If you would like to think about this further, do her actions even need justification for their purpose in the story?)
  • Gillian Flynn, the writer of “Gone Girl,” was quoted to say “Libraries are filled with stories on generations of brutal men, trapped in a cycle of aggression. I wanted to write about the violence of women.” What is the importance of representing incensed women in popular media?  
  • Do you think narratives that attempt to aestheticize female rage, such as in Gone Girl, end up fetishizing female anger? Why or why not? 
    • ]]>     2023-06-07 16:32:24 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617316870     Processing Questions gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617317433
  • A father, if present, is one of the foremost authority figures in any girl’s life. Have you ever been angry at your own father? If you identify as a woman, how does the father-daughter relationship work, and what about this relationship can lead to rage? If you do not identify as a woman, how do you think father-daughter dynamics embroil the relationship to the point of rage? Try to take into account the gendered differences in parent-child relationships. 
  • Why do you think Plath chose the hypocoristic term ‘daddy’ instead of ‘father’, ‘old man’, or ‘male parent’ in this particular anger poem?
  • Focus on the imagery. Plath writes about a black shoe in which she has lived in “like a foot.” What do you think this phrasing implies? How is it to live “like a foot” and why would this inspire anger? 
    • ]]>     2023-06-07 16:32:45 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617317433     gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617317933 This section was made for you to explore and expand on the concept of female rage in a more intersectional manner by providing resources from voices of color. After all, female anger is not limited to the Anglo-American sphere, and looking at how rage is described and personified in materials outside of said sphere gives us an opportunity to see how factors such as race, class, and other complex systems of oppression affect how rage is expressed. ]]> 2023-06-07 16:33:15 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2617317933 Movie Scene: "Ano'ng gagawin sa itlog?" from ‘Bata, Bata…Paano Ka Ginawa?’ gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2618648329 This movie scene is a stand-in for Lualhati Bautista’s books in general, but it perfectly encapsulates the angry resistance in her books–especially in her female characters. In Lualhati Bautista’s novels Dekada ‘70 and Bata, Bata... Pa'no Ka Ginawa?, both written in Tagalog, she depicts female characters that are confined to the traditional values of domesticity. By contextualizing the texts with larger-than-life events, particularly martial law, her female characters go through the process of liberating themselves from the mold of Philippine patriarchal society and culture; oftentimes, this process involves a scene or two that depicts the female character enraged and fighting. I highly recommend not just watching this scene, but reading the books too as they are a sensational perspective on how anger is situated for Filipino women as one method to resist. ]]> 2023-06-08 22:13:30 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2618648329 Extension Piece: I Was Not a Nice Little Girl by Gillian Flynn gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2619039455 The point is, women have spent so many years girl-powering ourselves — to the point of almost parodic encouragement — we’ve left no room to acknowledge our dark side. Dark sides are important.

    This article is a short five-minute read on Gillian Flynn's motivation behind writing aggressive and enraged books from the female perspective.  
    ]]>     2023-06-09 06:09:33 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2619039455     Excerpt gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2619619767 "Mr. Henderson said, coming out, that what was needed for the case was a motive. Something to show anger—or sudden feeling."

    "Well, I don't see any signs of anger around here," said Mrs. Hale. "I don't—"

    She stopped. It was as if her mind tripped on something. Her eye was caught by a dish-towel in the middle of the kitchen table. Slowly she moved toward the table. One half of it was wiped clean, the other half messy. Her eyes made a slow, almost unwilling turn to the bucket of sugar and the half empty bag beside it. Things begun—and not finished.]]>     2023-06-09 22:35:36 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2619619767     gabeelongs https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2620016582
  • “Ano'ng gagawin sa itlog? | ‘Bata, Bata…Paano Ka Ginawa?’ | Special Video.” YouTube, uploaded by ABS-CBN Star Cinema, 27 April. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKkMg79AVvQ.
  • Angel, Marina. "Susan Glaspell's Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers: Woman abuse in a literary and legal context." Buff. L. Rev. 45 (1997): 779.
  • Ashley, Wendy. “The angry black woman: the impact of pejorative stereotypes on psychotherapy with black women.” Social work in public health vol. 29,1 (2014): 27-34. doi:10.1080/19371918.2011.619449
  • Auvray, Héloïse. "Judith Slaying Holofernes: Artemisia Gentileschi’s Feminist Expression f Revenge Violence?.” 
  • Barnes, Charlotte Sophie. Never Forget Your First’(novel) and violent women: representations of female violence in Muriel Spark’s ‘The Driver’s Seat’, Virginie Despentes’s ‘Baise-Moi’, Gillian Flynn’s ‘Gone Girl’, and CS Barnes’s ‘Never Forget Your First. Diss. University of Birmingham, 2018.
  • Bryan, Patricia L. "Stories in Fiction and in Fact: Susan Glaspell's" A Jury of Her Peers" and the 1901 Murder Trial of Margaret Hossack." Stanford Law Review (1997): 1293-1363.
  • Chemaly, Soraya. Rage becomes her. Simon and Schuster, 2018.
  • Flynn, Gillian. “I Was Not a Nice Little Girl…” Medium, 15 July, 2015, https://medium.com/@Powells/i-was-not-a-nice-little-girl-c2df01e0ae1. 
  • “Gone Girl (2014) HD - Cool Girl.” YouTube, uploaded by Kristi Rushiti, 22 Feb. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o4heKCLeTs.
  • Gentileschi, Artemisia. Judith slaying Holofernes, ca. 1620.
  • Glaspell, Susan. "A jury of her peers." Images of Women in Literature (1917): 370-85.
  • Kay, Jilly Boyce. "Introduction: Anger, media, and feminism: The gender politics of mediated rage." Feminist Media Studies 19.4 (2019): 591-615.
  • Mohammad, Ghada Abdullah. "Violence In Sylvia Plath’s Poems Lady Lazarus And Daddy." International Journal of Language Academy 7.28 (2019): 497-510.
  • Perloff, Marjorie. "Sylvia Plath's" Collected Poems": A Review-Essay." (1981): 304-313.
  • Plath, Sylvia. “Daddy.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48999/daddy-56d22aafa45b2. Accessed 11 June, 2023.
  • Porhsa Olayiwola. “IWPS Finals 2014 - Porsha O. "Angry Black Woman".” YouTube, uploaded by Poetry Slam Inc, 19 Feb. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSoITsaSs0M.
  • Sawayama, Rina. "STFU!" Sawayama. Dirty Hit, 22 Nov 2019. Spotify, https://open.spotify.com/artist/2KEqzdPS7M5YwGmiuPTdr5?go=1&nd=1.
  • Shields, Stephanie A. "Women, men, and the dilemma of emotion." Meeting of the Association for Women in Psychology, Mar, 1983, Seattle, WA, US. Sage Publications, Inc, 1987.
  • Smith, K. C., et al. "Gender-related effects in the perception of anger expression." Sex Roles 20 (1989): 487-499.
  • Strangeways, A.l., and Plath, S.. "" The boot in the face": the problem of the Holocaust in the poetry of Sylvia Plath." Contemporary Literature 37.3 (1996): 370-390
  • Yao, Diamond. “The Revolutionary Anger of Asian Women.” Autostraddle, 10 June, 2021, https://www.autostraddle.com/the-revolutionary-anger-of-asian-women/. 

    • ]]>     2023-06-11 00:31:06 UTC https://padlet.com/gabeelongs/il26rxi6nv5nrs3q/wish/2620016582