Essay Sample on the Roles of Women

Introduction

In a society there exist two races or genders, which are the female and the male persons. They have got various distinctions in their roles in any society. Like for the women, they are considered to be weak creatures that in many ways are offered lighter duties or chores as a source of their livelihood. The paper will therefore highlight and compare the roles or responsibilities of women in regard to the two books, the trial and the plague. As such the value of women in a society will be identified and gauged on whether they are of significant or not. The trial, a novel that was written by the Franz Kafkain the 20th century has described women in a very uncommon way and the ridiculous results that they had on the greatest protagonists, Joseph K. This book illustrates the role of women to vary from the insignificant to the significant depending on the circumstances or the situation at which they perform these duties. For example, the novel starts by introducing the first woman Frau Grubach who in many cases has an insignificant role in her trial then to the next woman, Esla, to Fraulein Bustner, to the washer woman and lastly Leni who largely has the most important roles in the trial. Notwithstanding, the women in this book seems to have several humane personality for all look forward to display their sure pictures (Boa, 1996).

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Frau Grubach the first lady seems to show some responsibility towards joseph K. and that she is on by his side but does not really care about the Trial. With her knowing her position as a landlady, she highlights that "even if it is a matter of your happiness, and I really have that at heart, more perhaps than I should, for am only your landlady." She demonstrates her position towards her relationship with the Joseph K, a show that she knows her stand and tries to avoid the inconveniences that may arise between her and K. This is the very best trend or method by which she adopted to create that long lasting relationship between them for the better and future endeavors. Grubach serve as a society full of those women who are there to help shape the young generation. She is a woman of dignity, respectful and wishes the best for everyone.

The second Lady, Elsa, a waitress or attendant at a local wines restaurant or cafeteria has K as her best friend. Their relationship has not been defined so deeply but seems to have some negative motive though they are in good terms. K meditates whether to visit the lady late in the night or not, something that raised eyebrows to the writer. It might be that their relationship was sexually motivated and that the writer seems not interested in her character since it's of no importance to the audience. In essence the writer decides to ignore her thus her absentia in the subsequent Joseph k's trials.

Another women mentioned in the book is Fraulein Burstner, a dweller in the same house where Frau Grubach is the landlady. The lady and K seems to be in a relationship but the landlady advices or warns the K on the bad side of the Burstner for she always see the lady with different men arrive late in the compound, a behavior that hasn't stopped. This is an indication that Fraulein and these men have something more than a friendship. As expressed by Grubach,"...she should have more pride, should keep herself more to herself .This very month, I have met her twice already, on outlying streets and each time with a different gentleman." The information passed to K made him feel unwanted, a proof that he has some affinity to Fraulein and views her absolutely high. The lady above is a societal representation of a prostitution which does not only lead to stress within a population but also leads to bankruptcy.

Further, the washerwoman who is married with the court ushers features in the book. The washerwoman having been married does not really seem to have respect for her marriage. She carries herself as a young lad who does not know the importance of marriage. When she says "I will go with you wherever you like, you can do with me what you please, I'll be if I can only get out here for a long time, and I wish it could be forever" a quote that was directed to K, a man whom he does not have any marital affair. This woman represents those societies with high rates of immorality where ladies seduce men and are willing to do anything possible to have them for sex purposes.

Lastly is the lawyer's nurse, Leni, who doesn't want K to have a direct contact with the lawyer with the intention to lure K. She plans for the physical involvement between her and K which is as strange as it doesn't sound ethical to have something from the person you haven't known for long. The woman or the lady ought not to have made her sexual life so obvious more so on matters own house. However, Kafka seems more intelligent in her writing; he tries to make things looks normal for the reader though customarily a woman doesn't have a moral authority to allow men have their key to their own house. Leni demonstrates selfish women in a society who just think of themselves rather than the society at large. She makes a move to show that she can help though she has a fulfilling motive towards K.

On the other hand, the book the plague show various roles of women which includes companionships, generating income to improving rural livelihood. For example, most women in the Oran village are abroad at the time of the plague. They are doing their various activities for the safety of their families. For instance, it is only evident that of all the women who are abroad only few women including DR. Castel's wife who saw it better to return to the village. She was able to gather the courage, travel and stay with the husband during the difficult times of the outbreak. This woman represents those clans that values and adores their families and always wish the best for them. She couldn't enjoy the safety abroad while the family is strangling at home.

The book further shows the attraction of women to their loved ones. When women don't get the expected love, they divorce their partners. For instance, the marriage that occurred between Cottard and Jeanne, the poor chap who opted to work extra hard to rise above the poverty line but instead ignored love. They separated never to meet again as a husband and a wife as Jeanne wanted a new start in her life. Jeanne is a kind of a woman who stands for the society which doesn't value money per see rather than real love.

Again, the book, the plague shows how kind women are to everyone. Tarrou describes how Dr.Rieux mother's kindness maybe the best that will "triumph over the plague.'' This has also made the doctor to keep watching and taking care of his mother in all her actions. The Dr. Rieux mother kindness is a resemble to a good society that will always thrive development wise(Torre, 2004).

Finally, the best war ever in the book, plague, is dying for love than dying for an idea. Rombert mentions that he can only fight for a man of "great emotions" such as one who is capable of dying for love instead of dying for an idea. He further states that man is not an idea but is only an idea if he can turn his back on love. This arises when he feels the closeness between him and his wife since he ever fought to visit her in Paris but in vain. As such women were gifted with the power of love that makes a society feel vacuum in their absentia.

In the book the Trial, K is keeping the company of women and not concentrating in his trial. He does have a mental perception that women may save him from the trial by having a multiple of them and having a sexual relationship. This is a contradiction to what finally happens. He loses all of them and never benefitted at all a show that women in this book are not real instead act like an objects rather than human beings. While in the book, plague, most women have benefitting roles to the society, they act as bread winners and provide companionship to their families, something that uplifts the society at large. This finally brought about the love that kept these families together despite the fact that they were faced by a calamity. As such, many of the men in this clan missed their wives greatly.

The two worlds seems not similar, one is beneficial while the other is a liability. Most women in the trial aren't real and are out to expose their sexual pleasure to men for their selfish gain, something that sinks or derail the growth of the society. On the other hand women in the plague seem more focus on the societal development. They are abroad working for their families and also provide a proper companionship .This has made it even livelier for their husbands to love them despite the fact that they are abroad.

Conclusion

In conclusion, women have variety of roles within a society. Some have those negative roles which may sink the population while others have those positive ones which may boost the humanity to greater heights. These roles depend so much on how the aforementioned is guided based on their principles and customs. The different therefore between women in the books, plague and the trail is the principles or the customs at which these women were guided.

Reference

Boa, E. (1996). Kafka: Gender, class and race in the letters and fictions (p. 177). Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Torre, J. M. D. (2004). Albert Camus and the Philosophy of the Absurd. The Review of Metaphysics, 57(4), 865-867.