Expectations For Boys and Girls
Expectations for boys and girls are extremely high in today’s society. A lot of people feel pressure in today’s society and so much so that some people feel the need to take their own lives. Some people are able to rise above societies expectations, but that is incredibly hard to do and not everybody is strong enough to overcome that. The pressures of society follow everyone everywhere and different people must handle it in different ways. Expectations for girls are a lot higher and a lot more pressured than expectations for boys.
Girls are expected to be pretty and nice and clean, but that is not always the case with every girl. They are expected to cook and clean as stated in Barbie Doll. “The girlchild was born as usual and presented dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons. ” This really shows that girls are pressured into this kind of life from an early age. After she hits puberty, expectations start to change, especially with her peers. “Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said: you have a great big nose and fat legs.
” Within her own peer group she is being mocked and put down until she can’t take it anymore. “In the casket displayed on satin she lay. ” Only then did the people in her life comment on how she was pretty, but it was too late for her. In the other poem, Good Girl, girls are expected to hold up the world. “Hold up the universe, good girl. ” She also gets compared to Atlas, the Greek God who holds the world on his shoulders. “Sever yourself, poor false Atlas. ” Unfortunately, this is true because some women have to cook and clean the house for her family.
“You are the universe about its pole. God’s not fair. ” Some women even have to work for their families also and it is true that some women hold the world on their shoulders. Expectations for boys however are much different. In the poem, Dylan, a mother talks about how her young son doesn’t have a worry in the world and is so happy. “On Monday he was Spiderman. All it took was red P. J’s, gluey palms and two spools of thread. ” She then goes on to talk about how she wishes she could bottle up that happiness, “It seems if I could stash just one of these get-ups and the way your heart soars.
” The mother than says, “Little boy, you could don it the morning some girl wrecks you. ” She wants to give him his happiness when he is sad so he can immediately be happy again. This speaks to the expectations of boys in society because they are expected to never be sad but in truth, there will always be times when one is sad. In the other poem, Rites of Passage, the little boys at the party feel the need to compare themselves to one another to see who the alpha male is.
“One says to the other How old are you? Six. I’m seven. So? ” Boys are expected to be rough and tough and must appear that way especially to other boys. “I could beat you up, a seven says to a six. ” Boys are not allowed to show their sensitive side and if they do then they will be ridiculed. Later in the poem the host of the party, speaks to the group as a whole, “We could easily kill a two-year-old. ” And all was well between the boys again, because they all found a common interest.
