The Dark and Twisted Joyce Carol Oates Revealed Essay -- Biography

Back Ground: Joyce Carol Oates was a true change in American Literature. She associated many novels that revealed political stances along with physical and psychological pain. (1) Joyce grew up in a rough neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan. It was not uncommon for her to behold mistreatment, abuse, and gang violence; especially towards women. Detroit was a major political city were women’s rights were being fought. (2) Physical brawls broke out all over the city due to the uprising of women who wanted the same rights as men. (2) This uprising was called the Feminist Rights Movement. Women were mistreated and held unequal to men, they were not even allowed to be apart of any work force or vote. (7) organizations for women started to emerge all of the united States. (4) Joyce took experiences that she undertook and witnessed first hand and used them cleverly in her novels. (3) She accumulated her experiences in one of her most famous novels We Were the Mulvaney’s. (5) This n ovel refers to both physical and psychological pain among all the characters. Rape, death, abuse and how women were treated were all presented in this book. (5) Mrs. Mulvaney, the mother, always tended to her husbands needs, even if she disagreed with them. Mrs. Mulvaney had no say in any of the matters that arose. She even sent away her own daughter for the better of her husband. Joyce’s peculiar inspirations lead many to believe that she was looking for some sort of coping mechanism or some one who could relate to what she has experienced in her life. (1) Her inspirations included Edger Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Williams Faulkner, and lastly Flannery O’Conner. These authors wrote about the dark emotional feelings that arose with death a... ...) Oates novels in the nineteen seventies explored many different complex cultures and elements of human life and tragedy. She barrowed many of these idealistic views from Edger Allen Poe. These ideas referred back to death and love suicide which fell along the same lines of Poe’s. (2) Joyce had a very extensive impact on society. She verbalized her opinions and did not care what critics or anyone had to say about it. (2) She wanted to get her thoughts out there for the world to see and hopefully change their ways for the better. Joyce is broadly known in American literature for her controversial topics, but her most famous topic was the Feminist Rights Movement. She affected a good portion of relationships between males and females with her writing. It is truly inspirational that someone could write novels, and change views in some societies.