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1. The traders here will often sleep with the best looking female slaves among them,
and they will often have many children in the year, which are said to be slave-holder’s
children, by which means, through his villainy, he will make an immense profit of this
intercourse, by selling the babe with its mother. They often keep an immense stock of
slaves on. (Source: Alex Haley, Roots: 217)
Analysis and theory :
Actually this book has the theme of African-American slavery. but this quote will be
analyze from a feminist perspective. The traders are the people who become powerful and
dominant in this quote. The traders usually is men. We can look at how women particularly
victimized by the slave trade through sexual violence and other abuse.
In this case Identification with female characters is the right way to look at feminists: By
examining the way female characters are defined, critics challenge the author's male-
centered viewpoint. The criticism of feminist literature shows that women in literature have
historically been presented as objects seen from a male perspective.
In quote, women are defined as objects to satisfy men and become objects to make
profit for men by sell children as a result of their actions. women can be seen as a child-
producing factory. From the point of view of men also only choosing the most beautiful slave
girl among the other slaves. meaning a woman who is not beautiful, will not be seen for this
men. women look weak and only become slaves to be traded.
Supporting data :

Roots The Transatlantic Slave Trade

The transatlantic slave trade began at the beginning of the 1500s and was initially dominated
by Portuguese and Spanish, who sent West African slaves to their South American and
Caribbean colonies, where they were primarily worked in the fields with high mortality rates.

By the 1600s, slaves were being transported at a higher rate and to other colonies besides
those of the Portuguese and Spanish, including those of the French, English, and Dutch. Half
of the approximately 12 million total slaves taken from Africa were taken in the 18th century,
with the English being responsible for the most trading of slaves in that century. Britain and
the United States banned transatlantic slave trading in 1808.

The vast majority of African slaves were taken from West Africa, along the coast from
Senegal and Gambia to Angola, and every country in between. Slavery had origins earlier in
African history as many people had been traded as slaves throughout the Muslim world. Huge
empires had included slavery as part of their economic system.

Europeans captured and bought slaves from Africa, often with the full cooperation of local
leaders and merchants, who would capture people from enemy tribes and sell prisoners of
war to fuel European slave interests. Yet slavery undoubtedly served Europeans far more
than it did Africans, since they were able to engage in the triangular trade and controlled the
whole economic system of slavery, which the Africans were largely excluded from.

The triangular trade was a three-way system of trade that involved Europe, Africa, and the
Americas. Manufactured goods from Europe like cloth, tobacco, firearms, and other weapons
were sold in Africa in exchange for slaves. The slaves were transported across the Atlantic
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and produced plantation goods like cotton, sugar, tobacco, molasses, and rum. These goods
were then transported to Europe.

Reference : https://www.gradesaver.com/roots/study-guide/the-transatlantic-slave-trade

2. My five other sisters received no schooling other than to memorize the Koran from a
private tutor who came to our home. For two hours, six afternoons a week, they would
repeat words after the Egyptian teacher, Fatima, a stern woman of about forty-five
years of age. She once asked my parent’s permission to expand my sisters’ education
to include science, history, and math. Father responded with a firm no and the recital
of the Prophet’s words alone continued to ring throughout our villa.
(Source: Jean P. Sasson, Princess: A True Story of Life behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia:
19)
Analysis and theory :
This quote clearly shows the description of feminism. Why does feminism seem
obvious, because in quoting it describes a woman who was locked in her house by acquiring
inappropriate knowledge. Can be seen from a few of sentences like her being home schooled
by his father, and with her father's refusal to provide more extensive lessons for his daughter.
Male dominance is clearly seen in this quote.
PRINCESS describes the life of Princess Sultana Al Sa'ud, a princess in the royal
house of Saudi Arabia. Hidden behind her black veil, she is a prisoner, jailed by her father,
her husband and her country. Sultana tells of appalling oppressions, everyday occurrences
that in any other culture would be seen as shocking human rights violations: thirteen-year-old
girls forced to marry men five times their age, young women killed by drowning, stoning, or
isolation in the "women's room."
In fact this novel tells about the limited rights of women in Saudi Arabia.
Supporting data :

1. No Freedom to Choose Marriage Partner, and Child Marriages

Saudi authorities limit a woman’s ability to enter freely into marriage by requiring her to obtain
the permission of a male guardian. A woman’s consent is generally given orally before a
religious official officiating for the marriage, and both the woman and her male guardian are
required to sign the marriage contract. Whereas men can marry up to four wives at a time.

Saudi law has no minimum marriage age, and Saudi media outlets continue to carry
occasional reports of child marriages, including rare reports of girls as young as 8. On
January 9, 2019, Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council, an advisory body, overwhelmingly passed a
proposal setting the minimum age of marriage at 18, but leaving exceptions for girls ages 15
to 18 to marry with court approval. The proposal will become law only if promulgated by Saudi
Arabia’s council of ministers.

2. Domestic Violence
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As in other countries, many women in Saudi Arabia are subject to domestic violence. Over a
one-year period ending October 13, 2015, the Ministry of Labor and Social Development
reported that it encountered 8,016 cases of physical and psychological abuse, most involving
violence between spouses. Saudi Arabia criminalized domestic violence in 2013, but activists
have criticized the lack of implementation of the law.

Saudi Arabia’s National Family Protection Program estimates that 35 percent of Saudi women
have experienced violence, yet the head of Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission said
that of the 1,059 cases referred to Saudi courts in 2017 involving violence against women,
only 59 were for domestic violence. Guardianship makes it incredibly difficult for victims to
seek protection or obtain legal redress. Human Rights Watch research has found that women
occasionally struggle to report an incident to the police or access social services or the courts
without a male relative.

Moreover, the male guardianship system facilitates domestic violence by granting male
relatives a huge amount of control over women’s lives. Controlling a woman’s movements
itself is a form of domestic violence that the government enforces.

Women who attempt to flee an abusive spouse or family can be arrested and returned to their
families. If they flee or are referred to shelters, they are not allowed to leave unless they
reconcile with family members or accept an arranged marriage. The shelters and the
authorities do not facilitate women’s ability to live independently.

Reference : https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/01/30/saudi-arabia-10-reasons-why-women-flee

3. Jurgis could see all the truth now—could see himself, through the whole long course
of events, the victims of ravenous vultures that had torn into his vitals and devoured
him; of fiends that had racked and tortured him, mocking him, meantime, jeering into his
face…. He and his family, helpless women and children, struggling to live, ignorant and
defenseless and forlorn as they were—and the enemies that had been lurking for them,
crouching upon their trial and thirsting for their blood! That first lying circular, that smo
oth-tongued slippery agent! That trap of extra payments, the interest, and the other
charges that they had not the means to pay, and would never have attempted to pay!
And then all the tricks of the packers, their masters, the tyrants who ruled them—the
shutdown and the scarcity of work, the irregular hours and the cruel speeding up, the
lowering of wages, the raising of price! The mercilessness of nature, the city, of the
country in which they lived, of its laws and customs that they did not understand! All of
these things had work ed together for the company that had marked them for its prey
and was waiting for its chance…. And they could do nothing, they were tide hand and
foot—the law was against them, the whole machinery of society was at their oppressors’
command!. (Source: Upton Sinclair, The Jungle: 177)

Analysis and theory :

This quote can be analyzed through Marxism perspective because there is a visible base and
superstructure. The main theme of The Jungle is the evils of capitalism, each event in the
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novel is chosen to display a certain failure of Capitalism, which in the Marxist point of view is
destructive, brutal, and unjust. The novel displays how immigrants come to the U.S. with the
ideas of American Dream, but when they get there are taken advantage and left in poverty to
starve and die.
in this quote, the base is their boss, the tyrants who govern them, the closure and scarcity of
jobs, irregular hours and increasingly rapid atrocities, decreasing wages, rising prices!
Without the mercy of nature, cities, countries where they live, laws and customs that they do
not understand. All of these things have worked together for companies that have marked
their prey and are waiting for their opportunity.

The superstructure is those who cannot do anything, they put their hand and foot- the law
against them, all the machines of society are under the orders of their oppressors