The Roles of Men and Women in Relationships and Society

Gender roles in relationships and society differs across a number of social demographics such a religion, culture and age. Across time, different sociological theories and concepts have been developed to explain the volatile nature of gender roles in relationships and society. For example, the traditional conflict theory aimed at exploring the gender roles and expectations in a relationship differs from the modern feministic theory developed to explore the changing role of women in relationship and society. Important works of world literature have also played a huge role in exploring and illustrating the different gender roles in relationships and society. A solid platform of assessing how literature has been used to identify the different gender roles in relationship and society across time is a compare and contrast of The Ramayana of Valmiki (the Indian epic poem) and Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues (the modern film). In the Ramayana women roles in a relationship and the society are based on the need to prove their identity, chastity and honor.  As per the Ramayana, the men’s roles are based on the obligation to lead and provide for the females. Such above aspects are also presented in the Sita Sings the Blues, under different magnitudes and needs of the modern society. A compare and contrast of The Ramayana of Valmiki and Sita Sings the Blues is an ideal avenue of assessing how literature identifies changes in Roles of Men and Women in Relationships and Society across time.

Before making a compare and contrast of The Ramayana and Sita Sings the Blues it’s important to reflect on the two pieces of literature summary of the roles of men and women in relationships and society concepts. The Ramayana is a rich literature illustrating early patriarchal Indian society. A significant number of social posts and roles such as warriors, chiefs and priests were exclusively run by men. Women, on the other hand, social and relationship roles were based on tasks that required to carry out an already designed contribution such as being dutiful wives and caring mothers. As such, as per the Ramayana, women had to struggle to fit in a society and relationship defined by male oriented societal and relationship values. Sita sings blues crosses time and space to illustrate passive nature of women in relationships and society, despite their huge contribution in the biddings. Sita sings blues borrows its plot from Ramayana relationship and sovereignty tribulations and social expectations of prince Rama and his wife Sita tribulations. Male roles in the Ramayana are evaluated from the point of Rama many facets of his life as prince, husband, king brother and a friend. The women roles are evaluated through the three women in Rama’s life, the mother in law, Kaikeyi, wife, Sita and Kausalya, Dasaratha’s wife and Rama mother. Paley, in Sita sings blues, lays focus on the predicament of Rama’s wife, Sita, by making a contrast of her own contemporary disdained romance. With identical plot, Paley, through the narrative, illustrates how Nina follows her boyfriend to India just as Sita followed Rama in the wilderness. The women’s relationship and social sacrifices of time and resources illustrated in Ramayana and Sita sings blues helps in uncovering the contrast of modern and ancient male and female roles in relationships and society.

The major similarity identified in Ramayana and Sita sings blues is the notion of women being passive subjects in relationships and in the society. In Ramayana, Sita passive role is identified in ……………..In Sita sings blues, Nina passive role is witnessed through ………….