Feministic Criticism Of The Tale Of Peter Rabbit

Feminist theory refers to the extension of feminism into theoretical or philosophical discourse, which targets to comprehend the nature of gender inequality as well as knowing the distinct rights of the females which have been violated since time in memorial.


The female according to many social traditions where discriminated by the male until when they got their liberation through their massive emancipation movement to strongly fight inequality in all aspects of life. Generally women were given the subordinate value while the male or men where considered superior over them. The theme explored in feminism theory includes sexual objectification, discrimination oppression and disrespect among others.


There might be many aspects feminist criticism would perceive when analyzing the Tale of Peter Rabbit, but I will only consider a specific one: gender discrimination which is in form of a polite treatment to Peter by Mother Rabbit. This idea is well exposed by the mother allowing the Peter’s sisters to enjoy bread, milk, and black berries for supper while Peter got a dose of chamomile yet he was ill and exhausted and we expected him to also partake a share on the other balance diet meals since he was not feeling well and he needed quick recovery. This situation elucidates discrimination between Peter and her sisters.


There is gender discrimination on my point of view, but I wouldn’t disagree with someone who has the view that may be Peter was being punished for his disobedience since there is a possibility of that idea. May be this was because their father was not present at that time and Mother Rabbit took advantage of that situation.


Reference:

Brown University (1996) Feminist Theory AN OVERVIEW Retrieved on July 14, 2012 http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/femtheory.html

Robert O. Keel (2012) Contemporary Feminist Theories Retrieved on July 14, 2012 http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/3210/3210_lectures/feminism.html