6. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Explain how the character’s alienation reveals the surrounding society’s assumptions and moral values.

“Julia Severn, ma'am! And why has she, or any other, curled hair? Why, in defiance of every precept and principle of this house, does she conform to the world so openly--here in an evangelical, charitable establishment--as to wear her hair one mass of curls?"

"Julia's hair curls naturally," returned Miss Temple, still more quietly.

"Naturally! Yes, but we are not to conform to nature; I wish these girls to be the children of Grace: and why that abundance? I have again and again intimated that I desire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly. Miss Temple, that girl's hair must be cut off entirely; I will send a barber to-morrow: and I see others who have far too much of the excrescence--that tall girl, tell her to turn round. Tell all the first form to rise up and direct their faces to the wall."

This quote stood out to me for it's irony and ridiculous reasoning by Mr. Brocklehurst. I could not help but laugh the first time I read it when I realized he was speaking of her natural hair. I believe the author does this on purpose to point out to the reader the cultural issues at play. Here, his humorous denouncement of her naturally red and curly hair displays the values of the time.

The alienation of poor Julia Severn allows Austen to reveal to the reader quite plainly the values of a “evangelical, charitable establishment” in the 1840s. One distinguishing factor of this time period was the rigid modesty of both body and mind. Mr. Brocklehurst is seen as a hypocritical man as he uses the Bible for harsh punishments and ridiculous accusations, like Julia’s hair being immodest. Austen may then be using his alienation of Julia as a representation of the church in the Victorian Era. Julia’s hair, coupled with her low class, allows Mr. Brocklehurst to condemn her and the other girls with legalistic ideals that had become rampant in church theology to keep the lower classes in check. Mr. Brocklehurst remarks in a dogmatic tone, “why that abundance?”, which further supports that he believes girls of such low class should not pursue beauty or individuality. This is very similar to how the church, dogmatically manipulated by the wealthy class, called the low class to remain lowly and leave the beautiful things to those who can afford that kind of luxury.

This quote contains irony because Mr. Brocklehurst is seen claiming that the “good Christian way” is being overly modest so that you can be "children of Grace". However, if he truly believed in the Bible's teachings, then he would also believe that she is exactly how God created her to be. Therefore, God must also value beautiful things and that is how intended it to be. The irony of Julia's alienation shows that lower class society in the 1800s was diseased with the belief that pursuing beauty or just simply being different is immoral.

Does your body look like her body?

This ad was released by Protein World in 2015 and has appeared in the U.K., where it is now banned, and New York City. The ad features a fit, lean, well-endowed, light skin women in grey-scale. She is wearing a bright yellow bathing suit and has long, light-colored and straight hair. On the yellow background, the phrase in bold across the ad is “ARE YOU BEACH BODY READY?” which is directly followed by “The weight loss collection” and three pictured Protein World products. It is also stated that these supplements will replace two meals daily. In addition, in the top left corner there social media icons and protein world’s @.

This add portrays avarice and envy as it insinuates that if you do not look like the women that is featured, that you are not beach body ready and need to look like her. They want people to buy their products and make people feel like they need more to become like that or maintain that beach body look. The result of greediness for these expensive supplements, most likely follows the initial envy of the woman’s body. The placement of the women on the ad makes it nearly impossible to look over her along with her black and white body in contrast to the bright yellow. This further insinuates that they want their audience to see her and react by buying their product. It is possible that they put the women in a grey-scale to neutralize her ethnicity but it is still clear that she is a light-skinned woman with light, straight hair, which is now causing the ad to not only be oppressive of women with different body shapes but also different races and ethnicities. Also, the direct following of the weight loss supplements to the question, show that Protein World assumes the answer is no and provides the audience an answer for their self-deprecating predicament.

The intended audience is young women, from teenagers to early thirties, in coastal North America and Europe, specifically the United Kingdom. The audience is most likely wealthy or middle-class as well as being busy as a student or at their job. This ad would appeal to busy young women because it suggests that they could lose weight from a meal replacement rather than a strenuous routine of diet and exercise. These young women are also most likely from privileged families who are able to afford a trip to the beach and that vacationing is still a part of their life agenda. I believe these women are well aware of how the media culture manipulates them to feel bad about themselves and make them feel like they aren’t enough but it still hurts. The reason these ads work to well-informed audiences is because, despite cultural knowledge about the negatives of our current society, people still want to feel accepted by looking the “right” way. When I look at this ad I know that it’s just the culture and they are trying to make me feel bad even though truthfully everyone is beach body ready, you just have to put on a bathing suit (maybe not even that in some places). However, it has already made me feel like I should hit the gym and fix myself so I can look better because it makes you feel like that is what society wants and that's what people want even if they say they accept you the way you are.

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/01/protein-worlds-beach-body-ready-ad-not-offensive-watchdog.html