When Dee practically demands the quilts promised to Maggie, Maggie automatically forfeits them without complaint. She never takes the time to battle her sister and she doesn't lose her composure. She, akin to a defenseless child, gives in to the pressure of Dee. "She can have them, [the quilts] Mama,” She is far more worried about keeping the peace and hiding from the commotion than defending what belongs to her. This professes Maggie to be a very complacent and scared girl, especially in the face of her sister Dee.
In Victorian England, women were not thought of as full human beings, instead they were treated as lesser with no real rights or privileges. A book that demonstrates an opposing view of this stereotype is Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Bronte in 1847. This book challenges the societal norms towards women during the Victorian era by taking the reader through the life of Jane Eyre, an orphaned girl who is left with her aunt and eventually sent to boarding school where she ultimately becomes a governess and independent woman. Throughout the novel, she refuses to fall into the stereotypical gender roles for women at the time and represents an early form of feminism. Jane Eyre, even from childhood, refused to conform to the expectations of a passive young girl.
Yet, she is dragged back into the roles society places on her. Her relationship with Robert comes to a bitter ending, as Robert ultimately wants marriage. Edna is “no longer one of Mr. Pontellier’s possessions to dispose of or not. [She] give[‘s] [herself] where [she] choose[s]. If he were to say, ‘Here, Robert, take her and be happy, she is yours,’ [she] should laugh at you both.”
(Pg. 59, 3rd paragraph) Also, she doesn’t give up and overcome obstacles. Even though Alyce runs away because she failed to help Emma Blunt give birth, she regains her confidence when the rich merchant’s wife was laboring at the inn. In the book, it states, “Alyce backed out of the cottage, then turned and ran up the path to the road, she didn’t know why or where. Behind her in that cottage was disappointment and failure.
Madame Ratignole is always giving Edna counsel and warning her. When Edna moves into her new home alone and becomes close to Arobin, Ratignole “advise[s] [her] to be a little careful while she [is] living there alone” and tells her that Arobin’s “ attentions alone are enough to ruin a woman’s reputation” [96]. Ultimately, Edna ignores her about almost everything. Ratignole has little influence on Edna’s decision making and Edna makes choices that she would never make, both of these facts show their dissimilarity. Edna’s relationship with Mademoiselle Reisz is different.
Signifying her independence and allows her to feel freedom. Léonce and The Colonel have always paid Edna’s way in her life that she now pays for all on her own. Edna wants to forget about her husband and kids to and try to get Robert. She states “he does not own this house he does not own me”. Trying to convince Robert to come to her new house.
A short story called “Everyday Use” is written by Alice Walker. The main character of the short story Mama is the narrator. It consists of a mother and her two daughters experiencing a change in their normal behavior during this story. The mother had a permanent change in character by refusing to let Dee have the quilts she was asking for. The character Mama decided that she had enough of her eldest daughter Dee(Wangero) getting whatever she wanted while her youngest daughter Maggie stood by in fear.
“They have taken who I am as well as my what I was and i’m desperate for them both again.” (Myers 25) In contrast to Juliet, Junice has absolutely no support in her life since her mother Leslie Ambers was placed in Bedford Hills Prison for selling illegal drugs. Compared to Juliet, Junice has no aid on the choices she makes for her and her little sister, basically leaving her making adult decisions at young
In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, nearly every character is discriminated against and it's had a lasting effect on their lives. Whether it's from being a woman, old or disabled it's made the characters dependent on others and overall lonely. Lennie, Candy and Curley’s wife all experience inequity from people who want to use them for personal gain or to make themselves feel better. Another person discriminated against is Curley's wife, who doesn't even have the honor of being named.
Faye opens up to Kai and continues her life with him, regardless if they have children or not. Faye sees herself as shame and had insecurities but then becomes dynamic by viewing herself as this woman that has this man see her as everything. Being the only woman that is beautiful, complete, and whole with or without children. She lost those emotions of feeling lack of self-esteem to feeling
In The Awakening, Kate Chopin’s protagonist Edna Pontellier possesses “that outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions.” Similarly, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and its titular character obeys social norms of the time period, while questioning those social norms as she grows up in a middle to upperclassmen-like society in 1830’s England. Jane Eyre conforms and adapts to society while inwardly questioning it in the many periods in her life, including her childhood with the Reeds, her education at Lowood, and her relationship with Rochester at Thornfield, teaching her important values in life as she progresses and grows in the novel. In the beginning of the novel, readers are shown that Jane Eyre has a very critical viewpoint
The story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman deals with the narrator’s insanity as she identifies herself completely with the woman in the wallpaper. This made her believe that both she and the women have liberated themselves from masculine oppression by tearing out the domesticated prisoner in the wallpaper. Also, with the narrator being diagnosed with postpartum depression after her pregnancy, she finds herself isolated from society under the treatment of her husband who is a doctor and prescribes her not to do any form of duty/work. However, she is not the main reason to blame for her insanity because she had no chance of expressing herself but rather doing what her doctor “husband” says which lead to her inner destruction.