Edna Pontellier's Motifs In The Awakening

Title: The Awakening Author: Kate Chopin Setting: Grand Isle and New Orleans in the early 19th century Genre: Tragedy Historical context: The Awakening takes place when women were seen as a man’s possession. Mr. Pontellier looks at Edna as a possession. Women were expected to stay devoted to their husband and children and remain a stereotypical housewife whose main job is to clean, cook and care for the children. (Adele) Edna rivals against these standards as she challenges society 's expectations of women during the early 19th century. Plot Summary: Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier are on their summer vacation at Grand Isle.

Evodie Saadoun Trevor Kallimani Hist 210 13th October 2015 Women in the American Revolution There is a proverb that says, “The woman is born free and remains equal to men in rights”. Since the eighteenth century, women still try to be equal to men and try to be independent. During the American Revolution, women were dependent on their husband. This meant they had to cook, clean and take care of their children. They were not allowed to do what they wanted.

“To be a queen of a household is a powerful thing”, quoted by Jill Scott, which portrays the idea of being the head of a household as a woman. Like Water for Chocolate, written by Laura Esquirel, firmly emphasizes the power that the head of a household could have and use. In this novel, the unavailability of a father in the family led Mama Elena to take the role as a head of household. Mama Elena is a mother of three daughters who treats her youngest daughter overbearingly, due to the Mexican tradition. Although Mama Elena is biologically a woman, she has almost identical characteristics as men do.

The next/second character who can be characterised as an old schemer is Lady Catherine de Bourgh from the novel Pride and Prejudice. Just like her predecessor Mrs Ferrars, she is proud (cf. PP 64), is/stems also from an upper class background and possesses a large fortune, which her deceased husband brought into their marriage (cf. PP 337). Due to that, she has developed a permanent self-importance and feeling of superiority towards others, and feels the constant need to give advice or to speak her mind (source?).

However what Nea does not understand in all her youth and idealism , is that sourdi does not want to be saved: She willfully accepts her fate and her marriage to Mr.Chhay because she finds financial stability and a secure future. Since the beginning of the story Nea believes that she is saving or protecting Sourdi from the expectations of her mother and Mr. Chhay. The mother and the uncle have fix a marriage with an older man named Mr.Chhay. Sourdi is a young girl that has a boyfriend name Duke, But her mom really dosen’t cares what Sourdi thinks or wants. So Sourdi meets Mr.chhay and she feels uncomfortable in the

Not ”To his conveyance I assign my wife Desdemona, as Othello’s wife, is treated as his possession” (Scene3 Page11). Here he implies that she is a commodity to be looked after and a company to use when needed. This example supports the expectation of women and how they are to bow to the wills of their husbands who may use them as they wish and to there advantage. Also, in one of the opening scenes where Roderigo shares with Brabantio that his daughter snuck out and calls Desdemona 's action a revolt against paternal authority.Which then Brabantio responds with, “ O heaven! How got she out?

Kate Chopin, in “The Story of an Hour” provides us how society describes Mrs. Mallard’s husband as the perfect man in marriage and by presenting the readers with a woman who is clearly overjoyed of the fact of her husband’s death. This is to describe Mrs. Mallard’s emotions as she swings back and forth from being miserable to extreme joy at her newfound freedom. Now this can foster imagination and imply as if Mrs. Mallard had a deep inner life that is not connected to the outside world of her husband or friends. This is the fact that she confines herself in her room just to discover her feelings and interests are important. Unlike the reality of her outside world which was minimally described the narrator but inside Mrs. Mallard’s mind offers something that is lively and well

The portrayal of Amy Tan’s, The Joy Luck Club, justifies the women’s suffrage of life in a 1930’s China. A woman’s external role was solely based on the traditional responsibility of a female in a “male’s” household. Relationships between men and women were procured according to status and wealth. In Tan’s novel, the struggles faced between the four mother’s and their daughters helps in enhancing the depiction of women and acts as a basis for the story to be told. During 1930’s China, women were hidden behind the facades of their external portrait.

Eventually, she is compelled to seek refuge at the plantation Tara to protect herself and her family from the warfare (Selznick, “Gone with the Wind”). During her stay at plantation Tara, she is forced to take charge by defending it from carpetbaggers, the union soldiers and starvation. Scarlett is the epic heroine and protagonist who pursues Ashley Wilkes, however in the meantime, she engages in a love/hate relationship with the roguish yet charming Rhett Butler while choosing husbands that can provide her with a comfortable existence. Although Scarlett O’Hara have difficulty acknowledging that her and Rhett Butler are very similar in being narcissistic and bold, they struggle against the dictates of the proper society they belong to. While Ashley and his cousin Melanie Hamilton incarnate a quiet and idealized romance, Rhett and Scarlett embodies a love story of passion and torment- so much that their story cannot survive.

From women being portrayed as property to enabling women to take a stance on their freedoms. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin conveys the message of how the married 19th-century woman felt. Chopin provided an insight of how the females were powerless when it came to their independence, how women were joyful about the death of a husband since it was the only way out of a controlling marriage, and the amount of dread that the women endure during a marriage. Mrs. Mallard could signify most of the married women of the 19th century. Chopin’s story displays that women are human just as much as men and that they should not be treated as belongings, but rather as a human, especially in