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Expectations Of Women In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

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The way women and men have been treated has improved significantly, however, as true as that may be the social barrier restricting all genders has not completely vanished. The gender expectations still live within societies. Social expectations have been implemented since the start of civilization; humans have built social barriers such as gender expectations and unspoken rules that have tried to restrict women from pursuing their goals, and even at times, to be rejected by society and their families. In The Awakening written by Kate Chopin, she writes about a girl named Edna who experienced a harsh aftermath of defiance to the societal expectations in her society, because of social expectations she had to struggle to overcome the judgment, …show more content…

This quote from the passage “I want a Wife” is a perfect example of the expectations women were faced with. In “I want a wife” by Judy Brady she does an excellent job describing how women were portrayed in the eyes of society; as robots. No thoughts for themselves or opinions, just mindless tasks to complete and services to provide without hesitation.Women had to fulfill every need, but their own, therefore, could not do the things that they would have wanted to do. It was difficult for women because not only did they have to heed the needs of their husband and children, but if they did not they would be judged like Edna in the book The Awakening. Edna wanted to be free of all relationships and ties, however, she was was heavily judge and seen as a disaster for not wanting to raise a family like every other woman wanted at the time. She wanted the same liberation a man had in the world and because of that, she had to suffer the judgment from everyone she knew. In the end, after all the criticism weighed on her she was left feeling abandoned and alone. It was because of these social expectations that deprived her off really feeling

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