Georgia O Keeffe: Female Artist

The Harlem Renaissance was a time period where women flourished, and got a chance to be noticed. The Harlem Renaissance impacted women’s rights in the 1920’s by allowing women to take a stand by allowing women to be able to vote, and live the lifestyle they dreamed of. In the 1920’s, women gained the right to vote, women no longer faced domesticity, political issues, social issues, or lacked control over their lives. Women became the faces of magazines, the voices on radios, embracing new fashion, freedom, and ideas. Women showcased their talents.

“Of course, you can be a prodigy, too”, her mother told her (Tan). For a nine-year-old who wants nothing more than to make her mother proud this was exciting. In the beginning, we can see her excitement and desire, “in the beginning I was just as excited as my mother, maybe even more so.” (Tan). However, as we follow the story we see her excitement quickly fade to sorrow and anger. The high expectations immigrant families place on their children is still a very relevant social issue and can be witnessed throughout the United States.

“In a cool, glittery style that mirrors the roaring decade she delves into.” (Publisher Weekly 2013) Flappers set a new tone of normal from the older housewife lifestyle to rebellious and hard working citizen. These brave women stand against the norm and changed the world by allowing women to work at the same jobs that men work by proving themselves. Due to these brave women they changed the country for the better and making the future for all

Willa Cather writes, "…Tiny Soderball was to lead the most adventurous life and achieve the most solid worldly success" (142). This quote once again expresses the theme of human spirit triumphs over adversity because Tiny was only a young hired girl at first who just wanted to help provide for her family, but later grew successfully despite the poor

Most people think that women voting now a days is normal but it was only not too long ago, on August 18, 1920, that women first gained the right to vote. Securing the right to vote for women was not easy and took many years for the 19th Amendment to finally be ratified. The 19th Amendment granted American women the right to vote and states that the right of citizens shall not be denied by the United States or by any state because of ones’ gender (“19th Amendment”). Many different groups and conventions were formed to help spread the word that women should be able to have the right to vote. Within these groups were many different suffragettes that helped win the vote at last.

Abigail Adams, the Wild Colt Ella Jeanquart “Wild colts make the best horses” (A Supporting Role) this quote means that if you are wild and free you are able to do your best and be the best at what you do. This may sound like it came straight out of a fairytale you may have read when you were younger but this was something that Abigail Adams grandmother told her when she was young and it had inspired many people to follow their passions and it especially inspired Abigale to follow her dreams of educating herself and to fight for women's rights. Abigail Adams had integrity and great leadership skills. She was a successful business woman because of her willingness to take risks and she lived by the credo “nothing venture nothing have” something that her husband John found alarming. (Holton, Woody)

The need breed of woman wanted to be accepted by the older generation, who often judged and disagreed with their new lifestyle. (doc 6. Flappers Appeal to Parents) Clara Bow, a successful film star of her time and hard-partying flapper, was the first to earn the title of an “It Girl” and was also remembered for her humble and hardworking demeanor. (Doc 7. Clara Bow) Another notable female figure during the twenties was Aimee Semple McPherson, who influenced society in a much different way than Clara Bow.

Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Loose Hair is an accurate portrayal of the artist because it clearly demonstrates her need to appease her husband, Diego Rivera. Frida Kahlo met Diego Rivera at school and was captivated by a mural he was working on. He encouraged her artwork and together they created outstanding works of art throughout Mexico (Biography.com Editors). However, like all relationships, Kahlo and Rivera’s had a bumpy path filled with affairs, causing Kahlo to believe that she was never enough for Rivera (Reef). At the bottom of her self-portrait she writes that she is only 37 years old, when at the time she was 40.

In a time where social strictures denied most women a future in the field of visual arts, Harriet Hosmer defied all social convention with her large scale success in neoclassical sculpting. At a young age, Hosmer had already developed a striking reputation, one that qualified her to study abroad in Rome under the tutelage of renowned sculptor John Gibson. As if this opportunity wasn’t rare enough for women artists in her day, Hosmer’s outstanding potential earned her the luxury of studying from live models.6 The respect she gained from taking this unconventional route to her success is one that entirely transformed society’s perception of women. Not only did her unique story serve as a catalyst in the progression of gender equality, but she also hid symbolic messages within each of her sculptures to find a way to penetrate her beliefs of equality through to any soul.3 As the National Museum of Women in the Arts perfectly captures, “[s]he preferred Neoclassical idealism to more naturalistic trends and rendered mythological and historical figures, such as Oenone, Beatrice Cenci, and Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, with nobility and grandeur.”6 In contrast to the typical artists of her day, Hosmer’s sculptures depicted female characters whose stories were an emblem of her compelling feminist beliefs.

Chopin is well known for using these endings in her stories. Just like in the “Story of an Hour” Chopin uses situational irony to keep the reader entertained and to shock the reader in the end. It is what makes this story in its entirety. Desiree couldn’t stand the thought of not being with Armand. So much so that she took her own life along with her child because of it and freed him from the burden