In the novel, The Awakening written by Kate Chopin serves the epitome of feminist equality. Kate Chopin delivers a taboo message of woman’s independence and the role of woman undermined during the 19th century. The novel was banned until the 20 century, it was released to be read by modern society. Kate Chopin ends Edna Pontellier life at the end of the novel, inadvertently bewildering the readers to perceive her death’s whether as failure to complete her convention or victory to break away from restrains of a society dominated by man. Edna’s gradual awakening is mainly influence by Adele Ratingnolle, Robert Lebrun and Mariequita.
As the book travels on Edna defines this role less and less, as well providing several thoughts formally against it. Other characters in the Awakening such as Mademoiselle Reiz, also do not stand well as perfect examples of how 1800th century women were supposed to behave. Adele was written by Chopin as a friend, alone, in concept that she would provide readers with the standard for American women during this era. Adele loves her life and “She is what all women in her society should be like; she puts her husband and children first, centering her life around her family and her domestic duties(Miller).” Adele is also perceived as woman of self-sacrifice showing almost no interest in her own ambitions, or her own cares. This sets the stage for Adele as “the 'ideal mother'[which] was a woman who basically forsook all notions of self and desire…[and] would've had almost no life outside of her children (Breazeale, Liz).” This an important concept for the reader to know for them to gain an understanding of how women were meant to act in the setting of the Awakening and that they were expected “to be women that idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels (Chopin 4).” By providing a character like Adele who is such
Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), the title of the book was meant to highlight the inferiority of women as compared to men, or, alternatively, describe the lives of simple people, "unimportant" in the social sense. This novel was written in New England during and after the American Civil War. Little Women considers women’s place in society by presenting the portraits of several very different but equally praiseworthy women. As we read the novel, we experience their different possibilities towards femininity, and we see a range of different possibilities for integrating women into society. Because the novel was written in the mid-nineteenth century, historical context places limits on what women can do.
“The O’Flaherty household became a matriarchy, run by several confident, independent widows: Chopin’s mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Victoire Charleville” (Larrabee). Because of her influences, she grew to develop habits and views that were ahead of her time and were outside of a woman’s social role. For example, later in her life, Chopin had taken on improper behavior as a woman such as smoking and was aware of information of her husband 's (Oscar Chopin) business, something that was uncommon for women a the time. Oscar developed malaria and died on December 10, 1882, and Chopin inherited and ran Oscar’s business. Chopin never remarried, and was set on the
Women as Seen in Trifles There were a lot of outstanding female literary figures that saw emergence during the 19th century. One of the many women writers that became known was Susan Glaspell. Glaspell’s works saw her struggle with arguments such as gender and differences and other related concerns, thus making it as one of the 19th century’s legacy. In the middle of an artistic revival and renaissance, Glaspell together with her beloved husband, George Cook, started to write about the issues they were seeing. But in 1915, she started writing the Provincetown Players and saw the involvement of other female writers like Kate Chopin and Fanny Fern to the making of one-act play, the Trifles.
The first critic was Nicola Watson, who argued about the origins, composition and reception. In addition Nicola explained the influence on the subsequent development of the girls and the feminist. The publication of Little Women in 1868 arguably inaugurated a founding myth of American girlhood, ensured the success of the transatlantic phenomenon of fiction for girl and contributed importantly to the genre of family story. The novel 's classic status may have served as much to conceal as revealing its originality in canon of children 's and adult literature alike. Critical reception of Little Women has tended to hinge on what value is accorded to the end novel.
Women deserve to be heard and to be respected. The only way to help our society is to help those who need it.In an article, “Why Black Women Struggle More With Domestic Violence,” Feminista Jones explains the difficulties a Black women faces with the issues of race and gender violence. Ray Rice, former Ravens running back, was charged for assaulting his wife Janay at a New Jersey casino. In the article, Jones states that “Black women tend to
By self-consciously distancing herself from the intellectuals of her time, she crafted her works as endeavours at transforming society. With the utopian novel as her genre of choice, Gilman provides readers with a deeper sense of understanding of the ills of a society that subscribes to and is fixated with masculinity. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1869-1935)was one of the leading intellectuals of the American women’s movement in the first two decades of twentieth century. Being a suffragette, Gilman confronted an even larger problem – economic and social discrimination against women. Her 1898 book, Women and Economics, was repeatedly printed and translated into seven languages.
They had two children together, however there were complications with their first-born. “Soon after her marriage to Charles Stetson and the birth of her daughter, she fell into a deeply depressed condition and consulted Dr. S. Weir Mitchell who in turn prescribed his famous rest cure. It is her experience with Mitchell’s treatment that inspired her to write “The Yellow Wallpaper” (On Feminism and The Yellow Wallpaper). Gilman was able to insert her own ideas on feminism into her story based on her real life experiences. The exception being the relationship with her husband, John.
“They riveted us between two horrifying myths: between the Medusa and the abyss.” (Cixous, 1976) In her essay The Laugh of the Medusa, Hélène Cixous explores the history of feminine sex, how it evolved and how women discovered to become women, to tear away from the male ideology and representation of the feminine, and to regain power by themselves for themselves. It was only in the past century, that women rioted against the male predominance over them so strongly a movement formed out of it: feminism. Until then, as Cixous characterises we, women, were “Old Women” and the revolution brought on a new woman, not afraid to explore herself, put herself first and aim for the stars. Through two texts, a play by Tom Stoppard Arcadia and a poem A comprehensive list of regrets by a young female poet of colour Azra Tabassum, I shall explore the idea of women through time and culture, theorized in Cixous’ essay, and write it as it is, through eyes of a young woman living in 21st century and a male writer from the 20th century, how each of them perceive what it means to be a woman in our society.