Symbols Of Life In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

One can tell by the reaction of Mary’s parents that they respected her opinion on who she wanted to marry however did not fully like the idea of who she was marrying. They wanted to let her decide who she would marry instead of following the puritan way and deciding for her who she would marry. This passage proves that Mary’s parents indeed decided not to follow the religion in this time. This was fairly uncommon in the eighteenth century as most of the times, the women’s parents would decide who they would want their daughter to marry and the daughter was not capable of deciding who she would live with for the rest of her life. Mary’s family did not follow religion when it came to marriage as Mary was able to decide to marry John Noyes as her first husband.

In the story it says, “ “I went home very sad and cried into my pillow that night so grandmother wouldn’t hear me. It seemed like a cruel coincidence that I had overheard that conversation” (108). This quote is noteworthy because the point of view, first person, shows how Martha feels about getting the jacket. If this was written in third person, the reader might not understand how much the jacket truly means to her. This piece from the text shows that Martha was very upset about hearing she might not receive the jacket.

Women lacked the freedom and independence they not only wanted but needed due to a society run patriarchal views that hindered the growth of women. Not only were they expected to reside in the home but women were also tied down through marriage with the expectation of blindly following their husband without challenging their authority. Kate Chopin’s short story, “Story of an Hour”, uncovers the chilling truth of how women were perceived to have longed and enjoyed marriage during the 18th and 19th century when in actuality many felt confined, trapped and imprisoned due to what society and men wanted them to do. The story reveals that the impending pressures of having to become a good wife and mother along with patriarchal societal oppression oftentimes pressures a woman into experiencing a psychological breakdown that can result in fatal consequences. Chopin begins the story with the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, being told

Also she did not want to leave any possibility of revenge that the children could take on killing of their father’s wife. Medea’s actions are justified by her emotions as they are difficult thing to control at times. She is also raised in a different culture so she did not conform to the values of Corinth and did not easily accept that Jason married another woman. For the male audience, the evil deeds of Medea confirm their belief that women should be uneducated and kept at home. Medea was a divine character.

Steinbeck crafts Curley’s wife’s character to demonstrate the role of women in the 1930’s, and to prove that women will never be able to achieve the American Dream because of the sexist society present during that time period. Gender roles during the 1930’s were very prevalent. Men were free to do as they pleased while women were expected to be submissive housewives, meaning they must stay home alone and tend to the house. Curley’s wife is a perfect example of this as she was also expected to stay home without the freedom to socialize with others since she was the only female on the farm. Because of that Curley’s wife desperately desired a person she could talk to.

Ultimately this shows how little Marjane’s father and everyone else thinks that people need to stay in their own social classes and shouldn 't try to leave them, no matter what. This tears apart the maid for she truly loved the boy, but was forced to end the relationship and Marjane sees this as very wrong, and wishes social classes didn’t affect people’s lives. However, Marjane’s young perspective doesn’t allow her to see the full picture of this. Social classes are a big part of the Iranian culture and they believe that people need to stay in them, Marjane can’t understand this and as a result she became so angry. Another theme in the book Persepolis that is talked about is religion.

But Nancy made a decision to leave the relationship despite her parent’s pressure. Everyone from her parents to her siblings to her uncles and aunty, felt she made the wrong decision. But she never cared about they opinion. Nancy made her decision based on her happiness and been tired of her parents controlling her. Just has the song says “Don't let them control your life, that's just how I feel” (nico and vinz, paragraph 3).

“The Yellow Wall-Paper” which was published in the late nineteenth century shows that the women of that time did not have much cultural value. In the story the husband acts more like a father to his wife than a husband. Throughout the story he calls her ‘little girl’ and like a father has rules that must be obeyed. He has locked her up in a nursery room that she hates in a large castle and ordered her not to move from the bed, because she is on a ‘rest cure’ that is supposedly going to help her get over her post-partum depression. Because she is stuck in a room that she despises, she becomes very lonely and even more depressed which causes her to start staring at the wallpaper and slowly become crazy from the isolation.

I seen him goin’ in your house.” (Slim 32) Slim assumed she was looking for unwarranted attention from him. What the ranch hands did not realize is that her loneliness led her to these actions, “She put her hand behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward.” (Steinbeck 31). Being in a relationship should satisfy one's need for attention. Curley's wife considered her marriage unhealthy and did not consider Curley a good husband. Throughout the novella, Curley's wife was consistently looking for Curley and she spent most of her time in the ranch house alone.

Edna said that she would give up unessentials for her children, which means that she does not care about them. Kate Chopin uses Adele to describe how a typical dedicated wife should treat her husband and children. Edna is not Creole and she does not treat her husband and her children right. Adele and Edna were different in many ways because of the way they both react to the nineteenth century expectation “ a mother - woman” she idolizes her children and worships her husband. Edna is the opposite of Adele, She does not worry about her children and she is not devoted to her husband.