The gesture also inspires Edna to speak openly and freely and by doing so Edna feels intoxicated as if she tasted “the first breath of freedom” [VII Chopin]. Madame Ratignolle’s sympathy gives Edna the courage to say what is on her mind without censoring, an exercise that helps her outward existence and inward life to correspond. To Edna, Madame Ratignolle is an embodiment of the mother woman, and through her presence Edna realizes that she is not like her, and that she does not want to devote herself to her husband and children, she would rather have some space and freedom for herself to pursue her interests. Thus Edna realizes that she is not and does not want to be a mother woman. This realization helps Edna further understand herself and she gradually starts neglecting her marital obligations in action rather than only questioning them in her head.
Being reduced to the role of a handmaid has meant Offred's physical identity has been severely altered from how it was in her past life, Atwood presents her attempts reconstruct her physical identity under the supervision of the regime throughout the novel. The dystopian novel is written in first person narration so the reader gets a first hand, female understanding of how Atwood wants the reader to perceive Offred’s physicality. Being a handmaid means that Offred has no real control of her body. The initial role of a handmaid is to produce a child for Gilead's elite and it is made extremely clear to them that they are of no worth and their only use is as 'containers'. The use of this word demonstrates their low value as a container is never cared for, only its content is important.
To be virtuous in the mind of Providence was to be happy. Wollstonecraft in the above quote states, women were not allowed to have their own opinion or stand up for themselves for what they truly want, which would make them happy. To finish Wollstonecraft’s statement they have not obtained these desires they are not truly virtuous, but can be considered virtuous in the fact that women have souls. Women were innocent and had a “softness of temper” and “outward obedience.” Wollstonecraft also
Two Women of Camelot A heroine is a woman who risks her life, money, job, or health to save someone’s life, or does a good deed that doesn’t benefit her. History has many women, but very few are heroines because women weren’t allowed to do risky things the way men were. Heroines might rescue children, but they never rescue other women or men. This is not the kind of story that poets bothered repeating. Heroines are supposed to be “good” women.
A question raised from this essay that caught me personally, and was also somewhat mentioned in sub context is, why don't these women just let go of their spirituality and all those urges to let the inner artist out to lighten the burden on their already worn and abused shoulders? Simplistic as the answer is intricate, as I mentioned before was that the only thing they had of their own free will and that could not be taken from them (even though they did not know it yet). It was not tangible, but it was still there. No matter how it manifested itself, it was what kept a lot of their hearts beating and souls hopeful, no matter how battered and torn
As such many women married out of necessity rather than for love. This is supported with the quote "Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance" (Pg. 25). Elizabeth Bennett’s character enables Austen to highlight to the audience the unreasonableness of gender role traditions. Females were not meant to exert themselves, walk unaccompanied or look unpresentable in the presence of others.
Being always ready to help she is obliged to forget about her own wealth. Helping is her paramount destination. Sometimes girls feel as if they are alone in this world and they can do nothing with the pressure of gender stereotypes, as soon as all their actions will be considered as inapplicable for the standards of society. A girl should stop for a moment and think of what she can undertake in order to reverse the situation. There are three effective ways of avoiding having culture’s gender stereotypes derail girls’ dreams: a search for the supporters, a careful explanation, and an attempt to go through the personal experience.
the reason women stay in violence are mainly a function of self and interconnectedness with the social networks of societies. Decisions to leave would have been easy if they were made in isolation, but society acts as a bench mark for verification of the reasons given for leaving. The other reason is the difficulty in defining what is violence amongst societies and rewards that society accords to the heroines who have survived the violence. Also to note is the fact that modernization through its institutions have brought about barriers that are patriarchy related that have tended to further deprive the opportunities of women to leave the violent marriages. There is need for research to be done on the effects of
The fact that Nora was a woman may have been a catalyst in the result of the story's climax. "Whatever propaganda feminists may have made of A Doll House, Ibsen, it is argued, never meant to write a play about the highly topical subject of women's rights; Nora's conflict represents something other than, or something more than, woman's" (Templeton 28). Nora's "selfish" act was about declaring what she was not, which was Torvald's plaything; figuring out what she would find herself to become. Feminist propaganda, as Templeton calls it, may have influenced the interpretations of others but, art is what it is transformed into by the observer. "Ibsen, it is now de rigueur to explain, did not stoop to issues.
Kezia, as of yet, has not been indoctrinated into the same aspect of class consciousness that has twisted society. Mansfield has managed to beautifully weave Kezia’s outlook of innocence with all those around her, providing the prejudiced, narrow-minded, outlooks of the older, more “experienced” people. While everyone around her attempts to tell her that the Kelveys are not worthy of associating themselves with her, “How dare you ask the little Kelveys into the courtyard?”. Kezia refuses this notion however, bent on living in a world without inequality, without injustice