Chopin, Kate (1851-1904). Writer. Born in St. Louis, Mo. Regular contributor of feminist short stories to literary journals. Her novel `The Awakening' (1899) shocked many people with its portrayal of a young woman's sexual and artistic longings.
A Slight Hysterical Tendency – An Analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper Fiction by standard definition is a body of literary work that is not real, or is imagined. So what do you get when you have a story that is in fact fiction, but is so personal to the author that is could almost be considered autobiographical? You get the fictional story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The story about a woman who is suffering from postpartum psychosis is parallel to the difficulties that Gilman faced in her own life. At a time in history when women were thought to be hysterical and not taken seriously especially in the area of mental health, Gilman bravely brought the topic to the surface in a dark, but truthful manner. Her use of imagery and personification throughout the writing draws the reader into the sick mind of a young mother struggling to find herself again and broaches the issue of feminism.
How does Steinbeck encourage us to sympathise with and condemn Curley’s Wife? Curley’s Wife is a character who is used by Steinbeck to achieve three main aims in his novel ‘Of Mice and Men’. Firstly, she is a character used simply to advance the plot of the novel. Secondly, her short life story tells us about the reality of dreams that can never be fulfilled and reflects the harsh end to George and Lennie’s own dream. Finally, her marriage to Curley provides the reader with an insight into the place of women in 1920s American society and their growing struggle to reconcile the American Dream of equality with the patriarchal values of the American Household.
As an example two influential short stories will be discussed in depth in order to shed light into the lives of the two authors and their stories. The short stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) and Angela Carter (1940–1992) both sideway the same idea; the confinement of women in particular roles and positions in both personal and professional lives, posed on them by patriarchal figures. Toril Moi quotes in her examination of feministic criticism, Sexual/Textual Politics (2002), Elaine Showalter’s idea that “women writers should not be studied as a distinct group on the assumption that they write alike, or even display stylistic resemblances distinctively feminine” (Moi, 2002: 49), which comes across when reading the two stories which are stylistically already very different. It might be so that a feminist reader of both times (there’s some 80 years difference between the two stories) did not only want to see her own experiences mirrored in fiction, but strived to identify with strong, impressive female characters (Moi, 2002: 46), and looked for role-models that would instil positive sense of feminine identity by portraying women as self-actualising strong identities who were not dependent on men (Moi, 2002, 46). The two stories bring out two female characters, very different by position and character; the other a new mother, scared and confused of her own role, and the other a young newly-wed girl, still a child, being fouled by a much older man, mainly as a mark of his authority over women in general.
Brenda DoHarris’s Calabash Parkway, set in between the 70s and the 80s in Brooklyn, New York, in a novel about four Guyanese women named, Agatha, Evadne, Gwennie and Drupattie, who migrate to North America, to find love and to escape from tragedy. In the story Agatha, Evadne, Gwennie and Drupattie struggle for survival and discrimination. Feminism in Calabash Parkway, is represented in ‘Eunice’s business, independence, and the support of Evadne, Doreen, and Gwennie. Eunice’s business in this story is a very prominent feature of feminism. Agatha, one of the main characters, has been struggling ever since she migrate to Brooklyn, New York.
In this essay, I will discuss what Eleanor Roosevelt’s activities revealed about the limitations of women in the early twentieth century. I will also examine whether she challenged or reinforced traditional conceptions of women’s “proper” role. I will also comment on historian Allida Black’s conclusion about Eleanor’s achievements and biggest failure as a first lady. First, Eleanor Roosevelt fought very hard in order to encourage women to become more knowledgeable. One of the biggest restrictions that ER found was that women at that time did not know how to read the newspaper.
Nicole McCray Dr. Davis POL-100 10/08/12 Alice Paul Alice Paul was one of the most significant figures in the movement to secure women’s rights in America. As educated, Paul used radical political strategies to produce favorable results for the Women’s Suffrage movement. Her militant actions eventually led to the ratification of the 19th amendment which secured women’s right to vote. Alice was born in Paulsdale on Jan 11, 1885 to William and Tacie Paul who eventually had two more children after Alice. Alice’s parents were Quakers, and instilled their religious beliefs into her.
Women are willing to participate in practices that oppress them because they want power. This paper will compare the practices that oppress women through media and raunch culture in correlation with factual evidence Levy has taken from historic studies. Through this careful examination the evidence will reveal how the idea of empowerment is complicated through racial and gender stereotypes of the female identity. Female Chauvinist Pigs, which complicate gender stereotypes, use raunch culture in order to gain empowerment. Female Chauvinist Pigs are women who sexually only objectify other women and themselves.
Margaret Atwood’s speech “Spotty Handed Villainesses” explores Patriarchy, feminism and “bad” women in literature. She uses wit and humour to disarm the audience and often uses anti-climatic statements to grab the audience’s attention. Margaret Atwood’s speech resonates through time with her critical study of feminism in a social context and the impact that feminism has had on literature. In the speech Atwood explores the moral dichotomy that exists in Women at the time. She shows how women can only be categorised as either an angel or a whore.
In Lepines’ letter, he sites how feminists had ruined his life and they were the reason he committed this crime. Feminist theory on crime explains this thought clearly. Lepines’ ideas about the roles of women were formed by a patriarchal society leading him to believe in some that women were not equal to men and should not be given all the opportunities of men (Knuttila, 305). These women wanted to be educated and become engineers; Lepine could not cope with this fact and blamed women, namely feminist for his short comings in life. Did Lepine come up with these ideas himself or was he a product of a society that dictated classical roles and oppression of women?