Analysis Of Katherine Mansfield 's Life

In this essay I will discuss and analyze the social forces that influenced American women writers of the period of 1865 to 1912. I will describe the specific roles female authors played in this period and explain how the perspectives of female authors differed from their male contemporaries.

In the excerpt from A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf argues that women writers face unfair educational, financial and social disadvantages. Throughout the excerpt, she hopes to persuade readers that in a patriarchal society, a woman must have privacy and financial independence in order to fulfill her literary potential. To accomplish this goal, Woolf effectively appeals to logos, pathos and ethos; however, her emphasis on establishing credibility most successfully persuades her readers.

The next expressive woman known during the renaissance era was Virginia Woolf. Virginia Woolf was raised in a very educated home with a great privilege to be a freethinking woman. She began writing her own novel very young, and had written many more popular modernist titles such as “To The Lighthouse” and “Mrs. Dalloway.” Woolf had many opportunities available to her that many women of her day were not; she studied many different languages and went to college for four years. Virginia Woolf believed that women had little or no say in their future; she wanted to use her education and social connections to make a voice in the world where women unfortunately had none.

Women writers are easily stereotyped; numerous individuals think that ladies should not be taken seriously by the public. Women during the time where not regarded as intelligent, strong writers. Even though there are few amazing women novelists, the majority pretends to know much more than they actually do. During this time period, women are regarded as only writing about fluffy love stories, topics they do not know enough about, and religion. When any person pretends they are more intellectual than they really are, people reflect upon them poorly. Women were not allowed to be educated similarly to the men, so it is not a surprise that women are not scholarly writers as to their counterparts. Many men have extremely famous books published,

Throughout American Literature, women have been depicted in many different ways. The portrayal of women in American Literature is often influenced by an author's personal experience or a frequent societal stereotype of women and their position. Often times, male authors interpret society’s views of women in a completely different nature than a female author would. While F. Scott Fitzgerald may represent his main female character as a victim in the 1920’s, Zora Neale Hurston portrays hers as a strong, free-spirited, and independent woman only a decade later in the 1930’s.

Women have played an important role in American literature. Unfortunately, this role was often negative, without cause to be so. Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby are examples of American literature in which women are needlessly vilified.

We all commonly assume that we act freely, that we make our own decisions without regard to the opinions of those around us. We all like to think we create our own stories, and choose the way we tell them. However, many of us are probably at least tempted to wonder if this a thing completely within our control, how much of it is, and how we can resist attempts of others to write our stories for us, regardless of what we actually desire. Particularly when it comes to women, the society around us is very sure of what it wants our stories to be, and who should tell them and when. This is, of course, a process that begins early. As Foss,

Woolf demonstrates how women writers have often failed in this because of our frustration and bitterness with a world that presented to us and our writing not welcome, or even indifference, but hostility (41). She makes it clear that if there is ever going to be a “Shakespeare’s sister,” we must---at least while we are writing---swallow that sense of having been wronged, for it stands as an impediment to our creativity. This is the mental freedom that women writers must attain.

"American literature is male. To read the canon of what is currently considered classic American literature is perforce to identify as male; Our literature neither leaves women alone nor allows them to participate." Judith Fetterley (Walker, 171)

Katherine Mansfield's "Miss Brill" is a woman self-contained, not pessimistic but settled, content. She is not a victim of her circumstances, but the satisfied creator of them. You could say she has her ducks lined up the way she wants them. Through the character of Miss Brill, Katherine Mansfield reveals a woman who has the ability to enjoy a simple world of her own elaborate creation.

This shows how influential her writing has become throughout the years. Austen’s writing opened the door for other writers to explore romantic literature. “J.K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, grew up reading Austen, who she described as ‘the pinnacle to which all other authors aspire’” (Redman). She inspires others, not only to write romance, but science fiction like Rowling has done. Her influence on the literature work is is astonishing considering she lived in the 1700’s. Many writers of that time are forgotten by most, but she has lived on way past her death. Austen is taught in high school and college English classes. She has been a huge inspiration for female writers as well. “Jane Austen is now thought of as one of the greatest English authors and considered by many as the first great woman novelist” (Jane Austen [b.1775-d. 1817]). Being considered as one of the first female novelist is a great accomplishment and a huge honor, it is a great shame the “creator” of romance did not get the recognition until after her death. She could have helped develop most extraordinary writers in her

“Thinking about Shakespeare’s sister,” resonated how women were treated and how their opportunities differ from that of a man. Virginia Woolf tries to boil down the main cause of why there are not any great women authors. Is it because women do not have the ability to be or raw talent great writers? Woolf’s essay examines the life of William Shakespeare’s sister to answer this question: What kind of life would have Judith lead? Judith is a fictional character created from Virginia Woolf’s imagination.

Through her short stories you feel the emotional connection within the characters. She was a young New Zealand who was dying with a disease called Tuberculosis, dying at the age of 34. Successfully, she wrote three books with a fourth and fifth book following after her death. There were many trigger points that led her to become a writer, they were moving back to New Zealand, her brother’s death in World War 1, and her sensations with how women were treated. Her stories were described as blurred edges of personality, the poetry of feeling and the expansiveness of the interior life. (Wilkins) One may argue that Mansfield works never romances the tragedies of modern women, but rather sympathizes with the women she portrays as she suspends the happy ending.

Many female writers see themselves as advocates for other creative females to help find their voice as a woman. Although this may be true, writer Virginia Woolf made her life mission to help women find their voice as a writer, no gender attached. She believed women had the creativity and power to write, not better than men, but as equals. Yet throughout history, women have been neglected in a sense, and Woolf attempted to find them. In her essay, A Room of One’s Own, she focuses on what is meant by connecting the terms, women and fiction. Woolf divided this thought into three categories: what women are like throughout history, women and the fiction they write, and women and the fiction written about them. When one thinks of women and

Jane Austen was truly a woman of her time. Not only did her level of education soar over most women of her time, she truly cared about the people around her. Austen’s passion for her family was just as strong as her passion for reading and writing. Austen strived to learn more everyday. She was one of the “most widely read writers in English Literature.”(Biography of Jane Austen 1)