Analysis Of ' The Revolt Of Mother ' By Michael Grimwood

Female roles in society have often been minute. In Jewett’s “A White Heron” and Freeman’s “The Revolt of Mother”, Sylvia and Mother demonstrate feminine empowerment. These two prominent female protagonists overcome the male influence in their life and society. Both defy social expectations of women and the obstacles that come with it. The authors express this through their similar use of symbolism and alienation. Jewett and Freeman use different examples of poverty, the motivation of society, and speech in their stories.

From my point of view, Jane Austen should be seen as a ‘feminist’ writer. As she wrote in one of her novel Persuasion, she considers that ‘Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything’ (Anne Elliot, in Jane Austen’s Persuasion). Such feminist ideas are expressed in many of her literary works. In her another novel Northanger Abbey, there are various issues discussed, which include not only marriage, social criticism and Gothic, but also feminism as well. The essay is to discuss Jane Austen and her feminist thoughts by analyzing Northanger Abbey.

The poem “The Mother” written by Gwendolyn Brooks in 1945, is a poem that focuses on the immeasurable losses a woman experiences after having an abortion. The poems free verse style has a mournful tone that captures the vast emotions a mother goes through trying to cope with the choices she has made. The author writes each stanza of the poem using a different style, and point of view, with subtle metaphors to express the speaker’s deep struggle as she copes with her abortions. The poem begins with, “Abortions will not let you forget” (Brooks 1), the first line of the poem uses personification to capture your attention. The title of the poem has the reader’s mindset centered around motherhood, but the author’s expertise with the opening line, immediately shifts your view to the actual theme of the poem. In this first line the speaker is telling you directly, you will never forget having an abortion. Brooks utilizes the speaker of the poem, to convey that this mother is pleading for forgiveness from the children she chose not to have.

Sexuality has an inherent connection to human nature. Yet, even in regards to something so natural, societies throughout times have imposed expectations and gender roles upon it. Ultimately, these come to oppress women, and confine them within the limits that the world has set for them. However, society is constantly evolving, and within the past 200 years, the role of women has changed. These changes in society can be seen within the intricacies of literature in each era. Specifically, through analyzing The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, one can observe the dynamics of society in regards to the role of women through the lens of the theme of sexuality. In both novels, the confinement and oppression of women can be visibly seen as a result of these gender roles. Yet, from the time The Scarlet Letter was published to the time The Bell Jar was written, the place of women in society ultimately changed as well. Hence when evaluating the gender roles that are derived from sexuality, the difference between the portrayals of women’s oppression in each novel becomes apparent, and shows how the subjugation of women has evolved. The guiding question of this investigation is to what extent does the theme of sexuality reflect the expectations for women in society at the time each novel was written. The essay will explore how the literary elements that form each novel demonstrate each author’s independent vision which questions the

During the 20th century, the women’s rights movement changed the role of women in society for the better, causing a change in the traditional gender roles that culture dictated before the turn of the century. Women won the right to vote in 1919, which was a major turning point in the respect of women as equal members of society as compared to men. In addition to this newfound right, women also took steps to become part of the work force rather than stay home and raise the children like traditional housewives of the time. This sudden interest was sparked by the two major wars that were fought during the 20th century, each causing women to feel that it was their duty to fill in for men while they were fighting for our country. Another significant feature of this time period was the exploration of sexuality for women, especially in the case of determining whether or not a woman was a lesbian. Given these issues, John Dos Passos and Patricia Highsmith both wrote novels that touched on the issues of being a woman during the 20th century and the certain rights that one had as a woman in society. In their respective works, Dos Passos and Highsmith explore the view of women through the characters of Janey and Therese Belivet, which portrays the distinct nature of women that are defying the traditional gender norms of the time.

The role of women has changed drastically over the course of years. With the help of the Civil War and the industrial revolution women have grown and learned not to accept that they are not objects and not to accept being belittled by men. Many authors played a significant part in showing that the role of women's’ evolution. Women went from having hardly any rights to playing a major role in society economically. The stories “The Revolt of Mother” ,“New England Nun” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg, “A High Toned Old Christian Woman” by Wallace Stevens, and “ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot all help contribute evidence to the change in the role of

In contemporary 21st century thought, sexual liberty is at the forefront of the feminist movement. Women are taking their bodily autonomy back, and ascribing a sense of ownership back to themselves. This movement to gain bodily and sexual liberty, however, are not new concepts. Philosophers and literary greats tackled these issues prior to the 21st century. Both Edith Wharton’s novel The Age of Innocence and Kate Chopin’s short story, At the ‘Cadian Ball and which were written prior to the 21st century and its third wave of feminism. portray women’s sexuality throughout their texts. However, in both novels, the sexuality that is portrayed is confined within boundaries that are prescribed by the men in the story. By writing the female sexuality this way, they are exposing the problematic nature of being able to express a woman’s sexuality, and the lack thereof. Through the focalisation of the narrative as well as plot development of the female characters and their lack of freedom and autonomy in other aspects of their life, the authors make their points clear about women and their freedom, sexual and otherwise.

The subject of feminism has evolved into various complex theories. In addition, feminism has also been a heavily debated issue that has been around for numerous years. The argument of feminism is that women are, and always have been throughout history, treated differently than men by society. Therefore, women are being stripped down of opportunities to their benefit economically, socially, politically, and culturally. Since there are multiple theories on feminism, Donald Hall’s definition of cultural feminism, from his “Feminist Analysis” of Literary and Cultural Theory, will be used to explore the cultural aspects of the texts from Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, Charlotte Gilman’s short story ”The Yellow Wallpaper,”

A common theme that can be seen in feminist literature is that a woman’s identity is defined by the patriarchal culture of the era as well as the men in their lives. This theme can be seen through pieces such as “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “My Ringless Fingers on the Steering Wheel Tell the Story” by Laura Boss, and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin.

According to research women who have had an abortion were 37% more likely to experience depression, 110% more likely to abuse alcohol, 155% more likely to commit suicide and 220% more likely to abuse marijuana (Jaslow). Women who go through the experience of terminating a pregnancy often face some form of decline in their mental health. It is understandable after going through something that is so permanent and potentially traumatic to react in such a way that negatively affects a person’s state of mind. Whether the termination is involuntary or by choice, it will likely lead to a change in the mental state of the person involved. In the poem “The Mother” the author, Gwendolyn Brooks, shows what a mother who has

This article is especially interesting as it takes a semi-controversial stance, saying that Elizabeth is in fact not a feminist. Such is an interestingly unique approach and is one that is rarely brought up; much like our own topic. Such an article was useful in the defending of our IOP in the sense that Francis brings about fine points in regards to the lack of pure feminism within Pride and Prejudice. Since feminism would be an ideal result of a hero’s journey on Elizabeth’s part, and such is lacking from the novel, the points that Francis bring up to prove such a lack are relevant to our point as

Edith Wharton’s novel, House of Mirth, written in 1905 centers around Lily Bart, a single woman in her late twenties, who is constantly struggling to maintain her status in high society. Lily navigates herself through the upper class with a “double consciousness”. This double consciousness enables her to recognize “...that [she] is at the same time inside and outside the ideology of gender; and conscious of being so, conscious of that twofold pull, of that division, that doubled vision” (Carson 695). Throughout the text she is constantly trying to balance a life of being a financially independent woman or the “New Woman” Wharton and her contemporaries added to the female archetypes, but then having to abide in the gender roles that society had established. The limits of her sex contribute to her inevitable failure by the end of the novel but the knowledge of them aided her deconstructing her role as a woman. This “double consciousness” is an advantage since she is able to manipulate the upper class, but the facade she tries to maintain in order to achieve her goal-- financial stability--contributes to her falling victim to the society she tried to configure to her own desires. In this paper, I will argue how the double consciousness of Lily Bart deconstructed the tradition woman to assert the “New Woman”.

From the feminist criticism, everything seems somehow related to everything else. Feminism is involved in any given field cannot be cordoned off. Marxism, however, ignored the position of women which is strange as its key concepts are the “struggle between social classes and the blinding effects of ideology”, it might have been employed to analyze the social situation of women. Feminism saw clearly that the widespread of negative stereotyping of women in literature and film constituted a formidable obstacle on the road of true equality causing the men to act exploitative, denigrating and repressive in their relations with women. The Feminist criticism displays that independent women are either a “seductress or dissatisfied shrew”. They either use their sexuality or they are bad tempered and aggressively assertive which doesn’t give a very positive view. Dependent women are viewed as the “cute but helpless or self-sacrificing”. They lose something in order to help someone else which received appraisal. The “Great Gatsby” is an example of negative stereotyping, what the Feminism fights against. The “Great Gatsby” is about the adventures of Nick Carraway in East/West Egg and his perceptions about the people there, especially the women (Daisy, Jordan and Myrtle). The women represent the negative stereotyping of women; Daisy the “cute but helpless” and Myrtle the “Unworldly, self-sacrificing angel” representing the typical stereotyped woman and Jordan the “Dissatisfied shrew”

One of the most widely discussed themes of Jewett’s writing is her depiction of feminism. Her works are some of the earliest examples of literary feminism, and so hold a great significance in the study of historical feminism. It should be said that Jewett’s, and by extension, everyone in the 19th century’s idea of feminism is most likely not the same as our modern, 21st century definition of feminism. Instead of focusing on women’s suffrage or equal rights, Jewett’s feminist writing takes a vastly different approach by simply depicting women as deeply complex, fleshed-out characters. Miss Dobin and Miss Lucinda Dobin from “The Dulham Ladies” are excellent examples of this. The main story describes two women who are arrogant and stuck-up in

In order to better understand the scope of this theses, this chapter introduces the literary criticism that is used to explain the position of women in a short story collection The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter through the notion of cannibalism. In her short story collection, Carter deals with issues that concern feminism as the movement, and women as the part of the society. In order to understand Angela Carters’ short story collection and the way women are represented and treated in The Bloody Chamber, this thesis uses feminist literary criticism that is explained in the following paragraphs.