Feminism In Rip Van Winkle

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.

Feminist criticism is often defined as a literary analysis that arises from the viewpoint of feminism, feminist theory, and/or feminist politics (Napikoski). Feminist criticism can be divided into two parts. The first type of feminist criticism revolves around the idea of the woman being the reader of male-constructed literature. This type of feminist criticism consists of the female reader focusing on stereotypes and misconceptions about women. The second type of feminist criticism concentrates on the woman being the writer. This type of feminist criticism demonstrates history, themes, genres, and structures of literature by women. In the past, it was very common for literature that had been constructed by men to be taken into consideration more than literature composed by women. Both “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett were written in the 1800’s and revolved around the point of view of females. Both of these authors use symbolism in order to represent and enhance the ideas of feminism in their stories.

Washington Irving is known as being one of the most famous American authors in history. He has created fresh and exciting stories such as “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” “The Devil and Tom Walker,” and “Rip Van Winkle” that continue to captivate those who read them even today. In these three stories, Irving takes a stance on what the early Americas were like as he creates settings full of both mystery and wonder. His settings are symbols of both America’s mystery and potential, and he uses personification and motifs to convey this message.

Throughout the history of American Literature there has been a common theme of male oppression. Especially towards the end of the 19th century, before the first wave of feminism, women were faced with an unshakeable social prison. Husband, home and children were the only life they knew, many encouraged not to work. That being said, many female writers at the time, including Emily Dickinson and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, were determined to examine the mind behind the American woman, through the lens of mental illness and personal experience.

The American literary canon presents a one sided view of women, due to the dominance of male authors. Classic American books generally present images of women in a male-centered viewpoint, creating a biased representation of women in literature. In “Feminist Literary Criticism: From Anti-Patriarchy to Decadence,” Anne Barbeau Gardiner states that the American literary canon is “strikingly narrow…prepared by white men whose judgment was prejudiced and whose language was full of gendered meanings.” (Gardiner 395). Gardiner

Anne Bradstreet is one of the earliest American poets, and she’s read today as the first feminist in literature. While there are arguments as to why this could be true, I present an argument that Bradstreet cannot be read as a feminist, especially within her earlier works. In her later writing, her feminist identity becomes more real and plausible. Looking at two of her works, “The Prologue” and “The Author to Her Book,” both written at different times in Bradstreet’s life, one can see how Bradstreet’s idea of femininity and how that works with her writing has shifted. Bradstreet could be read more as a feminist writer in her later works because the relationship she holds with her writing has shifted into where she accepts her womanhood.

Feminist literature has strong ties with the exclusion of women from the literary canon. Their Eyes Were Watching God zones in on the struggles of an African American woman trying to find equality and power with men in her society. The men in Janie’s life continuously objectify her and beat her down. However, not only do the men prevent Janie from having a voice, but the community around her.

To quote author Chimamanda Adichie, “Imagine how much happier we would be, how much freer to be our true individual selves, if we didn 't have the weight of gender expectations.” However, the influence of gender is pervasive from jobs to the military, even extending to education. Men are generally characterized as strong and independent. Women, on the other hand, are supposed to be more feeble and domestic by societal standards. These distinctions have always been the case in the United States, from the moment people first crossed the Bering Strait into North America. It should come as no surprise, then, that the societal expectations placed on gender affect literary works. Gender often conflicts with the hopes and dreams of the characters and makes it harder for them to achieve success. The flawed societal gender constructions found in American literature are adversarial to characters in their search for fulfillment. The concept of gender roles obstructing success is ubiquitous in the many works, including The Great Gatsby, The Mystery of Heroism, The Scarlet Letter, A Raisin In The Sun, and The Death of A Salesman.

Reading literature, at first, might seem like simple stories. However, in works like William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily,” Katherine Mansfield's “Miss Brill,” and Kate Chopin's “The Storm,” the female protagonists are examples of how society has oppressive expectations of them simply because of their gender.

In American literature, women have been portrayed differently depending on the sex and race of the author. Henry James who wrote “Daisy Miller: A Study” (1878) characterized Daisy as a tramp who breaks expatriate social customs. When a male writes about a woman, she is sometimes portrayed as a troublemaker and often up to no good. On the other hand, in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892), the narrator is trapped by domestic life. When a woman writes about women, they are usually victims of their society. James and Gilman each seem to display women differently because of their own sex, personal preferences, and experiences.

"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)

An example of this notion is shown in Hope Leslie when Governor Winthrop, the landlord, reacts to Hope, the tenant, coming home late and refuses to reveal her reason why: “...Winthrop was not accustomed to have his inquisitorial rights resisted by those in his own household, and he was more struck than pleased by Hope’s moral courage” (184). Evidently, Winthrop’s reaction proves that women with “moral courage” are unladylike because moral courage is a manly trait. On the other hand, Esther Downing, another character in Hope Leslie, embodies the cult of true womanhood. Esther’s mere look at her love interest Everell is described as “a look of...pleased dependence, which is natural... and which men like to inspire, because --perhaps -- it seems to them an instinctive tribute to their natural superiority” (219). So, “Esther’s look … of dependence” confirms that the expectation that all women are supposed to have the same behavior, gestures and personality is meant to not only please men but to also hide their true form. Therefore, the cult of true womanhood presents an internal battle in female writers and Sedgwick presents this womanly struggle through the contrast between Hope and Esther. Society wants women to be quaint housewives but publishing a book defies the cult of true womanhood. Thus, defying the qualities rooted in the cult of true womanhood causes high risk of

In the early nineteen century, women were not explicitly part of literature. they were used male pseudonym to publish their works. However, later in the century, there was a shift in women’s implication in literature. women began to be publicly recognized as writers, and they were using their writings to advocate for women’s rights and to reject stereotypes that were commonly associated with them. For example, in the early nineteen century, books and novels were mostly describing “piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity” as attributes of a good woman (Fortin). Writings by women were describing women that where rejecting values of the patriarchal society; women that wanted freedom and independence. The writings of Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman exemplify the features of the Feminist phase of female literary tradition. Published respectively in 1892 and 1895, “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin are the quintessence of feminist literature. They both used characterization, setting, ad irony to protest a misogynistic society and to request women’s rights and autonomy.

During Victorian era novelist had to develop ways to avoid posing as threats to the order of the society . Something which even make the look anti-feminist, but still many of female writers of that period are known today for their early feminist agendas embedded in their works. Elizabeth Gaskell was one of Britain’s best known female writers, She was a conservative women. Although she was not the part of “the women question” a movement started in mid nineteenth century and gave rise to what we today called feminism, But still

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