Feminist Analysis : The Field Of Feminism

Daddy’s princess. Big brother’s responsibility. Daddy’s little girl. Some people view these as a sweet pet names for young ladies, but these verbal cues inexplicitly condition women to view themselves as the property of men starting at a young age. These learned notions may take hold as women begin to develop. As young girls mature, they find themselves striving to please their fathers and other male figures as one of their main aspirations in life due to this conditioning from society. (Rholetter p. 1) The submissive nature of young girls is a common theme in literature, but looking through the Feminist Lens offers readers a better understanding of the struggle surrounding remaining submissive or demanding power occurs.

Topics of great social impact have been dealt with in many different ways and in many different mediums. Beginning with the first women’s movement in the 1850’s, the role of women in society has been constantly written about, protested, and debated. Two women writers who have had the most impact in the on-going women’s movement are Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The Awakening and The Yellow Wallpaper are two of feminist literature’s cornerstones and have become prolific parts of American literature. Themes of entrapment by social dictates, circumstance, and the desire for personal independence reside within each work and bond the two together.

During the time of achieving freedom, authors like Kate Chopin and Susan Glaspell express the way gender roles were set during the Progressive Era by writing “Story of an Hour” and “Jury of Her Peers” to illustrate the way women wanted to escape from their husbands, which reflects these individual’s morals, psychological and social awareness of self identity. Men received the luxury they wanted, and now women are standing up for themselves till this day, whether it is sexual assault, equal pay, and much

Feminism: Opposing Viewpoints is a non-fiction novel that addresses the many contradicting beliefs in feminism. It looks at the different viewpoints held by different women on some controversial topics such as the wage gap, the glass ceiling, and Arab feminism. It also addresses the two questions of

Feminism is a women’s rights movement which originated during the 19th century to advocate for equality for both sexes. Women, as a whole, were oppressed by a patriarchal society where they had few opportunities to express themselves due to cultural roles and stereotypes surrounding their gender. Donald Hall claims, “... women have been denied social power and the right to various forms of self-expression...” in his Literary and Cultural Theory: Feminist Analysis to further prove the oppressed status of women. Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, two cultural feminist literary critics, allow their readers to view an oppressive, androcentric patriarchal society through the eyes of their characters in their stories. Chopin’s The Awakening and

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.

Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” show the desire of freedom of certain women of this time by allowing the authors to live vicariously through their characters to show the shift of women’s identity and awareness to not only themselves but also to the world around them.

This paper will not be able to cover the complexity of feminism as a whole since it has become a very broad subject. 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, culturally, and several more ways. This essay will highlight and analyze the cultural aspects of feminism from the texts of Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, Donald Hall’s “Feminist Analysis” from Literary and Cultural Theory, Charlotte Gilman’s short story ”The Yellow Wallpaper”, Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour”, and Tillie Olsen’s short story “Tell Me A Riddle.” Cultural feminism, the ideology of the roles and stereotypical characteristics of women. Therefore, women are unable to express themselves due to being oppressed by patriarchal society. Thus, preserving and nurturing “female culture” will benefit society. As a final point, this paper will point out and identify women being isolated from their culture and personal values.

Every author has some driving force behind them when they choose to write a story. Among these motivations, social issues seem to be the most influential of topics. This is reflected throughout the writings of Kate Chopin, especially in her literary works The Story of an Hour, and “The Awakening”. Chopin's use of characterization in this story, as well as her other works, provide themes that further prove her motivations to revolve around the issues of gender inequality in the times her her writings.

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a short story originally published in Vogue in 1894. Chopin was writing for women throughout the United States. She wanted to draw attention to female repression in the late 19th century. At the time the battle for women’s rights, specifically women’s suffrage, was in full swing. While Chopin’s work was not directly responsible for bestowing women’s rights in the United States, she did write an attention-grabbing story that has a well-integrated, discrete declaration on the implications of the repression of women in her time; one such implication being her inability to write directly about her beliefs.

“The Story of an Hour”, is a short story written by Kate Chopin in 1894. Throughout this time frame, the Women’s Suffrage Movement was going on as well as the constrained traditions of feminine roles. Men were known to be dominant and this short story connects very well with this time frame. In “The Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin addresses many of the concerns that are central to feminism, by using verbal, situational and dramatic irony, as well as imagery and flashback, unveiling the issues of oppression and suppression in women. The main character of the story Mrs. Mallard, is firstly introduced to the reader.

Kate Chopin’s short tale, “The Story of an Hour”, is a writing of irony. It tells of a young women, who’s husband has just died and who seems to be in a state of grief, when she is truly embracing her new found freedom, where she is no longer repressed by her husband. This short story shares similar themes with the article, “Enfranchisement of Women” written by Harriet Mills. An article about the subjection of women in society, and how civilization is afflicted because of it.

Grecia Mejicanos Mrs.Kehrmeyer AP English, Per. 1 9 November 2015 One Is All It Takes The first woman in the U.S to become a physician, Elizabeth Blackwell says “for what is done or learned by one class of woman becomes by virtue of their common womanhood, the property of all woman.” Blackwell is well recognized as a major role model in feminist history. She introduces one of the various categories of feminist analysis in her quote. One that Donald Hall delivers within various types of feminist analysis that all share the same idea, the advocacy of women’s rights on political, social, and economic levels, feminism. One of the categories is liberal feminism. Blackwell exemplifies liberal feminism as she focused not only on her but all women’s

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.