Nonconformism In The Portrait Of A Lady By Henry James

“Pride and Prejudice”, a novel written by Jane Austen represents eighteenth century English women as illogical, domestic individuals who economically depend on male members in their household. Major decisions in their life are decided by their fathers and brothers. They perform subordinate roles, and are considered inferior to men. This novel reinforces the sexist stereotypes of women.The female characters in the novel possess these virtues in varying degrees depending on their role. Marriage is considered essential to secure a woman’s future ,they are expected to behave in a certain manner to earn the respect of the society, and are treated unfairly by the social and justice

For the most part, society’s conception of women in the 19th century dictated the way women were treated and influenced the portrayal of female characters in writing generated during that time. The Cult of Domesticity claimed that true womanhood was marked by a natural inclination to domesticity and submissiveness. Though all women clearly have the capacity to think for themselves, earn money, and overcome the emotional obstacles they may meet, the plausibility of complete independence was a challenging appeal for Harper to make. Men dominated family

In her 1945 article, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Margaret Fuller illustrates a world in which “there exists in the minds of men a tone of feeling toward women as toward slaves”, and where men hold “the belief that Woman was made for Man”. Two books, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and Woman in the Nineteenth Century, provide male and female perspective in the 19th century. These separate texts exemplify two sides of the same coin. On the one hand, Woman in the Nineteenth Century provides perspective of the feminine experience in a male dominated world while Moby Dick portrays a society from a male point of view and experiences woman as subservient to himself.

Isabel is put in a difficult situation, for while she is desperate to find freedom for herself

In antebellum America there was little tolerance for autonomous women. Usually females, spanning all classes, were attached to households, dependent on males for status and wealth. Society demanded that domesticity be the woman’s domain, any deviations from this constricting edict was met with disdain. The cultural myth of the model genteel women permeated the fabric of 19th century life. However, with the advent of the Civil

Syed Ali English 126 CD3 Professor Stapleton 23rd December 2014 Roles and Rights of Women The roles and rights of women were considered less important than the average man in the late 1800s. The roles of women has dramatically evolved throughout the years. During the late 1870's women were often thought of as secondary citizens to men.

The society that exist in today’s day and age greatly differs from the era of the past. The epitome of today’s time include the internet, legal gay marriages, smart phones and the existence of feminists. Clearly, people have evolved quite a significant amount since the dawn of time, especially when compared to the roaring twenties. From that point and further back in time, women were seen as inferior to men and were treated second to them. However, historically speaking, women of the 1920’s were beginning to slowly even out the playing field when they were given suffrage. Despite that fact, many women were still viewed as a pawn for men, which was seen the book, the Great Gatsby. Even though the narrative focused greatly on male characters,

For centuries, women have had the role of being the perfect and typical house wife; needs to stay home and watch the children, cook for husbands, tend to the laundry and chores around the house. In her short story “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid provides a long one sentence short story about a mother giving specific instructions to her daughter but with one question towards the end, with the daughter’s mother telling her daughter if she had done all the instructions to become a so called “perfect” woman, every man would want her. Kincaid’s structuring in “Girl,” captures a demanding and commanding tone. This short story relates to feminist perspectives. The mother expects a great deal from her daughter to have a certain potential and she does not hesitate to let her daughter understand that. As a matter of fact, the story is about two pages long, made into one long sentence - almost the whole time the mother is giving her daughter directions to follow - conveys a message to the reader that the mother demands and expects great potential in her daughter. The daughter is forced to listen and learn from what her mother is telling her to do to become the perfect housewife. Throughout the story, Kincaid uses the symbols of the house and clothing, benna and food to represent the meanings of becoming a young girl to a woman and being treated like one in society. Women are portrayed to appeal to a man to become the ideal woman in society, while men can do anything they please.

The patriarchal system of the Victorian Era severely limited women’s independence and control of their lives; a theme that dominates this text. Jane’s husband, John, the antagonist, represents the mores of their society, and treats Jane like a child. After returning to bed one evening, John questions her reasons awakening “ ‘What is it, little girl?’ he said. ‘Don’t go walking about like that-you’ll get cold’”

Social norms in America during the early 18th and 19th centuries seemed simple enough, the Women were seen and not heard. They were mothers, perhaps works, but most importantly of all they were wives. A women’s financial stability depended on her marriage, and her own partnership she was a prisoner. Impossible though it may seem, men also received negative effects due to what society demanded of them. If women were to be silent and submissive spouses, men had to be a super solider ready to fight in World War 1.

The concept of gender roles is a system that has been created and enforced by tradition. Society has discovered a way to categorize and condemn those who do not fit or pertain to the characteristics of their gender. In Middlesex, a novel written by Jeffrey Eugenides, characters dilute the idea of being predisposed to gender roles by challenging them and generating the idea of “loosely defined” gender superiority in the era of the American Revolution. The American Revolution when being observed from a gender conformity point of view may be seen as unruly towards those of the female gender. Women were stripped of any and all rights or freedoms that they may have had and were forced to engage in a patriarchal society which by definition is a family, society, or government ruled by male dominance. According to an article entitled “Revolutionary Changes and Limitations: Women” published by the Independence Hall Association, this tyranny over women was so atrocious that even the law did not recognize women as independent and allowed them no say over their civic, political, and economical constituents. In Middlesex, the American Revolution and the modern day attitudes toward women and gender formality can be blatantly seen, but characters such as Sourmelina “Lina” Zizmo, Desdemona Stephanides, Lefty Stephanides, and Calliope “Cal” Stephanides challenge these pretenses through the use of: disobedience, rejection, and self-establishment.

In reading Henry James’ beautiful novella, Daisy Miller: A Study, one is forced to bear witness to a few disquieting facts pertaining to the upper class of late 1800’s America. Starting with that which is well known, it is quite obvious that the upper echelons of society have strict social norms. Though this has always been (and might well always be) true, they seem to have been quite a bit more stringent in the time, and many more were gender related. Men must stand when a lady approaches, women must not go out in public alone, one must not have a personal connection with “the help”, and so on. These norms seem to have been particularly restricting for women, and reduced their options significantly. The second, which also happens to be common

In the Victorian era, the status of women in society was extremely oppressive and, by modern standards, atrocious. Women had few rights, in or outside of the home. Married women in this period relied on men almost completely as they had few rights or independence. With this mindset in focus,

Written by John Stuart Mill in 1860-1861, as the Victorian era took place in England, “The Subjection of Women” is a critical piece of analysis in regards to the status of women in society and their unequal relationship with the opposite sex. During Mills lifetime, women were considered to be inferior to men by custom and laws, therefore, it was expected of them to be submissive in nature and to drive their aspirations as far as those of a homemaker, wife and mother could go. Deeply influenced by the ideas of his wife Harriet Taylor Mill, and John Stuart Mill’s own beliefs, “The Subjection of Women” was published in 1869, becoming a piece of literature that would not only challenge the common views of society at the time, but will advocate for different approaches in light of modern times.

Women have made a lot of progress since the 1800s, and are still working hard towards equality today. Elizabeth Gaskell was an English novelist and short story writer from the 1800s. Gaskell became depressed when her only son, William, died at the age of one. Her husband told her to write as a way to relieve her grief. As a result of this, the novel “Mary Barton” was produced. Through her writing, Elizabeth Gaskell gave the women of that time period a voice. Gaskell uses the form of the typical Victorian romance novel raise awareness on important social issues, such as industry, the role of women, and the differences between behaviors in different settings. She was well aware of the price women had to pay for breaking societal gender roles. If women challenged the norms it was perceived as female madness and was punished. Perhaps, the reason it was frowned upon because there was a fear of the powerful women. Powerful women stood up for social rights and attempted to create a new image for themselves. The fear also came because these women were unpredictable and capable of causing disorder in society. For her, there was no better way to drive home a critique of authority than to do so through her writings. Despite many successes in empowering women, numerous issues still exist in all areas of life, ranging from the cultural, political to the economic.