The Sound and The Fury Essay

The two passages, Breaking Tradition by Kathleen Ernest and A Family Affair by Gina DeAngelis and Lisa Ballinger, portray the changing role of women during the Civil War and World War II. Each passage shows how war transformed women’s roles in society in the 1800’s. In the 1800’s, women’s opinions and decisions were restricted during the Civil War and World War II, due to laws and traditions.

During the post-civil war era, America, specifically the south, was undergoing a period of reconstruction. The general goal of reconstruction was to successfully readmit the former Confederacy back into the Union as smoothly as possible, as well as enacting specific safeguards of freedmen’s liberties. The social and constitutional developments in America between 1860 and 1877 were very minor. The lack of change between pre and post civil war status could hardly be considered a revolution.

The Civil War sparked a new era of Reconstruction in America. This era was meant to change the everyday life of America and to allow African Americans to become a part of America. Though reconstruction started out with good intentions, it is considered a massive failure in almost every area. As a result of the Civil War and Reconstruction, American society experienced drastic political change in participation government while keeping social and economic structures the same.

To conclude, despite the negative impacts the Civil War brought to the Americans, there were also many positive impacts that was brought to them. One of the most important actions that happened after the war was the establishment of the Reconstruction Amendments which allowed everyone to be free, provided the citizens with equal protection from the law, and prohibited racial inequality. The implication of these brought has gradually brought America to a brighter future, and if the Americans continue to obey these laws, then the peace in the country will not be

The 12 years succeeding the Civil War composed of different presidents, elected officials, and law developing, the reconstruction of the south officially came to an end in 1877. Binding the south with the United States again came with challenges and successes that constantly altered the way of life. Post civil war reformation was intended to bring progress to the problems America faced, unfortunately due to the great resistance of change, the evolution of America quickly came apart at the seems.

During the Civil War, the Confederacy and the Union battled to fight over the morality of slavery. In the end of the Civil War, the Union won and resulted in the abolishment of slavery in the United States of America. This caused the Reconstruction period between 1865 to 1877; where North began to incorporate freed slaves into society. With the North’s involvement in the South, the Southerners tried to refute the new civil rights of the slaves. In the new battle of reconstruction post Civil War, American citizens witnessed social, political, and intellectual changes.

Masculinity didn’t do a good job of attaining the hoped-for standards, as they didn’t have other equally profound consequences for American middle-class culture at this time. It justified the exclusion of women from the world as acceptable to both women and men at this time, and it cultivated strong bonds around women as well. They in fact shared the biological experiences central to their definition as women and spoke the same language of virtue and piety, which essentially means that they instilled a awareness of a set of common goals for them and experiences present for them, which had values specific to women, and distinct from those of men. The key to this was the extensive networks of female friends that were present during this time period for these women. Since women were supposedly better than men during this time, it was feasible and easy to believe that women were obliged and privileged to work together and help other women, who were fallen, and poor, who were having some sort of trouble during this time period as a result of the society that they were present in during this time period. Southern white women during this time were aware of the ideology of domesticity during this time, and they would try to implement it and its teachings for their lives, but their expectations were frequently articulated during this time period. There was little industrialization, domestication, urbanization, immigration, and therefore, social dislocation present during

After the Civil War there were still many changes that had to take place within the United States. The period of Congressional Reconstruction took place from 1865 through 1877. Although the outcome of the Civil War greatly affected things there were still various problems that had to be solved. This period of time after the Civil War was the reconstruction of congress. Congressional reconstruction was a very crucial time in American history, it changed the way of life in the South, the president caused difficulties with it, and Radical Republicans took over in congress. The goal of Congressional Reconstruction was to reunite the South with the Union. The outcome of Congressional Reconstruction resulted in a better

Comparing Hope Leslie or Early Times in Massachusetts and The Scarlett Letter is interesting because at first glance both novels don’t appear to have much in common aside from having a female protagonist and taking place within Puritan society of early America. (keep but not as first sentence). However, despite obvious differences between both novels such as the character presentation of the female protagonists in Hope Leslie who range from the free-spirited Hope Leslie, obedient Puritan Esther, and character of Magawisca as a noble but proud Native American contrasts with the Hester Prynne’s presentation as a shamed but deeply contemplative woman in The Scarlett Letter. The different purposes all these characters each serve in their respective stories begins to show commonality in that Hope Leslie’s Hope, Esther, and Magawisca and The Scarlett Letter’s Hester Prynne all have to overcome the adversity and social expectations with Puritan society so they can follow their hearts and do what they feel is right by relying on their wit, intelligence, and inner strength. By examining how both Hope Leslie and Hester Prynne overcome the challenges they face in their respective Puritain socities it will be easier to observe how these novels presentation of their female protagonist illustrates the gender politics of each text.

The article, The Cult of Womanhood: 1820 - 1860 written by Barbara Welter discusses the philosophy towards women in America during the mid 19th century. A set of demands and expectations based upon four principles: piety, purity, submission and domesticity were placed on women as well as certain behavioral expectations left 19th century women feeling guilty. It also left women feeling this way during the industrialization period as well as having a huge presence of incompatibility with society. Welter shares her viewpoint that the Cult of Womanhood was an attempt to preserve pre modern values in the industrial age. Men held a dominant place in society and continued to prevent new opportunities for women to explore. Narrow minded

Thesis: A “true women” in the 19th Century was one who was domestic, religious, and chaste. These were virtues established by men but enforced and taught by other women. Women were also told that they were inferior to men and they should accept it and be grateful that someone just loved them.

She also discusses her past with Janie, revealing her real motives behind wanting to marry Janie off. “‘Honey, de white man is the ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out...De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see”’(14). Nanny never lived a satisfactory life because she never got to experience love because she made her heart hard. She distrusted men in all ways and believed that if a man courted you, he only wanted you to work for him like a mule. Nanny never got married. She wants her granddaughter to marry even though she knows she will not be happy. Hurston uses symbolism to

The Civil War left a country divided not only by property lines and borders but by beliefs as well. Not just religious beliefs, moral beliefs also. It left both sides, north and south struggling, trying to figure out what their next move towards reuniting the divided America was going to be. The period following the end of the Civil War would become known as the “Reconstruction Era.” An era that raised just as many questions as it did answers. A reconstruction of America that seems to carry on many decades later.

These two stories exemplify the epitome of women’s repression in the male-dominated society of the late nineteenth century by conveying the feelings of

Literary critics often discuss William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury with the assumption that the entire Compson family represents the South, with each character representing a specific aspect: from the changing views of virginity and race (Quentin) to the sexual liberation of women (Caddy) to the decline of the family (Benjy). However, Jason IV is seldom discussed passed his role as a cruel and greedy man within the family. No discussion about his character development exists, and thus the shift from first-person narration to third-person narration becomes vital in understanding what Jason represents: the hypocritical feelings of personal victimhood of the non-agricultural Southerners toward the North’s economic dominance, despite the