A Male Dominated Society During the 19th Century

During the 19th century, women were controlled by a male dominated society. The women were in pure agony knowing that there was no faith for them to have a crucial change in civilization. This could often lead to “clinical depression” in which a human could feel lonely, empty, confounded and miserable. In this time period, women’s role in society was to be simply mothers and wives. A world where women had rights, control, and power was a fantasy. According to Hall, he states, “Key to all feminist methodologies is the belief that patriarchal oppression of women through history has been profound and multifaceted” (Hall 202). In other words, it is known that the male takes complete cruel supremacy over the years in our history. In The Awakening and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, they all convey the struggles that females faced to be accepted and to find their identity.

To commence, women have been denied self-expression which impacted their daily lives. First of all, in The Awakening, a character Edna Pontellier would try to surpass the typical housewife society. For example, the author mentions, “In Short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman. The mother woman seemed to prevail that summer…” (The Awakening 9). Edna doesn’t fit in this “mother woman” society. She wants to be unique and above the rest of the females. To add on, the writer argues, “An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish. It was like a shadow, like a mist passing her soul’s summer day…” (The Awakening 9). The thoughts of Edna are confounding to herself since she doesn’t know what she wants in life. ...

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...iterary texts. A time period where the generations of matrons were oppressed by patriarchs. Bestowing to Hall, “Through such body scrutinizing theories, the literary and cultural critic would examine textual references to and values on the bodies of characters…” (Hall 210). Without out a doubt, none of the marriages or lives of the women provided in the texts were stabilized. In the end, feminism is beneficial to both men and women since it granted equal opportunity and rights for the nation.

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: Avon, 1972. Print.

Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Logan, IA: Perfection Learning, 2001. Print.

Gilman Perkins, Charlotte. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The Language of Literature: American Literature Evanston: McDougall, Littell. 2002. 765-768

Hall, Donald. Literacy and Cultural Theory. Houghton, Mifflin Co. 2001. 199-213