A Woman’s Role in a Patriarchal Society

At the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries, a series of events occurred that would be known as the feminist movement. During this time, many woman were starting to change the way they thought of themselves and wanted to change their social roles. In his views on feminist analysis Donald Hall says, “Feminist methodologies focus on gender…and explore the complex ways in which women have been denied social power and the right to various forms of self-expression the many perspectives that fall under the heading ‘feminism’ vary wildly”(Hall 199). Since women were denied social power and self-expression, they went against what society saw as acceptable, a patriarchal world. In the stories The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, “Story of an Hour” also by Chopin, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman we see just how woman’s expected gender roles affect these woman. In The Awakening we meet Edna Pontellier who struggles with her social and gender role. In “Story of an Hour” we see a woman who is glad she is free from her husband. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” a woman fights for her happiness. Through the author’s portrayal of these characters, we see how feminism affects the actions of the characters and how the woman change.

Women for many years have been denied the right to express themselves. If a female spoke against something she was considered strange and out of line. Hall says, “Feminist methodologies is the belief that patriarchal oppression of women… has been profound and multifaceted” (Hall 202). Patriarchal oppression has been let happen because women had the

“reproductive capacity” that led to a domestic role, smaller physical size which led men to dominate them, and religious beliefs that the male having p...

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...d, “And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back” (Gilman 778). She has learned to finally be free. She has defied her husband, instead of being better she is now worse. In “Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard now truly believes her husband is gone, “There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory” (“Story of an Hour”). She is happy at last.

Through these characters, actions we can see there feminist side. They all had tragic ending two died and one went insane all because off their oppression.

Works Cited

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

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

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. New York: Feminist, 1973.

Hall, Donald. Literary and Cultural Theory. Houghton Mufflin Co. 2001.