Compare the ways in which Kate Chopin and James Joyce portray Dorothea
and Eveline
Compare the ways in which Kate Chopin and James Joyce portray Dorothea
and Eveline, and their relationship to men, in the stories ‘the
unexpected’ and ‘Eveline’.
James Joyce and Kate Chopin, both wrote at the turn of the nineteenth
century; were women’s rights were very different to today. James Joyce
is actually a feminist writer, however due to the outlook on women it
was not seen to be respectable. Therefore she used the pseudonym
(James). However Kate did not do this because she wanted to make the
stand and try to make people see that women are relevant to life. The
general status of women on the turn of the century was very dull.
Women were almost taken for granted, also were very reliant to men,
largely for money. The women gained their status via men, also were
given no political voice or vote. Overall women were practically
powerless.
Both Dorothea and Eveline are products of this restricted society,
although they both came from different backgrounds. Dorothea came
from America where there was a concern with women’s liberties and
freedom; whereas Eveline came from Ireland where, by many other
countries, they were seen as outcasts and backward.
Dorothea, was a middle class women, however she was still financially
dependant on the men in her life. To support her financially was here
parents, who played a dominant role in her life, and it was hard to
see how the bond was to be broken. However whilst she had her parents
a man named Randall came along where he became infatuated with her and
offered her, almost a fresh beginning where she could be relieved of
being dependant on her parents. The way that he could...
... middle of paper ...
... in
mind. “bent her supple body to one purpose – that was, swiftest
flight” The way that she ran here, makes the reader think of her as
inhuman, and that for nothing she is going to stop for nothing;
therefore there must be a strong reason for her to run away. The use
of the superlative ‘swiftest’ shows that this, running away from what
most women dream of, which means that no matter how rich Randall was
nor how much respect that she could have had, she finds her
independence more important than these factors.
In my opinion of the stories, both ‘The Unexpected’ and ‘Eveline’ give
a very real image to the reader; it depicts the way that women were
treated around this era. This is because both were offered so much, by
respect and riches, and they both turn these opportunities down due to
the fact that freedom is more important or a promise restricts them.
She sees her father old and suffering, his wife sent him out to get money through begging; and he rants on about how his daughters left him to basically rot and how they have not honored him nor do they show gratitude towards him for all that he has done for them (Chapter 21). She gives into her feelings of shame at leaving him to become the withered old man that he is and she takes him in believing that she must take care of him because no one else would; because it is his spirit and willpower burning inside of her. But soon she understands her mistake in letting her father back into he life. "[She] suddenly realized that [she] had come back to where [she] had started twenty years ago when [she] began [her] fight for freedom. But in [her] rebellious youth, [she] thought [she] could escape by running away. And now [she] realized that the shadow of the burden was always following [her], and [there she] stood face to face with it again (Chapter 21)." Though the many years apart had changed her, made her better, her father was still the same man. He still had the same thoughts and ways and that was not going to change even on his death bed; she had let herself back into contact with the tyrant that had ruled over her as a child, her life had made a complete
One of the things that the women went through was alienation by other women, who were deemed as “true” women or respectable women. The alienation was not because of money or race, not even religion, but because the women of the factory wore slacks. A working class woman was seen as less of a woman because a woman during those times was expected to stay at home and play house because of society’s view on gender roles. Plus, the women who worked at factories wore slacks, which was a big taboo during those times also. Women who wore skirts
...e on her part. Throughout the story, the Mother is portrayed as the dominant figure, which resembled the amount of say that the father and children had on matters. Together, the Father, James, and David strived to maintain equality by helping with the chickens and taking care of Scott; however, despite the effort that they had put in, the Mother refused to be persuaded that Scott was of any value and therefore she felt that selling him would be most beneficial. The Mother’s persona is unsympathetic as she lacks respect and a heart towards her family members. Since the Mother never showed equality, her character had unraveled into the creation of a negative atmosphere in which her family is now cemented in. For the Father, David and James, it is only now the memories of Scott that will hold their bond together.
The novels parallel each other in interesting ways. Edna, in The Awakening, begins as a character of submission. Margaret, in North and South, meanwhile, begins the novel by attending what could be called an act of submission, at least in her opinion. Both authors develop their novels according to the development of their female characters. As Chopin continues with the growth of the independent and defiant nature of Edna, the mood and atmosphere of the novel becomes more spiritual. Gaskell, meanwhile, is interested in the psychology of her characters and uses language to reflect the settings in which she throws Margaret.
The background of both authors, which was from the South, we can conclude how they could described the situations that they faced such as political and social presumptions problems especially for women at that time. The story explains how Chopin wrote how women were to be "seen but not heard". "The wife cannot plead in her own name, without the authority of her husband, even though she should be a public
Many female writers write about women's struggle for equality and how they are looked upon as inferior. Kate Chopin exhibits her views about women in her stories. The relationship between men and women in Kate Chopin's stories imply the attitudes that men and women portray. In many of Chopin's works, the idea that women's actions are driven by the men in the story reveals that men are oppressive and dominant and women are vulnerable, gullable and sensitive. Chopin also shows that females, like Desiree and Eleanor, undergo a transformation from dependent and weak to stronger women free from their husbands by the end of the story. In the short story 'Desiree's Baby,' Kate Chopin reveals her idea of the relationship between men and women by showing instances of inferiority and superiority throughout the story. In 'A Point at Issue,' there are many instances where the idea of hypocrisy and the attitudes that the main characters display and how their actions affect each other's lives, show the impact that men have on women's lives.
lived in the time of the American civil war and her mother was a slave
Good personalities could bring benefits to oneself, but defective personalities can bring harmful effects not only to oneself, but also to other people. Characters from Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” and “Desiree’s Baby” share similarities that they have some kind of defective personalities. Louise, chief character of “The Story of An Hour”, is an immature egotist and purses unrealistic absolute freedom hard. She finally becomes “a victim of her own extreme self-assertion” (Berkove par.1). Armand, chief character of “Desiree’s Baby”, is a cruel person and suppresses all past painful memories. He finally leads to the tragedy of his wife, Desiree. These two stories, both written by Kate Chopin, show similarity in many aspects, including setting,
American Literary Realism has been bringing the social issues that had previously been dressed up and hidden by Romanticism into the spotlight since the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During this time of upheaval and change, realist writers were able to use their own experiences with suffering and misfortune to try and change society's perception of the problems the country was facing. The goal of realist writing was to express the way the world worked in a brutally honest way in an attempt to spark change. More specifically, two authors named Kate Chopin and Paul Laurence Dunbar both faced many trials and tribulations that they were able to incorporate into their passages in order to open the minds of their readers to new ideas and ways of living. With social issues like slavery, The Civil War, industrialization, reconstruction, and American "equality", realist writers led the realist movement by revealing the struggles and hardships of ordinary people. By implementing American regionalism, realistic points of view, and smiling/grim naturalism into their stories or poems the writers were able to enlighten the public on important topics of that time period, no matter how graphic or unpleasant.
Emily and the narrator both face issues pertaining to their identity in the short stories. Both take place in different settings although both women are essentially imprisoned in their houses. The two women are at very different places in life. In “A Rose for Emily,” she is young in the beginning and it ends with her being an old woman. “The Yellow Wallpaper,” focuses on the narrator when she is middle aged woman, it takes place over the course of just a few months. Both stories give different outlooks on the women as “The Yellow Wallpaper” is written in first person while “A Rose for Emily” is written in third person. Nonetheless, it is seen that the lives of both women are similar in certain ways yet different in other aspects.
In the past, literature for women strove to reinforce the culturally approved ideas of femininity. Tremendous volumes of literature were written to reinforce appropriate female behaviour. By the mid-eighteenth century, the ideological division of women into two classes, the virtuous and the fallen, was well developed (Armstrong, 18). Literature often portrayed both of these women, with the virtuous triumphing at the end and the fallen receiving her appropriate punishment. Chopin followe...
The time period, season, location, and surroundings of a character reveal a great deal about them. Kate Chopin's "The Story of An Hour" is an excellent example of how setting affects the reader's perception of the story. There is an enormous amount of symbolism expressed through the element of setting in this short story. So well, in fact, that words are hardly necessary to descriptively tell the story of Mrs. Mallard's hour of freedom. Analyzing the setting for "The Story of An Hour" will give a more complete understanding of the story itself. There are many individual parts that, when explained and pieced together, will both justify Mrs. Mallard's attitude and actions toward her husband's death and provide a visual expression of her steadily changing feelings throughout the story.
“The Storm” by Kate Chopin, “Proof” by Lynn Nottage, “A Jury of Our Peers” by Susan Glaspell, and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin are a fair representation of how most women in those time periods were treated. Women back then didn’t have much of a voice as they do know. All these stories had to have taken place before or during the Women’s Rights Movement in 1848-1998. Most of the women in that time married either for the money, it was arranged, or they once loved their husbands. These stories showed the sides of how the mistreated wives felt, and wish they would have done. Even though most of them did fight back majority of them kept quiet.
One of the uttermost remarkable transformations to women throughout the world took place during the 19th century. Moreover, this renovations led to notable changes in women’s roles. During this period of time the portrayal of females was to follow their chores in their homes and to take care of the children. In contrast, the role of men during this phase was to regulate the laws in their family. Kate Chopin was a writer that described precisely the reality of women in her vast number of stories. One of her most notorious and outstanding pieces was written in 1894. “The Story of an Hour” is a formidable dramatic piece of literature due to the fact that it implies elements of fiction such as irony, imagery, and an adequate setting.
“There is no perfect relationship. The idea that there is gets us into so much trouble.”-Maggie Reyes. Kate Chopin reacts to this certain idea that relationships in a marriage during the late 1800’s were a prison for women. Through the main protagonist of her story, Mrs. Mallard, the audience clearly exemplifies with what feelings she had during the process of her husbands assumed death. Chopin demonstrates in “The Story of an Hour” the oppression that women faced in marriage through the understandings of: forbidden joy of independence, the inherent burdens of marriage between men and women and how these two points help the audience to further understand the norms of this time.