Female Oppression
The narrator of the protagonist in Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening said, “Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period, she had apprehended instinctively the dual life—that outward existence which conforms, the inner life which questions.” In past societies, women were being oppressed by male figures. They all had something about them that wanted to conform to go along with society, but also had an inner self that wanted to rebel. According to Eagley, Wood, and Fishbaugh (1981), women are more concerned than men about the quality of interpersonal relationships. Therefore, women assess conformity as a more positive, self-defining act than males do. Females are seen as being more sensitive to others, and therefore conform more to keep a state of peace within them. However, people’s actions can vary day to day. You always find yourself questioning past actions and wanting to have done something else. This also goes for women’s conformity actions and them wanting to rebel to counteract their previous acts.
Kate Chopin is one writer who wrote extensively about the topic of female oppression. Two such stories are The Story of an Hour and The Storm. The Story of an Hour tells of a woman who is having a lot of controversy in herself. She wants to conform to the outside, and make it seem as if the event that happened has absolutely destroyed her, although it has not. She goes on to fight the urge of conforming, and rebelling against the previous male figure that in her mind, was holding her back. The Storm tells the story of a woman that is a complete train wreck inside her emotion self. As there is a figurative “storm,” going along inside of her, there is also a phys...
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...appointment that she would not be able to live a life on her own without being oppressed by her husband and their marriage.
Oppression is something that can be dealt with in many different ways. One person may want to rebel inside, while another may want to take physical actions. There are many ways that people deal with things, some being more effective and having different outcomes than others. Many women rebelled after being oppressed by society in the 19th century.
Works Cited
Eagly, A.H., Wood, W., & Fishbaugh. L. (1981). Sex Differences in Conformity: Surveillance by the Group as a Determinant of Male Nonconformity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40(2), 384-394
Santee, R.T., & Jackson, S.E. (1882). Identity Implications of Conformity: Sex Differences in Normative and Attributional Judgements. Social Psychology Quarterly, 45(2), 121-125
Writing based on their own experiences, had it not been for the works of Susan Glaspell, Kate Chopin, and similar feminist authors of their time, we may not have seen a reform movement to improve gender roles in a culture in which women had been overshadowed by men. In The Story of an Hour, the main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, is a young woman with a heart condition who learns of her husband’s untimely death in a railroad disaster. Instinctively weeping, as any woman is expected to do upon learning of her husband’s death, she retires to her room to be left alone so she may collect her thoughts. However, the thoughts she collects are somewhat unexpected. Louise is conflicted with the feelings and emotions that are “approaching to possess her.”
All in all, Kate Chopin is able to combine two very different aspects of life and involve the relationship and symbolism of the storm to physical needs, sexual desires, and new and profound joy. By bringing these two parallel subjects together, the author is able to show the deeper meaning of one simple word, “storm,” and reveal a story that shows the attitudes and beliefs towards marriage and sex. In doing so, Chopin creates a strong point of view between these two subjects and allows for the view of regulations of sex and marriage to be shown throughout her short story, “The Storm.”
During the Victorian women were sees as slaves to their house hold. Kate Chopin uses the beginning, climax and resolution of the story as a storm. Throughout the story she uses vivid imagery and careful word choices in order to add detail to the dramatic plot of the story. Kate Chopin’s "Storm" represents something much greater than a weather phenomenon but a metaphysical symbol that represents freedom of choice, and women birthright"; Kate Chopin also describes how men are the creators of these storms.
In conclusion, “The story of an hour” is a clear depiction that women status in the society determines the choices they make about their lives. In this work, Chopin depicts a woman as a lesser being without identity or voices of their own. They are expected to remain in oppressive marriages and submit to their husbands without question.
In 1848 Elizabeth Cady Stanton (an American social activist and one of the leading figures of the early women’s rights movement) stated that “man is infinitely women’s inferior in every moral virtue.” Feminism (defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as: “the theory of political, economic, and social equality of the sexes”)
Through the mass media, our patriarchal capitalist system has created the illusion that Women’s Liberation has progressed when gender equality policies were introduced, such as “equal salaries” and the right to vote. It has convinced the common North American woman to believe that she is not socially restrained, that her accomplishments can be unlimited, that she is in total charge and control of her life. However, conventional norms veiled deeply and expressed indirectly in the mass media continue to dictate and subdue lives according to gender. Seemingly innocent short TV ads, still remarkably traditional in depicting gender roles, condone and reinforce gender oppression. This paper will focus on the underlying imagery of several advertisements, which help perpetuate gender oppression and reinforce the patriarchial system.
Storytelling has been a common pastime for centuries. Over the years it has evolved into different styles containing different themes. Kate Chopin, a well-known author of the 20th century, wrote stories about the secrets in women’s lives that no one dared to speak of. Her work was not always appreciated and even considered scandalous, but it opened up a world that others were too afraid to touch. In Chopin’s story “The Storm,” a woman has an affair that causes an unlikely effect. The story’s two themes are portrayed greatly through an abundance of imagery and symbolism, along with the two main characters themselves.
In Chopin’s novel The Awakening, she incorporates the themes mentioned above to illustrate the veracity of life as she understands it. A literary work approached by the feminist critique seeks to raise awareness of the importance and higher qualities of women. Women in literature may uncover their strengths or find their independence, raising their own self-recognition. Several critics deem Chopin as one of the leading feminists of her age because she was willing to publish stories that dealt with women becoming self-governing, who stood up for themselves and novels that explored the difficulties that they faced during the time. Chopin scrutinized sole problems and was not frightened to suggest that women desired something that they were not normally permitted to have: independence.
Imagine if you were a woman in nineteenth century America, what do you think life would be like? The obvious answer is that one would be subjected to being a housewife and only a housewife, but there was something else that went far beneath this surface oppression. For women, the nineteenth century was a dark period. Not only were they thought of as glorified maids, but they were also greatly oppressed and subjected to the rule of man. At this time, women weren’t allowed to vote and it was socially unacceptable for a woman to do much without the proper consent of her husband or father. In the story, The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the reader explores the idea of how deeply this oppression affected the average woman. In the story, the main character is denied the simple right of her own sanity and peace of mind wherever she expressed desires to be free. The nineteenth century was not a pleasant time for women, especially for those who were brave enough to ask to be treated like a man.
Women in history were subjected to an oppressed role, which men were in control. Many of these women created groups to talk about these problems such as the Seneca Falls. Women fought for equality, but some were happy with the status quo, and some simply became the change.
The 19th and 20th centuries were a time period of change. The world saw many changes from gender roles to racial treatment. Many books written during these time periods reflect these changes. Some caused mass outrage while others helped to bring about change. In the book The Awakening by Kate Chopin, gender roles can be seen throughout the novel. Some of the characters follow society’s “rules” on what a gender is suppose to do while others challenge it. Feminist Lens can be used to help infer and interpret the gender roles that the characters follow or rebel against. Madame Ratignolle and Leonce Pontellier follow eaches respective gender, while Alcee Arobin follows and rebels the male gender expectations during the time period.
Throughout history society has been controlled by men, and because of this women were exposed to some very demanding expectations. A woman was expected to be a wife, a mother, a cook, a maid, and sexually obedient to men. As a form of patriarchal silencing any woman who deviated from these expectations was often a victim of physical, emotional, and social beatings. Creativity and individuality were dirty, sinful and very inappropriate for a respectful woman. By taking away women’s voices, men were able to remove any power that they might have had. In both Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”, we see that there are two types of women who arise from the demands of these expectations. The first is the obedient women, the one who has buckled and succumbed to become an empty emotionless shell. In men’s eyes this type of woman was a sort of “angel” perfect in that she did and acted exactly as what was expected of her. The second type of woman is the “rebel”, the woman who is willing to fight in order to keep her creativity and passion. Patriarchal silencing inspires a bond between those women who are forced into submission and/or those who are too submissive to maintain their individuality, and those women who are able and willing to fight for the ability to be unique.
Oppression is this and so much more than what Ben Harper wrote in his song. Oppression is an unjust or cruel exercise or action of power. Everyone experiences oppression at least once in his or her lives. We have only recently begun to fight the effects of oppression, to gain freedom in our world. Oppression divides us to keep us from maintaining our freedom, what little of it we have. Oppression is completely based on hatred and preys on you when you sleep, or when you are at your lowest point. It kicks you when you are down, and pushes you further down the rabbit’s hole. It forces you to fight when you are the weakest and will take your very last breath. It takes one problem and snowballs until you can not take it anymore. We can learn to fight oppression, if we only make ourselves aware.
Bryfonski, Dedria, ed. Women's Issues in Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven, 2012. Print.
“Indeed it will be a long time still, I think, before a woman can sit down to write a book without finding a phantom to be slain, a rock to be dashed against.” These wise words originate from a speech titled “Professions for Women” by a famous female author, Virginia Woolf. For centuries, women and men alike have been involved in a detailed struggle for women’s equality. Over the years, women have become dramatically more equal to men, although many still feel suppressed from several opportunities. But what about men? Females are not the only ones who face inequality on a daily basis; males encounter ridicule if they do not behave a certain way and are constantly oppressed from academic opportunities. The largest issue facing young men in today’s society is the intense focus placed on girls and their proper treatment from an early age.