More handpicked essays just for you.
Women's rights during world war 1
The rights and status of women before World War 1
Women's rights during world war 1
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The story Little Women takes place at a time when women were taking on uncustomary roles like physical laborer, family protector and provider, and military volunteer while their husbands served during the Civil War. Keeping within the boundaries of the time, Louisa May Alcott uses herself and her own three sisters to create this classical novel from personal experiences. Each sister is different. They each set goals and dreams for their selves whether it goes along with their contemporary society or not. With the assistance of their mother, friends and experiences, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy struggle between their personal expectations and society’s expectations as they plan for their future and choose their destinies.
Mrs. March, also known as Marmee, like many women during this era had to learn how to balance working outside the home with raising a family while her husband served in the Union Army. Marmee shows, “that a home can be run successfully without a man supporting it, as hers is while Mr. March is away at war” (Thomason 123). She proves to have a strong influence on her daughters as they weave through their daily lives and dreams of their futures. The young girls, whom are each unique in their personality and expectations, tend to make poor choices throughout the novel. However, Marmee is there with just the right advice each time. The girls decide they would like to spend their summer break doing only the things they enjoy, but soon they become bored. When they are ready, Marmee passes on words of wisdom to her four daughters. Marmee inspires, “Work is wholesome,” she continues, “It keeps us from mischief, is good for health and spirits, and gives us a sense of independence” (Alcott 92). Throughout the sto...
... middle of paper ...
... Women: Book One. New York: Harper Festival, 2003. Print.
Elbert, Sarah. “Reading Little Women.” Temple University Press (1984): 151-65. Rpt in Novels for Students. Ed. Elizabeth Thomason. Vol. 12. Detroit: Gale, 2001. 144. Print.
Janeway, Elizabeth. “Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy, and Louisa.” New York Times Book Review (1968): 42, 44, 46. Rpt in Nineteenth- Century Literature Criticism. Eds. Laurie Lanzen Harris and Sheila Fitzgerald. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale, 1984. 32. Print.
May, Jill P. “Feminism and Children’s Literature: Fitting Little Women into the American Literary Canon.” CEA Critic 56.3 (1994): 19-27. Rpt in Children’s Literature Review. Ed. Tom Burns. Vol. 146. Detroit: Gale, 2009. n.p. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Mar. 2011.
Thomason, Elizabeth, ed. “Little Women: Louisa May Alcott 1868.” Novels for Students. Vol. 12. Detroit: Gale, 2001. 116-129. Print.
Steinbeck describes Ma as a strong woman, physically “heavy, thick with childbearing and work” (Chap.8). From the moment the author introduces her to the reader, she displays two qualities that remain throughout the book: generosity and self-control. Her first word aims to welcome stranger at the family table (“Let’em come”).
In her article “‘But is it any good?’: Evaluating Nineteenth-Century American Women’s Fiction,” Susan Harris provides methods and criteria for examining Women’s Fiction in what she calls “process analysis” (45). To apply Harris’ guidelines to Catherine Maria Sedgwick’s A New England Tale, I must first “acknowledge the ideological basis of [my] endeavor” (45) as a feminist/equalitist critique of the text. Furthermore, I identify the three-fold approach that Harris describes as historical, in distinguishing early nineteenth-century from mid- to late-century attitudes, rhetorical, in labeling Sedgwick’s communication to readers didactic, and ideological, by understanding my objections stem from twenty-first-century attitudes. Harris also explains, “If we look at them as both reactive and creative…we can understand [texts’] aesthetic, moral, and political values” (45); I consider A New England Tale to have a sentimental aesthetic, a Christian morality, and a support of female subordination.
Brown, Rosellen. “Honey Child.” Women’s Review of Books. Vol. 19. No. 7. Philadelphia: Old City Publishing. 2002. 11. Print.
Elbert, Sarah. A Hunger for Home: Louisa May Alcott and Little Women. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1984.
...Chrie, D., (ed.), Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 1986. Vo. 13, pp. 53-111.
A. Women in Modern America: A Brief History. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1974. Glaspell, Susan. A. Trifles. Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Ed.
in Twentieth- Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. The. Vol.
Abbey, Cherie D., ed. Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Vol. 14. Kansas City, MO: Gale Research, 1987.
Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol A. New York: W.
... Now that people of all economic groups were becoming more educated and more importantly literate, society changed. The first great, American, woman authors began to write. Lousia May Alcott wrote Little Women. This was a story attempting to give a realistic and sentimental view on life. This story was, like the works of Twain, relating everyday experiences and romanticizing mundane daily life, making her stories popular to the common person and most importantly, the children of the time.
Bradstreet, Anne. "To My Dear Children." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 144-147.
Wadsworth, S. (2009) ‘Louisa May Alcott and the Rise of the Gender-Specific Series Books’ in Montgomery H and Watson N (eds), Children’s Literature Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan in association with Open University, pp.39-48
The difference between men and women is a very controversial issue, while there are obviously physical differences; the problem is how the genders are treated. It is stereotypically thought that the men do the labor work and make all the money, while the women stay in the house, cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children. While this stereotype does not exist as much in the 21st century, it was very prevalent in the 1900s. By using many different literary tools such as character development, symbolism, and setting, Alice Munro’s Boys and Girls and John Steinbeck’s The Chrysanthemums challenge this controversial topic of the treatment of women versus men in the 1900s.
Hurston portrays women as independent and capable of infinite possibilities. Many aspects contribute to how an author, male or female, portrays his or her female characters. Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Wharton, and Hurston all illustrate their own perception of women based upon personal experience and social acuity of their particular era. The portrayal of women in American Literature is based solely upon an author’s personal opinion and interpretation and does not necessarily symbolize the true spirit and quintessence of women as one. Bibliography:..
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.