Invention Of Wings Analysis

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Sarah’s Struggle
The strength of a woman is not measured by the impact that all her hardships in life have had on her; but the strength of a woman is measured by the extent of her refusal to allow those hardships to dictate her and who she becomes.”- C. JoyBell C.
Sarah Grimké, a character in Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Invention of Wings, faces many challenges throughout her life in the novel. Sarah has many differing views from her society, religion and even from her family. Within this novel Sarah goes through a journey where she encounters many challenges with her personal beliefs, which she eventually endeavors through and becomes one of earliest faces of the feminist movement. Sarah Also had strong abolitionist beliefs from a young age …show more content…

Sarah Grimké struggled against the dictates of her family, society and religion. Sarah grew up in a large family, her father was a Jurist and her mother overlooked the home and yard work. Sarah had a certain standard which she was expected to mold into the perfect Southern Belle who marries a well off lad from a respected family, but Sarah had issues filling the mold. It all began when Sarah witnesses Miss Rosetta, a family slave, get whipped. This experience scared Sarah in one of the worst ways it made he go muted for several weeks, and once she got her voice back she had a stutter. But this experience also planted the seed of an early abolitionist. On Sarah’s eleventh birthday Sarah received her own personal slave, named Hetty, But Sarah despised the thought having a slave of her own, so she snuck into her father’s office and wrote up a document declaring that she wished to free Hetty. Sarah latter found the document ripped up by her mother. Sarah was devastated that she had a slave that she could not free. Latter on her father …show more content…

Sarah had her heart broken but this is when she realized she had to stop trying to fill the mold which her parents expected of her, this is where most of her struggles begins. Sarah always religious person, but after her father passed away she stayed up north to mourn on her own at this time she met this Quaker family. The Quaker family, Israel and his wife Rebecca, open their arms for Sarah and hooked her interest toward the Quaker religion, because abolitionist beliefs and the fact that women were allowed to be minsters. The Quaker beliefs amazed Sarah because she saw an opportunity to express opinions which has been on her heart for the majority of her life. After Israel’s wife died, Sarah decide to go up north to Philadelphia to live with Israel and his children to learn about Quaker religion and become a part of the church. But this cause issues with Sarah’s family, religion and society. Society was appalled that Sarah, an unmarried women, was going to live with a very recent widower, who was a part of culture which spoke out about the way of life of her southern society. Her mother disapproved of her going up north because she was not married, so it was Sarah’s obligation to live at home with her mother and help. Sarah’s mother felt abandon and betrayed by her sweet Sarah. Sarah’s pass ministers disapproved

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