The Suppressed Sex Stands Up

Since the beginning, there have always been designated or suggested roles for men and women to abide by. Regardless of the morality and fairness of these roles, they have always been the norm of society and until the 19th century, women's rights were never really addressed as an issue and it was not until mid to late 19th century did women's right snowball into a formidable force to be reckoned with. Between the late 1800's to the mid 1900's, 3 different writers wrote about similar yet different examples of how marriage roles were and in these works, "Trifles", "A Doll House," and "Story of an Hour," the inherent oppression of marriage, the forbidden joy of independence, and false appearances are the dominant themes expressed. Even though the men aren't constantly chauvinistic, the three literature pieces are exemplary of the emotional and physical oppression that men kept women in the past centuries and how some women had to fight for their lives to escape.

Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" demonstrates the highly typical gender roles that could be found in a late 1800's scene as it shows even if the marriage is kind, it could be inherently oppressive. This is clearly shown through the relationship of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard, as when news hits Louise Mallard that her husband has passed on, a large wave of grief washes over her; however, it passes when she realizes that she will be able to bite into the forbidden fruit of freedom. According to Louise, this freedom would mean "there would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-crea...

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...aspell, and Kate Chopin, as they all showed how women were oppressed, repressed, and suppressed under the male figures in their lives and under biased gender roles. The negative qualities of marriage weren't the only thing stopping women from reaching their full potential; it was also a combination of women having to put up false appearances and hiding their true intelligence and nature and it was this combination that lead women to be forbidden from having joy and independence in their lives. Although the men did try a little to be nice to their wives and/or female counterparts, they were, for the most part, condescending and brutish. This essentially led to women being forced to escape their emotional shackles by any means necessary, which may have not ended well for the women; however in all cases, it led them to lead the life that they could control themselves.