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Essay on feminist and modern feminist theory
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Essay on feminist and modern feminist theory
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There are many branches of feministic theorems. As Judith Lorber wrote in her article, The Variety of Feminisms and their Contributions to Gender Equality feminist denominations arose from different views, making many contributions to improve women’s status. Lorber discusses the views of, “gender reform feminisms, gender resistant feminisms, and gender revolution feminisms…”(1) etcetera, all which have fought to improve women’s rights. Though there are many different aspects of viewing feminism, writer and contributor of owl.purdue.edu, Allen Brizee suggests that the main ideology that holds those aspects together is the oppression of women in general. Though, it is when talking about male dominance, women’s resistance, and women’s social roles, that the views on feminism changes. In the book, The Awakening, Kate Chopin greatly reveals women’s resistance within a male dominated society through her main character Edna Pontellier. Similarly, in her short, The Story of an Hour, Chopin emphasized the oppression that married women went through with their husbands during the late 1800s. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman compelled readers, showing how women’s roles seemed insignificant during the early 1900s. The feminist theory suggested by Brizee can be seen within each of these narratives, and their protagonists.
Even to present day, the belief of societies being male-centered still stands. Yet, during the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was clearer that the patriarchal lifestyle was happening. Married women of the era were seen as ‘property’ to their husbands. Robert, Edna’s lover from The Awakening, described her as, “-not free; you were Mr. Pontellier’s wife. I couldn’t help loving you… so long as I went away from y...
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... by her difference from male norms and values.” Sadly many women became exactly what the male powered societies want them to be, because unconsciously, those societies have influenced them to also believe it is the right thing for them to do.
Works Cited
Brizee, Allen. "Welcome to the Purdue OWL." Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism. Ed. J. Case Tompkins. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.
< https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/11/>
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: Avon, 1972. Print.
Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour. Logan, IA: Perfection Learning, 2001. Print.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. New York: Feminist, 1973. Print.
Hall, Donald. Literacy and Cultural Theory. Houghton, Mifflin Co. 2001. 199-213.
Lorber, Judith. The Variety of Feminisms and their Contribution to Gender Equality. Roxbury Pub. 1998. 1-15.
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Throughout The Awakening, Edna faces oppression from her husband, children, and society. It is her duty, as a women, to get married and have children with her husband. Edna’s
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