Women In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

When we first started this section, we examined Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. The Awakening served to show us just how little options women had near the turn of the century. The main character, Edna, was stuck in a male dominated society and was held down by the weight of her husband and children. Edna was miserable and out of options, eventually taking her own life. Edna represented the women of her era who were forced to fit a mold society had made for them. Women of this time had very little options and opportunities for themselves. They were very much at the mercy of men. During the turn of the century, however, women began to see more options available to them than there had ever been before. In this essay, I will examine the various new

Automobiles allowed for women to become more mobile, allowing them the chance to pursue their dreams and interests. For the housewife, new technology was a godsend. New items such as the washing machine and the steamer allowed for women to do more work with less strain, giving them the opportunity to use their time elsewhere. The creation of canned foods meant that women no longer had to go out and prepare the food; they could just open a can. Owning the new technology, however, was a sign of being upper-class due to the wealth of many of these new machines. This was not something that people of lower-class could afford, and therefore, was not an option for all women. New technology saved women time to partake in the women’s rights movement. The biggest of these movements, was the women’s suffrage movement. With leaders such as Alice Paul and African American activist Ida B. Wells heading the charge, the movement looked to gain women the right to vote. Ida B. Wells in particular was important because, being in African American; she was able to unite women of different races under the same universal cause, suffrage. Alice Paul formed the National Women’s