Verified Document

Feminism 19th And Early 20th Century America Essay

¶ … Feminism 19th and Early 20th Century America Writing and women's roles were unavoidably mixed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was a time in which many women protested their restrictions through novels, poetry, pamphlets, and speeches. By analyzing those creations, readings can begin to understand the lives of those forward-looking women. In their own time, people dismissed them as inconsequential complainers. Minority authors, like blacks and lesbians were even more ignored. However, by learning about their work, we can learn about the daily life of the social classes to which they belonged.

Many people feel that our socioeconomic status limits our understanding of others (McClish and Bacon). Because our understanding is limited by our own viewpoint from our socioeconomic status, patriarchal societies tend to limit self-expression to that which is compatible with the patriarchy. As a result, it's important to remember to ask questions based one's own experience, instead of the patriarchy (McClish and Bacon, 28). For example, minorities tend to be good at this because if they don't conform to the mainstream society, they won't last very long (McClish and Bacon, 28). This makes them less of a subjective observer.

When reading works by women in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it's important to consider that the common reader of the time was the upper-class white male, since they had all the money (McClish and Bacon, 32). At that time, the short story and novel were often used by women writers because instead of belaboring their points, the writers could sneak in their perspective. Good art allows the viewer (or reader, in this class) to understand someone else's outlook (McClish and Bacon, 34).

Along those lines, Ross says that increasingly refined readers revered the upper-class white male's view, which in turn made those upper-class white men all the more powerful, as least in writing (Ross). Ross summarizes Baron...

Ross gives an example of British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects. In her work, she would not submit to the Victorian ideal of a woman, and became a public advocate for prohibition of alcohol, the abolition of slavery, the rights of manual workers, and suffragists.
One author that is commonly known for rejecting the Victorian feminist ideal was Kate Chopin, author of The Story of an Hour. Chopin smoked, walked alone (which women of that time simply did not do), and was a zealous intellectual. Despite this, she was a married mother of six children, who only took up writing after her husband died. Her first novel wasn't published until she was 40. The Story of an Hour was published five years later, in 1894. At the time, her readers assumed that the characters in her novels were simply fantastical, instead of embodying Chopin's political and social viewpoints. Now, of course, readers understand that Chopin's writing was very progressive for its era.

In the short story The Story of an Hour, the heroine, Louise, learns that her husband died in a train wreck. She worries her sister when she starts sobbing, because she has heart trouble. Unbeknownst to her sister who told her the news, Louise is happy that she is free of marriage. Louise knows that she could not tell her sister about being happy, because her sister would not understand her feelings -- women are supposed to be happy when they're married. However, Louise was happily married to Brently.

Instead, Chopin proposes that all marriage is oppressive, no matter how happy the participants are. Louise spends the hour looking out the window and thinking about all the happy times she has to look forward to, instead of crying -- and her heart is just fine.…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Markley, A.A. "Laughing That I May Not Weep": Mary Shelley's Short Fiction and Her Novels." Keats-Shelley Journal (1997): 97-124.

McClish, Glen and Jacqueline Bacon. "Telling the Story Her Own Way": the Role of Feminist Standpoint Theory in Rhetorical Studies." Rhetoric Society Quarterly (2002): 27-55.

Ross, Christine. "Logic, Rhetoric, and Discourse in the Literary Texts of Nineteenth-Century Women." Rhetoric Society Quarterly (2002): 85-109.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Feminism 19th and Early 20th Century America
Words: 2650 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Feminism 19th and Early 20th Century America Writing and woman suffrage were inextricably intertwined in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Suffrage gave them a voice, and they used that voice to challenge the early American patriarchal status quo. By examining those works, new light can be brought to bear on suffrage activists, who at the time were thought to be an unimportant fringe group. Through a study of their

20th Century Humanities or Modernism Is the
Words: 830 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

20th century humanities or modernism is the assumption that the autonomy of the individual is the sole source of meaning and truth. This belief, which stemmed from the application of reason and natural science, led to a perpetual search for unique and novel forms of expression (Keep, McLaughlin, & Parmar). Thus, it is evident that modernism discarded the Renaissance period's interest in the classical tradition and universal meaning, in

America in the 20th Century
Words: 2037 Length: 7 Document Type: Essay

Significant Political, Social, and Economic Changes in America from the 1930s to the 1970s From the 1930s to the 1970s, America modernized. Women gained suffrage in 1920 with the 19th amendment (The American Yawp, 2018), and America as a country was on the move, having just asserted itself abroad by helping to end WWI. Now with peace restored, America began to metamorphose. It transitioned from being a traditionally-minded country of various

19th Century Women's Suffrage in Europe
Words: 3056 Length: 10 Document Type: Research Paper

Europe Women's Suffrage Most countries in Western and Central Europe, including Great Britain granted women the vote right after World War I, and only in the Scandinavian nations of Norway and Finland did they receive it earlier than that. France stood out as exceptional, however, no matter that it was the homeland of democratic revolution and of the idea of equal rights for women. It also had a highly conservative side

Feminism Impact on Liberalism
Words: 1354 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Feminism and Liberalism The world of philosophy, political science, and social theory has come a long way since the times during which ancient Greek philosophers created theories according to which the best city state should be constructed and run. The beauty and joy of being human lies in the fact that humanity is constantly evolving. The same is true of social and philosophical ideas and theories. In the views of some,

Science Fiction & Feminism Sci-Fi & Feminism
Words: 13761 Length: 50 Document Type: Chapter

SCIENCE FICTION & FEMINISM Sci-Fi & Feminism Origins & Evolution of Science Fiction As with most things including literature, science fiction has progressed and changed a lot over the years. Many works of science fiction were simply rough copies and following the altready-established patterns of prior authors. However, there has always been authors and creators that push the envelope and forge new questions and storylines that have not been realized or conceptualized before.

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now