Daughters Of Fortitude

1233 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: female independence in american literature

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende is the story of a woman, Eliza Sommers, who in running away from home, and chasing love, discovers a new life along the way. In her travels Eliza meets many people who become prominent people in her life, molding her and shaping her as she meets them. Many of these figures are women like Eliza, and each plays a different role in Eliza's life. Miss Rose, a strong willed woman, raises Eliza as her own daughter, teaching her everything she knows as Eliza ages. Later in her journey, Eliza meets Joe Bonecrusher, who believes she is a man stuck in a woman's body. These three women are all dominant woman, who show that even in the 1800's women played a large role in society. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende represents the independent women of mid-19th century America, making a life for themselves in a harsh environment where men are the dominating force.

Eliza Sommers, the main character, is a perfect example of a woman who does not let herself be limited by society's standards. Eliza is raised by Miss Rose and her brother Jeremy, left in their care by the two siblings' older brother, John. Even though Eliza is raised in a family where social class is everything, she is ready to take risks that could even bring shame upon her family. When she meets Joaquin Andieta, she instantly falls in love. She begins to sneak him into her house, so that they can share night after night together in one of the remote rooms of her family's estate. Not once does Eliza worry about her consequences, and the reputation she would give her family if she was ever caught. Soon after Eliza's lover leaves for California in search of gold, Eliza discovers that she is pregnant. Rather than sit and await his return as many women of this time would have, Eliza makes the decision to follow after him, and begins to search for passage to California. Without a word to her family, Eliza is snuck onto a ship that is set to sail, and departs in search of her lover. This is one of Eliza's many decisions that makes her the strong willed woman that she becomes in her journey.

When Eliza arrives in California, she immediately begins to make a life for herself.

Show More
Related

  • Violations of the True Woman in The Coquette

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    One might question if Eliza really had any choice in her situation. Early in the novel she declares, "What a pity . . . that the graces and virtues are not oftner united!" (Foster 22). While Sanford possessed all the suavity she desired and Reverend Boyer all the integrity, she could find no companion who possessed both. This lack of options seems to be what truly destroys Eliza. It may have been within Eliza's power to be a True Woman, but due to the societal constraints imposed upon her, it does not seem at all possible for her to have been a happy woman.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Hannah Webster Foster's The Coquette

    1754 Words  | 4 Pages

    You could see the helpless and powerless state of women even as far back as the 18th century. The story also exposes the fundamental injustices meted out to women by confining them to a limited domestic sphere. The society dictates the identity and role of the woman; “every young woman is expected to marry a suitable spouse” (Foster 818), take care of her husband and children, while having no voice or rights of her own. Any relationships outside the spheres of marriage is being frowned at. But the man can do as he pleases, even if he is married. While Eliza had to move away from her family and friends because she was pregnant and could not stand the shame and had “become a reproach and disgrace to friends” (Foster 906), Sanford is allowed to continue living his life probably with another vulnerable young woman in the society. While Sanford gets away with his womanizing acts, Eliza is the one who is branded as loose, and termed a coquette; she was the one who lost her life, trying to conceal a pregnancy that was conceived by two people. An unidentified source has this to write about her: “But let no one reproach her memory. Her life has paid the forfeit of her folly. Let that suffice” (Foster

    Read More

  • warriors of god

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    Warriors of God by James Reston Jr. is a non-fictional view of the third crusade. This particular crusade spanned from 1187-1192, containing many gruesome battles and a lot of intense moments between Islam and Christianity. Reston supplies the reader with a little background to the third Crusade when he talks about the first Crusades happening since 1095. Reston gives a fairly impartial view of this holy war. He discusses the battles, politics, and emotions of the Crusade as an outside party and if he takes any side at all it is with the Muslims. He often speaks badly of King Richard and he speaks well of Saladin, the sultan. He portrays Richard as a greedy, anti-Semite, who is intolerable of other religions, while he shows Saladin as tolerant to the Jews, reasonable, and an overall good leader. Reston wrote this book mostly to inform readers about the third Crusade but also to add some of his own insights. His thesis was a little unclear but he stated that the Crusades were the most violent event in history all the way up to Hitler’s rein. Reston did a good job in proving this when he told of battles and then analyzed them. He told of a time when King Richard had twenty thousand Muslims executed and when Saladin had Reginald of Chatillon beheaded along with many other Christian prisoners.

    Read More

  • House On Mango Street

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women’s Escape into Misery Women’s need for male support and their husband’s constant degradation of them was a recurring theme in the book House on Mango Street. Many of Esperanza’s stories were about women’s dreams of marrying, the perfect husband and having the perfect family and home. Sally, Rafaela, and Minerva are women who gave me the impression of [damsel’s in distress].CLICHÉ, it’s ok though. It’s relevant They wished for a man to sweep them of their feet and rescue them from their present misery. These characters are inspiring and strong but they are unable to escape the repression of the surrounding environment. *Cisneros presents a rigid world in which they lived in, and left them no other hope but to get married. Esperanza, however, is a very tough girl who knows what she wants. She will keep dreaming and striving until she gets it. She says, "I am too strong for her [Mango Street] to keep me here" (110). Esperanza learned from all of these women that she was not going to be tied down. She said, "I have decided not to grow up tame like the others who lay their necks on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain" (88). **Especially after seeing that Sally was suffering so much. Sally’s father is making her want to leave home by beating her. Sally "said her mother rubs lard on the places were it hurts" (93). There is not enough lard in the world to be able to cure the pain within Sally’s heart. Sally, "met a marshmallow salesman at a school bazaar" (101). Pretty soon " sally got married, she has her house now, her pillowcases and her plates" (101). Her marriage seems to free her from her father, but in reality she has now stepped into a world of misery. This was supposed to help her heal; " she says she is in love, but I think she did it to escape." (101). Unlike the other women Sally has no escape, no poetry, not even papaya coconut juice, not to mention, " he does not let her look out the window" (102). That is why "she sits at home because she is afraid to go outside without his permission."(102). Rafaela’s situation also involves imprisonment in her own home. Cisneros introduced us to Rafaela, a young beautiful girl whose expectations from marriage were to obtain a sweet home to live in. Instead...

    Read More

  • Hosue On Mango Street

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women all around Esperanza, such as Minerva and Sally, are held hostage, within their own acceptance of an unjust cultural fate. For example, Minerva is a young girl who constantly prays for better luck, and a happier life, but enables her husband to take advantage of her, and therefore sets the path for her unsatisfactory life. “ One day she is through and lets him know enough is enough. Out the door he goes. Clothes, records, shoes. Out the window and the door locked. However, that night he comes back and sends a big rock through the window. Then he is sorry and she opens the door again. Minerva finds herself forgiving without truly seeing that her husband is sorry. She used marriage as a way out from her undesirable life, yet her married life still carries the same characteristics. And so, without fighting for a satisfactory life she settles with the hand she is dealt.

    Read More

  • meow meow

    1073 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...her father’s intense racism and discrimination so she hid the relationship at all costs. Connie realized that she could never marry an African American man because of her father’s racial intolerance. If she were to have a mixed child, that child would be greatly discriminated against because of hypodecent. One day, Connie’s dad heard rumors about her relationship so he drove her car to the middle of nowhere, and tore it apart. Then, he took his shotgun and went to look for Connie and her boyfriend. Connie was warned before her father found her, and she was forced to leave town for over six months. Connie’s father burned her clothes, so she had to leave town with no car, no clothes and no money at sixteen years old. Connie had lived in poverty her entire life, but when she got kicked out she learned to live with no shelter and sometimes no food at all.

    Read More

  • Social Protest in Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

    1201 Words  | 3 Pages

    "It is impossible to conceive of a human creature more wholly desolate and forlorn than Eliza, when she turned her footsteps from Uncle Tom's cabin. Her husband's suffering and dangers, and the danger of her child, all blended in her mind, with a confused and stunning sense of the risk she was running, in leaving the only home she had ever known, and cutting loose from the protection of a friend whom she loved and revered. "

    Read More

  • Eliza's Responsibility for her Own Downfall in Foster's The Coquette

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    In her final letter to her mother, Eliza admits her wrong doings. She tells her mother she ignored all the things she was told. All their advice fell on her deaf ears. She explains that she had fallen victim to her own indiscretion. She had become the latest conquest of “a designing libertine,” (Foster 894). She knew about Sanford’s reputation, she knew his intentions, and she knew that he was married, yet she still started a relationship with him. And her blatant disregard for facts and common sense caused her unwed pregnancy and premature demise. Eliza Wharton had nobody to blame for her situation but herself. She ignored warnings, advice, common sense, and other options available to her. She chose her ill fated path and had to suffer the consequences.

    Read More

  • Feminism In Allende's The House Of The Spirits

    881 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel, The House of the Spirits by Allende, directly correlates the struggles of feminism with the Clarettes. Though the story follows the events of Esteban Trueba he is overshadowed by the power exhibited by the females of del Valle. Men are portrayed showing violence and discrimination in hopes of reaching what they want. Clara and the Clarettes utilize their power to subtly protest. The women of The House of the Spirits enrich the story by keeping the book interesting while showing a feminist side to the story: Allende utilizes women as the dynamic characters in society by pacing the story, controlling their supernatural powers, and representing the strength of women; portrayed by Clara, Blanca, Nivéa and Alba.

    Read More

  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe

    1058 Words  | 3 Pages

    After employing a group of men to track down Eliza, Tom and Haley leave for New Orleans. On the way down the river in a steamer boat, Tom befriends a young girl named Eva and saves her from drowning when she falls overboard. Eva’s father, St. Clare, buys Tom to be Eva’s personal servant. Over time, the Tom and Eva grow very close. Eva, like her father, is very kind and devoted to her slaves. She even transforms the life of a hardened, young slave girl named Topsy.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Power of Love in Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Beloved

    1641 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Stowe’s book Uncle Tom’s Cabin we follow Eliza through a dramatic escape from her plantation after she learns about the impending sale of her only son. Determined to take him out of slavery or die trying, she runs away in the night with him holding on to her neck. Stowe focuses much attention on the power of maternal love. She felt strongly against slavery because it often broke the bonds of maternal love by ripping children away from the mothers. Families were continually being torn apart by the auction block; Stowe wanted the reader to be aware of the effects of this horrible institution. Logic tells us that no mother would ever willingly put her children or herself in danger. However, through Eliza’s character in Uncle Tom’s Cabin we see the desperation that many women had to experience to save their children.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Margaret In Much Ado About Nothing

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    Margaret is an intelligent, articulate, and ambitious woman who desires to rise up in social status by marrying a man of higher social rank. She attends to those above her, in hopes of elevating her status as she becomes closer to the upper-class. As a minor character, she plays a small yet crucial role in advancing Don John’s plot to slander Hero and spoil her wedding. As a lower-class character, Margaret serves as a foil to the rich girls, particularly Hero, who embodies every attitude and mindset Margaret does not. But she also offers an alternative perspective on the upper-class characters in the play. Because Margaret is victimized because of her social ambitions, punished for wanting to rise above her ...

    Read More

  • Anatomy of Criticism by Northrop Frye

    2508 Words  | 6 Pages

    Despite an attractive interpretation that Eliza Wharton deserves her tragic fate because she is too scandalous of a seductress, her fall is actually a result of her desire for autonomy in a society that denies women that right. Also, to view Sanford as a heartless villain would be reductionary. He too, like Eliza, is subject to the judgements, constraints, and values of a flawed society in which he is separated from his true love. Both characters fall as a result of their desire for relational freedoms that early American society denies them.

    Read More

  • Emma by Jane Austen

    2037 Words  | 5 Pages

    Emma is the main character in the novel. She is a beautiful, smart, and wealthy 21-year-old woman. Because of her admired qualities, Emma is a little conceited. She is the daughter of Henry Woodhouse. Since her mother died, Emma has taken the role of taking care of her father, who is old and often sick.

    Read More

  • Eliza's Transformation in Shaw's Pygmalion

    2234 Words  | 5 Pages

    Eliza does not want to continue being part of the high society and has to stay under Higgins watch but wants to return to where she came from (Berst 100).

    Read More

More about Daughters Of Fortitude

Open Document