At the beginning of the story, the narrator refers to the main female character as “girl.” According to Devost, “‘Girl’ meant, variously or with overlapping connotations depending upon context and intention: ‘any young unmarried woman,’ ‘a maid-servant,’ ‘a sweet-heart’ or ‘ladylove,’ and ‘a girl of or girl about town’ –a prostitute” (46-47). In this case, I believe that Hemingway is intending to use “girl” as “any young unmarried woman” because he wants to show that this main female character is unmarried and pregnant. This story revolves around the discussion about abortion, and Hemingway wants to enunciate the fact that she is unmarried and pregnant out of wedlock. Devost also analyzes that, “It did matter, then, that a ‘wife’ would suddenly …show more content…
Present day, the 19th century, and 20th century, they all have their own issues. In the past, women had to deal with the stereotypes of the role a woman should play in a relationship. As stated above, women were expected to cook, clean, and take care of the house. O’Donnell even takes in a step further as she states, “She was also taught some essential marriage ‘psychology’: the way to insure a secure future lay in docility and obedience to the wishes of her husband” (179). Obedience to the wishes of her husband just does not sound right. On the contrary, this was the way that women were oppressed in the past. This oppression was what caused Louise to have a mixed reaction when Brently so called “passed away” for about an hour. Because Louise had such an unexpected reaction, readers often wonder if she can be seen as sympathetic or unsympathetic. Louise, on one hand, has a bad heart to begin with, but to add the stress and heartache of losing Brently to the mix is a recipe for disaster. Perhaps, Louise is both sympathetic and unsympathetic. There is always a grey area when it comes to everything. Everything is not black or white. The sympathetic side can be seen when she does have a moment of sadness in terms of grieving for Brently. However, she does seem unsympathetic when she seems happy to be “free” from Brently. In this case, Kate Chopin sides with Louise. In “Hills
For over centuries, society had established the societal standard of the women. This societal standard pictured the ideal American woman running the household and taking care of the children while her husband provided for the family. However, between 1770 and 1860, this societal standard began to tear at the seams. Throughout this time period, women began to search for a new ideal of American womanhood by questioning and breaking the barriers society had placed upon them.
In the early nineteenth century, women were measured as second-class citizens whose existence was narrowed down to the interior life of the home and the care of them children. After marriage, they did not have any rights to own property, maintain their wages, or sign a contract, and were unable to vote. It was expected that women be dutiful wives, never to hold a thought or opinion independent of their husbands. It was also considered inappropriate for women to travel alone or to speak in public. Women were also taught to cease from pursuing any serious education. Silently floating in their cages, they were seen as merely objects of beauty, and were looked upon as intellectually and physically substandard to men. However, among these simple housekeepers are social reformers, wonderful mothers, and powerful women of faith who changed the world by changing their own.
For a very long time, men always had a higher status than women. In marriages during the beginning of the 1900s, men were dominant over their wives. They were the providers and the leaders of their families.(Bernstein, 2011) For women, their main goal in life was to get married to a man that could provide for them financially. Women did not attend college or have careers, so having a man asking for their hand in marriage was a need and a privilege. Originally, marriage contracts stated that any property that the woman owned automatically became his once they were married. (Bernstein, 2011) Even though marriage contracts were changed so that women could own their own property and they gained the right to vote in 1920, women were still looked down upon. (Bernstein, 2011) Until the 1980s, rape within marriages was legal because technically it was the wife’s job to have sex with her husband. (Bernstein, 2011) Women literally only seen as something for men to marry so they had someone provide them with children and to take care of them
Hemingway may purposely call the female protagonist a girl, instead of a woman, because she is naïve to be so desperate to want to keep the man at the cost of her unborn child. All she wants is to love and be loved yet there is no guarantee that he will stay with her despite either choice. The girl knows that the man may leave so she could be scared and confused on what she should do. Her desperation shows when she repetitively asks him what will happen after the procedure is done and when she uses elaborate descriptions that allude to wanting unity, life, and happiness. There is tension between the couple based on her indecisiveness. He keeps telling her that he loves her, he will be there for her afterwards, and that they will be happy yet it seems like an empty promise to her which is why she continues to ask. The man just wants it to be done so he can move on yet she holds on to this situation desperately because she wants something sentimentally deeper than what he wishes to provide.
Betty Friedan describes that after World War II, becoming the esteemed housewife was ultimate goal of most women. In the article Friedan states, “By the end of the nineteen fifties, the average marriage age of women in America dropped to 20, and was still dropping into the teens.” (Friedan, p. 359). Describing even further how important getting married was at the time she says, “A century earlier, women had fought for higher education, now girls went to college to get a husband.” (p. 359).The housewife status was seen as a true feminine fulfillment and considered a man’s equal. “As a housewife and a mother, she was respected as a full and equal partner to man in this world; she had everything that women ever dreamed of.” (p. 359).
In many instances, women and children have no say so as to what goes on inside the home. Whatever the father believed is what their children and wife’s had to conform to. Many women, such as Lucy Knox and Abigail Adams, began challenging their husbands for respect and partial control in their union and homes. Despite gains in rights and divorce, republican society still defined women’s roles exclusively in terms of mother, wife, and homemaker. Any other roles pursued would seem unnatural and threatening.
Women were confronted by many social obligation in the late nineteenth century. Women were living lives that reflected their social rank. They were expected to be economically dependent and legally inferior. No matter what class women were in, men were seen as the ones who go to work and make the money. That way, the women would have to be dependent since they were not able to go to work and make a good salary. No matter what class a woman was in, she could own property in her own name. When a woman became married she " lost control of any property she owned, inherited, or earned" ( Kagan et al. 569). A woman's legal identity was given to her husband.
We, as Americans, have come towards the concept of equality in relationships. Male dominant relationships were common throughout the forties and fifties in the United States. Women were deemed as housewives, whose job was to clean and have dinner ready for their husband's return from work. Imagining women in that type of status is difficult to do in society. Families are not a place for tyranny.
Before the Women’s Rights Movement women were viewed less than men in every aspect. Pre- Civil War women were viewed as the source of life but viewed less than men intellectually . In the 19th century the ideal women was submissive, her job was to be an obedient, loving wife . There were two important thing that ruled the way that women were treated. One of these was the most important out of the two during this time period this was the Cult of Domesticity, which basically said that women were supposed to do all of the domestic work in a household 3.
Throughout the story, however, the word girl is constantly used as an insult against her. For example, when a feed salesman comes to the father, the father introduces her as a hired-hand, and the salesman laughs and says, “ ‘Could of fooled me.’ He said ‘I thought it was only a girl.’” The mother also reinforces that she should not be out there when she talks to the father about keeping the girl inside. The narrator sees her mother in a negative light and does not want to become her; she hates housework and describes it as depressing and endless, despite the fact that shortly after she says that the father’s work is “ritualistically important.”
Over the years, the roles of women have drastically changed. They have been trapped, dominated, and enslaved by their marriage. Women have slowly evolved into individuals that have rights and can stand on their own. They myth that women are only meant to be housewives has been changed. However, this change did not happen overnight, it took years to happen. The patriarchal society ruled in every household in earlier times and I believe had a major effect on the wives of the families. “The Story of an Hour”, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and Trifles all show how women felt obligated to stay with their husbands despite the fact they were unhappy with them
In the short story, “Girl,” the narrator describes certain tasks a woman should be responsible for based on the narrator’s culture, time period, and social standing. This story also reflects the coming of age of this girl, her transition into a lady, and shows the age gap between the mother and the daughter. The mother has certain beliefs that she is trying to pass to her daughter for her well-being, but the daughter is confused by this regimented life style. The author, Jamaica Kincaid, uses various tones to show a second person point of view and repetition to demonstrate what these responsibilities felt like, how she had to behave based on her social standing, and how to follow traditional customs.
From the very beginning of history, women were portrayed to be insignificant in comparison to men in society. A woman 's purpose was deemed by men to be housewives, bear children and take care of the household chores. Even so, that at a young age girls were being taught the chores they must do and must continue through to adulthood. This ideal that the woman’s duty was to take charge of household chores was then passed through generations, even til this day. However, this ideology depends on the culture and the generation mothers were brought up in and what they decide to teach their daughters about such roles. After women were given the opportunity to get an education and treated as equals, society’s beliefs undertook a turning point on women’s roles in society. Yet, there still seems to be a question amongst women in search of self identity and expectations from parents.
From the type of work they did, to the education they got, to what they desired to pursue, there have been drastic changes in the ways that women live their lives. Women of the present day live better lives, are more capable, and are significantly more respected than those in the past, specifically compared to those in “A Doll’s House.” Women in the late 18th century were considered to be worth far less than men. They were spoken to with a lack of respect, respect that should have been given to any human being. Wives were viewed as property and as such they were to only be allowed the rights that any typical piece of property would have.
Women's roles were confined to a small list of responsibilities. As a result, they were seen as a minority. Society convinced women that they weren't capable of performing any work outside of the home. They were to stay home to cook, clean, take care of the children, and any other aspect involving the home. This was their sole responsibility. There wasn't anything else they were allowed or expected to do. Unfortunately this frame of mind developed in women and until only recently has this mindset been challenged by the female gender.