Feminist Issues in Katherine Anne Porter Historically women have been considered intellectually inferior to men and also a source of temptation and evil. Women have also been considered naturally weaker than men, squeamish, and unable to perform work requiring muscular or intellectual development. In most early societies, and up until fairly recently, domestic chores were relegated to women, leaving heavier labor such as hunting, plowing, and careers outside of the home to men. Maternity was considered the natural biological role of the woman, and it has also been highly regarded as her social role as well. Young girls learned from their mother's example that cooking, cleaning, and caring for children was the behavior expected of her when she grew up. Formal education for girls was, historically, second to that of boys. In colonial America, girls were taught to read and write at dame schools but they could only attend the school with the boys when there was enough room. The views of women are present all throughout history in the writings of the times. Katherine Anne Porter, an important American author, was born in Texas in 1890. She spent all of her early life in Texas and Louisiana. Her mother died when she was two and she was raised, in poverty, by her paternal grandmother and father. She was educated in convent schools. She was brought up in a region where a woman's femininity defined her. The idea of the southern belle was prevalent in her childhood. Porter defied these ideals by first becoming a journalist, and then becoming a fiction writer who was neither a feminist, nor feminine. Some of Porter's beliefs and experiences are seen in her writings. She was known mostly for her short stories and her one novel.... ... middle of paper ... ...e past but the legend of the past, other people's memory of the past, at which she had spent her life peering in wonder like a child at a magic-lantern show. Ah, but there is my own life to come yet, she thought, my own life now and beyond. I don't want any promises, I won't have false hopes, I won't be romantic about myself. I can't live in their world any longer" (221). Miranda will be the first of these three women to be able to enjoy the freedom that comes with the act of separation. Amy's legend lives on, even though she does not. Eva, although aged and separate in her own right, still must live with the burden of knowing that she failed to live up to the myth of the southern belle. Miranda, however, has consciously decided to make this change in her life so that she can find the truth for herself and be able to live the rest of her life with these new ideals.
Society continually places restrictive standards on the female gender not only fifty years ago, but in today’s society as well. While many women have overcome many unfair prejudices and oppressions in the last fifty or so years, late nineteenth and early twentieth century women were forced to deal with a less understanding culture. In its various formulations, patriarchy posits men's traits and/or intentions as the cause of women's oppression. This way of thinking diverts attention from theorizing the social relations that place women in a disadvantageous position in every sphere of life and channels it towards men as the cause of women's oppression (Gimenez). Different people had many ways of voicing their opinions concerning gender inequalities amound women, including expressing their voices and opinions through their literature. By writing stories such as Daisy Miller and The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henry James let readers understand and develop their own ideas on such a serious topic that took a major toll in American History. In this essay, I am going to compare Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” to James’ “Daisy Miller” as portraits of American women in peril and also the men that had a great influence.
Throughout history there have been strict guidelines placed on women. Women are supposed to remain in their domestic sphere, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their children.
In the nineteenth century the inequality of women was more than profound throughout society. Margaret Fuller and Fanny Fern both women of the century were much farther advanced in education and opinion than most women of the time. Fuller and Fern both harbored opinions and used their writing as a weapon against the conditions that were considered the norm in society for women. Margaret and Fuller were both influential in breaking the silence of women and criticizing the harsh confinement and burden of marriage to a nineteenth century man. Taking into consideration Woman in he Nineteenth Century by Fuller, Aunt Hetty on Matrimony, and The Working-Girls of New York by Fern, the reader can clearly identify the different tones and choice of content, but their purposes are moving towards the same cause. Regardless of their differences in writing, both Fern and Fuller wrote passionately in order to make an impact for their conviction, which was all too similar.
Education in the colonial era was highly dependent on the financial prosperity of individual families. Most could not afford to send their children to school, however wealthier families could afford to send their daughters to primary school to learn basic skills including the alphabet, reading, writing, and womanly chores such as sewing and knitting. Boys had the opportunity to further their education past the basics; however, young girls often were not granted this privilege. Women possessing higher education were often considered unusual. This was detrimental to their likelihood of finding a suitable husband.
Sarah Margaret Fuller is often referred to only as Margaret Fuller. The reason I chose to write about her is because I found it interesting that she is known as “America’s first true feminist” among other things such as an editor, journalist, teacher, and literary critic. I feel that since she was a female during the 1800s she worked hard to make a good name for herself. Her works that I chose to write about specifically are “The Great Lawsuit” which is a profound essay arguing for women’s equality, and “The Fourth of July” which was an essay written to describe the values Margaret believed America had lost.
Up until the early nineteenth century, women were mostly taught what is now called a “fashionable education” (Philadelphia School of Design for Women 5). Their mothers raised them to be proper, young ladies and expert housekeepers in expectation of marriage. If these women were fortunate enough to receive some kind of formalized schooling, they were to study penmanship, limited aspects of their mother language, and very little arithmetic (Philadelphia School of Design for Women 5). Unfortunately, this small degree of education was extremely constrictive to women. If they never married or were widowed at a young age, they really had no place to go. This form of women’s education created generations of women that were almost entirely dependent on their husbands and male relatives.
During the early times of our country's history, men and women were actually considered partially equal. During this time, America was an agrarian society, which means that it was a farm-based country. There was much work to be done around the farm, and the chores were divided equally amongst the men and women. (K., Esther 1) The livelihood of the family relied on both the husband and the wife, so women's jobs were considered equally important to those of men.
During this time in Aztec society, women played significant roles in society, although men were still considered the dominant sex. Women were sometimes owned by men, in result women had very little chance to take part in government and religious activities. However while men worked in agriculture and fought in battles, women's responsibilities were to stay at home and were to weave, cook, for the family as well as an attempt to raise children. Women were taught to do these tasks starting from young ages. As young girls they were taught home skills that would significantly increase their worth in marriage such as spinning by the age of four and cooking by the age of twelve.
Throughout most of recorded history, women generally have endured significantly fewer career opportunities and choices, and even less legal rights, than that of men. The “weaker sex,” women were long considered naturally, both physically and mentally, inferior to men. Delicate and feeble minded, women were unable to perform any task that required muscular or intellectual development. This idea of women being inherently weaker, coupled with their natural biological role of the child bearer, resulted in the stereotype that “a woman’s place is in the home.” Therefore, wife and mother were the major social roles and significant professions assigned to women, and were the ways in which women identified and expressed themselves. However, women’s history has also seen many instances in which these ideas were challenged-where women (and some men) fought for, and to a large degree accomplished, a re-evaluation of traditional views of their role in society.
Women have faced oppression in the literary community throughout history. Whether they are seen as hysterical or unreliable, women writers seem to be faulted no matter the topics of their literature. However, Anne Bradstreet and Margaret Fuller faced their critics head-on. Whether it was Bradstreet questioning her religion or Fuller discussing gender fluidity, these two women did not water down their opinions to please others. Through their writings, Bradstreet and Fuller made great strides for not just women writers, but all women.
Tanner, James T.F. The Texas Legacy of Katherine Anne Porter. Denton: U North Texas P, 1990.
Katherine Porter’s “The Grave” takes place in the year 1903. During this time, all women were expected to fit the typical stereotype roles, which are shown throughout this short story. Using a feminist gender approach to look at this story, we can see how key symbols are used to show the roles of the main character Miranda as compared to her older brother Paul. In Porter’s story, “The Grave”, Miranda, at first goes against the social norm of how the typical women is but then eventually she accepts her role and become the ideal young woman of this time.
Since the begging of civilization, women have been stigmatized in society as weak individuals. They have been serotyped to stay at home and raise family. Whereas men are portrayed as dominant role in society and are more linked to careers.
Throughout literature’s history, female authors have been hardly recognized for their groundbreaking and eye-opening accounts of what it means to be a woman of society. In most cases of early literature, women are portrayed as weak and unintelligent characters who rely solely on their male counterparts. Also during this time period, it would be shocking to have women character in some stories, especially since their purpose is only secondary to that of the male protagonist. But, in the late 17th to early 18th century, a crop of courageous women began publishing their works, beginning the literary feminist movement. Together, Aphra Behn, Charlotte Smith, Fanny Burney, and Mary Wollstonecraft challenge the status quo of what it means to be a
Katherine Mansfield belongs to a group of female authors that have used their financial resources and social standing to critique the patriarchal status quo. Like Virginia Woolf, Mansfield was socioeconomically privileged enough to write influential texts that have been deemed as ‘proto-feminist’ before the initial feminist movements. The progressive era in which Mansfield writes proves to be especially problematic because, “[w]hile the Modernist tradition typically undermined middle-class values, women … did not have the recognized rights necessary to fully embrace the liberation from the[se] values” (Martin 69). Her short stories emphasized particular facets of female oppression, ranging from gendered social inequality to economic classism, and it is apparent that “[p]oor or rich, single or married, Mansfield’s women characters are all victims of their society” (Aihong 101). Mansfield’s short stories, “The Garden Party” and “Miss Brill”, represent the feminist struggle to identify traditional patriarchy as an inherent caste system in modernity. This notion is exemplified through the social bonds women create, the naïve innocence associated with the upper classes, and the purposeful dehumanization of women through oppressive patriarchal methods. By examining the female characters in “The Garden Party” and “Miss Brill”, it is evident that their relationships with other characters and themselves notify the reader of their encultured classist preconceptions, which is beneficial to analyze before discussing the sources of oppression.