Parallel Experiences of Three Troubled Women in Cunningham's, The Hours

She is struggling to overcome the depression and suicidal impulses that have followed her throughout her life. Laura Brown is a housewife living in suburbia, where she looks after her son Richie and husband Dan. Laura is an avid reader who is currently making her way through Mrs. Dalloway. The farther she gets into the novel, the more Laura discovers that it reflects a dissatisfaction s... ... middle of paper ... ...n living for her, because of her. Taking care of Richard has become Clarissa's reason for living.

“Was Evelyn ill again? Evelyn was as good deal out of sorts, said Hugh, intimating by a kind of pout or swell…Clarissa Dalloway would... ... middle of paper ... ...olf separates the novel so the reader is able to learn more about each individual. Virginia Woolf is the household name she is today because of her unique approach with stream of consciousness. She used this writing technique to help the reader delve deeper into the lives of the fictional individuals that make up Mrs. Dalloway. This novel is a single day in a woman’s life but by the end of the book, the reader feels as if they have read the biography of each significant character.

Edna Pontellier’s suicide in The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a topic of the book that has been debated for a century. Some readers believe that Edna’s suicide was an act of suicide, or an act of strength. This book tells the story of a woman who is has conflicting feelings involving the role of women in her society. Edna, the main character, has several young men who she loves in addition to her husband. Edna feels trapped by her role as a woman in society.

Eds. Edgar Roberts and Henry Jacobs. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003. 471. Short Story John Steinbeck, “The Chrysanthemums.” Literature, An Introduction to Reading and Writing.

Mind Readings: an Anthology for Writers. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002. Print. Eiseley, Loren.

Three lives are intertwined through time and space to create a dynamic story. The book shows Laura depicting aspects of Woolf"s personality. They were both suffering from depression. Woolf committed suicide while Laura contemplated suicide. The effects of masculine structures and expectations from women pervade throughout the story.

In, The Awakening, Edna fails to uphold the Victorian feminine ideal. During the early stages of Edna’s awakening and after she has been ‘awakened,’ Edna often laments on how different she is from Adèle Ratignolle, (who represents the Victorian feminine... ... middle of paper ... ...re driven to death by the society they live in. In both of the texts, it is the women who must pay for the unfairness in the society that they live in, which is what Chopin is commenting on by implying that death is the only option women have. Chopin highlights how problematic it is that a woman must either renounce her independence/innocence or die, through the stories of Désirée and Edna. Each woman chooses to end her life because she feels as though there is no place for her in society, and thus instead of living in a society that doesn’t accommodate difference, they would rather die.

Many great authors manage to introduce the major themes in their work in the opening scene. By doing so, they hook their readers and excite them to read more. Kate Chopin masters this in her novel The Awakening. Her novel is about a "woman who has led the conventional life of an upper-middle-class wife and mother until the age of twenty-eight, then finds herself feeling so frustrated and suffocated that she is willing to defy the conventions of Louisiana Creole society to gain spiritual independence" (Delaney 1). Chopin hints at three themes in the first chapter of her novel; identity, love, and marriage.

My sister would read me stories from her own books and it confused my little head, considering that the level of education she was in was high for me at that time. As I think of it now, it was not a bad idea since it prepared me for a more complex learning to come ahead. My teacher taught me to write my name and simple words. A few years passed by and I started to gain confidence in my reading. I would go through my father’s newspaper and read, though I stammered reading word by word.

New York: Berkley Books, 1991. Zaleski, Jeff. "The Hunt for Tom Clancy". Publishers Weekly 15 July 1998 Schindehette, Susan. "Storm Rising".