The Female Struggle to Fit into Society in Little Women

Although these stories are dissimilar from each other, both show the struggle that women have against one or several antagonists in their lives. Chopin shows hardships through internal and external struggle within and family environment and within a personal environment. Whether the women depicted are escaping from their horrid lifestyle, or just plain escape from life, she is able to embody the hardships women face. Kate Chopin was a female writer whose radical viewpoints on life and sexism were not looked upon highly during her time period. In the late nineteenth century, she wrote and published her stories when it was custom for women to conduct themselves in a certain “womanly,” manner at all times.

During these time markers women had been treated poorly, they felt as if they weren’t equal to the other citizens of the world, especially the men. There are countless activities involving women, but the most spoke about topics is, women’s rights, their suffrage, and the roles they played. In the 19th century women began to take action to change their rights and way of life. Women in most states were incapable to control their own wages, legally operate their own property, or sign legal documents such as wills. Although demoted towards their own private domain and quite powerless, some women took edge and became involved in parts of reform such as temperance and abolition.

Plagued by constant questioning of their womanhood and a seemingly impossible task of finding their position in the world, Women were stuck in a never ending cycle of patriarchy ownership. To break the shackles of the patriarchy, many women wrote to have a voice in a world where they are voiceless. Dramas, poems, novels and other literary works by women was an outlet for their reflections, accomplishments and thoughts for certain eras of time, often giving their honest opinions on social norms in many subtle ways. Novels like Jane Austen “Pride & Prejudice” and Charlotte Bronte "Jane Eyre" each paint a picture of a woman who has broken away from the male dominated view of society and paved her own way into the life that they wanted. The two main characters lead complete different lives yet they have impacted women years later by their similar strength, inward goodness and dedication to their beliefs.

Charlotte Bronte is, first and foremost, a storyteller at heart. She broke a mold for women at her time because there were not many occupations that were deemed acceptable besides ‘teacher’ or ‘governess’ in the mid-nineteenth century. Her imagination was far too creative to be left unwritten on a page. Charlotte Bronte’s writings reflect her opinions on women’s roles in society and such opinion is shown in Jane Eyre. Although Jane Eyre was considered radical for its time because women weren’t supposed to play the role of heroine, Jane Eyre rises up from her oppressors, fights for what she thinks is right, and above all stays true to herself and today is considered a true role model for heroine characters.

The Theme of Female Oppression in Pride and Prejudice, written by Jane Austen. In today’s society, women are faced with oppression in many different ways, whether they are denied a promotion at their job over a man of equal or lesser ability or qualification, or brought up to act a certain way as a female member of society. A female’s fight against oppression, be it social or societal, is certainly a difficult one, and one that - depending on the woman and the society in which she lives- may follow her throughout her entire life. Pride and Prejudice is a novel written by Jane Austen that follows a woman named Elizabeth Bennet through her struggle to fight oppression in a time where certain behaviour and actions are expected of women. In this novel, the reader can view oppression through Elizabeth’s struggle to maintain a sense of self through her constant fight against societal oppression, the Bennet family’s struggles with class segregation, as well as the standards or roles set for the women in the time in which the novel is set.

Homemakers, many of whom who had previously obtained college educations, began to voice their lack of personal fulfillment. They had an awakening, they realized their lives were not fulfilled and wanted more than what the restraints of society would offer them. Many literary works were born from the feminist movement; each enabling women to achieve more than what society expected of them and to push the societal limits. The Awakening is a prototype of the feminist movement. Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening follows a common theme in literature.

One of her renowned works of art is The Awakening. This novel created great controversy and received negative criticism from literary critics due to Chopin's portrayal of women by Edna throughout the book. The Awakening is a novel about a woman, Edna Pontellier, who is a confused soul. She is a typical housewife that is looking to find herself and be freed from her undesirable lifestyle. Edna was married to her husband for six years and has tow little boys.

During the late nineteenth century, the time of protagonist Edna Pontellier, a woman's place in society was confined to worshipping her children and submitting to her husband. Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, encompasses the frustrations and the triumphs in a woman's life as she attempts to cope with these strict cultural demands. Defying the stereotype of a "mother-woman," Edna battles the pressures of 1899 that command her to be a subdued and devoted housewife. Although Edna's ultimate suicide is a waste of her struggles against an oppressive society, The Awakening supports and encourages feminism as a way for women to obtain sexual freedom, financial independence, and individual identity. Feminism is commonly thought of as a tool for educating society on the rights of women.

American author Kate Chopin wrote two published novels and about a hundred short stories in the 1890s Most of her fiction is set in Louisiana and most of her best-known work focuses on the lives of sensitive, intelligent women. Her short stories were well received in her own time and were published by some of America’s most prestigious magazines—Vogue, the Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s Young People, and Century. Her early novel At Fault (1890) had not been much noticed by the public, but The Awakening (1899) was widely condemned. Critics called it morbid, vulgar, and disagreeable (Kate Chopin Biography). Throughout the novel, The Awakening, Chopin establishes the feminist view in the book.

SAGE knowledge. Web. Zimmerman, Toni Schindler, et al. "Deconstructing the “Mommy Wars”: The Battle Over the Best Mom." Journal of Feminist Family Therapy 20.3 (2008): 203-19.