The Feminine Mystique is a novel written by Betty Friedan analyzing the sadness and depression many American women felt during the 1950’s. Friedan’s research describes the subservient conditions women experienced and labels their mutual disappointment as “the problem with no name.”1 Friedan defines feminine mystique as women’s limited potential through society’s idealized image of the housewife occupation. Linking the unhappiness and emptiness women felt to both social and internal conflict rooted in the feminine mystique. In order to influence her audience Friedan presents her research through a combination of reliable statistics, first-person narratives, and her own experience. Friedan consistently contextualizes her influence through vivid
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Woman were purely responsible for taking care of the home and children, while men pursued careers and sustained the family. Housewives felt they had lost their sense purpose trapped within the walls of their homes, “[their] solo flight to find her own identity was forgotten in the rush for the security of togetherness.”6 The feminine mystique was further elevated by Friedan’s critical analyses of Sigmund Freud’s theories. An underlying thought of this theory determined that allowing women to purse an education equal to men robbed them of their natural feminine qualities. Professors began to teach courses designed in the intention of stifling women’s intellect to develop her own sense of identity. American institutions accommodated courses romanticising “their student’s future capacity for sexual orgasm rather than with their future use of trained intelligence.”6 Friedan advocates that society’s ethics stunned women’s intellectual growth and was an underlying cause of their unhappiness and dissatisfaction. Later, she humanizes young American women by appealing to the reader’s sympathy for women who were consistently limited or being condescended too. Freudian theory claimed that women were envious of men and attempted to imitate them. By seeking a higher education or career outside the home women were hindering their natural feminine qualities; they denied their natural disposition. Friedan highlights the idiosyncrasies in Freud’s text by strategically criticizing his
Woman were purely responsible for taking care of the home and children, while men pursued careers and sustained the family. Housewives felt they had lost their sense purpose trapped within the walls of their homes, “[their] solo flight to find her own identity was forgotten in the rush for the security of togetherness.”6 The feminine mystique was further elevated by Friedan’s critical analyses of Sigmund Freud’s theories. An underlying thought of this theory determined that allowing women to purse an education equal to men robbed them of their natural feminine qualities. Professors began to teach courses designed in the intention of stifling women’s intellect to develop her own sense of identity. American institutions accommodated courses romanticising “their student’s future capacity for sexual orgasm rather than with their future use of trained intelligence.”6 Friedan advocates that society’s ethics stunned women’s intellectual growth and was an underlying cause of their unhappiness and dissatisfaction. Later, she humanizes young American women by appealing to the reader’s sympathy for women who were consistently limited or being condescended too. Freudian theory claimed that women were envious of men and attempted to imitate them. By seeking a higher education or career outside the home women were hindering their natural feminine qualities; they denied their natural disposition. Friedan highlights the idiosyncrasies in Freud’s text by strategically criticizing his