Prior to the twentieth century, men dictated and defined women’s roles. Held captive, women were not allowed to venture out into the public spheres and were imprisoned in the home as servants tending to household duties while ensuring a happy and clean atmosphere within the domestic setting. In contrast, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening as well as Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper embody the political outcries against injustice during the political genesis of the modern feminist movement. In addition, both works of literature serve as representations of the newly outspoken role of women’s presence in the society, where iconoclastic behavior that deviated from the norm were looked down upon.
