Women Role In American Literature

Decent Essays
Women play a large role in American literature. In most of the American history, women were viewed as weak and irrelevant to all things concerning American politics and literature. That is why women in American literature were rare. Although they were rare, there were still women who made a great impact in this country’s literature. Many women began to express themselves in their writing and even more of these women began to fight for an identity to call their own. They fought against the gender roles that have been placed on them for their entire lives and wanted to be heard through their writing. There were also many men in American literature that also argued the importance of every individual’s voice to be heard. Although many of the authors …show more content…
There were many writers that contributed to the American Renaissance including, Louisa May Alcott, Emily Dickinson, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Walt Whitman. They helped create a literature that was uniquely American. These authors had many celebrated texts during the American Renaissance, however, some of them were more known than others.
Louisa May Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist. Much of her writing dealt with “young women struggling to express and value their individuality,” (Baym, Levine 1733). She worked many jobs when she was younger to help her family out financially, including teacher, seamstress, governess, and took on other short-term jobs. Alcott longed to be man not just because they had more opportunities, but also because they got to fight in the Civil War. She wanted to contribute in any way she can, so she volunteered for the nursing corps. Alcott suffered through financial problems, health problems and through the tragedies of family and friends’ deaths. Much of her experiences and opinions in life travel to her very well know story called, Little Women.
There are many themes in Little Women including the struggle between family and self. The main character “Jo” is a great writer. In the beginning
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For example one important theme that they all have is, the importance of an individual. Stowe portrays this idea mostly when it came to women and slaves. For example, in one part of the story, Mary and her husband were having a conversation about slavery. Mary argued that they should not turn their backs on the slaves, “You ought to be ashamed, John...Things have got to a pretty pass, if a woman can’t give a warm supper and a bed to poor, starving creatures, just because they are slaves…” (Baym, Levine 829). This also shows that women can have better judgment than their male counterparts. Another similar theme is the struggle between self and society rather than religion or family. For example, during this same situation, Mary’s husband tells her that she should hide what she feels, which is basically hiding part of her identity because people do not agree with her opinion, “We mustn’t suffer our feelings to run away with our judgment; you must consider it’s not a matter of private feeling—there are great public interests involved…we must put aside our private feeling,” (Baym, Levine 829). Another theme is freedom, and although it is different for Alcott and Dickinson’s work theme, it still has the same concept, which is that people have to fight and work for their freedom, including the

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