The Awakening

The famed twentieth century author Virginia Woolf, wrote nearly fifthteen works that have shaped the evolution of the twenty-first century. The attention to mental illness and social hierarchy that Woolf addresses within her 1925 literary classic Mrs. Dalloway, can be seen as an influential factor in addressing and later resolving these issues within social culture. Woolf emphasizes the theme of repression by addressing the stereotypical British roles of women and the lack of mental health…

“Desiree’s Baby” is a short story written by Kate Chopin. This story is about Mr. and Mrs. Valmonde’s adopted daughter Desiree, and how she is courted by the son of another wealthy French Creole neighborhood family, Armand Aubigny who knows nothing of her origins. Desiree was found by an old pillar at a couple months old, believed to be left by a party of Texans. Desiree grew up into a beautiful and gentle young lady, but still had no knowledge on who she really was. Armand falls in love with…

Ida B. Wells was a fascinating woman. She was a suffragette, activist, and a journalist in the 1800’s. She led an anti-lynching campaign, owned a newspaper, and was an amazing activist who fought for civil rights. Wells was a teacher and she cared for her family almost entirely by herself. She was born in 1862, stepped on the train that would start her writing career in 1882, and she died in 1931. On July 16, 1862 in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Ida Wells was born. She was born into a…

JUNE (Creative) June and I swam out to the reef on a winter’s day. The waves were massive, but June was an excellent swimmer and she convinced me it would be fun. She was older and very unpredictable. We challenged each other to dive deeper, to swim further onto the reef. June was winning. She called me coward and roused that I was too scared to touch the reef. She pushed me and mocked me until I couldn’t take it anymore. I timed it perfectly between the sets, and swam over to the shallow reef.…

In the novel the awakining by kate chopin the protagonist Edna Pontellier figures out how to consider herself an independent individual and dissidents against social standards by abandoning her spouse Leónce and having an unsanctioned romance. The first half of the novel happens in Grand Isle, an island off the shore of Louisiana. Over the summer it is occupied by the upper-class Creole families from New Orleans who go there to escape from the heat and to unwind by the sea possess it. Amid the…

The movie whale rider dives into the story of the girl Paikea and the trails she and community must overcome about their traditional heritage and culture. This essay will discuss and explore the theme of how traditional cultural heritage can conflict and clash with the demands of modern life, we will consider 3 key points: how women are treated and looked at in the community, how Koro refuses to adapt from his traditional thinking and how Nanny Flowers has to deal with and continue fighting the…

In the film “Whale Rider” directed by Niki Caro, in a small town in New Zealand called Whangara a innocent young girl called Paikea is born and she is everything Koro didn’t want in the future chief/leader. Throughout the film she struggles to try to become the leader causing a heap of conflict. An important idea shown to us throughout the film is the idea of the role of men and women . A scene where this idea is shown in the film is when Paikea is not allowed to sit in the front row with the…

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert is a realist novel written in 1856 that tells the story of a married couple, Emma and Charles Bovary. In particular, Emma’s constant emotional struggles with her social position and status as well as her frustration with her banal life drive her to commit adulterous affairs. Within the novel, Flaubert utilizes food to showcase distinctions between middle and upper social class as well as Emma’s discontent with her current life and desire to live the life of the…

“The Tone of Time” and “A Rose for Emily” both are stories that having female as a leading role. Mary J. Tredick in “The Tone of Time” and Emily Grierson in “A Rose for Emily”, ladies who are similar but opposite, males had once taken an essential position in their lives. When the males left, both the ladies’ lives are affected. With the influence of males, are Mary and Emily eccentric characters victimized by men? In this essay, I will argue it by discussing their characteristic with the…

GENDER AND MYTH The historical records show that the position of women in the society was varied according to culture, religion and geographical and scientific developments throughout many years. In general sense, women are supposed to be the submissive, obedient, self-sacrificing and “the angel in the house “as Woolf said. This idea of passive women is represented in approximately the same way in many examples of world literature. This research paper is a quest to identify the portrayal of the…