Woman:We Take A Stand
...ity and cruelty. In the poem “Women,” Alice Walker (African-American Literature pg. 467) states how strong, stout and wise women are. “With fist as well as hands how they batter down doors.” Women in this poem are on an equal plain as men; the negative thinking of men does not hold them down. They are supporters of themselves and making it on their on, standing their ground. In traditional literature women have been ignored and prejudiced. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is a novel that tells of the enlightenment of an emotionally and culturally oppressed woman who has desires to do more in life than a housewife and mother. In the end of the novel she realizes she cannot escape the pre-set cultural boundaries and expectations for woman in the 19 century. The woman in the story, in that day and time, she was only view as a housewife and not a dreamer capable of living her life outside of the social value of being a woman in the 19 century. This book explains how woman where viewed truly to a man. Before the 1920’s women were giving no opportunities to better themselves in life; women were not really seen as equal to men. Society’s view of women before the 1920’s is read in literary works such as “The Necklace,” “Patterns,” and “The Bear.” Each of these works focuses on the unimportance of the role of a woman. This works show a support of the unequal status of women. The short story “I Done Worked” by Lottie Jackson expresses the true strength of a woman. It describes how the woman in this story, Lottie, loves to work and felt if she didn’t work she would just die. (African-American Literature pg.67) Jackson shows the power of womanhood. In this story, Lottie stated that her life did not really change after her husband die. She states that she could work just as hard even faster than he could. Jackson makes sure to represent the woman in this story as equal to a man. Many critics of feminist such as Walkman state that women are created to be less about then men; he states that we, as women, are genetically made to be unequal to a man. This, in turn, does not mean that a woman cannot do what a man is capa...