Valuable Things Learned in Women in Literature class

Women and Literature
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Introduction
Well into the twenty first century, women all over the world are still fighting for their rights; fighting to have the same kind of recognition as their male counterparts have. Centuries now have passed and the women in the society are still seen as the inferior of the human species. As such, they are not given as much privileges as the males. Starting from the 19th century and well into the 21st century, women have been having some form of progress in their conquest to make amends on societal norms that have for ages intimidated them. Before this period, most of the women were commissioned to be married and they would rarely hold any administrative position. Those who were lucky to be at the same level as the men, had to have come from very influential families in the land, while very few came from the lower ranks of the society and made it to the administrative positions. For the majority staying at home, looking after the children and the wealthy of their men was their ultimate duty.
Literature is one of the platforms that the women in the society have used to raise to their current status. Through literature the few women that have been brave to champion for the rights of the masses, have taken a stand and let the rest of their kind to rise to the challenge (Couillard, 2014). As more women read the material, they are empowered and recognize they too can be activists in the fight for equality. This paper brings to light some of the most fundamental writers in history, who have produced very influential material to help the women across the globe realize the power within their reach to change their current satiation. Some of the other material relates to the aspect of women roles and the way society views them. For women to change what befalls them, they have to change how they act and how they view themselves.
Related Material on Feminism and Prejudice
One of the poems that have had quite an impact starting from the 19th century to date is The Angel in the House by Coventry Patmore, and English poet. He wrote this poem to the women and the men in the society at the time, to show how his wife was the most fitting example of a woman. According to the prom, the woman in the marriage should be respectful, submissive and devoted to her husband. Coventry Patmore, felt that his wife was the perfect Victorian wife, given that she was graceful, charming, passive, sympathetic, meek, pure self sacrificing, powerless and pious. From the first line of the poem, it states how man should be pleased, with the woman giving it her all to make sure that her husband is satisfied. Towards the end of the poem there is also the reference to a woman’s love having endless flow and ever growing bigger than her. This is an indication of the way the society viewed the women in the society’s middle class during the time the poem was published. However there was some more incite from Queen Victoria during the nineteenth century, who was married to Prince Albert. Most of her life she devoted majority of her time and energy to please her husband. As such, she was also seen to favor more domesticated approach of a married woman. Given that the royal families acted as the mirror for majority of the society, they copied her and reinforced the beliefs into norms as stated in the poem by Coventry Patmore. To indicate the potency of the issue and the amount influence that the poem had, there even a reply from one of the famous women literature writers at the time called Virginia Woolf. Her reply to the poem related to killing the angel in the house.
The Yellow Paper is one other material that relates to the attitudes that were rife in the nineteenth century about the women in the society and their health. The short story was written by one the American feminist literature writers. During the time that Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote the short story, she had been suffering from some mental disturbance, which was associated from the fact that she had had some previous experiences with nervous breakdown. According to the specialist that she had consulted, she was supposed to rest at home and limits her activities with intellectual material writing or reading. She was supposed to limit herself to less than two hours of intellectual material on any given day. The short story that is written in first person, details how she felt like a prisoner in her own skin and house, which almost led to her mental ruin. When she wrote the piece, it was in retaliation from the kind of humiliation that she felt being house-ridden (Couillard, 2014). Like the piece by Coventry Patmore, Gilman’s story also did not have much impact during the 1887 period when it was published. It only came to be anthologized during the 1960s, where it picked pace until today and it is considered to be one among the most relevant feminist material of the time. This short story also relates to the fact that most of the men at the time believed that women cannot handle the normal public life as they were less prepared and these included her husband who would lock in the bedroom. What is surprising of the time is the fact that, even the medical practitioner felt that she should rest and be away from the society for her to heal. This paints a picture of entrenched the idea of women staying at home and refraining from social and intellectual material was.
One other book that relates to aspect of the women health in the society is called Our Bodies, Ourselves. It was first published in the year 1970 and since then has been revised, with quite a number of editions, to the last one that was published in the year 2011. Written by feminist activist from a non profit organization referred to as The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, it contains a number of topics that relate to the health of the women, sexuality, childbirth, gender orientation and menopause ...