Evolution of American Female

Until the early 19th century, the women in society were treated badly. They did not have any rights, they were considered to be below the other classes and their place is supposed to be only in the kitchen. They should agree with everything that their husbands say, there must not be an opinion that differs from the husbands. Somewhere around the mid 19th century, between the 30s and 40s, the status of women started to improve as people started to believe that women were the major influence in a childs growth and education towards good and moral adults. Because many people did not have a chance to be educated and the majority of which were women, the church decided to provide some education for the working class females. From 1820-1860 lasted a movement named Cult of True Womanhood- women were supposed to be pious, pure, submissive to men and devoted to the family life. These four components were the natural state of womanhood. The struggle for women's rights started with Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women in 1792. Not until 1893. in New Zealand did women achieve suffrage on the national level- American, British and Canadian women achieved it only after the WW1. One of the most important women in the history of the struggle for women's rights is Rosa Louise Parks, a black woman who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger and it changed American history. She is called Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement. Her act started civil rights movement, she was arrested but it started African-Americans' boycott of buses which lasted 381 days and ended with their victory. The development of the American female can be seen through many novels that were inspired by the discrimination of women in the society. An example of this development is Lady Brett Ashley, the main character in Hemingways The Sun Also Rises. At the beginning of the novel she goes through divorce because she does not want to commit herself to Jack, who does not fulfil her sexual desires. She does not want to be a typical woman of that time: existing only to serve her husband and to fulfil his every desire. She is independent, she does exactly the opposite: she leaves Jack because he cannot fulfil her desires. After that her behaviour starts to be more manlike. She becomes very promiscuous, she has lots of love affairs with other men and she does not want to commit herself to them. This was a shock for

these times and their beliefs. Women were not supposed to act like that. Nowadays this is as normal as when men do it. Women are equal to men, they can persuade their happiness just like men can do. In Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury we can see three different images of women. The first image is the one of Mrs. Compson. She is the example of what women were expected to be (entertaining, gentle). But Steinbeck shows all flaws in people's image of a perfect woman- there is no such a woman, to be the mother is not the only purpose of women's existence, women have the same needs like men do; that is why Steinbeck's Caroline Compson is a self-pity and self-absorbed woman, her only responsibility is to take care of her family but she cannot do it right- she treats Benjy badly while giving too much attention to Jason who does not deserve it. She is concerned about unimportant things as saving her family's name which was threatened by her adulterous brother Maury. The second woman in the novel is Caddy- she is promiscuous, she gets pregnant out of wedlock, she marries and divorces Herbert, but she is also independent, she is in charge- she left her home, she takes care of Quinten by sending her money The same qualities are possessed by her daughter, Miss Quinten, who unlike her mother does not feel guilty about her sexual freedom; she is headstrong and that helps her to achieve her goals- she gets back her money and leaves the house. The third woman is Dilsey, she is strong-willed and protective, she takes care of both her family and Compsons, without her help both families would fall apart. In Gilman's The Yellow Paper we can see the real image of women's life few years ago. Women were treated like less valued human beings, men were in control of them and they had to behave in a way men wanted them to behave. If they were going through some normal changes like postnatal depression they were treated in abnormal ways prescribed by male doctors. In this story we can see the rebel of a woman who in the end destroyed the yellow paper which was a symbol of her captivity. In all these novels we can see examples of women who do not obey the previously mentioned Cult of True Womanhood. From a doll with only one purpose, a purpose only to raise children and to take care of the household, women have finally become real human beings who are protective, strong- willed leaders of their families, independent, even promiscuous but only if they want it- even the promiscuity is a result of their own will, they do not have to obey rules created by men.