Women's Literary Tradition

 Word Count: 254 "Caged Bird" and "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou     These poems both depict the struggles of Maya Angelou, and how she dealt with them. The first poem, "Caged Bird," describes the feeling of being trapped. She juxtaposes stanzas depicting a free bird flying in the sky with a bird in a cage. This shows what it felt like to be a black woman during this era. She was watching white women excel, especially through the feminist movement, but she was still trapped by her race. The poem states. "his wings were clipped and / his feet are tied / so he opens his throat to sing" (Angelou). The bird's singing represents Angelou writing poetry. It is her way of matching the freedom of everyone else. It is her way of feeling as free as a bird flying.     The second poem, "Phenomenal Woman," shows Angelou's strength. This poem is the first we have read in this class that one can truly see the themes of the feminist movement

 Word count: 262 "Harlem Slang" by Zora Neale Hurston "All you did by rolling out early was to stir your stomach up. That made you hunt for more dishes to dirty. the longer you slept, the less you had to eat" (Hurston, 1). "Go ahead, Bedbug! Touch me! And I'll holler like a pretty white woman!" (Hurston, 6)     These quotations describe society during the time when Zora Neale Hurston wrote "Harlem Slang." The first quotation speaks to the struggles of poverty. The lower classes knew how to last the day by eating as little as possible because food was too much money for some. Here, Hurston describes the technique where people attempt to lay in bed for as long as possible in the morning so they can eat fewer meals. Later in the story, the narrator mentions that Sweet Black had not eaten since the day before. They were so desperate for sustenance that men prostituted themselves to women. This is also almost unheard of change in the power dynamic

 Word Count: 254 "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman "John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him" (Gilman, 3). "It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby! And yet I cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous" (Gilman, 3). "And she is all the time trying to climb through. But nobody could climb through that pattern - it strangles so" (Gilman, 8).     "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story about a woman with severe Postpartum Depression. This first quote demonstrates that no one, even her husband, understands what she is going through. They, at this time, do not think giving birth to a child is a reason to suffer, and it is possible that if they know she was suffering from the baby, they would think her more "insane." The second quote illustrates that her illness, which her husband has moved her away

 Word Count: 279 Mrs. Dalloway      I chose the scene when Pete and Clarissa are arguing about their future. Clarissa has chosen not to marry Peter, but instead marry Richard Dalloway. She feels safe with Richard, and he does not have the same extravagant expectations for Clarissa like Peter does. Peter wants her to do more with her life than stay at home and be a mother and wife, but that is not what she wants. This is a direct contrast from the other novels we have read. In these other novels, women want to marry for love and do more with their lives than stay at home. We explicitly see this in The Awakening  by Kate Chopin. In The Awakening , Edna yearns for a life more than what she has been given. We also see the older Mrs. Dalloway contemplate on this point. She wonders if she made the correct decisions when she was younger. This contemplation is very interesting, because she was given other options when she was young, and other young women of the time were not.      I think this

 Word Count: 283 The Awakening  by Kate Chopin "but whatever came, she had resolved never again to belong to another than herself" (Chopin, 80). "I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier's possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose" (Chopin, 108).     Both of these quotations demonstrate Edna's revelation or awakening. At the beginning of the novel, she tries to understand these concepts, but she struggles to understand the full meaning of being an individual. I think Edna really wants and yearns to love her husband and to be happy as a wife and mother, but she cannot. The realization that she can never truly be at peace with her life in this situation leads to this conversation with Robert where she divulges her discernment of her wants and needs. Enda sees her relationship with Robert as a relationship of individuals that are equals. This contrasts with her current relationship with her husband where he views her as "a valuable piece o

 Word Count: 307 The Awakening  by Kate Chopin "I would give up the unessential; I would give up my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself" (Chopin, 47). "In short, Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her" (Chopin, 13).     The first quotation, I think, is the most interesting concept in the novella. Edna states to her close friend that she would not give herself for her children, but she would give anything else, even her life. This might relate back to the idea that Edna is a bad "mother-woman," but I believe Chopin meant something very different by this. I think this is a statement about individuality. If Edna does not have herself, as in her personality and her individual characteristics, she would have nothing. She would have nothing to give to her children; she could do nothing for them