Era of Gender Norms and Feminist Criticism

Studying and interpreting stories from a female and gender perspective is the focus of feminist critique, a branch of stylistic analysis. This analytical writing style focuses on the elements that are utilized to infer the meaning and goals of the story from the social environment and offers insight into the characteristics of feminist writing (Meyer 36). In a methodical fashion, feminist tales like "A Sorrowful Woman" and "A Jury of Her Peers" illustrate the attempts of female authors to demonstrate how the traditional duties of women are oppressive to a woman. This paper will focus on the analysis of feminist criticism in Godwin’s book, “A Sorrowful Woman” and compare with “A Jury of Her Peers” highlight in a systematic way the efforts of the female writers to indicate how the traditional roles of the female are oppressive to a woman. This paper will focus on the analysis of feminist criticism in Godwin’s book, “A Sorrowful Woman” and compare with “A Jury of Her Peers” by Glaspell. The paper will illustrate how the traditional societal roles of women are damaging and diminish the female characters and thus propelling their plight to become free.

Feminist Criticism

Godwin is a feminist author who makes an exploration into the ordeals and trials of the modern women. In her book, Godwin examines the lives of women who are betrayed, lost and disappointed and try by all means to escape from their unfulfilled living. The book of A Sorrowful Woman builds an ironic fable regarding a woman who fails to admit her role as a mother and a wife which are roles that are defined by the society. The feminist critical analysis points out the way women are trapped by the feminine mystique which portrays women to be perfect caretakers and nurturers and no woman ought to rebel against these roles. The story of A Sorrowful Woman fights against the stereotypic roles and describes a woman who does not want to be branded as a mother and a wife. The story maintains a sensed of universality where the societal pressures drive the need for freedom in women.

In the man dominated the world, the role of a woman is not considered to be significant, and due to this, the feminist criticism comes into the place looking into the political, economic, psychological and social oppressions of the women in the society. The leading female character in Godwin's book concentrates on her individual efforts of distancing from her structured lifestyle. Critically, the story of the woman is centered on her pursuit of happiness and peace and desires to escape from the role that is imparted to her by the traditional ways. The association of the woman with motherhood and housewife labels makes her exhausted in conforming to the traditional stereotypes. According to Meyer “The role of a man consist of being the provider and leader of the family while the role of a woman is to be a wife, mother, and caregiver of the household” (Meyer 36). Her husband is understanding, and he is willing to help his wife in her roles at home. When the woman tells her husband about her feelings, he comforts her and asks what he can do to help her. Godwin writes "He was attuned to her; he understood such things. He said he understood” (Godwin 29). It is evident that the woman’s husband helps her in putting the baby to sleep and even brings her wife breakfast in bed. Certainly, the man understands the need for having equality in a home and is willing to do everything in helping her wife from the sorrow that she feels. Indeed, the woman is neither depicted to be diminished nor undervalue, but her need to be completely free is what makes derives sorrow in her.

A conflict of role change arises due to her uncomfortably of the structure of the society. In the attempts to experiment her new lifestyle, the mother goes to a room which has white walls, and she decides to stay in it. Critically, the new white walls are a symbol of a fresh new start of freeing herself from the roles that capture her. A feminist can be able to pinpoint the struggle for empowerment from the woman character which eventually leads the destruction of her family and herself. The mother clearly signifies the women in the society who have desires for freedom. The idea of feminism in Godwin’s story helps the reader to understand her choice of actions. In emphasizing her point of view, Godwin starts the story with the words, “There once was a wife and mother one too many times” (Godwin 1). From this opening statement, the reader quickly notes that the woman was not supposed to be a mother and a wife. The unhappiness of the woman that is indicated in the first paragraph shows the way the woman derives sadness in playing her family roles. In paragraph 20, the author shows how the woman tried new things like costumes and discarded them and thus the reader sees how the woman struggles to define her true identity. She tries out new personalities and even picks a pen and a pad to write a poem but fails. Undoubtedly, the quest for freedom seemed to be overwhelming to the woman.

The sorrowful mother wants to be independent and moving into her room disconnects her from her husband and her son. Due to the struggles of identity, her husband ends up fulfilling her roles, and in paragraph 15 he says that “I don’t know what to do, it’s all my fault, I’m such a burden.”(Godwin 15). The husband was always understanding to her wife' feeling and hires a house girl to help her in managing the home. The woman also feels inferior before the house girl and becomes upset as evident from paragraph 10. A great deal of symbolism employed in the story such as “The draught was a nightly thing,” (Godwin 40) and “She was a queen, a virgin in a tower,” (Godwin 42) imply how the sorrowful woman was tired of playing her roles as a wife and a mother. Godwin writes “Now the days were short. She was always busy. She worked till the sunset. No time for hair brushing. Her fingers raced the hours,” (Godwin 49). This portrays the way the woman desired to achieve freedom, and thus she made herself busy and tried everything she could. Nevertheless, the woman ends up committing suicide due to the great sorrow she has in heart.

Both “A Jury of Her Peers” and “A Sorrowful Woman” are stories that show the struggles of women to become independent and free from the male dominated society that is defined by female stereotypes. The feminist depiction in the two stories attempt to represent the depressed women in the society. The book of “A Jury of Her Peers” is similar to Godwin story and concerns the women’s roles as mothers, wives, and homemakers. Glaspell’s book shifts the loyalty of women from the male-dominated legal system. Both Glaspell and Godwin portray to a staunch feminist who expresses their opinion regarding the treatment of women in 20th century. Glaspell’s work acclaims for equal rights for both men and women in the investigation and court system. The book is about individuals who judge Minnie Wright due to her crime. To a real feminist, granting equal rights is a significant aspect of society. The book calls for equal treatment of both men and women regardless of the crimes that are committed. Evidently, Minnie Wright kills her husband because she was emotionally abused by him. The book communicates to the reader that there should be equality in prosecution and conviction of court cases regardless of the gender (Glaspell 34). The plight of the woman in Godwin’s book to become free makes her commit suicide, and this is similar to Minnie Wright who takes the life of her husband due to oppressions. Glaspell lived in a community that was majorly concerned with feminism and gender discrimination.

Conclusion

The society in the old era placed stereotypical roles on the women and men. The two books are a masterpiece of literature regarding feminism critical analysis. Men were the sole breadwinners of the home and women were to play the role of being homemakers. Both Godwin and Glaspell’s books show that the 20th century ushered in role reversal and the old roles became totally inconsequential. The two books break the bonds of women oppression who live in the male-dominated world where the identity of the woman is tied to her husband. Indeed, Glaspell and Godwin found encouragement from their interests in creating female characters who have dying desires of freeing themselves from the conventional roles that are defined to them by the society. From the feminist perspective, Glaspell work raises questions concerning the women’ oppression in a society that is dominated by men and gender differences in the society. Glaspell's presents to be a detective that concerns the female justice and differences in perspective of solving investigation of murder in various perspective. In the entire story, women and men display diverse interests, priorities, and concerns in the investigation of crime.

















Works Cited

Glaspell, Susan. A Jury of Her Peers. 1st ed., Stilwell, Kan., Digireads, 2005.

Godwin, Gail. A Sorrowful Woman. 1st ed., New York, Ballantine Books, 1996.

Meyer Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 11th Edition. Bedford Martins. 2016.