Preview

Secret History Leonora Sanssay Analysis

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
646 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Secret History Leonora Sanssay Analysis
The novel “Secret History” by Leonora Sansay for readers it is a little complicated. It is mainly talking about a young lady that travels a lot with her sister. Her sister and her husband got divorced and she started writing some stories in the form of letters. The novel “Secret History” is showing us how bad the way of treatment was in Europe and the marriage at this time was a hard issue. The women were treated badly and people had a lot of problems because they used to get in a relationship and it was not allowed at this time, so this created more problems. Sansay in the novel is showing us on her writing the various sides of gender and marriages in a very nice way of writing. Sansay has her own way of writing that you see a little bit complicated but when you read till the end she gives readers the conclusion behind what she writes. In “Secret History” Sansay is showing us her personal experiences that she had with Mary and Clara her sister. She had a lot of problems with her husband and she has been always gloomy and unhappy. Mary writes letters to Burr and she is …show more content…
Domingo, Sansay also showed us how the female under the Haitian revolution were oppressed especially when it comes to marriage. They had a lot of brutality at this time and there were always problems with the military and the people who lived there. The relationship with men and women were very complicated and it has to be under colonial powers. In some of Mary’s letters she said that by participating in the balls, this changed Clara’s condition and made her feel better, because she was depressed because of her marriage. The balls seem to be good for female and male to get to know each other more and break that oppression that females have under the colonial powers. In the novel, readers find out that the French people think that will only how they will look it will make certain of their triumph and they would win women’s hearts, and also conquering the Haitian

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    William Dean Howells’ “Editha” features a woman of the same name who reads romantic novels and parrots what she reads from newspapers. Her fiancé Gearson is a pacifist, but she convinces him to join the army and fight in the war. He dies in battle, and Editha mourns this loss; however, she never comprehends her role in his death. “The Yellow Wall-paper,” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is told by journal entries of a nameless woman. The narrator suffers from postpartum depression and is isolated in the attic of a country house. She becomes obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her room and her minor illness turns to insanity. “Editha” and “The Yellow Wall-paper” both show the danger of gender stereotyping; each protagonist is marginalized…

    • 1671 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This also allows her to become conscious of women roles in society and teaches her on how to express herself in these problems. And in today’s literature, she is known for being a stand out and…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ward did an excellent job writing the exciting and captivating novel, Not for Ourselves Alone. I admire his descriptive detail of the two women’s past, his interesting writing style, his amount of knowledge on the two figures, and his use of enthralling images. Due to all of these particular aspects, I greatly enjoyed reading this piece and applaud the author on his excellent writing skills. This particular novel could appeal to people off all ages due to its vast variety of content. I strongly advise taking at look at Not for Ourselves Alone if you are eager for an exciting and informative historical…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The interaction between genders, importance of female education, and hardships of life seem to be a language that can be relatable to most women. As the world continues to change, the roles women play in literature will continue to be a great easel for the evolution of gender roles. If I were to take an even further view into women in literature, I would try to see how the circumstances of the lives of women writers play on their depictions of the world in their…

    • 1365 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The 20th century was a time where social changes started to develope in American society. Women now were allowed more freedom of choice involving what career they wanted to proceed, or even having the choice to not get married. The stereotypes of women being a house-wife and homemaker, no longer needed to be accepted into society. In her story, Kate Chopin used dramatic irony and situational irony to express her theme that the role of women was changing in American society.…

    • 81 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Yellow Wallpaper”, written by Charlotte Perkins, tells a story of a woman who is oppressed through her marriage in the early 19th century. In this time period when a woman married, legally her husband owned everything she had. The protagonist represents the oppression and frustration that women went through in society. Perkins use of symbolism adds to the reality of the wife’s oppression that slowly progresses into insanity. The subordinate position the wife is in because of her overpowering husband is created by the use of symbols such as the yellow wallpaper, secret diary, and the woman inside the wallpaper.…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Awakening by Kate Chopin both strongly embody the way women were treated before women’s rights became less restricted to cooking, cleaning, and parenting. Hester Prynne and Edna Pontellier are both upper class women that cheated on their husbands. Although their situations were distinctly different, they relate to each other in several ways. Hester in the seventeenth-century and Edna in the nineteenth are great examples of the good and bad consequences of doing what you desire or what you think is right. These two women seem to have a lot in common, like how they feel towards their lovers; however, they differ in their feelings towards their children and they both have…

    • 1295 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Both Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” show a shocking view of dominate marriage. In both stories marriage is a prison and women are treated like children, stifled, smothered and absorbed (lose their own identity). These three things represented in both of the stories lead to horrific consequences.…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since the wave of Feminism in Canada, Feminism has been written into the literature by Canadian authors. They believe securing women’s rights would enhance the recognition of women’s value in society, which can lead to the moral and social improvement of all humanity. Secret daughter introduces a weak female character Kavita, who is prohibited from keeping her child in a distorted society. The handmaid's Tale reveals a new career called handmaid in the future society, whose mission is to have children for senior officials. Both Secret daughter and The handmaid’s tale describe an oppressive patriarchal theocratic society. Female characters have to struggle with the cruel reality for their role as women. By doing so, they try to challenge the patriarchal power structure and unfair treatment of women. This resistance proves that there is no inherently superior gender. It reveals that women should revolt against the unequal society for fundamental freedoms and rights.…

    • 1024 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In order to fully analyze the sexes in this book, the micro, meso and macro levels need to be looked at individually to observe where sexuality is imagined and experienced by both genders. On the micro level, the sexes are very different from one another in this book. The women are expected to be large in weight and wear pants and shirts. The men are often wearing skirts and blouses with a contraption called a peho which holds their genitals in place. This can be compared with a bra to women in society today. When Patronius Bram has to buy his first peho he’s struck with much anxiety and wondering. This means he’s beginning to enter adulthood and will attend the Maidmen’s Ball. Here is where boys expect to be “swept off their feet” by a certain woman and taken into a maidmen-room and engage in some sort of sexual activity. The boys expect it to be a wonderful experience and hope to have actual intercourse. The women on the other hand appear rather rowdy and in it only for the sexual relations. The whole goal of this ball is for the boys…

    • 1697 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Feminist's View

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A feminist criticism is an approach to literature that seeks to correct or supplement what may be regarded as a predominantly male-dominated critical perspective with a feminist consciousness (Meyer 1658). The excerpt from A Secret Sorrow and “A Sorrowful Woman” are great from a feminist point of view. Both of these stories are about marriage and family, but their points of view are different. How would a feminist critic view the characters willingness to want a family or willingness to be separated from her family? How would a feminist critic analyze the time period of the two stories? What would a feminist critic say about the male leads? You are about to find out!…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the story by Charles W. Chesnutt, "The Wife of His Youth, there are many different types of conflict. There is internal conflict amongst the characters, internal conflict, and conflict with society. The conflicts that Chesnutt raises in this story are not easy to relate to for everyone, but can easily bring to mind similar problems people face. The struggles that the main character faces are something people face on a daily basis.…

    • 2110 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the late 1800’s, the subject of divorce was quite unmentionable. For women, divorce was burdensome to obtain; however, for men, if women committed a simple act of adultery, then a divorce could be granted. At first, it was almost impossible for women to get divorced, but later, if their husbands committed adultery and any other harmful crime, such as abuse, then they may file for divorce. Even so, it became futile for divorced women to live after this because the subject of divorce was so taboo that no one would accept them and they had to fend for themselves. Susan Glaspell, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Kate Chopin all expressed what women went through during an unhappy marriage and how they would rather suffer in their marriage rather than getting a divorce and obtain freedom. Chopin, Glaspell, and Gilman use concrete literary elements in each of their…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Subordination of Women

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The feminist theory looks into women’s social roles and the tolerance woman must have in order to stay in a marriage. Susan Glaspell and Charlotte Gilman wrote in a time where it was socially unacceptable to divorce your husband in any circumstance. Feminist theory is a deeply rooted in the short stories and the inequalities these women face in comparison to their males counterparts. In “Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman, the oppression and destruction of the female character is created from the male characters’ insensitivities and false perceptions of the female’s physical and mental state.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Secret History took place in Hampden, Vermont (New England), and was likely happened in the nineteenth century for the way the characters had dressed and the story was told in the first person point of view. The time the story had taken was maybe one of the reasons why the story became more interesting. If the story were to be happened in 21st century the way the events happened will be different, the characters might end up being prisoned for the reason that their actions were caught by camera perhaps. The story was taken place at the right century, it made every character act more suspicious and things more complicated.…

    • 2042 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays