Shirley Jackson Patriarchy

Female agency implicates on putting the female at the center, which has been explored to a certain degree in the characters Tessie Hutchinson in Jackson’s “The lottery”, Louise Mallard in Chopin’s “ The story of an Hour” as well as Joyce’s “ Eveline.” The three stories arise together from the unavoidable fact of women discrimination and patriarchy. This conflict is the key factor on explaining the main point of the stories which is the attack of the society’s ideas of fear, equality, and freedom.
To begin with let’s explore what is meant by female agency. Female Agency is an individual’s or a group’s ability to convert its choices and desires into action and effective outcomes. Women despite the discrimination and oppressive structures have
These two characters are the opposite of the character of Mrs. Mallard due to the fact that instead of seeking for their freedom and their independence they decide to isolate themselves. This happened due to the circumstances that they found themselves in and also because of the society’s mentality. Eveline in one hand had the chance to run away with her lover, Frank, from the horror that her father caused her. During her decision making, she got caught up in so many things that she feared. One of those things was fear of the unknown. She was so caught up in her life and in the terror that followed her in a daily basis that the thought of leaving it was too tough for her. Eveline was seeking Argentina as a place of hope and savior from her father’s violence, where people would finally appreciate her effort and would give her the respect that she never got. Although due to these factors she ended up not making a step forward towards her future but instead her thoughts got the best of her so she had decided to continue living on that “cage” that her father had created for her. (Joyce par.5, 12, 13) Another brief example from literature is Tessie from Jackson’s “The lottery.” Tessie is Bill Hutchinson’s wife and during their ritual whom only men are allowed to take part in, Tessie ends up being the victim of the horrible tradition. No one in the town has the courage to speak up about the inhumanity that this tradition of stoning “the winner” to death is representing. As a brief conclusion Jackson’s “The Lottery” marks, not a winner, but a loser who gets stoned to death by the village.(Jackson