Compare and Constrast 'Wide Sargasso Sea' and 'the Awakening'
Compare and contrast how ‘Patriarchy’ shows oppression in ‘The Awakening’ and ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’.
‘Patriarchy’ is a social organisation in which the father or eldest male is head of a household or tribe, having supreme authority over his women and children. It is a system of government, where men hold the power, and women are largely excluded from it. A patriarchal civilisation promotes the dominance of men in social or cultural societies.
Jean Rhys (August 24th – 1890 May 14th 1979) was a Dominican modernist writer; Rhys is widely recognised for her postcolonial novel ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’, which is considered to be a post-modern feminist text. Another writer that wrote about the governance of patriarchy over matriarchy, in her bildungsroman novel ‘The Awakening’, was an American author called Kate Chopin (February 8th 1850 – August 22nd 1904). She was viewed as one of the first feminists as her writings reflect the barriers women faced in society, when equality between genders was not acknowledged.
Although the narratives of each novel differ, there are a number of similarities that is presented in the writer’s ideologies. An example is the oppression experienced by both protagonist characters ‘Antoinette’ from ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ and ‘Edna Pontellier’ from ‘The Awakening’. Each was faced with dictatorship from their husband’s in the narratives.
When Mr. Rochester is told his wife has declined matrimony, he thinks solely about his pride and status amongst the English public quote ‘rejected suitor jilted by this Creole girl’. Rhys illustrates how manipulative men can be, as he deceitfully convinces Antoinette to marry him, claiming he will ‘go with a sad heart’ promising her falsities of ‘peace, happiness and safety’. Similarly Kate Chopin conveys Mrs. Pontellier’s marriage as ‘purely an accident, in this respect resembling many other marriages which ‘masquerade as the decrees of Fate.’ This quote indicates Edna was not alone in considering marriage to be a
‘Patriarchy’ is a social organisation in which the father or eldest male is head of a household or tribe, having supreme authority over his women and children. It is a system of government, where men hold the power, and women are largely excluded from it. A patriarchal civilisation promotes the dominance of men in social or cultural societies.
Jean Rhys (August 24th – 1890 May 14th 1979) was a Dominican modernist writer; Rhys is widely recognised for her postcolonial novel ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’, which is considered to be a post-modern feminist text. Another writer that wrote about the governance of patriarchy over matriarchy, in her bildungsroman novel ‘The Awakening’, was an American author called Kate Chopin (February 8th 1850 – August 22nd 1904). She was viewed as one of the first feminists as her writings reflect the barriers women faced in society, when equality between genders was not acknowledged.
Although the narratives of each novel differ, there are a number of similarities that is presented in the writer’s ideologies. An example is the oppression experienced by both protagonist characters ‘Antoinette’ from ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ and ‘Edna Pontellier’ from ‘The Awakening’. Each was faced with dictatorship from their husband’s in the narratives.
When Mr. Rochester is told his wife has declined matrimony, he thinks solely about his pride and status amongst the English public quote ‘rejected suitor jilted by this Creole girl’. Rhys illustrates how manipulative men can be, as he deceitfully convinces Antoinette to marry him, claiming he will ‘go with a sad heart’ promising her falsities of ‘peace, happiness and safety’. Similarly Kate Chopin conveys Mrs. Pontellier’s marriage as ‘purely an accident, in this respect resembling many other marriages which ‘masquerade as the decrees of Fate.’ This quote indicates Edna was not alone in considering marriage to be a