In comparing the three authors and the literary works of women authors, Kate Chopin (1850 -1904), "The Awakening", Charlotte Perkins Gilman's (1860-1935), "The Yellow Wallpaper", and Edith Wharton's (1862-1937) "Souls Belated", many common social issues related to women are brought to light, and though subtly pointed out are an outcry against the conventions of the time. In these three stories, which were written between 1899 and 1913, the era was a time in which it seems, women had finally awaken to realize their social oppression and were becoming rebellious in their pursuit of freedom from the male-dominated societal convention in which they existed. They commenced viewing their social stature as unjustly inferior, and they realized that these conventions placed deterrents on their intellectual and personal growth, and on their freedom to function as an independent person. All three of these women authors have by their literary works, voiced their strong unfavorable feelings about the patriarchal society in which they lived.
Kate Chopin in 1894
The Yellow Wallpaper, one of Gilman's most popular...
English: Charlotte Perkins Gilman2
These women authors have served as an eye-opener for readers, both men and women alike, in the past, and hopefully still in the present. (There are still cultures in the world today, where women are treated as unfairly as women were treated in prior centuries).
These women authors have impacted a male dominated society into reflecting on of the unfairness imposed upon women. Through their writings, each of these women authors who existed during that masochistic Victorian era, risked criticism and retribution. Each author ignored convention and proceeded to write about women's issues. They took the gamble and suffered the consequences, but each one stood by what is just and reasonable. They were able to portray women as human beings, rather than as totally self-sacrificing and sanctified women, as was expected of women in...