Feminism from literature perspective

From the beginning of mankind till today, humans are choked with the various aspects that develop and affect society in every era. The man is always considered superior to the female. It endured everywhere in the world. Like other aspects that are suppressed, they tend to rise up with the flow of time. Feminism is a ubiquitous term that is associated with females. Today, it is common in different societies. Mainly it is redirected to Western cultures. But it is common nowadays.

Feminism is defined as “a movement that demands the equal rights of females.” It is a very vast genre of literature. It is mainly divided into eras. This movement was mainly highlighted in the mid-19th century. Mary Wollstonecraft was the first to write on the rights of women. She wrote her short pamphlet “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” in 1948, which argues and highlights the major issues faced by women in England. The Victorian Age was themed by the industrious era. Manpower dominated and there was more oppression of women. So write the essay where she highlighted the significance of women. They are not meant to have pleasure, romance, and raise children. The classification of women is that progress was limited to their beauty. She highlighted these issues and demanded the proper establishment of free educational institutes at the country level. This was considered the first work on feminism.

There were four reasons that caused critics to pay attention to this. First of all, literacy was the main cause of the feminist movement. Women in Western culture were limited to their household affairs. They were regarded as sex machines that were only meant to please men and look after households and children. The men, on the other hand, were only confined to their outer homework. This made women limited to their homes. On the other hand, men are free to get an education. Mathematics was only associated with males; it was not made for women. This provokes the feminist theory and urges females to claim their rights.

Secondly, women are always misrepresented from century to century. Women are categorized into “Good Women” & “Bad Women.” Good women are those women who can protect their innocence from childhood. Virginity is directly associated with good women. Moreover, the woman who can care for her home, her husband, and his children is a good woman. And society accepts her status. Many examples are available in literature that show good women. On the other hand, Bad Women is linked with the female who has the traits of a good woman. They don’t preserve their virginity and are available for the service of the astray men. Society didn’t accept such women. For example, in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, we see both good and bad women in the same novel. Sonya, a prostitute, was considered a bad woman. And Duniya, Raskolnikov’s sister, portrays a good woman. Similarly, in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, the protagonist showed the traits of a bad woman. In J.D Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye,” Phoebe Caulfield is defined as a good woman and the lift girl who pleasures Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, was portrayed as a bad woman.

The Grimms’ Fairy Tales, written by the Brothers Grimm, have numerous tales like Rapunzel, where good and bad girls are defined in the characters of Rapunzel and Dame Gothel, the witch. This misrepresentation of the women in their characters leads to feminism, although their main reason, which was always neglected, was considered bad women.

Thirdly, social programming is the main cause of the feminist movement. It is simply carried out with a concept that any false or discriminative things that society injects into the individual mind are called social programming. Although any individual develops their way of thinking while nourishing themselves in a society. The individual is shown with the scenarios and the traditions, which may be wrong or definitely let him think they can never be wrong. The status of women in present or past societies is the result of social programming.

Fourth is sexism, which presents women in the wrong way. Women are not only for sex, although they have these basic responsibilities by nature. But they should also give them some space where they can groom. Moreover, sexism is a bad thing for the welfare of society. For example, Lolita, a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, is totally based on sexism. The wrong definition of relations becomes the cause of the catastrophe of the cultures.

Feminism is directly associated with women. Sometimes, it might be bad. For example, in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Daisy highly believes in the classes of humans. Jay Gatsby picked the wrong way to raise his class so he can get Daisy. Sometimes, it’s a good thing; it urges a sense of existentialism in women. For example, in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Jo has a boyish character and shows a sense of existentialism. Moreover, it could be the cause of any major change in society, as shown by Amy’s character in Little Women, as she hates to be touched by her male teacher. No doubt, the literature is the main cause of the representation of feminism, a major right of women. Although many women tend to write for the welfare of females. As they use male nicknames to highlight it in her novels, like George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, and Mary Shelley. Like after many females also wrote on her issues and today in the 21st century. The world accepted the fact that the significance of women in society could be the cause of the progress of society and cultures.