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Gender Norms In 19th Century Literature

952 Words4 Pages

Men are better, stronger, powerful, and more educated—at least that’s what the 19th century would claim. Clearly, a re-occurring theme throughout these works of literature from the 19th century is women/gender rules/roles in society. Gender norms is something that highly interests me, and focusing on this theme throughout literature is interesting because we see the common idea of women being inferior, while men get to live life as being superior. While many works of literature focus on following this theme, there are occasional breaks in the pattern that makes a reader question how an independent woman is possible for that time period. Focusing on Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, we see (or can argue) that this book demonstrates the need …show more content…

In a different article, another quote reads, “The ideology of Separate Spheres rested on a definition of the ‘natural’ characteristics of women and men. Women were considered physically weaker yet morally superior to men, which meant that they were best suited to the domestic sphere” (Hughes). Analyzing these two quotes side-by-side is interesting because a reader can begin to realize that there is no escape from gender norms and expectations; a woman can’t escape marriage—she has to get married or be disowned. Even though the church required a “yes,” it was a forced “yes” because a woman knew what would happen if she said “no.” On the other hand, after she is married, she had a life of being a housewife to live for, which can be awful on its own. The idea of separate spheres is interesting because it shows how little interaction a couple can have, and it makes someone question if they actually love each other, or if they’re married because that was expected of them because of their gender

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