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Trifles And Women In The 1900's

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This essay will be comparing and contrasting the time period of the Victorian Era, First World War period, and present day. It will also be discussing how the past time period’s lifestyle has changed compared to the present. I will be using two literary works, Trifles and “The Story of an Hour,” for references in my essay. Both stories have their differences and similarities. Society, marriage, and women all play a role in these stories. Compared to present times women have a lot more rights and different roles in life and marriage than in the past.
Trifles was published be Susan Glaspell during the First World War period. Susan Glaspell wrote Trifles in 1916 and she was given the reputation as a writer who is sensitive to feminist issues by …show more content…

Women, in both stories, had roles as housewives. In Trifles, the main character got married young which was common during that time period. In the World War I, women had to assume the roles of men and had to make a living, which challenged the traditional gender roles. The women are fulfilling the traditional role responsibilities of men by becoming the primary breadwinners. In addition, women had to take care of the children, housework, factory jobs, store work, and clerical work. They were also not allowed to go to war and fight with the men. Despite women’s changing roles, men continued to hold the power in a marriage. In the Victorian Era, women were made to feel that it was necessary to get married to survive in the world. Women were supposed to stay at home and cook and clean. They were not allowed to a get education or receive knowledge outside their household. Women were supposed to have the appearance of innocent. Men were superior, had more rights, and were protectors to women. Women’s most important role was to become a mother. In those time periods, women were viewed as weak, dependent, and domestic. In the present, marriages are viewed as a partnership that are equal for both men and women. It is more common for some women to be unmarried and independent nowadays. Many of the rights women have now they did not have back then. Women can vote, sue, testify in court, control their own property, go into the military forces, go to school, get higher education, and get their own

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