the more time wasted on it, the prettier it is

Veblen provokes the idea that women during his time (and he most likely would have assumed during today's era as well) were designated to the "conspicuous leisure" that shackled women to the domestic role of mother and wife.

He argues that the leisures of the wife/mother apart from her typical household duties include, but are not limited to, decorating for the holidays, and are primarily for the appeal of anyone other than herself. Veblen describes the domestic female's appearance (based on socially-imposed standards, of course) are more specifically directed towards her husband's tastes. 

Veblen goes on to talk about what women do and don't do for the sake of their husbands and of society, however I was intrigued by was his assertion that the standards of beauty for which women base their homes and appearances and such on were only viewed as beauteous because they were considered to be conspicuously wasteful. In other words (or rather how I translated it), consumer-based standards of beauty that women typically spend much time doting over are merely objectified as attractive because we understand that the woman spent (or rather wasted) much of her time attending to such artifacts in order to please her audience. 

This is what Edna longed to escape. The duty of constantly attending to her children and husband and household while simultaneously worrying what a shallow community of conformists thought about her appearance as a mother, wife, and overall woman exhausted Edna. She was able to recognize the manifest illogic of such a lifestyle. 

While Edna's suicide can be argued as either a tragedy to represent her failures or as her triumph to break the convention of Victorian womanhood (or both I guess), it is undeniable that her attempts to liberate herself from the bindings of gender-based conformity are at least admirable given the context of her environment.

Daily Parties and Dirty Dishes

In Veblen's "Theory of the Leisure Class," it is suggested that beauty and pleasing surroundings are only created by the extravagant spending of money and time. Any actions that are not contributed towards this wasteful cause are pushed aside for a greater and more noticeable action. Veblen uses the comparison between washing the dishes and putting up fancy holiday decorations. The latter wold get greater attention and praise from others while clean dishes are expected to be present and received without much thought. In history, dish cleaning was done by women, so their action and role in life was lessened in importance. Veblen also brings up that female beauty in earlier times was found in strength and robustness, while at the turn of the century, gauged by delicateness and facial appeals. The major point brought up by Veblen was that a family's reputation was dependent on the expenditures of time and money to give off the impression that it is not needed. So while the man is working towards spending these things for his reputation, the woman is in charge of maintaining life away from the giant glass window.

This article by Veblen interestingly intertwines with how Edna is received by both her husband and the people around her. Edna spends most of her time with friends and lovers lounging whilst listening to music or chatting with others. Her daily interactions with others give off the impression that she is extremely appealing and that her money does what she isn't doing. But some things that people may expect Edna to be doing, such as watching her children or washing dishes is dispersed to servants. The fact that Edna almost ignores this private living standard that Veblen suggests drives Leonce crazy and away from her. The beauty that is seen in Edna almost immediately disappears when she is alone in a smaller house without her husband and children. The sense of leisure and wealth dissipates when she is forced to do more work on her own. This shows that the opinion made by others is dependent on what you show, not what you have.

eh

Veblen argues that activities that don't produce a consumer good, which are supposedly vital to our existence as humans, are wasteful and done by women. Cleaning, for example. Women participate in this wasteful activities and therefore are valued less than men. However men, who stereotypically work and bring home an income, are the true, valued member of society.

In response to The Awakening, Veblen's ideology fits in some places but is also broken in several others. Edna at the beginning would most likely fall more under his "useless" category, because she is staying home and doing nothing while her husband is away in the city working. However, Edna breaks free of being "useless" and begins working- painting, etc. She begins to get "value".

In any circumstance, Veblen is just being rude. "Cleanliness is close to godliness", is the only remotely religious thing that has been presented to me in my life- by my father. Would Veblen follow his own theory if he encountered a stay-at-home-dad? While both of my parents work and produce these "consumer goods", neither of them are valued as worth more or less than each other or any other person.

These "consumer goods" are also not the center of our society- we as a species have lived without them before and we can live without them again.

Chopin: A Successful Shakespeare's Sister

Virginia Woolf argues in "Shakespeare's Sister," that there are no examples of women's literature and art during Shakespeare's time because women were denied opportunities that were given to men of the time. "Shakespeare's sister", which Woolf names Judith, would have been brought up in the same household as Shakespeare and was described as "as adventurous, as imaginative, as agog to see the world as he was." They would have been the same except for the fact that she was a girl. If she picked up a book her parents would come in and tell her to "mend the stockings or mind the stew." She would have been taught traditional "women's" tasks and denied the opportunities her brother was given. People would not take her as seriously and she ends up dead at a young age. Her tragic life would be a result of a denial of opportunities because of the idea that girls are not worth teaching.

As if this idea is not shocking enough, Woolf also brings to attention that fact that little is known about women of the time anyway. Woolf says that when looking for information about women and their positions in Professors Trevelyan's History of England it led to pages about "Wife-beating" and that it " was a recognized right of man." This is the only type of information about women before the eighteenth century because history was written by the men of time. While denial of educating women prevented women from creating art like Shakespeare but it also prevented more historical information about women from being shared.

The Awakening is a perfect example of how educated women contribute to both art and society. Although Chopin wrote her book long after Shakespeare's time,  her novel is a work of art as much as Shakespeare's plays are. Her novel also provides a look at life in the past and the traditional role of women then. Chopin and her novel are an example of what Shakespeare's sister could have been given equal opportunities and a different time period.

Mozart's Sister

In A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf hypothesizes about the theoretical life of Shakespeare's sister, Judith, and comes to the conclusion that "any woman born with a great gift in the sixteenth century would certainly have gone crazed, shot herself, or ended her days in some lonely cottage outside the village." This statement corresponds with the ending of Kate Chopin's The Awakening, in which Edna, condemned by society for freely pursuing love and individuality, commits suicide. Woolf and Chopin use the disturbing fates of Judith and Edna to expose society's oppression of women. However, I think it's more powerful to view Judith and Edna as extremes of universal female suffering.

As I read Woolf's analysis of Shakespeare's hypothetical sister, I immediately thought of Maria Anna (Marianne) Mozart, the sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In contrast to Judith, Marianne was unlike most women of her time because her father was a renowned composer. As a result, she received a high level of musical training like her brother and is believed to have written several compositions. However, whereas Wolfgang had the opportunity to travel and gain recognition for his music, Marianne had to stay home and enter an arranged marriage. Woolf's conclusion suggests that an exceptionally talented woman like Marianne would have gone mad or committed suicide. However, despite her sure frustration and resentment of her brother, Marianne lived a seemingly content life and found happiness in contributing to her brother's biographies at the end of her life.

My point is that, while Judith's implied fate and Edna's death are powerful, I think the most poignant part of Woolf's analysis is when she states that Judith "lives in you and in me, and in many other women who are not here tonight, for they are washing up the dishes and putting the children to bed." Judith has an exceptional talent and Edna meets an exceptionally dark fate. However, more common are the women, perhaps with exceptional but undiscovered talents, who conform to gender roles as Marianne did and live a life riddled with frustration.

Escape from New Orleans

In Veblen's "Theory of the Leisure Class" he describes the concept of "conspicuous leisure". This is a form of non-productive time consumption, usually performed by women in upper middle class or upper class families, used to demonstrate station or wealth. These activities by definition produce nothing of actual value, but the results are more of a status symbol to show that one is afforded the opportunity to expend or "waste" money, resources and time in a somewhat senseless manor. Such activities may include setting up holiday decorations, edging a lawn, cleaning a house beyond what is necessary, activities that are visually pleasing but serve no practical function. This "conspicuous leisure" is often performed by servants. Activities that do serve a purpose such as washing clothes are not "conspicuous leisure".

In "The Awakening" Edna both fights against "conspicuous leisure" and succumbs to it. Previously Edna had spent every Tuesday at home, dressing "lavishly" and entertaining house guests. However she abandons this tradition instead preferring to pursue her own interests. Later when Leonce suggests that they go and buy new fixtures for their home Edna objects and says that they already live lavishly enough, so she blows him off and works on her art and then visits Adele. Edna eventually abandons the large house altogether, moving into the "pigeon house" which is small and unadorned. Whether conscious or not Edna is resisting the idea of "conspicuous leisure"  as it is but another constraint upon her that limits who she is, preventing her from defining her own identity. Edna however is not entirely able to escape from the "conspicuous leisure", as even after she moves into the "pigeon house" she still keeps servants. This shows just how deeply engraved "conspicuous leisure" is in society.

How would Veblen react to Edna's choices?

Veblen's excerpt, "Theory of the Leisure Class" discusses the evolution of the leisure class and consumption. Specifically, how both these concepts are social constructs. For instance, Veblen talks about how many social standards are unnecessary time consumers. However, the reason people partake in these tasks is to prove their wealth or social standing. Most of what people do today is show off their possessions, their success, and why they are better than everyone else. People seem to be trying to out show each other every chance they get. In Kinnan's summary of Veblen's work, Kinnan says that, "Veblen notes that as one descends the economic scale one has less and less ability to display wastefulness of time, money , and resources, but he says that poor people will nonetheless do what they can, because this is how the family's or person's reputability is established." Even though poor people don't have the money to waste time with unnecessary "necessities", they will still be doing everything they can to get to the point where they can show off their property. This is similar to when the fatter you were the more wealthy you seemed because you could afford food unlike day laborers who ate but also worked off all of the fat. Back then, rich people would try to eat more so that their social status would increase because people would believe they are richer. Veblen also makes a good point when he talks about the requirements women are subjected to (either consciously or unconsciously). Even though it is more uncomfortable to dress nicely and wear high heels or put on make-up (another time-waster) women will do it anyways. It also mentions how women are another object to be shown off as property to increase their social standing. A great example of women's oppression and their fight to break social constructs is Kate Chopin's novel, "The Awakening".

In the story, Edna, the protagonist,  is feeling oppressed by society, her husband, and even her children. Edna's husband has never thought of Edna as a typical "mother-woman" or a woman who "idolized their children" and "worshiped their husbands". Throughout the story, Edna seems to be struggling finding her way. Even though Edna has been feeling this way for quite some time it isn't until Robert enters her life that she actually starts to feel rebellious. Robert is what allows her to break free from her restraints. However, he is also one of the reasons for her demise. At the end of the novel, Edna commits suicide because she never felt understood.

Edna vs. Conspicuous Leisure

In Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class, he discusses the two types of economic concepts: conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption. Conspicuous leisure revolves around activities that supposedly don’t produce anything with actual value, such as washing dishes or sweeping the floor. He lists this type of social practice as “non-productive”, and associates it with women. Men, on the other hand, fall under the conspicuous consumption category. They must go out and work to provide for the family, and therefore can’t take part in any form of conspicuous leisure.

Edna and her husband in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening are perfect examples of these economic concepts. While Mr. Pontellier is away for business, Edna is left alone with the children. When she attempts to move into a new home (the “pigeon house”), Mr. Pontellier announces that they are re-modeling their home as an attempt cover up Edna’s rebellious actions. This goes back to Veblen’s argument, and supports his idea that a woman participating in “consumption” (such as Edna switching houses) is “taboo”. In addition, they are part of the middle/upper-middle class, which is where this “phenomenon” occurs most.

What I Would Give To Be A Part Of The Leisure Class

Contradictory to the title I would not like to be a part of the "Leisure Class." The Leisure Class is term coined by Thorstein Veblen in his Theory of the Leisure Class. The leisure class is a high society class that does not do much other then sit around and show off their wealth. Veblen focuses on women's contributions to the leisure class.

Veblen developed the concepts of conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption to describe a high class of people.Conspicuous leisure is defined as non-productive consumption of time. Conspicuous consumption is defined as spending money because you have it and you can show it off.  These people had enough money that the woman's role was to partake in conspicuous leisure and the family engaged in conspicuous consumption basically because they could.

This article ties in  The Awakening by Kate Chopin through the books main character Edna and her husband Leonce. Leonce loves to live extravagantly and always keeps up with the latest fashion. Conspicuous leisure is evident in the way that the Pontelliers spend their summers. They go to an expensive resort like place on an island in the gulf of Mexico.

In many instances Leonce goes off to work and leaves Edna to sit around and waste time. Later in the novel when Edna starts her awakening she starts to depart from the normal behaviors. She refuses Leonce's offer to go purchase new fixtures, and down grades to a smaller (but still prominent) house.

With Edna's sexual and gender awakening we start to see a sort of economic awakening as well. Edna develops her own income and starts to attempt to provide for herself rather then partake in conspicuous leisure.

One Must Stand Before One Can Fly

"He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying" - Friedrich Nietzsche

Woolf supports the argument made in the previous quote through her postulation of Shakespeare's sister's lifestyle. She states that although others credit women's inability to write works of a comparable caliber to those of W. Shakespeare as their intrinsic lack of intelligence to do such, she believes it was rather due to a lack of access to education offered to women. The issue this poses is that if women never had access, who is to say that they wouldn't have contributed great works of literature had they been recruited to write or read? Or quantify? Or calculate?

As Nietzsche declares, 'one cannot fly into flying'. There must be basis for the growth of an individual and the issue in the 19th century was many women were avoided the opportunity to go to school, at least past grade school. Thus, women in general lacked the ability to, for the sake of the metaphor, "stand" alone for they had never been pushed to do so. I think Nietzche's statement also nicely ties into The Awakening based on the bird motif and Edna's identification with them throughout the novel. We see Edna watching the birds flutter into the distance, seemingly effortless, and understand her feeling of confinement as she remains in the same position. Nietzche's theme is also overwhelming present in the novel as we read about Edna's internal struggles to fully break gender conventions after she "awakens" and realizes the absurdity of gender roles.

Not only does Woolf and Nietzsche's argument play a role in our novel, but it is also applicable to daily happenings in the world. Namely, girls' education. In developing countries around the world, limited women are provided the opportunity to seek an education comparable to that of their male counterparts. In fact, some countries directly condemn the education of women. Terrorist groups, like Boko Haram, target women who pursue an education. And their argument prevails "Women are naturally not as intelligent, so why seek an education? They will only hinder our community by becoming educated because they will not be taking care of our children.

The issue at hand is this statement has been declared from a bias point of view in which women cannot achieve the basis of education in order to prove their importance as educated individuals in the community. Without leveling the playing field, we will continue to discredit the oppressed races, gender, ethnicities, and /or identifications of self. Genius doesn't come by itself; it is bred and later inspired by others. It is an achievement of oneself through the help of others.

Worthless but Necessary

Mary Wollstonecraft brings forth ideas from many different scholars.  For example she states that, “Rousseau declares that a woman should never, for a moment, feel herself independent, that she should be governed by fear to exercise her natural cunning, and made a coquettish slave in order to render her a more alluring object of desire, a sweeter companion to man, whenever he chooses to relax himself.” (pg. 7).  This quote reminds me of Edna in the novel The Awakening.  In fact, Edna chooses to do the opposite of what Rousseau believes.  Edna in the end of the novel refuses to go on a trip with her husband, picks her own love that she is truly passionate about, and moves into her own home that she pays for with her own money.  

Also Wollstonecraft says, “Connected with man as daughters, wives, and mothers, their moral character may be estimated by their manner of fulfilling those simple duties; but the end, the grand end of their exertions should be to unfold their own faculties and acquire the dignity of conscious virtue.” (pg. 8). This quote reminds of a concept that Thorstein Veblen discusses.  When Wollstonecraft talks about the duties of women I think that Veblen elaborates on what these duties are stereotypically supposed to be.  Veblen says, “In the earlier phases of the predatory culture the only economic differentiation is a broad distinction between an honourable superior class made up of the able- bodied men on the one side, and a base inferior class of labouring women on the other.”(pg. 32).  Men are superior while the women work because of their inferiority.  

Veblen also elaborates on the work that women achieve.  Veblen states, “Unproductive consumption of goods is honorable, primarily as a mark of prowess and a perquisite of human dignity; secondarily it becomes substantially honourable in itself, especially the consumption of the more desirable things.”(pg. 31) This quote explains how it is honourable to appear to be wealthy and superior and the way to achieve this is in the tasks that women complete.  Women elaborately decorate the interiors of their homes, they change the landscape of their homes to edged lawns, and they fill their kitchens with fancy appliances.  All of these are worthless and provide no practical purpose, however, they demonstrate wealth and help to build their husband’s image.  

This is similar to Edna and Leonce’s martial relationship in The Awakening.  When Edna decides to move out to the pigeon house Leonce doesn’t want society to think that he isn’t wealthy enough to provide for her so he says that he is redoing his house because according to society having a nice and decadent household with impractical belongings portrays you as wealthy.  

Shakespeare's sister shall live

In the excerpt from A Room of One's Own, by Virginia Woolf explains that, yes Shakespeare had a sister, but there is no way that she could have came up with any pieces of literature that her brother could have came up with. Woolf makes it very clear that it is not her lack of ability to write because she is a girl, but rather she was born into a time period that oppressed women and wouldn't let them do activities such as write.

Throughout the entire passage, the one line that popped out at me and got my mental juices flowing was in the final paragraph where Woolf writes, "Now my belief is that this poet [Shakespeare's sister] who never wrote a word and was buried at the crossroads still lives. She lives in you and in me, and in many other women who are not here tonight, for they are washing up the dishes and putting the children to bed" (Woolf 39). Usually people are remembered because of what they said, not what they didn't say. His sister is remembered because she wasn't able to write, she wasn't able to express herself. She serves as a reminder of what happens when you oppress women. If Shakespeare and his sister lived in a different time period, we would be studying two Shakespeare's instead of one.

Cats Do Not Go To Heaven

I'm not a cat person. I struggle to be, but I still view them as docile vessels of Satan much of the time.

But they do have souls. And regardless of afterlife beliefs, or whether or not cats have a heaven of their own to even go to, the assumption that they are undeserving of, or are not beings enough to have, what many view as a God-given privilege, is unfair and ludicrous. Given opportunity, why would they not?

Virginia Woolf, in her feminist critique "Shakespeare's Sister," mentions an old, now dead, bishop who openly declared that women could not write works like Shakespeare; he also declared that cats cannot go to heaven. At the time of Shakespeare, Woolf argues, it was true that a woman could not have written the works of Shakespeare, but not because they were unable in talent or lacking in ideas; it was because society did not allow it.

Through the fictitious example of Shakespeare's sister, Woolf demonstrates how society prevented women from gaining the equal opportunities as men to educate themselves or realize their dreams. She explains that "[Shakespeare's sister] picked up a book now and then, one of her brother's perhaps, and read a few pages. But then her parents came in and told her to mend the stockings or mind the stew and not moon about with books and papers." Women may have had the identical baseline as men, but due to the role they were supposed to play in society, they were kept from realizing any potential. Shakespeare's sister, an idea that seems like it could have so much promise if implemented, would in reality have ended in no different result than the usual Hamlet and King Lear we have now due to the destructive nature of society to women at the time.

It's as if the cats, with the same soulful capabilities as anyone who would be let into whatever pearly gates awaited, would be rejected at the door, or distracted endlessly from the path merely because they are cats and they are not viewed as worthy of being let in. They're arbitrarily serving a different role: random animal companion (or furry antagonist) until they die and disappear from existence and importance.

The women of Shakespeare's time suffered the same fate. It seems ridiculous to equate women to cats, and I certainly believe women deserve more equality than cats by a long-shot, but it was and to some extent still is the reality. I can't speak for the cats, but I can say that Woolf's relation of cats to women really does reveal the ignorance involved with gender roles. Why is saying cats can't go to heaven even necessary? Why is saying women would have been unable to write the works of Shakespeare, if society had let them, any less delusional?

Much of the time assumptions are made incorrectly, and from those assumptions stem societal behaviors that, much like a self-fulfilling prophecy, force the assumption into accuracy. Woolf presents the ignorance of assumptions, and their dangerous effects on society as well as the consequent effects of society on the people living in it. In contemporary life, things have changed to an extent, but there are still far too many assumptions and  societal behaviors that inhibit the truth and eliminate the beneficial talent that should blossom every second.

I'm sure there are many cat people out there who would like to have them in heaven to pet and love, so why prevent them from getting there by asserting that they can't? Shakespeare's sister could have had many wonderful works to offer, so in the future we should stop preventing the realization of feminine talent merely because we choose to say it isn't possible. Say, "they can, why not?" instead of "they can't, because they can't." And say it to everyone. Maybe even the cats.

Although I'm still not a cat person.

How the 'Leisure Class' lives is New Orleans

Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class is a socio-economic treatise on the ramifications of ancient class distinctions on the society of today. Veblen critiques high-class 'Conspicuous Consumption,' and  proposes that the lower and middle class support society as a whole. In short, Veblen says that economic choice is driven by the remnants of social class, not by utility.

Chopin's The Awakening ties in with Veblen's theory. The novel is founded upon the premise that the high class must not work for their quality of life. Edna, the main character, finds herself married into extreme wealth, to the point that she doesn't know what to do with her time. The novel's rich attention to detail shows the characters' attention to detail; they need not be concerned with the big picture because they have it laid out for them by the lower classes.

Veblen further postulates that the leisure class maintains control of the lower castes by withholding useful tools from them. In the past, an example would be tribe warriors withholding the secrets of forging weapons from the general tribe population. In The Awakening, this connection is actually not strongly developed, but there are a few hints at high-class propriety: connections to the doctor and having maids, servants, and men from lower classes who fawn over Edna.

Is sum, Veblen's 'Conspicuous Consumption' theory is exemplified by the novel's slow pace, the nonchalant lifestyle of the rich, and the rich attention to detail. Chopin's work does not strongly highlight Veblen's other theses about contemporary distinctions between classes.

Veblen and Chopin

Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class is an economic analysis of the social customs of Americans during his era. He analyzes the value of the "leisure class," a class that he observed was present only in American society. Contrary to other economists in his time period that believed leisure was part of human nature, Veblen actually believed that humans inherently took pride in their work. However, as time progressed, he says that the goal of work became not pride, but accumulating wealth in a way that he defines as the "non-productive consumption of time." He views the activities of the leisure class as conspicuous consumption and waste, but the activities reveal one's prosperity as they display extravagant expenditures. His theory states that because the man in the family had to actually do work to provide for the family, the wife performs the man's leisure on his behalf.  His theory states that the woman is essentially an instrument used to establish the economic power of the man. In summary, all actions done by a woman are, "…understood as not for herself but for the benefit of someone else, to whom she is economically indebted." Edna effectively breaks these constructions of Veblen's theory in "The Awakening," perhaps to illuminate the restrictions placed on women in society in a way was permissible at the time.

While at the beginning of the book Edna feels oppressed by her husband, but over the course of the novel, she increasingly develops her independence as a woman. She becomes aware of her emotional and sexual desires, making autonomous decisions to satisfy these desires. At a time like that, she was a very radical character, clearly not acting on any influences by her husband. However, I found it interesting that at the beginning of chapter 32 in the novel, her husband, Mr. Pontellier, is worried about similar ideas that Veblen discussed. When he learned of Edna's intention to abandon him, he begged her to stay because of the reactions people might have to her leaving him. Parallel with Veblen, the novel states(don't know the exact point of view), "He was simply thinking of his financial integrity. It might get noised about that the Pontelliers had met with reverses, and were forced to conduct their menage on a humbler scale than heretofore." It is no coincidence that Chopin and Veblen were writing about the same topics in this time period. His desire to keep Edna was specifically for financial purposes. While Edna desires to be a free woman, the same ideologies were still embedded in society. Perhaps Chopin's writing was a way to attack some of these issues in a way that was less aggressive, through her novel.

The Oppression of Females throughout History

Virginia Woolf explains the life of Shakespeare's fictional sister to highlight the limitations on women in that time period. She tells the story of Judith, who is equally as bright and imaginative as Shakespeare. However, she does not go to school like her brother, and is instead forced to tend to household chores. Woolf explains, "She had no chance of learning grammar and logic, let alone reading Horace and Virgil." A girl never had the opportunity to learn in that period, therefore it is not surprising that they were not responsible for the great plays, sonnets, and literature of the time. Woolf in fact argues that if a woman was as gifted as a man, such as Judith was, she would go crazy, or shoot herself. Woolf describes, "For it needs little skill in psychology to be sure that a highly gifted girl who had tried to use her gift for poetry would have been so thwarted and hindered by other people, so tortured and pulled asunder by her own contrary instincts, that she must have lost her health and sanity to a certainty." A female with any talent, aside from their daily chores, was restricted and told to pursue other things. She then may have felt that she was not deserving of success, and would have gone crazy. Edna experiences this same dilemna in "The Awakening."

In "The Awakening" Edna is oppressed by her husband. She is forced to adhere to the stereotypical gender roles, and act as a mother, though she admits she has no passion for it. However, throughout the novel she realizes a certain clarity that allows her to see that she is different than other women. She does not care much for her role as a mother, as Madame Ratignolle does, nor does she care much about pleasing her husband. She wants to develop her independence, much like Judith does when she leaves home to travel to London. To establish her independence, Edna begins gambling and selling her artwork to get an income, and rents her own small house. It appears as if she is successfully asserting her individuality and power. However, society continues to oppress her. Robert ultimately tells her that he loves her, so he cannot be with her, because it is not the right thing to do. Edna finds herself going crazy because she has her independence, but now has nothing to do with it in the absence of Robert's love. Much like Judith, she finds that she cannot make much headway because of society's restrictions, and unfortunately ends her life because of it. Even given independence, women have been oppressed by society into obedience and insanity.

Shakespeare's Oppressed Sister

In A Room of One's Own,  Virginia Woolf explains the gender binary that is prevalent throughout history, in which the man is the dominant public figure and the woman is the concealed housewife. Woolf uses the word 'deplorable' when she accounts that little is known about women before the eighteenth century. In a testament against those who say that the women of the time did not have the 'genius' of Shakespeare to evidently bring upon such public acclaim, Woolf uses the fictional concept of Shakespeare's sister to strike at what she addresses as ignorance and sexism.

Woolf calls us to imagine a woman named Judith; a "wonderfully gifted sister' of Shakespeare. As a young girl, Judith didn't have the opportunity to be sent to school and learn grammar and logic as well as the works of Horace and Virgil like her brother. Rather, she remained at home despite an adventurous and imaginative spirit equal to that of her male sibling. She was cast away from books and papers as her parents insisted upon her spending her time mending the stockings or cooking, many of the pastimes characteristic of women throughout history.

Reproaching her father, Judith eventually runs away in her teens to avoid a "hateful" marriage that surely awaited her had she remained home. Off to London, Judith takes a keen interest in pursuing theatre once in the city. She had desired to act, yet the men of the theater world disregarded her with a mocking laugh. The opportunity to receive training in the craft was futile as a woman.

Without the ability to pursue her passion, and having been disowned by her family after years of being oppressed, Judith kills herself one night. Realizing all efforts were futile to live a life equivalent to that of her brother, Judith embodies the restrictions women have faced throughout history.

Liberty or Death

Even if you have no experience in analyzing writing, there is one glaring similarity between Virginia Woolf's passage on Shakespeare's sister and The Awakening: in both their respective female protagonists meet their end in a somewhat jarring early death.  I, as a reader, am not a big fan of death - especially as the ending to a story.  I suppose that this discomfort is the point; the authors want their readers to see the impossibility of the situation.  So when I ask myself whether the authors had to go to that extreme, I actually find myself saying yes.

Social critics, in order to be productive, must create work that fosters a sense of urgency while being relatable to what the audience feels - the audience, of course, being citizens of the very society being attacked.  Even if the social commentary is expressed just as clearly through lesser techniques, the significance lost by omitting death makes the topic easy to brush aside.  There are always plenty of other areas to focus on within our society, not to mention others'.  Plenty of these have clear connections to heavy consequences like death without being laid out by a novel, for example.  Even more importantly, plenty of other areas-needing-improvement can be addressed with a little to none individual shaming.  Changing society without actually feeling bad about my part in it?  How ideal.

Death's particular use within feminist text goes beyond the necessity of gravity, however.  While the feminist nature of the texts stands in opposition to our culture (quite on purpose), they actually stand quite in line with a prominent Western idea: it would be better to die free than live otherwise.  Such a clear display of our own mentality is instantly understandable and almost takes some of the sting off of realizing that sometimes we as individuals are wrong.  So is it really fair for me to ask them to turn it down for me?  I daresay it would be a disservice to myself.

Life Lessons From Frankl

I though the parallels between King Lear and A Man's Searching For Meaning powerful yet surprising. Both pieces portray men struggling to find themselves and their power. King Lear is struggling to deal with the fact that he is getting older and his power is vanishing and Frankl describes his experience with a concentration camp. Although the connections between these two individuals are strong, I think Frankl's story deserves all the attention.

After reading his story, I was amazed. Viktor Frankl is incredibly determined and strong willed. He took the worst possible circumstance and still learned from it. I think this is a lesson in itself. Frankl shows that grit and hope can help anyone stay strong through any challenge or setback. Even in the most awful situations, Frankl was able to find things of beauty and I have no doubt that this ability directly attributed to his survival.

If King Lear was a real and alive today, I think he could learn a lot from Frankl. Lear would avoid many of his problems if he approached them with the determination and concentration of Frankl.

Food, water, shelter, and...?

Frankl's recollection of his time spent in concentration camps is one of the more disturbing things we've read for class. It's not even in the graphic imagery of illness or frost bitten toes that gets to the reader, but his description of what the camps did to the soul. He goes through the stages of what it was like to be in such an environment. What got to me was when he illustrated a train ride from one camp to another. He writes that he felt like a dead man returning to where he grew up only to find a ghost town. It's nightmarish to imagine what they looked like physically, being starved and overworked, but mentally, he writes that it was as if he was already dead.

It's very difficult to write an analysis of such a story. Frankl makes the Reader feel his words and be able to see what he saw. Maybe it's not the best thing to compare his very real nightmare to a work of fiction, but there are quite a few comparisons and contractions to be made from Frankl's writing to that of Shakespeare and Camus.

In all three works, the one thing that kept the main characters going was the thought or presence of something they loved. Although Meursault does't profess his love for much, the memory of his apartment and just thinking about physical items burned through his plentiful time in prison. For Lear, who doesn't end up spending much time imprisoned at all, having Cordelia with him changed everything. He explains to her how he believes they'll be very happy, only having each other. Lastly, for Frankl, it's a slightly different story. He, like Lear, has someone who he holds very dear. He does not have the luxury that Meursault has of not having much of a connection to the outside world besides physical pleasures like swimming, smoking or sex. Unlike Lear, he does not have his beloved near him. He doesn't even know where his wife is or if she's alive. However, it is still the thought of her that keeps Frankl going. Throughout being slowly starved to death and tortured daily, Frankl keeps his wife in his thoughts and has conversations with her while working. Love may not be the only thing that keeps people semi-sane in restricting and unlivable environments, as Meursault supposedly only needed a days worth of memories, but it sure doesn't hurt. I'd imagine there were quite a few men there who didn't have wives to think of, but they probably thought of parents, siblings, somebody they saw on the street once whose face they remember, a pet, etc. The thought of something you care about if even just a tiny amount keeps people feeling human.