happened during the century was Women’s Liberation. Women gained the right to vote and own property among other things. Freedom from their repression made it more common for women to enter the workforce, gaining an economic means of self support. Although Heart of Darkness and The Awakening were written before the Women’s Liberation truly started in they 1920s, they give a glimpse of how women were viewed, and of how some chose to raise opposition to this view.

In Joseph Conrad’s book, Heart of Darkness, women are viewed as inferior to men, both physically and mentally. The main character, Marlow, chooses to have his aunt help him find a job and proclaims, “Then - would you believe it?- I tried the women. I, Charlie Marlow, set the woman to work - to get a job. Heavens!” (67). Marlow feels that having a woman, even a relative, help a man shows a sign of weakness,

that there could be nothing lower than a man going to a woman for help. Ideally women are to be subservient and reserved, in no way outspoken or having any confidence. This can be shown when

Marlow’s aunt speaks of his new job as honorable, and Marlow disag

The Awakening, written by Kate Chopin, offers a female point of view to the same time period. Here, the main character, Edna, is a woman, unhappy but not knowing fully why. Her husband gives her what he feels she needs, and she is expected to take care of his desires, and of the children. The women that she is surrounded by, exemplified by the character Adele Ratignolle, seem to have no problem doing this and remaining elegant, unreserved, and forthright, but chaste. Edna at first has a hard time being as o pen as the others but finds a way to be true. This initial “awakening” is discovered when Edna finally beings to swim in the ocean on her own. Edna begins with a view of the sea as being something to dread without someone with her to guide her. Unexpectedly she chooses to swim and finds it to be quite simple. Edna feels a great joy, and a desire to swim further than any woman has ever swam before. She states, “It is nothing…why did I not discover before that it was nothing. Think of the time I have lost splashing about like a baby!” (47-48). This is when Edna finds a sense of independence, and knowledge that she is not a man’s possession, she is free to be herself and now allow being female to drag her down. Edna also finds her ideal self in other ways. She gain emotional freedom by allowing herself to feel love, whereas she didn’t love her husband because she didn’t feel safe in extending her emotions when she met him. She falls in love with

Some topics in this essay:
Adele Ratignolle, Charlie Marlow, Conrad Chopin’s, Kate Chopin, Heart Darkness, Liberation Women, Women’s Liberation, , Joseph Conrad’s, Darkness Awakening, emotional freedom, women’s liberation, women viewed, living life, model woman, awakening written, heart darkness, conrad’s book, main character, truth women,