Women in Literature

Paradise Lost - John Milton (1667)

Protofeminist

• Eve depicts the fall of all women/human kind

• Women are depicted as vain as Eve looks at her reflection in the water. Water motif!

• Women are depicted as naive, and lost, needing a male figure to keep them grounded. She is depicted in the shade, symbolising her ignorance.

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (1847)

Protofeminist

• Women as linked to the moon. Jane looks at the full moon before she decides she has to leave Rochester

• Mirror Motif. Jane sees a reflection of Bertha in the mirror.

• Early feminist sentiment. Bronte has a mini-manifesto where she talks about how women get bored and are just as equal to men.

• Passionate women. Jane is extremely passionate and outspoken.

• Women in work. Jane Eyre works as a governess.

• Treatment of mentally ill women. Rochester essentially abuses and neglects Bertha.

• Window, bird, red imagery.

Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (1891)

Protofeminist

• The fuckass strawberry.

• Emphasis on little girls’ innocence and the white purity of their dresses.

• Focuses on Tess and her perfect hair that has infantalising ribbons in it.

The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)

Protofeminist

• Mental illness - The unnamed narrator is suffering from post-partum depression, as the author struggled with herself. She ends up hallucinating towards the end

• Medical abuse - The narrator is forced into ‘bed - rest’ by her patriarch husband.

• Women in work - The narrator has to secretly write in her diary as she is not allowed otherwise. Gilman herself went on tours to talk about how important women in the workforce were.

• Colour yellow - symbolising decay and illness

• Trapped women - Not only is the narrator herself trapped, but she hallucinates multiple women in the walls as well.

• Moon and window imagery.

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (1963)

Second wave

• Esther struggles with depression, in a time where mental health was still heavily taboo. She is subject to abusive medical practices.

• Virginity - Esther sees her virginity as a burden, and desperately tries to get rid of it at college

• Mirror - After being subject to electroshock therapy, Esther doesn’t recognise herself in the mirror

• Women as vain - At the beginning of the novel, Esther condemns her female friends for being materialistic, egotistical, and frivolous. She believes herself superior for exhibiting masculine traits.

• Nature imagery - The Fig Tree. Esther envisions herself at the base of a fig tree, with each fig offering her a different career option. But she cannot make up her mind, and they all rot before her.

A Bunny’s Tale - Glorai Steinem (1963)

Second wave

• How women are exploited and sexualised by wealthy men. Incredibly focus on appearance and appealing to the male gaze by conforming to their expectations.

• Bunny motif

• Women in the workspace.

The S.C.U.M Manifesto - Valerie Solanas (1967)

Second wave

• Radical manifesto. Calls all men ‘walking abortions’, that women don’t need men and claim their need to have sex is to prove that they are not women and therefore submissive.

• Mental illness and violence. Solanas was mentally unstable and shot Andy Warhol after claiming he plagiarised her.

Carrie - Stephen King (1976)

Second Wave

• Symbolism of blood - Carrie is initially an innocent and sheltered character. When she gets her period for the first time, she doesn’t know what it is, and is bullied in the bathrooms by the other girls.

• Revenge - Carrie’s telekinetic abilities exploding at the end of the novel represents her suppressed rage. Women are also depicted as monsters, dangerous and a threat.

• Fanatical religious misogny - Carrie’s mother is a religious fanatic, believing that the female body is sinful.

• High school experience - Carrie is thoroughly bullied by Chris, demonised as the archetypal female bully. But it is then revealed she is abused herself by her boyfriend.

Language: The Unknown - Julia Kristeva (1981)

Second Wave

• Through Plato, Kristeva uses the semiotic and the symbolic to explain how women are connected to the inherently feminine ‘pre-universe’, and men are the craftsmen who feel they have to put women into boxes.

• Kristeva also argues that the patriarchy has pervaded our language too much, that in order for women’s struggles to be truly understood, we need to come up with another language.

The Queens Gambit - Walter Tevis (1983)

Second wave

• Beth dominates the traditionally patriarchal sphere of chess, using her intellect rather than her sexuality to get to the top.

• She also struggles without a strong parental guidance, and we also go in depth into her struggles with addiction.

Girls Under Pressure - Jacqueline Wilson (1998)

Third wave

• The protagonist, Ellie, struggles with her bodily image, and the book goes deep into her relationship with food, as she starves herself, binges, and makes herself throw up.

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini (2007)

Third Wave

• Female competition - Mariam and Laila are put in positions where they are forced to compete with each other in order to get their husband’s affection.

• Female solidarity - Despite their precarious positions, Mariam and Laila are able to form a rare female friendship.

• Abusive marriage - Rasheed is horrifically abusive towards Mariam and Laila

• Extreme oppression under patriarchy - Rasheed watches women accused of adultery being beaten to death

• Abortion - Laila considers giving herself an abortion with a rusty bicycle spoke, but changes her mind last minute.

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn (2012)

Third wave

• Cool girl monologue - Has a tangent about how women are expected to be nonchalant and make themselves submissive under what men want of them.

• Failing marriage - Amy herself feels trapped by this expectation, especially when her husband has an affair with someone younger.

• Amy is a manipulative woman, framing her husband for her own murder.

Why we should all be feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2014)

3rd wave

• Wedding ring motif. How women are more respected when they’re married.

• How we encourage men to become more egotistical, and discourage women from even having egos.

The Argonauts - Maggie Nelson (2015)

3rd wave

• Issues with transitioning - The narrator’s husband is transgender.

• Complicated relationship with pregnancy - says it has an automatic eroticism and feels that her son already has to perform to gender expectations, even when still in the womb.

Killjoy Feminists - Sara Ahmed (2023)

3rd Wave

• Highlights the importance of ‘the dinner table’,with everyones fixed positions and roles.

• Women cannot speak up for fear of disruption.

• How intersectionality can cause problems within white dominated feminist spaces.

• How anger is used against women