In today’s news, a big debate is having equality between men and women. After reading “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “The Damnation of Women” by W.E.B Du Bois I have been informed by situations where women have been stripped from their liberty and are disparage of their strengths. These two readings vary because of their different writing styles. Du Bois writes confidently, as if Sojourner Truth’s soul is embodied in the short speech on appreciating the abilities of a mother. Chopin on the other hand sounds whimsical and suspicious. It is more metaphorical than it is literal but it still manages to show the narrator is trapped literally and figuratively. I will compare and contrast these readings based on the main idea that the ability of a woman is constantly belittled by the male counterpart both directly and indirectly. Women have had to fight for their independence and equality for a long time. They have been repressed for a huge period of history. Very recently women have started to gain respect as equals and individuals to men. Although, today women are looked down upon because of their sex.
“The Damnation of Women” by W.E.B Du Bois begins by talking about the women in her family and at the beginning she gives a bold statement. In The Damnation of Women, “They existed not for themselves, but for men; they were named after the men to whom they were related and not after the fashion of their own souls” (pg. 87). This statement is very powerful because it materializes the women in her family. They were labeled by the identity of their spouse, but were not given an identity for their own individuality. To live without an identity is horrible and to only be viewed as an object can take the joy out of a healthy relationship. These women needed to be viewed for their worth. The “widow, the wife, the maiden, and the outcast”(pg.87) needed to be treated as individuals, but according to Du Bois they were only viewed as relations because they were “filmed with mystery and secrecy”. The first few lines are important because they catch your attention to begin feeling compassion for the women who are not considered to be humans by gender standards. As we move through the reading of Du Bois we can see what she classifies as the “damnation of women”(pg.88). That damnation is about self sacrifice. Having to sacrifice one’s own life for the life of another person. The other life is the life of a child and motherhood is a heavy burden. It requires all the energy of a nurturer for a whole lifetime. Du Bois depicts, “sacrifice of Intelligence and the chance to do their best work”(pg.88). It is depressing for a woman to give up everything when she becomes a mother while a man does not suffer at the slightest. For a man can just leave when the situation becomes uncomfortable and the mother is stuck with the child. By social norms a mother should not abandon her child. To those single mothers that are living independently, I salute you. For you did double the amount of work and made a living for yourself. According to the United States Census Bureau “The number of single mothers living with children younger than 18 in 2011, up from 3.4 million in 1970.”(United States Census Bureau, 2012). That is a huge number and we can not deny the fact that these are women that have proven to subdue the strength of men tenfold by taking care of their child without a father. The number today might even greater than that the times from 1970 to 2011.
Now Du Bois decides to shine a light on the subject that is usually forgotten in women’s rights and that is black women. Now if regular fair skinned women were belittled of their abilities then according to Du Bois, the abilities of women with a darker skin tone was belittled even further. “The world that wills to worship womankind studiously forgets its darker sisters. They seem in a sense to typify that veiled melancholy”. She is stating that even at moments where the world does appreciate women it always forgets to acknowledge those of color. I have read in high school about the issues women’s rights activist were involved in and a continuous controversial issue was voting rights for women. Once women did gain suffrage because it was short lived and was not expected after so much hard work from the National Association of Colored Women and other pro women groups of colored that helped establish that privilege. The reason why is because they still faced constant discrimination and were not welcomed to the time of voting poles. “From the end of the Civil War onwards, some white suffragists argued that enfranchising women would serve to cancel out the “Negro” vote, as there would be more white women voters than black men and women voters combined.”(NWHM, 2007). It was unfair that even the colored women that did vote were technically disenfranchised from the right of voting because their vote technically did not count since they were such a small number. It is ridiculous and surprising that after so much work and turmoil it was as if colored women were not appreciated for their consistent work ethic of getting together to make the suffrage of women attainable. That is a example on how colored women are hidden under a veil of melancholy.
Furthermore, the reading by Kate Chopin called “The Story of an Hour” was a very odd and different type of story. The character, Mrs. Mallard, is depicted as a weaker person when she went to her room alone to continue her grief. Once Mrs. Mallard enters her room she goes to the chair and the author says, “Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.” This is able to shows Mallard’s strong emotions give her physical exhaustion. Not only was Mallard emotional, but the story introduces that Mrs. Mallard can’t deal with it physically either. The story expands the reader’s knowledge to assume the weakness can even go into her soul. Once Mrs. Mallard takes a sit, she starts to be shown as a stronger woman. Mallard looks out of the house through the window. The window could show significance of the open opportunities that are now available to her. She begins to realize how her marriage has turned her into an individual that lacks meaning. She realizes that she has been living by limitations because of her marriage. She now understands that she can start living for herself. The story conveys, “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” This shows that it was assumed women were maltreated. She was allowing her freedom to be controlled by a white man. The Marriage is shown to be unequal. Mr. Mallard has total control over his wife. There is an understanding that Mrs. Mallard assumed she was not allowed to maintain her own thoughts, which could possibly be true.
It does support my thesis that the abilities of women are belittled in society, but in this story it was done in a unique way that’s hard to get over the imagery. Now this woman is in a fragile state, but I believe her husband restrict her from her everyday life too much. This upsets me because it seems as if her husband has control over his wife. I feel the relationship is not healthy without an equality agreement from both partners. Especially not in a marriage. She needs freedom because I understand that I would go insane if I had nobody to talk to for a long period of my day while not being able to do the things I love. Having to be there for my husband, feeling trapped is a horrible feeling. Mrs. Mallard can start to feel more at ease because she is becoming free. She won’t have to feel trapped by her husband and do only what he wants. She is building up a new mirrored image of herself. She is restricted from living her life as she is suppose to because her husband feels that he has a higher value in what should occur in his wife’s life.
It is still an unknown reason why women are subordinate to men. This inequality has existed since men and women have been walking on the earth. Hopefully, this unfairness will be destroyed completely and everybody can be viewed as equals. Both of the stories depicted how unvaluable women feel to men, especially to their husbands. This should never be a feeling for any individual. Both stories conveyed how the husbands were the only ones who had a say in what their wives can and cannot do. That is not how marriage should work, it should be a compromise from both partners. Women deserve to be treated at a high-ranking like me, and not below.