Research Proposal on "Fiction and Instruction a Women's Experience"

Research Proposal 15 pages (4933 words) Sources: 15 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

" (Wood 192) Virtue was another highly prized personality trait in Victorian society and it was one thing that was instructed and thrust upon women at all times. To be virtuous was to earn the respect and acceptance of society. So for Wood to include this in her book, it provides a means for readers to appreciate and understand spending habits of women at the time and most importantly, how to be virtuous in doing so. Without virtuous acts and behaving virtuously, most women would have not been deemed worthy to marry, and would have ultimately become social pariahs.

Nonfiction Examples

In nonfiction, women writers took the stage and expressed their views of how men perceived them and what men expected from them. "Men are irritated with women for not being happy. They take it as a personal offence. To God alone may women complain without insulting Him!" (Nightingale and McDonald 22) Although literature of this nature was not the norm, it demonstrated several key things. Nightingale wrote and addressed the topic of women's suffering at the hands of their husbands as well as at the hands of other women and their expectations of how women in general should behave. That is not to say women did not lead happy lives before and during the Victorian era, but women writers, especially in nonfiction, often showcased their negative feelings concerning this area of discussion in order to not just express their suffering, but also allow the women who read these stories to relate it as well.

Men's expectations and society's expectations always found their way in one form or another in women writers' work, whether fiction or nonfiction. Nightingale's example is no exception. When women writers of the time chose to showcase their writing, they made a point to include grievances, especially when writing an autobiography. Meant to show the woman condition, these women writers wanted to directly show the reader real experiences, more so than with the fiction novels, to explain to the world and the reader the plight of women and the hardships they had to endure.

Nightingale's prose style has a way of showing through expression and through honesty, the complexities that lie between assuming the "woman identity" and rebelling against it. In a sense, in "Cassandra," Nightingale explains how women are forced to assume a hypocritical identity through acceptance of being a woman and thus suffer through the acceptance. Although society forced women to accept this identity, for her, this identity was unbearable and highlighted the growing need for women to change their lives for the better and escape such oppressive identities. And so in her writing, she believed pain was the better option over paralysis (surrender), meaning she believed struggling through suffering was better than the indifferentism often experienced by women of her time, thus providing another "epiphany" moment to her readers.

Nightingale, like many of the Victorian women writers, came from a family of means. She, born from a rich, British, upper class family, had the connections, and the resources available to "rebel" against traditional archetypes of women and write and publish works concerning "masculine" topics like medicine. As Nightingale describes in her work, women from Nightingale's "genteel" class, led a life filled with well-built gardens, frequent acts of charity, and new furniture. Although a dull life, it propelled a woman like her to speak of things like the next Christ being female and women's ideology and experiences, explained through the life of Christ, thus showing women that they did not have to simply adhere to society's expectations, but rather form and embrace their own identity.

Although a bit odd for the time, it was indeed a means of educating men and women on the diverse perspectives of women during the Victorian era, especially those with better economic means. It also offered a glimpse into how women interwove religious images into their thoughts and theories. Her and other women writers, provided poorer and less able women of the time to learn from the experiences of these better off women as well as understand things from a broader perspective than just the masculine or "stereotypical feminine" perspective.

There were many expectations in place for women in Victorian society. Women were often expected to follow a number of social practices, legal rules, as well as economic structures like marrying and having children young, staying at home to raise the children, and obeying the husband. These all worked together to induce many a woman to marry. After marriage, then the woman was expected to remain obedient to and dependent on her husband even if the woman was unhappy in her marriage. There were however, some changes within the society of the time that provided at least some alternatives to the expected life models. For instance, women began working outside the home and earned their own wages. From here, writers like Shanley showcased these examples and included them in their own works. "Increasingly, married women worked in isolation from men, who now earned money outside the home." (Shanley 7)

From earning money outside the home to getting married amidst a slightly changing society, women like Mona Caird made her mark and perhaps provided chances for educating readers further on women's changing condition through her essays and nonfiction works. In an essay titled "Marriage," Mona Caird discusses the difficulties of existence as a woman through certain topics relating to human nature. "It is not difficult to find people mild and easy-going about religion, and even politics may be regarded with wide-minded tolerance; but broach social subjects, and English men and women at once become alarmed and talk about the foundations of society." (Leighton and Surridge 331) Often when nonfiction women writers discuss topics like this, it is meant to show and help readers understand the women perspective by directing readers to understand better how the minds of women were while living the lives they did at the time. Because so many women felt oppressed and unable to show their opinions out in public, writing was a means of openly expressing themselves without having to deal with resistance or opposition and also offer other women an outlet for their frustrations through the reading of their work.

Human nature as expressed through prose style and education is seldom expressed in colorful language. Yet there are instances in literature where it is and teaches something at the same time. "The rooms were delightful, but so were the prices, which I inquired, as we had been taught to do in Italy, before taking possession. I faltered, and said we had been sent there by Mr. Pentland-but -- the named acted like magic." (Oliphant and Jay 131) In this scene, the reader learns how to inquire about prices, and using well-known contacts to ensure better deals. Small things like this not only educate the reader on the often over-looked norms and practices of society, but also does so in an amusing and entertaining fashion. A combination of these things allows for easier absorption and understanding of customs and practices in society making the work of women writers of the Victorian era a sort of "time capsule" for experiences within the era.

In, In Search Of Our Mothers' Gardens, Walker provides and imparts a willing and intentional bit of wisdom on never giving up. "Fortunately, what Sarah Lawrence teaches is a lesson called 'How to Be Shocked and Dismayed but Not Lie Down and Die,' and those of who have learned this lesson will never forget it" (Walker 34) This life lesson, like the several featured in the fiction section, provides additional support for the notion that women writers wanted to educate their readers on some level, especially their female readers. Female readers often lacked the availability to knowledge and education that men had and so these books, were in some way or form fulfilling a base need and commonly absent aspect of feminine identity and life.

Virginia Woolf, a woman born after the Victorian era, is a great example of the influence of previous women writers and how this influence inspired notable and classic work by other women writers. A well-known and noted writer, included in her nonfiction book, A Room of One's Own, she expressed the need to learn and the need to grow in order to provide others a world of information that ignored and dismissed the forced feminine identity in lieu of something more universal, more balanced. "It brought buried things to light and made one wonder what need there had been to bury them. She wrote as a woman, but as a woman who has forgotten that is a woman..." (Woolf 84) These women, who wrote and discussed their feelings on several topics, wanted to show readers and the world, that they could exist successfully outside the mold of "Victorian woman." And in doing so, provided a means of educating those women that read their work like their predecessors did.

As earlier mentioned, women often learned at… READ MORE

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