Women and Society in The Works of Kate Chopin and Alice Walker

As a woman reader, we often believe that our lives and experiences are stories which we create. Our judgement and belief that we create and conduct the stories of our lives, gives us a setting for living our lives as well as for perusing and presenting our lives for others. Through their writings, Kate Chopin and Alice Walker had the option to depict a specific connection among women and society. While some artistic pieces are motivating and hopeful towards women, others are depicting the dark side of women fighting with the society or themselves. For this situation, The Awakening, a novel composed by Kate Chopin, centers around the internal fight that the main character Edna faces for an amazing duration. Then again, Alice Walker’s “In Search of Our Mothers Gardens”, examines thoughts identified with the creative spirit of the African-American women finding themselves embedded in the history of their mothers and other women (their 'gardens') who, although oppressed, expressed themselves in outlets that they were allowed.In these two texts, the two women appear to confront internal and external strife that associates back to the connection among other women and society during these timespans. At last, their encounters are what drives them to portray how they fit into societal standards. The writings in these papers speculate the connection between these two women and society in a manner that can be empowering towards other women because they either found their inner spirit of creativity or they were too opressed to even discover that.    

Alice Walker’s “In search of our mothers gardens” is a piece that educates the peruser about the history regarding African American women in America and how their lively, imaginative soul figured out how to get by in a terrible world loaded up with numerous hardships set by the society. In the beginning of this writing, Walker describers the poet Jean Toomer’s exploration of the aspects of African American women’s lives. A young American poet of that time who discovered women explicitly mishandled and lost, however who he saw to hold power, otherworldliness and magnificence of which they didn't know. They were trusting that these questions will be made known. Meanwhile they didn't welcome these aspects of life. These african american women were craftsmen whose innovative powers were deserted to the hardships of life. Later on walker describes the story of her mother, who worked resolutely in the fields and at home in her garden throughout the day. She discovered otherworldliness and inventiveness in her residential endeavors, her gardening, the planting of glorious flowers and gardens, the main medium accessible to her. These declarations of imagination were mysterious, yet they live on in Walker's writings. Walker says, “There was never a moment for her to sit down, undisturbed, to unravel her own private thoughts; never a time free from interruption-by work or the noisy inquiries of her many children. And yet, it is to my mother-and all our mothers who were not famous-that I went in search of the secret of what has fed that muzzled and often mutilated, but vibrant, creative spirit that the black woman has inherited, and that pops out in the wild and unlikely places to this day”. In this quote from her writing, she mentions her mother and all the other mothers who work tirelessly for their families and husbands, and yet they don't have time to unravel and discover their inner selves, their creative spirit, and the unimaginable that they carry with themselves. It is a sign of their thoughts and creative spirit being suppressed by the ones that they have sacrificed their lives to, the society, which has restricted them to practice and discover the undiscovered. Her mother’s passion for gardening is sort of a symbol walker has used to demonstrate the creativity and potential residing inside the african american women. She says, “A garden so brilliant with colors, so original in its design, so magnificent with life and creativity, that to this day people drive by our house in Georgia-perfect strangers and imperfect strangers-and ask to stand or walk among my mother's art”. This quote identifies the beauty of her efforts that her mother has put into something very residential, yet it is so powerful that people from around the town and complete strangers would want to stop by and walk among her mother’s art. “Gardens” isn't just the hobby walker has described in her writing, it symbolises the creativity and much more than that. Even though majority of the women were suppressed by the society to perform and practice different activities of life, Walker takes the inspiration and life lesson from her mother and grandmother about expressing the inner creativity instead of suppressing it. In the deep darkest times of slavery, opression, and inequality she became the “new woman” who took a stand and expressed her creativity through her writing and poems. She says, “Guided by my heritage of a love of beauty and respect for strength-in search of my mother's garden, I found my own”. Walker takes pride in what she has found in herself due to the guidance provided by her heritage, her culture, and her ancestors who didn't get the opportunity to do so. The symbolism of Alice Walker’s writing can also be contrasted with some other writers of that era such as, Kate Chopins. “The Awakening” is a strong novel written by Kate Chopins who goes through different life endeavours to find her mindfulness and awakening.    

The title of Kate Chopin's novel “The Awakening”, is noteworthy on the grounds that it alludes to the numerous manners by which Edna starts to stir to her surroundings and her life in general. This novel, and Edna, the main character, challenged the societal norms and conventional methods of living a life as a woman in the nineteenth century. She upset numerous nineteenth century suppositions and method of living life for women and their expected roles by society and men. One of her most stunning activities that stood out as non conventional and controversial was her disavowal of her job as a mother and spouse. Kate Chopin shows this dismissal slowly. Although the idea of parenthood is real topic all through the novel, Kate Chopin does a wonderful job using metaphors to symbolise Edna’s desire to self express herself through her art and creativity. Chopin portrays Edna’s “awakening” throughout the novel by using various life endeavours and experiences that she encounters. She isn't just awakening her comprehension of herself as an individual and as a lady who does not get herself cheerful in the local universe of her companions, she is arousing to herself as a sexual being. All through the novel, there are numerous instances of various types of enlightenments; from her enlivening to herself as an artist when she attempts to paint, her awakening to the acknowledgment that she can enjoy and admire music, and to the way that her life up until this point has been unfulfilling. Although Edna tries to live her life the way she desired. She uses Art and Music to awaken her inner creativity but this self-acknowledgment drives her to reason that life, as she has come to know it, doesn't accommodate her outlook any more. Furthermore, she likewise understands that society's desires for her don't relate to the manner by which she sees herself, as an individual from it. As mentioned earlier in my essay, though some women were able to turn their weaknesses into their powers by taking inspiration and turning the negativity into the motivation they needed to get through the hardships and portray their inner selves, some women concluded that the non conventional methods and way of living life isn't admired by the society and they would rather adopt the ways society expects or they can adopt the worst solution, death. Although Kate Chopin doesn't make it clear at the end of her novel that Edna decided to give up on her life, she leaves it on the peruser to decide and identify the meaning hidden behind the meaning of metaphors she mentions. “To swim far out, where no woman had swum before” portrays her swimming away from all the social constraints the women of that time has to face. The speaker writers, “How strange and awful it seemed to stand naked under the sky! How delicious! She felt like some new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known”. Edna is feeling “new” as she decides to get away from social constraints and conventional ways she has to live her life but once she acknowledges that this is what she wants, she feels calm and sees her next world very “familiar”. The ending of the novel from my eyes, depicted the only way majority of the women chose to get away from social constraints. Even if women decided to live their lives by doing what they wanted, it was a taboo, and a controversial topic for others, because she is not adopting the ordinary methods. Perhaps the society was scared of the creativity of women, or perhaps the society wanted to be as is, instead of bringing change.    

The writings from nineteenth century women writers such as Alice Walker and Kate Chopin depicted the ways women who were suppressed by the society and male dominance, baffling with society or their inner selves whether to practice the unconventional methods and rise up or decide to give up and adopt the societal norms because the odds are against them. Writers such as Alice Walker, Kate Chopin portrayed strong, innovative, and action taking women to the world to define a different perspective to the society and also to provide a source of motivation and positive support to women who need that kind of motivation, who need to hear what’s out there, and to see a different type of woman that they can look up to and discover the creative spirit inside them and practice and flourish those skills to become someone. 

Bibliography

1. Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Herbert S. Stone & Company, 1899, Open Library, openlibrary.org/works/OL15841605W/The_Awakening.
2. Walker, Alice. In Search of Our Mothers Gardens. New Jersey, Rutgers University Press, 1994, pp. 39–49. ​