Willa Cathers O Pioneers! and Charlotte Perkins Gilmans Mr. Peebles

Willa Cathers O Pioneers and Charlotte Perkins Gilmans Mr. Peebles HeartIn both Willa Cathers novel O Pioneers and Charlotte Perkins Gilmans short story Mr. Peebles Heart present the reader with strong, sure-fire female characters. Alexandra Bergson, the heroine of O Pioneers, becomes the manager and proprietor of a prosperous promote on the Nebraska frontier succession Joan R. Bascom of Mr. Peebles Heart is a victorious doctor. Cather and Gilman create competent, independent female characters that do not conform to the sensed societal standards for women in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century. Both women must struggle against societys perception of what they should be and how they should behave, however, Alexandras struggle leaves her emotionally distant while Joans struggle does not hinder her emotional attachments. Throughout the nineteenth century, gender roles were increasingly characterized by a division of activity into take apart spheres for men and women. M en moved freely between home and the out of doors world, however, women were largely restricted to the home and remained financially dependent upon a man. small-arm this situation offered women more power within the home, that power was very confine in scope. As the twentieth century neared, more and more women began to quarrel the societal expectations placed upon them. Many Americans began to fear that the family was disintegrating due to a declining receive rate, a rising divorce rate, and efforts of a growing number of women to hear out of their separate sphere of domesticity by obtaining a higher education, association womens organizations, and taking jobs outside the home (Kellogg and Mintz 1937). As this progressive impetus gained momentu... ...ifestyle as the manager of a profitable farm. But while Joan has thrived in her professional and her social life, Alexandra is emotionally stunted as a resoluteness of her struggle against societal norms. Works CitedCather, W illa. O Pioneers red-hot York Dover Publications, Inc., 1993. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Mr. Peebles Heart. The chickenhearted Wallpaper and Other Stories. Ed. Paul Negri. New York Dover Publications, Inc., 1997. 63-70. Kellogg, Susan and Steven Mintz. Family Structures. Encyclopedia of American Social History. Ed. by Mary Kupiec Cayton, Elliott J. Gorn and Peter W. Williams). New York Charles Scribners Sons, 1993. 1925-1945. Pleck, Elizabeth H. sex activity Roles and Relation. Encyclopedia of American Social History. Ed. by Mary Kupiec Cayton, Elliott J. Gorn and Peter W. Williams). New York Charles Scribners Sons, 1993. 1945-1961.