Topic > The experience of gender inequality in The Awakening, a novel by Kate Chopin

Experience is everything when talking about a topic. If you have real experience with the topic you are talking about, it will be immensely helpful to you, as you will have gained invaluable insight into how and why things are happening. It's not quite the same as reading about something versus actually being present at the event, as you're reading a 2-D representation of the event, whereas being there means you personally know the details of everything and have a connection to it. This is why Chopin would be a reliable narrator of women's oppression, because he experienced injustice firsthand. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In the book “The Awakening,” readers learn about a woman named Edna who gradually escapes the oppression of her peers and tries to live life the way she wants. In the end, however, this doesn't work and she ends up killing herself because she thinks no one will ever understand her. With books about aliens invading Earth and World War III, it doesn't seem too out of the ordinary, does it? Well, that is until you discover that the book was written in 1899, right before the largest women's rights movement in U.S. history. Because the women had been persecuted for a long period of time, they were finally tired of this treatment. This has led to the highest tension for women's change in history. Chopin knew exactly the injustices that were happening and how they felt because he lived with them at that time, when women were considered possessions rather than human beings to form relationships with. When spoken about in the book, it makes sense that Chopin spoke with hostility and contempt towards the social norms of the time, considering how restrictive they were for Chopin in real life. Men on the other hand would have a hard time relating to the feelings women were feeling at the time. Men have been at the top of the food chain for so long that they didn't know what it felt like to be further down. This is why it took so long for changes to be made to women's rights, because men thought women were inferior and were just plain mean. Men would be unreliable narrators because they didn't actually “experience” what was happening. They thought there was nothing wrong with being able to control their wife's entire life, even saying they were doing their wives a favor by making decisions for them. Men found the lifestyle of the time wonderful, because it was tailor-made for them. If a key part of the ideology of the time was that women should feel shy and weak and need a protector, and men had no problem with that, then that kind of man will obviously be prejudiced when he talks about a woman. break social ties and distance herself from her husband. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay While both men and women have experienced the gender inequality that has occurred, it is obvious that they have not experienced it the same way. While women got the short end of the stick and were limited by the harsh rules set by society, men did what they wanted and controlled their wives. And as mentioned at the beginning, experiences are everything when talking about a topic. Therefore, if any person, not just one man, were to tell the story, they would tell it differently. With how many prejudices and changes can be shown?