QUESTIONING GENDER ROLES IN THE AWAKENING: A BEAUVOIRIAN STUDY (UYANIŞ ROMANINDA CİNSİYET SORUNU: BEAUVOİR’IN DÜŞÜNCEİNE DAYALI BİR ÇALIŞMA)
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Abstract
The Awakening (1899) by Kate Chopin is a prototype American novel that provoked readers and critics and focused on female issues as the turning point of feminism. The novel has advanced modern American literature by combining a realistic story with a social interpretation and psychological complexity. The protagonist, a young and dissatisfied wife and mother, explores her desires, verges an awakening and disillusionment of the world, and challenges accepted social standards towards women. The protagonist questions Victorian feminine values in the realm of doubts, explorations, intellectual freedom, emotional maturity and finally selects symbolic liberation through her death. This study focuses on Simone de Beauvoir’s perspective in The Second Sex for interpreting gender inequality in a male-dominated society to analyze gender oppressions, motherhood, marriage, and the reasons behind the protagonists’ suicide. While society finds women’s occupation chiefly restricted to household duties as mothers and wives, the protagonist fails to liberate herself from patriarchal society’s presuppositions to obtain her rights, and she opts for committing suicide as a means of salvation.
Kate Chopin tarafından yazılan Uyanış, Feminizmin odak noktası olan kadın sorunlarına yönelerek, okuyucuları ve eleştirmenlerin dikkatini çeken bir Amerikan romanıdır. Roman, gerçekçi bir hikâyeyi, psikolojik ve sosyal konularla harmanlayıp ve diğer yorumlala birleştirerek, modern Amerikan edebiyatına uygulamaktadır. Genç ve tatminsiz bir eş ve anne olan başkahraman, arzularını araştırırken, hayal kırıklığına uğramasının eşiğinde, kadınlara yönelik kabul edilen sosyal standartlara meydan okumaktadır. Kahraman, Victoria dönemi kadınsı değerlerini şüpheler, keşifler, entelektüel özgürlük ve duygusal olgunluk bazında sorgulayıp, nihayetinde ölümüyle sembolik kurtuluşu seçmektedir. Bu çalışma, Simone de Beauvoir’ın İkinci Cinsiyet eserine bağlı olarak erkek egemen bir toplumda, cinsiyet eşitsizliğini yorumlamayan bir bakış açısına odaklanarak, toplumsal cinsiyet baskılarını, anneliği, evliliği ve kahramanın intiharının arkasındaki nedenleri analiz etmektedir. Toplum, kadının mesleğini esas olarak annelik, eş olma ve ev işleriyle sınırlı bulurken, başkahraman haklarını elde etmek için kendini ataerkil toplumun ön kabullerinden kurtaramama sonucunda, bir kurtuluş yolu olarak, intiharı tercih etmektedir.
Keywords
Abstract
The Awakening (1899) by Kate Chopin is a prototype American novel that provoked readers and critics and focused on female issues as the turning point of feminism. The novel has advanced modern American literature by combining a realistic story with a social interpretation and psychological complexity. The protagonist, a young and dissatisfied wife and mother, explores her desires, verges an awakening and disillusionment of the world, and challenges accepted social standards towards women. The protagonist questions Victorian feminine values in the realm of doubts, explorations, intellectual freedom, emotional maturity and finally selects symbolic liberation through her death. This study focuses on Simone de Beauvoir’s perspective in The Second Sex for interpreting gender inequality in a male-dominated society to analyze gender oppressions, motherhood, marriage, and the reasons behind the protagonists’ suicide. While society finds women’s occupation chiefly restricted to household duties as mothers and wives, the protagonist fails to liberate herself from patriarchal society’s presuppositions to obtain her rights, and she opts for committing suicide as a means of salvation.
Keywords
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