Women Write for
Rights
{
1800s- present
Document 1
What were women’s legal
rights in the US prior to
the first movements?
Document Checklist
Why is reform
important for a
country where
{ “all men are created equal”?
Document
2&3
Document Checklist
Women’s Medicine as
women write
{
What roll did medical diagnosis play
in the push for equal rights?
The Myth of “Female Hysteria”
•Symptoms leading to diagnosis includedfaintness, nervousness, insomnia, fluid
retention, heaviness in abdomen, shortness
of breath, irritability, loss of appetite for
food or sex, and a “tendency to cause
trouble”
• Treatments included extreme bed rest
and sometimes a “pelvic massage.”
Early History of Hysteria

The history of diagnoses of hysteria
can be traced to ancient times.

An ancient Greek myth tells of the
uterus wandering throughout the
woman’s body, strangling her as it
reaches the chest, causing women to
act unpredictably.

In medieval times hysteria was
believed to be a disease of sexually
deprived, passionate women.
Treatment was sex if married and
marriage if single.
S. Weir Mitchell:
expert on nervous conditions
Introduced the “rest
cure” for nervous
ailments, especially
hysteria.
•The rest cure
included: isolation,
confinement to bed,
dieting, and massage
•
What problems might arise from such
a cure?
The Infamous Rest Cure
Practically imprisoned
women for up to two
months
• Minimal contact with
the outside world.
• No engagement of the
mind
• No performing small
activities
• Hand fed
• Restrained in bed
The Rest Cure (cont.)

Often, according to Mitchell’s writing on the rest cure
in his treatise Fat and Blood, by the fifth or sixth day of
treatment, most women became “tractable,” and did
not resist the imposed monotony. This statement
suggests that many women fought this treatment
during initial days of imprisonment but ultimately
gave up.

Since husbands frequently were allowed to make
decisions regarding their wives, the perception of
the husband could determine whether a woman
would endure or continue to endure a rest cure.

Thus, often the only “escape” from the rest cure was
full cooperation.
Hysteria
This condition was discredited
by the 1920’s and is no longer
acknowledged as existing.
So, if Hysteria isn’t an actual
disease…what was really
wrong with these women?
The Myth of “Female Hysteria”
•Symptoms leading to diagnosis includedfaintness, nervousness, insomnia, fluid
retention, heaviness in abdomen, shortness
of breath, irritability, loss of appetite for
food or sex, and a “tendency to cause
trouble”
Reality Check
Many of the women were most likely
afflicted by general depression, anxiety,
stress, dissatisfaction, or postpartum
depression

Some women simply asserted their
opinions too much and a diagnosis of
hysteria was a way for husbands to
regain control

Are female hysteria and
the rest cure clear abusive
signs of a patriarchal
culture?
S. Weir Mitchell:
expert on nervous conditions
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Doctor
The Yellow
Wallpaper
During Gilman’s Era

A doctor in 1859 claimed that 25% of all women
suffer from hysteria.

One doctor compiled 75 pages of symptoms of
hysteria and called the list “incomplete”.

Doctors around the world believed that hysteria was
a direct result of stresses associated with modern
life.

Treatment of hysteria was very profitable: there was
no risk of death and treatment could go on
indefinitely
Are female hysteria and
the rest cure clear abusive
signs of a patriarchal
culture?
Author
Purpose
Tone
Kate Chopin
{
Women’s Activist
“The Story of an Hour”
Husband died young, leaving her to raise 6
children on her own
 Ran plantation by herself for many years, then sold
out and moved in with her mother
 When her mother died a few years later, she fell
into a deep depression.
 Encouraged by her family doctor, she began to
write as a way to encourage better emotional health

Troubled life
Story: connotations?
Hour: time frame/setting
Phonetically hour/our:
connotations?

“The Story of an Hour”
Protagonist vs. self
Internal
Conscience and dealing with
her husband’s death

Conflict
Diction and Word Choice
Double meaning: “heart trouble”:: physical
ailment and trouble in her relationship
 Par. 5 “twittering” “aquiver with life” “Delicious
breath” “crying (double meaning) his wares” all
add to the tone. Not sadness as you would expect,
but expectant, ironic, and even giddy
 Par. 11 she feels free not hemmed in—keen and
bright almost vibrant
 Par. 12 “Monstrous Joy” bigger than life, makes
you wonder what made her life so terrible in the
first place.


Situational Irony


Verbal Irony


“of joy that kills”
Dramatic Irony


Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death
Mrs. Mallard’s cause of death
Climax

Mr. Mallard’s return—irony?
Irony
weather and season: spring=life but the story is
about death (irony)
 briefcase=gripsack: gripping on to the wife and
not letting go
 going up she’s feeling heavy with guilt, coming
down she feels lighter as if she’s leaving things
behind

Symbolism

The wrongfulness and weakening
power that emerges with the
repression of women (or any group)
and how wrong and damaging it can
be.
Theme
1-4; 7; 9-14 done for your
poop sheet

When you are done you should
have…
So, what to do next?
{ Assert yourself for rights
Document
4
Document Checklist
“Votes for Women”
{
Mary Poppins
1964
What is the irony in
the song?
{
Why is “1964” significant?

The Awakening (1899)—a psychological
account of a woman’s search for
independence and fulfillment. Because the
novel explored the issue of infidelity, it
aroused a storm of protest.
severely attacked by critics and eventually
banned.
 Resurrected in the 1950s (2nd wave of feminism)
 Today, the book is among the five most-read
American novels in colleges and universities.

Scandal: Chopin
Allusion: An allusion is a figure of
speech that makes a reference to, or
representation of, people, places, events,
literary work, myths, or works of art,
either directly or by implication.
 Paradox: a statement that is seemingly
contradictory or opposed to common
sense and yet is perhaps true.

Satirical poem
The Paradox of
Women’s Lib
idea of Women’s lib is to free
{ The
women
Freed women, however, became
slaves to the battle for freedom.
Document 5
Document 5
{
Document Checklist
The Paradox of
Women’s Lib
{
The idea of Women’s lib is to equalize
women
After, however, women who chose to
remain in the home were often
considered inferior to working
women.
Is an egalitarian
world possible?
{