Women's Movement

8 Pages 1902 Words

The days of the barefoot woman forced to stay in the kitchen and bedroom are over. Women’s liberation has gained voice in the last century and has emancipated many women, bringing them into the realization that they are not subservient to men. As this thought process becomes more widely spread, more and more women are seeing the truth of it. In the short stories Shiloh and The Astronomer’s Wife this theme of realization and liberation is dominant.
In the story Shiloh by Bobbie Ann Mason we are introduced to Norma Jean. She is a wife to an injured trucker named Leroy. Our first glimpse at Norma Jean is of her working out. “Leroy Moffitt’s wife, Norma Jean, is working on her pectorals. She lifts three-pound dumbbells to warm up, then progresses to a twenty-pound barbell. Standing with legs apart, she reminds Leroy of Wonder Woman.” (Pg. 68) This shows a bit about her strong, self-improving personality. Another look at this trait are seen in her attempts at learning. “Norma Jean is going to night school. She has graduated from her six-week body-building course and now she is taking an adult-education course in composition at Paducah Community College. She spends her evenings outlining paragraphs.” (Pg. 74) Not only is Norma Jean improving her body but her intellect as well. I believe this self-improving aspect points to an independence in her.
In The Astronomer’s Wife independent woman is the farthest description of Mrs. Ames. “She was a youngish woman, but this was forgotten. The mystery and silence of her husband’s mind lay like a chiding finger on her lips. Her eyes were gray, for the light had been extinguished from them.” (Pg. 63) She had at one time been a bright beautiful woman but now she is stifled and has forgotten her beauty. She is very soft spoken. Every time she talks it mentions the soft tone or the hushed voice. This shows that she is a gentle and rather timid woman.
Norma Jean starts having prob...