In this unit we focused mainly on women in literature and how their role in the novel created controversy in society. The women in the literature like "A Doll's House", "A Thousand Splendid Suns". And "The Awakening" all have strong main female characters that go against the normal for society. Nora, in "A Doll's House" who left her family behind because she no longer felt that, that was what her role in society should be. She needed to get out of this doll house and break free from the restraints that society was holding her on and making her feel like a puppet to their little world. In "A Thousand Splendid Suns" the women in the novel were unable to express themselves freely. Only Mariam's mother who lived with no man and had a hatred towards men. And than later on in the novel Mariam had freedom after killing her husband. To be able to be themselves the women in the novel had to remove themselves from society and take away that male figure in their lives.
Now in society women are more accepted and have a better chance of doing and achieving the same thing as men do and achieve, but it is still not equal. Women are still viewed as the more fragile sex and they do not get paid as much. These are just two examples out of the many that still affect women. And until we stop raising our boys and girls differently it will never stop.
This unit really showed how far a long women have come to being equal with men and it showed the individuality and the ability that women have to succeed and live a happy life without a man. It was an interesting unit to cover and really showed the power of woman in literature and did not focus on the male hero like most novels do.
