Adrian Huerta

English In Literature
Professor Lago
February 25, 2014
A Clich Life
Men have always been deemed superior over women. The physical dominance man has
had over women has led many to believe that men were created to dominate while women were
meant to serve them. The male in the household would bring bread to the family table and
provide the necessities for survival to his family. Women on the other hand, were viewed only as
servants so they became housewives that cooked for the family, cleaned the house, and raised the
children. The gender stereotype explained can be reinforced through Jamaica Kincaids Girl
which teaches a young girl how to become the ideal wife for their husband. Over time man has
established their dominance by restricting certain rights from women such as voting. This
repressed right led society to progress without a female voice. Women eventually followed in the
footsteps of their ancestors in becoming the stereotypical housewife which were laid out by the
men. This monotone life that women were destined to live by can be shown in The Story of an
Hour by Kate Chopin which was written in 1894.(Chopin). As time advanced, women were led
to believe that they had to carry a certain image as a female. Above maintaining the image, they
also had to act and follow the cultures deemed appropriate by men.
During this time period, women did not have the right to vote. With this being said,
women did not have any way to promote laws to help empower them and instead were forced to
be inferior to men. Women were not allowed to own property, have a job, and were forced to
obey their husbands commands. The Story of an Hour is about Louise who is a housewife
during the 19
th
century and has mixed feelings about the recent news of the death of her husband.
Although she loved her husband, she exclaimed Free! Body and soul free! (Chopin). Louise
felt free after the death of her husband because she had become his servant after marriage. This
can be reinforced when the narrator states And she opened and spread her arms out to them in
welcome. There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for
herself. There would be no powerful will bending her(Chopin). Since Louise was now free,
she would no longer have to live to serve her husbands wants and needs. She could focus on
enjoying herself and doing things that she wanted to do but could not do when her husband was
around. The powerful will bending her can reference the superior dominance her husband had
over her actions. If Louise was prohibited from doing something by her husband, then it was the
law according to the culture of that time period. Women were not allowed to go against their
husband. As long as Louises husband was alive, Louise would have to be a housewife whether
she wanted to or not.
Sterotyping gender did not end after the 19
th
century and continued onto the 20
th
century.
In Girl by Jamaica Kincaid, the narrator teaches a young girl to become the ideal housewife
which was viewed as crucial information to the happy life of female. Although written almost
one hundred years later, Girl, has the same gender stereotype found in The Story of an Hour.
The same cultural value of women becoming housewives and men laboring to provide the
necessities of survival were still intact. The narrator states this is how you iron your fathers
khaki pants so that it doesnt have a crease; this is how you iron your fathers khaki pants so that
they dont have a crease; (Kincaid). From the lines above we can infer that the narrator was
teaching her how to iron at a young age so that she may get a custom to ironing mens clothing
since she will need to iron her husbands clothing when he would go to work. Since it is her
fathers clothing we can infer that it is a young girl who is living with her family and she is being
taught at a young age the stereotype of gender and the responsibility the male and female play in
society. Females had to play the ideal image of the perfect housewife at all times because it was
deemed appropriate by society. The narrator states Always eat your food in such a way that it
wont turn someone elses stomach; on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you
are so bent on becoming; (Kincaid) During the 1970s, if women did not fit the perfect
description of a lady or even committed one un-lady like action, they were quickly labeled as a
slut. That is why the narrator is teaching the young girl on how to act in society. Throughout the
poem, the narrator gets deeper on teaching the young girl to become the perfect house wife when
they state this is how you set a table for dinner. (Kincaid). One of the most important roles for
women as housewives is having dinner ready by the time their husband came home after a long
day at work. This is a crucial piece of evidence in identifying the cultural value placed on women
from previous generations.
Stereotyping gender has been around way before the 19
th
century but the cultural values
are still in place today. In many cultures, women are viewed as housewives and men as the
laborers. That is why young girls are raised to fit the perfect description of housewives while
men are raised to fit their stereotype. With no voice or opinion, females were raised to fit the
descrption and not complain to their husbands. Luckily, times are changing and the young girl
taught in Girl can now decide if she wants to pursue a career or get marry and become the
housewife that she was taught to become.


Works Cited
Chopin, K. n.d. n. page. <http://www.katechopin.org/pdfs/Kate Chopin, The Story of an
Hour.pdf>.