The Divided Lives of Women in Literature

Abstract

In our culture, where female independent selfhood has been defined as theologically evil, biologically unnatural, psychologically unhealthy, and socially in bad taste, women in literature, like their real life counterparts, struggle to present a restricted, socially defined image to the world and to maintain at the same time a well-hidden separate self. In this respect, the woman is an artist, who uses her imagination to create the image that society requires. The “feminine” image is defined in terms of negatives—inaction, lack of intelligence, weakness, etc.–while its creator must employ not only imagination and intelligence but great amounts of psychic energy. The woman may act out the restrictive, socially acceptable image as a way of protecting the male ego or as a way of avoiding conflict and social abuse. She may assume a more aggressive attitude toward the dichotomy, using it to gain money and social position. The discrepancy between what a woman is and thinks and what she appears to be and to think is the major subject of woman's humor. It also can become a form of revenge against the man and the society that obstruct the expression of her true self. To free herself from the dichotomy, the fictional woman may deny or even destroy the separate self, or she may withdraw from the outer world and live only in terms of the inner self, which can find neither relationship nor validation beyond itself. In order to escape the split life temporarily, the fictional woman may create a realm of fantasy, an imagined world in which either the separate self or the social image ceases to exist.