Literary context WIL

Question 1

The Woman in White (1860) - Collins

Answer 1

her figure is ‘perfection in the eyes of a man’ - focuses on objectification of woman in a physical sense of image, not the ideal chaste

Question 2

the subjection of woman (1867) Stuart Mill

Answer 2

“the wife is the actual bond servant of her husband”

Question 3

Story of an hour (1894) Kate Chopin

Answer 3

the female protagonist’s beauty is referred to a lot through how pale her skin is

Question 4

Persuasion (1818) - Jane Austen

Answer 4

• About a broken engagement - due to family and friend’s influence
  ○ Not a conventional marriage plot
  ○ She is 27 (old for the time to be unmarried)

Question 5

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Answer 5

1848

Question 6

Wuthering Heights (1847) Emily Bronte

Answer 6

Catherine believes she is unfit for heaven due to the constraints of society

Question 7

Little women (1869) May Alcott

Answer 7

“so don’t sit there and tell me marriage isn’t an economic proposition because it is”

Question 8

Wuthering Heights (1847) Emily Bronte

Answer 8

Catherine is so infatuated with Heathcliff to the extent where she would come back from the dead just to be on Earth with him (her happiness depends on him)

Question 9

1915 - Pointed Roofs - Dorothy Richardson

Answer 9

• Uses stream-of-consciousness to delve into Miriam’s thoughts
  
  • Miriam leaves her childhood home at Barnes for the new position at an all girls school in Germany
    ○ Her family is in financial difficulty and her mother is ill
    ○ Her younger sister marries a man with a bright future
  • Narrative focuses on Miriam’s struggle to belong and form friendships
    ○ Miriam is fired from her job by her supervisor who sees her as a rival for the love of one of the few men working at the school (Pastor Lahmann)

Question 10

1936 - Nightwood - Djuna Barnes

Answer 10

• Set in 1880
  
  • Written in a fragmented style
  • Focuses on same-sex romance and women’s independence from traditional marriage