Writing Women's Lives

 Word Count: 275

Writing Women's Lives

    The documentary, Writing Women's Lives, exemplifies all the experiences women writers draw from to create their works. Each of the women came from different backgrounds that lead to their works being simultaneously unique and relatable. This documentary also showed the direct effect of the feminist movement on art during this time. One can see the drastic shift from previous works by women before the feminist movement and the ones born out of feminism. This new age of writing means the reader must adapt the lens they read certain works through. Older pieces are now seen as feminist works, even though the values are not similar to the ones the author held. This brings into consideration a new question: should the pieces be used as feminist propaganda, or should they be read as the author intended? Basically, is the reader allowed to find extraneous meaning from these works? The answer depends on the reader. 

    For younger readers, it might be difficult to not see older works as a feminist piece. This is due to the prevalence of the feminist movement in every American woman's life. Even if one does not particularly agree with the philanthropy of the organization, everyone has been affected by it. It makes it seem as though women have always wanted and fought this freedom, and that feminism has always been around. But actually, women did not see their fighting against the traditional roles as anything feminist. The word did not even exist for them, but those raised in the feminist era do not understand this concept. This leads to people reading the older works and seeing them as directly showing feminism's ideals. 

Comments

  1. Tatiana ValenteApril 22, 2021 at 7:06 PM

    Alexandra, your blog provided wonderful insight. It is very interesting to look back throughout history and see how the culture of that time period affected pieces of art. This is why it is always so important to have a good understanding of the demographics of the time because they had such a great influence on literature. As you said, adapting the lens you read through helps readers see what the writer was trying to portray. Your question is very interesting and honestly one I have thought of many times. I have found myself having a hard time fully putting myself in the mindset of certain time periods because they are so different to the world we live in today. Even in today's world, it is hard imagining what life is like in certain countries with completely different cultures. As much as an individual can try and look at something without letting their view on life and the world influence their interpretations of such things as literature, I think it is ultimately impossible to completely erase your biases. I also found it interesting that you brought up how the younger generations think that women always wanted freedom and change, but it is true that this was not always the case. I loved getting to read your blog.

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  2. Julianna HigginsApril 22, 2021 at 7:14 PM

    I thought your viewpoint and the questions you incorporated into this blog were really interesting and relevant. With our class title being "Women Literary Tradition", I think it is easy for a lot of students to assume the work we were reading at the time was to be seen as a feminist piece. However, after reading your blog, I wonder if we as classes assumed too quickly without simply reading the piece as the author intended.

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