Despite the inability to eliminate stereotypes equating womanhood to being submissive, modernist and postmodernist literature created a new woman and expanded the boundaries of the American woman’s role. Modernist writers actively explored gender issues, enabling female characters to be “active and expressive” and leave their roles as mothers to contribute to society as artists and independent creators (Wood 3). This, however, tracked closely with an increased tendency to incorporate sexuality as one of this new role’s acceptable components, which can be noticed in Joyce’s Molly Bloom (Wood 3). Thus, the evolution of women’s roles involved both emancipation and a departure from puritanism.
The American woman’s growing ability to define her own role and place became a peculiar trait of postmodernist literature works. Based on the analysis of American plays, in the era of postmodernism, the American woman’s roles became more versatile and less tied with traditional femininity (Copenhaver 2). Among other things, it includes the increased ability to fulfill physically and psychologically demanding jobs. In postmodern plays, including Fool for Love, the American woman is free to “live a life of independence” (Copenhaver 327). This tendency can be manifested even if the character creates an impression of a dependent person expecting external control and assistance.
The American woman’s roles detailed above evolved from earlier depictions of women focused on romantic relationships and struggles rather than an infinite diversity of characters. Central characteristics of realism and naturalism, including the prevalence of male writers, historical authenticity, and attempts to employ a quasi-scientific approach to writing, affected the depictions of women, including those in the U.S. (Copenhaver 44). For naturalist writers, it was not uncommon to depict the woman in English-speaking countries as an individual who struggles with poverty and ruination while also trying to prove her professionalism if she is allowed to work (Phipps 12). Being opposed to women’s fiction with its idealization of traditional marriage, realism introduced depictions of the complex lived realities of American women as wives and mothers (Tadjibayev et al. 148). With that in mind, compared to the eras of realism and naturalism, modernist and postmodernist depictions of American women emphasize independence and the freedom of self-expression that enable women to fulfill various professional and social roles.
Works Cited
Copenhaver, Bonny Ball. The portrayal of gender and a description of gender roles in selected American modern and postmodern plays. 2002. Digital Commons, PhD dissertation.
Phipps, Gregory. “American Literary Naturalism and Its Descendants.” Studies in American Naturalism, vol. 15, no. 1, 2020, pp. 7-14. Web.
Tadjibayev, Musajon, et al. “The Development of Realism in American Literature.”European Journal of Research and Reflection in Educational Sciences, vol. 8, no. 10, 2020, pp. 145-150. Web.
Wood, Elaine. Female Sexuality in Modernist Fiction: Literary Techniques for Making Women Artists. Routledge, 2020.