Possibilities of female liberation at the turn of the twentieth century

This dissertation reads the problems of women and their living conditions in the light of the feminist theory. Female entrapment in some premises such as motherhood marriage and social environment is what is questioned in this work. My intention in this study is to discuss some possible ways of liberation for the women to escape the patriarchal conventions by using Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland, 'Making a Change' and 'An Unnatural Mother', Kate Chopin's The Awakening, 'The Storm', 'Her Letters' and 'A Respectable Woman' and Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth. The first chapter will deal with Charlotte Perkins Gilman's presentation of women entrapped in motherhood. Gilman is of the opinion that motherhood is natural; however, she claims that it should be professionalized. The second chapter will handle with Kate Chopin's works stated above in terms of the sexual liberation for women who are made to live in their asexual marriages. How adultery is found natural and humane in the confined marriages of the time is my main focus in this chapter. I will then analyze Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth in which Lily is entrapped in her single life and in the upper-class society which expects her to marry in order to secure her life. By analyzing these three major 20th century writers, I conclude that Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Kate Chopin and Edith Wharton complement each other and that is why analyzing them altogether enables us to see the big picture for the entrapment and the liberation of women. Keywords: Entrapment, Motherhood, Sexuality, Single life, Liberation