Female quest in two fin de siecle novelists:Kate Chopin and Hali̇de Edi̇b Adivar

Having contextualized the novel Awakening by Kate Chopin and Seviyye Talip by Halide Edib Adıvar, this thesis reviews the status of woman in the patriarchal American and Ottoman societies, their roles they play in, their rebellion against these roles and the development process emerged thanks to their struggle for emancipation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The heroines of the aforementioned novels are analyzed using the comparative literature parameters. In accordance with the result of this comparison the reasons for similarities and differences are presented. The first part focuses on the definition of gender mainstreaming and feminism from past to present, building of gender roles, first and second-wave feminism and philosophies, and finally the female identity in the West and the East. The second part evaluates the viewpoint of two authors of two different cultures carrying out a comparative analysis after the information regarding the life and books of Kate Chopin and Halide Edip Adıvar is provided. In the last part of this thesis the information about the works of the authors is given. This part also addressesthe attitude of each society towards woman in which the authors live, the responsibilities encumbered on the woman by their own society as well as similarities and differences of the heroines, their struggle for emancipation and relation between the will of individual and the expectation of society. Both novels narrate and ponder about the infidelity in marriage, love, conjugal community, sexuality, loneliness and freedom. Therefore it is concluded that the women have the same troubles no matter which culture they live in or when they live, the patriarchal system plays a significant role during the formation of woman identity, which also impedes the women considerably in their struggle to create their independent identity.