Buđenje "nove žene" u američkoj književnosti 19. stoljeća

This paper discusses the development of female psyche in nineteenth century American literature. Three literary texts by prominent female authors were taken into consideration as a model for this research – the novel The Awakening (1899) written by Kate Chopin, Trifles (1916), a play in one act by Susan Glaspell, and A Room of One’s Own (1929), an essay on feminist criticism by Virginia Woolf. This paper is divided into three chapters, each discussing one particular author. Chapters start with a short information on the author and the literary text, and are followed by the critical analysis of the text. Furthermore, these texts were used to help describe the development of major female characters under the influence of social circumstances of nineteenth century society. The society of that time was immensely patriarchal and distanced from new changes. Yet, that was also the time of the emergence of feminist ideology, whose sole aim is to establish equal political and economic rights for women. Throughout history, even more so in the twentieth century, the feminist ideology has left a huge impact on women’s society. The effect of feminism is strong and a lot can be said about the difficulties women encounter. The afore mentioned female authors are fine examples of female writing at a time when the society was very conservative so that female authors wrote little, if anything. They created characters that prove that women will fight the constrictions of society. Kate Chopin, Susan Glaspell and Virginia Woolf gave evidence of women who gradually discover their own power and identity