Women have, for a long time, been expected to fulfill certain roles. These roles varied through the ages but have remained rooted in their main objective, to have women raise children and assist and serve their husbands (Vishwanathan, 1994, p. 34). Women are seen as the ones who stay home, tend the hearth, and raise the young while men are the ones that earn the money, own the property, and control the household. In literature, women are depicted often as fulfilling these stereotypical roles and also rebelling against them. Karen Van Der Zee's "A Secret Sorrow" and Gail Godwin's "A Sorrowful Woman" are two works of literature that demonstrate the lives of women who belonged to a society that required them to conform to their selected role. Both narratives establish the anticipated place of women in society, but do so from dissimilar perspectives. "A Secret Sorrow" has a female character...
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