Women in Literature - Romanticism & The Early 20th Century

Women in Literature - Romanticism & The Early 20th Century (Northanger Abbey & Passage to India)

Women have long taken a backseat in the literary world, both as writers and literary figures. Until recently, many classical artists fell behind the shadow of the male writer in historic periods of literature and art. In present day, most people recognize the critical female writers behind popular novels and works, such as Jane Austen or Mary Wollstonecraft. I feel that there is a significantly measured jump in the presence of women in such acclaimed literature, even within short frames of mere centuries. 

Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey generated plenty of discussion and class material during this semester. The social roles and constraints surrounding Catherine and her company played directly into the novel’s plot. Catherine wove through the delicate web of culture and proprietary to meander toward her own satisfaction. Catherine’s role in her social sphere was directly correlated to her gender. That is, what Catherine was bound by was the expectations surrounding someone female. Her interactions, choices, and upbringing were determined by a world where every person has a position they must abide by. Catherine’s gender, in this sense, is central to who she is and how she maneuvers through Austen’s gothic parody. Being a woman, Catherine directly reflects the gothic protagonists speckling popular novela at the time. 

E.M. Forester’s exploratory story in A Passage to India features a central female character, Adela Quested. Adela ventures to Chandrapore with her companion Mrs. Moore, in an attempt to discover ‘the real india’. Adela, like Catherine, also faces an aggressive social caste within which she must contain herself. Adela is bound by very similar rules as Austen’s protagonist, but unlike Catherine, Adela’s femininity is not the central attribute of her character. While her gender is pivotal at times in the novel (i.e. the caves situation, her relationship with Aziz), Adela is not restrained by her gender in the same manner as Catherine. Where Catherine is defined by her gender and the plot centralizes it, Adela’s gender is a secondary aspect to her character. Catherine is unable to say no because she is a woman - Adela is unable to say no because it is not something she desires to do. 

Though the difference is small, I feel that this progression of female characters in popular narratives shows the steps toward popular fiction as we know it today - women as heroines, fighting outside of their social norms. Women in Austen and Forester’s stories fight dissension within their own gender stratification.