Even though women are affected by societal expectations on a day to day basis, they defy those expectations just the same. They do this by simply living their lives. Women can very easily go with society’s expectations. However, we are own people. We make our own decisions.
A great example of this is the short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. In the narrative, the author goes through the hour in which a grieving widow learns of her husband's death. Once the truth is unveiled, she grieves, as someone would expect. After some time she asks for some time to herself. During this time, at first, she thinks this is the end of her life because she doesn’t see the point without her beloved husband. As time goes on, she recalls all of the hard times he caused her. She becomes excited and empowered by her new found freedom. Another example of women defying societal expectations is embodied by Miss Emily from the short story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner. Miss Emily defied all expectations on a daily basis. She refused to adhere to simple systematic expectations, such as leaving her house every now and then, paying taxes and murdering people. However, she did not stop there. She then went on and made the townsfolk believe that her suitor (the person that she poisoned) was still alive and well. She then went even farther as to keep the body and in her room. In a nutshell, Miss Emily defied almost every societal expectation in the book. Both these women defied the societal standards that were bestowed upon them. Look around you or take a look at yourself and really think about societies expectations for women. We defy them.
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Social Expectations affect women in countless ways and it needs to stop. Our society is constantly putting down women or adding yet another standard to which we judge them. Different cultures have different expectations, however, they all that too many.
In the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins, the author touches on many of these absurd expectations. The Protagonist is a serious condition and because she is a woman no one is taking it seriously. The two main men in her life, her husband and her bother, are just going along with it but don’t think anything of it. They are both physicians, therefore, they believe they know everything and are the pinnacle of knowledge. The author portrays them to believe that because she is simply a woman she doesn't know if she is sick or not and if by chance she is, they, of course, should lock her in her house and take away everything that keeps her sane. Alleged old beliefs, such as “women can’t possibly handle knowledge” shows a lot within this story. Her brother and husband believe this and unfortunately, there are still people in our society that also feel this way. This has been disproven countless times but still. Nothing. Societal expectations affect woman every day, in all environments. The social standards of woman have been built up throughout the years. This must end. This past summer I had the amazing opportunity to do an internship at Adobe! Every day I would drive the 30 minute trip to the ferry building, ride the hour-long ferry, then ride a bike 3 miles to the Adobe offices in San Francisco. It was quite a trip and all worth it! Although it was only a week, it was one of the best experiences in my life. I had the privilege of working with a small development team. During my time in the city, I learned countless skills that can directly improve my performance and set me up for future experiences associated with my education and career. I researched potential users, similar applications, and what the demand is for the product. I sat in and participated in the team’s meetings and helped orchestrate focus groups. I was interviewed many times and was trained in how to interview others for them. Doing all of these things was extremely beneficial and interesting, however, this was not the highlight of my week. My favorite part of the week was without a doubt being able to test their product. I was able to create new pieces each day and give my feedback directly to the engineers of the product. This incredible experience was absolutely life-changing. Being at Adobe was such a valuable experience and I loved every second of it!
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