Description of themes from several books written by women writers including The Awakening; Their Eyes Were Watching God; The Joy Luck Club; and The Handmaiden's Tale.

_____Of the reoccurring themes in all of the assigned reading, movies, and books, one would have to notice the obvious struggle of women against the oppression and societal restrictions imposed mostly by a patriarchal society and the consequences of those struggles. These stories take place mostly in past times and reflect what must have been a common struggle for many freethinking women of those eras. Common practices and excepted norms kept the women of these …

…of it they all had some kind of run-in with death or loss. These run-ins show how society is slow to change, and also how some people need to cling to old conventions that benefit them. These stories also show, however, how some people cannot lay down for other people. They also show the necessity of the human spirit to be happy at almost all costs; no matter what gender a person happens to be.