Good Female Voices In 20th Century Italian Literature Essay Example

“Among Women Only” by Cesare Pavese depicts the true Italian feminism portraying the postwar Turin and the hedonists who believed that existence was a sickness and suicide was an ultimate affirmation. The story revolves around a young designer Clelia who happens to enter the affluent life but gets caught up in the ever eerie trap of destruction. She struggles with the harsh realities and often stumbles. On the other hand “A Woman” by Sibilla Aleramo is the canon of Italian feminist literature . The 15 years old girl starts to struggle for her rights and respect when she gets raped by a man who worked in her father’s factory. The author advocates the fact that a woman is like a memoir. In a way, both of these books revolve around the life of women in Italy and her challenging experiences.
Woman has to fight with the injustices of the society in different roles. Aleramo’s central character found the intellectuals through her writing and improved her feminist sensibilities. She further examines the motherhood and traditional ideals as,
“a man who treated her like a piece of property, giving her children and then abandoning her to perform his social duty, leaving her at home to idle away her time – just as she had done as a child?”  (p. 114)
All these injustices can be handled by Women Corporation. Things could improve if the feminists would unite and help the oppressed. In her pursuit of a exposing bitter realities, she further argues that “Perhaps if we realized that relationships founded on domination and seduction originates in selfishness, we would put more emphasis on the responsibilities involved in parenthood”.  (p. 194)
Clelia instincts led her "to become somebody” (p. 209). She basically is a poster child for existentialism with big dreams. She is often told that she is seized "by an utter and complete disgust with living, with everything and everyone, with time itself which goes so fast and yet never seems to pass." (p. 221). Contempt from the fellow women broke her “The small woman in satin laughed louder than the boys” (p.271). She finally decided for suicide because she could not fight with the circumstances. She escapes.
“Among the Women” somehow comprehends a failure whereas “A Woman” argues about optimism. The thematic similarities can be seen in the challenges and hardships both women have stated. They are traumatized in several ways. Social dominance is awarded by men in the intrasexual competition of leadership and dominance . Both of the books however surfaced the ideas which are still applicable and were extremely shocking to the Italian society of 1900s.

Works cited

Aleramo, Sibilla. A Woman. G.P. Putnam's Sons: New York, 1908.
Laura. "Review: A Woman, by Sibilla Aleramo." 26 Febuary 2010. Laura's Musings . 22 March 2015 <https://laurasmusings.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/review-a-woman-by-sibilla-aleramo/>.
Pavese, Cesare. Among Women Only. London: Peter Owen Publishers, 1949.
Walsh, Susan. "How Women Really Feel About Male Dominance." 3 June 2012. Hooking up smart. 22 March 2015 <http://www.hookingupsmart.com/2012/06/03/relationshipstrategies/how-women-really-feel-about-male-dominance/>.