The Cultural Reflection of Art Throughout History - Research Paper

Introduction

People mainly love art for aesthetic purposes. However, other than the beauty, art offers deep insight into the history of mankind, as well as the various social and political issues that he had to deal with. Throughout history, the different forms of art have served as a reflection of the society and the times. As society grew and expanded, art changed to reflect the developments. Artists are usually influenced by the issues impacting the communities they live in. Resultantly, when one studies literature, they can see the reflections of the period in which it was written. For instance, literature written in the 19th century is richly packed with themes that reflect the social issues that affected people back then. Some of the social issues that affected society in the 19th century include slavery and mental health. Feminism was also budding at the time. This paper seeks to show how the late 19th century writers responded to these issues in their works.

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Slavery

Slavery was a contentious issue in the 19th century, not only in America but also in the British Empire. The problem is extensively covered in literature, especially by writers of African ancestry. After the war, African Americans became self-conscious and began pursuing their literary ambitions (Reece 20). In their works, they sought to counter the notions of slavery that had been propagated for years. They also sought to debunk the myths and misconceptions that existed regarding the race. Shadows Uplifted, is one of the best literary works from this period. Published in 1892, this was among the earliest novels published by a black. In this book, Frances Harper tells of a mixed-race woman who turns down her white heritage and instead honors her African heritage and is committed to uplift African Americans. In a narrative approach, the reader is taken through the lives of slaves, the Civil war, and, most importantly, the black identity. The book sounds like a wakeup call for the African Americans to stand up for each other and be proud of their heritage, a key message during the time (Asmarani 15).

Mental Illness

For much of the 19th century, the line separating science from pseudoscience was not as clear as it is today. As society got increasingly educated, the issue of mental health became open to exploration. Different factors informed this. For instance, in the United Kingdom, King George III's madness had led to more focus on the field (Chau, Chong and Wong 710). However, the issue was not only taken up by physicians. Writers, as well as other artists, took it up as well. Resultantly, writers from the Victorian era explores mental illness more deeply than their predecessors. The remedies that emerged as science grew are also visible in various works of literature. The Yellow Paper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892, mostly tells the reader of women's health, motherhood, as well as feminism, in the late 19th century America. However, her focus on mental breakdown and its remedies also feature prominently (Dosani 411).

In this period, the women were thought to be more susceptible to mental breakdown due to reproductive cycles and biological weakness. The creative and ambitious women were deemed to be at a higher risk. This, in a way, shows how society used mental illness to tame the ambitions of women. For instance, those eager to take up roles set aside for men such as politics and higher education were said to be putting themselves at a higher risk. All these issues are brilliantly captured in the short story. The protagonist has a mental illness and is confined to a house where she finally breaks free and creeps from the limitations that many women of her age lived in (Marland).

Feminism

For a very long time, women have fought for the freedom to be who they are without fear of being judged. While the situation is much better today as women enjoy more rights, it was not as good for the 19th-century women. This is captured in various literary works. Kate Chopin is one of the earliest feminist writers. Greatly gifted in writing, she used irony to conceal messages against the patriarchal society and the traditional gender roles. In The Story of an Hour, she talks about the problems that women faced in marriage. She shows that the men held all the power and imposed their will onto women. She portrays women as having no freedom or control over their lives. Instead, they live for their husbands. Through this story, she shone a light on the unhealthy balance that existed both in marriage and society. However, she also shows that women can be strong. Louise, the protagonist, is suffering from a heart condition and can be justifiably seen as weak. However, upon the death of her husband, she turns into a stronger woman with her own identity and independence (Distel).

Conclusion

Literature has been used over the years to speak of the social issues affecting the people at the time. As demonstrated in the discussion, writers in the 19th century used literature to give a voice to the various issues that faced the society back then. Frances Harper spoke of slavery and called for African Americans to stand up for each other in Shadows Uplifted. Mental illness, a significant issue at the time, was addressed in The Yellow Paper. Finally, feminism, which was only forming roots at the time, is brilliantly tackled in The Story of an Hour.

Works Cited

Asmarani, Ratna. "The Embodiment of the Black Feminist Spirit In Iola Leroy, the Female Mulatto Protagonist, in Frances HarpersIola Leroy." English Language and Literature International Conference (ELLiC) Proceedings 1 (2017): 9-15. <https://jurnal.unimus.ac.id/index.php/ELLIC/article/view/2507>.

Chau, Hang Sze, et al. "Early intervention for incipient insanity: early notions from the 19th century English literature." Early intervention in psychiatry 12.4 (2018): 708-714. <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/eip.12355>.

Distel, Kristin M. "Free! Body and Soul Free!": The Docile Female Body in Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour." New Women's Writing: Contextualising Fiction, Poetry and Philosophy (2018): 65. <https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=A-d_DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA65&dq=feminism+in+the+story+of+an+hour+-+&ots=GC45R0uZt4&sig=2xFA3yWoGXRNCqSJP31mj5iAT1s>.

Dosani, Sabina. "The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: a gothic story of postnatal psychosis-psychiatry in literature." The British Journal of Psychiatry 213.1 (2018): 411-411. <https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/yellow-wallpaper-by-charlotte-perkins-gilman-a-gothic-story-of-postnatal-psychosis-psychiatry-in-literature/3E254A6C21E2CACA5F539B658DE26A25>.

Marland, Hilary. "The Yellow Wallpaper: a 19th-century short story of nervous exhaustion and the perils of women's 'rest cures'." 27 February 2018. The Conversation. 6 December 2019. <https://theconversation.com/the-yellow-wallpaper-a-19th-century-short-story-of-nervous-exhaustion-and-the-perils-of-womens-rest-cures-92302>.

Reece, Robert L. "Genesis of US colorism and skin tone stratification: Slavery, freedom, and mulatto-Black occupational inequality in the late 19th century." The Review of Black Political Economy 45.1 (2018): 3-21. <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0034644618770761>.