Cooking, cleaning, caring for children and being submissive were women's roles in the late 19th century, but was all this starting to change? According to history, this was a turning point for women in the 19th century. These changes are linked to events happening around them, such as the economy and war, but some believe it has something to do with the actions of the women themselves. They were ready to become independent and break away from social norms. (Loyola University New Orleans, 2009) Looking in depth at the literature of the period, it is evident the difference between the descriptions and reactions of men and women to this turning point in history. Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets proclaims man's view of women in the late 19th century, a view that fate will always conquer, but Kate Chopin's The Awakening declares the turning point of the he story where women found themselves as individuals and became independent. At the end of the 19th century, women's traditions began to change. In the 19th century, men and even women of that era would have said that women were and were born with the role God gave them, that of being only a wife and mother. Women were also known to be the guardians of the home and all that lived within it. About halfway through his passage, Hartman writes that the Victorian home must have been a place of comfort and tranquility, as if sheltered from all the realities of the world. Household chores were to be taken seriously and important to the full dynamics of the household. Children were to be cherished and nurtured from birth until adulthood. (Hartman, 2nd paragraph) The main priority and life goal of the women of the house was to achieve all these things and make the home run as smooth as possible...... middle of paper ...... e, nd Web. April 11, 2014. Irving, Katrina. “Gendered space, racialized space: nativism, the immigrant woman and “Maggie” by Stephen Crane. (novel 'Maggie: A Street Girl')." Collegiate Literature 20.3 (1993): 30+. Literary Resource Center. Internet. April 30, 2014. Mainland, Catherine. "Chopin's Bildungsroman: From Male Role Models to awakening." Mississippi Quarterly 64.1/2 (2011): 75-85. Academic research completed. Internet. May 1, 2014. Novotny, George T. “Crane's Maggie, A Girl Of The Streets.” Explainer 50.4 (1992): 225. Academic research completed. Internet. May 1, 2014. Pizer, Donald. “A note on Kate Chopin’s The Awakening as naturalistic fiction.” The Southern Literary Journal 33.2 (2001): 5. Literary Resource Center. Internet. April 30, 2014. “The role of the wife and mother.” Kate Chopin. Loyola University New Orleans, 2009. Web. April 13. 2014.