Horse Dealer s Daughter Implications Of Patriarchal...

Horse Dealer’s Daughter†: Ramifications of Patriarchal Society on the Main Protagonist â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal (WILL ADD SOURCE NAME HERE). To many, the famous opening lines of the Declaration of Independence were intertwined heavily with the underlying infrastructure of a nation of â€Å"equality and freedom. Yet, if such words were to be â€Å"self-evident, where is the mention of women? It is simply absent. During the Age of Enlightenment, patriarchal society deemed women to be â€Å"less† than men. To quote from Barbara Cutter’s work, Gender Oppression During the Age of Enlightenment, â€Å"The idea of enlightened reason excluded women because of what was seen by many as their innate feminine characteristics, which were viewed as inferior, weak and childlike† (Cutter). While the era brought around revolutionary ideas that changed both the American and European forefront, women were entirely excluded from societal progress because their â€Å"innate feminine characteristics [...] were i nferior, weak and childlike† (Cutter). As a consequence, there were societal norms constructed for women that were highly destructive. However, while the ideas of feminine oppression were prevalent throughout the 1700’s, authors incorporate a distinctive theme of oppression towards women into their literature during the era. Specifically, in the well-acclaimed short story,†The Horse Dealer’s Daughter, author D. H. Lawrence crafts a narrative about a