Typology of Female Characters and Feminine Culture in Kate Chopin’s and Saida Zunnunova’s “New Woman” Novels

Abstract

Catherine O’Flaherty, the American writer, who is most known as Kate (1850 –1904), was born in St. Louis on February 8, 1850. The book that brought Kate fame and fortune was the novel entitled “The Awakening” which was written and completed in 1899. For her works, Kate Chopin observed women and their roles in the contemporary society and became friends with many women. Saida Zunnunova (1926-1977), the prominent poetess and writer devoted her life to express female bliss, female liberty and equality in her works as well as to develop a productive literary career. Born in 1926, in the city of Andijan of Uzbekistan, Saida proved herself to be a diligent, energetic, determined, individual and affectionate woman since her childhood. The writer was able to raise women’s problems as the essential part of social life in most of her stories such as “Gulxan” (“Bonfire”), “Olov” (“Fire”), “Odamlar Orasida” (“Among people”), “Mashaqqatli Bir Kun” (“One Gruelling Day”), “Ko’chalar charog’on” (“Bright Streets”), “Yangi Direktor” (“New Director”) and others. The main focus of the research is on the analysis of female individuality and individualism in Kate Chopin’s and Saida Zunnunova’s fiction. This paper aims to explore and analyze women characters and their roles in the nineteenth century American life and twentieth century Uzbek social life with the help of Kate Chopin and Saida Zunnunova’s works. Besides, it reflects and proves how “New Woman” characters have been developed in literature, society and culture. The methods used in the research are historical, comparative-descriptive, cross-cultural, psycho-analytical methods in terms of comparison and description of the women’s role in Kate Chopin’s and Saida Zunnunova’s novels.