Zahra Karimi

A Feminism Study on Hellman's Dramas Zahra Karimi

Hellman's works are dealing with issues of gender within a framework that is woman-centered. Her protagonists in these two dramas The Little Foxes (1939) and Another Part of the Forest (1946) are primarily women whose diverse problems are all related to areas and themes concerning women. She extensively deals with diverse themes of sexism and racism and oppression from patriarchal culture she had experienced throughout her life. Her most recurring themes in her dramas discussed in Literature Criticism are as follows: "the struggle to have money and power of our own, the price of power and money in any way, friendships among women especially the attention of whites to the black servants, the problem of loving men who regard us as less than themselves, sensuality, violence in class struggle. Hellman's dramas represent the female characters who try to defense themselves and protect themselves from the pressures of a patriarchal society and resist on her private and social rights .