New Women
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, "new woman" novels
reflected larger social debates over new occupations and votes for women.
Plots of these novels often include: marriage as an economic and social
(and sometimes loveless) contract; the rights of women to their own desires
outside the bounds of family; and the defeat of oppressive conventions.
Women depicted in these novels often resist traditional marital or social
roles and forge new relationships of their own.