Abstract

This article examines the family as an oppressive patriarchal structure. Then, it shows how Fanny Fern, the nineteenth-century American writer, succeeds in empowering her heroine, Ruth Hall, who bears the novel’s title, by taking her into the domain of journalism that was seen typically seen as a male specificity. This article, as a result, examines the constraints and catalysts that help Ruth fulfill her identity as a woman and as a journalist from a feminist perspective. The heroine has to go through different trials and overcome the patriarchal domination of her family heads in order to reach her full potential achieving success and prosperity as a journalist. Her ruthless father and domineering brother, who deprive her of love and relegate her to the domestic realm, serve as one layer of oppression yet are also catalysts to her success. Marriage to a good man does not provide enough independence to a woman like Ruth; it is another form of female oppression. The third layer of oppression is patriarchal dogmatism that dictates that Ruth should remain to do menial jobs such as being a seamstress. Therefore, this article examines these constraints and catalysts that can be a double-edged sword, oppressing the heroine and, at the same time, inspiring her resistance. Such success of women in overcoming such patriarchal oppressive structures proves that the novel can be seen as an early precursor of writing back to the male canon.