Seneca Falls. This topic, in my opinion, is closely related to Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. In 1848, around the same time this novel was published, the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention was taking place in the United States. They fought for women's right to vote and for overall equality. It was as if men and women lived in different worlds and had to obey different rules and standards. Men had few periods, while women were very oppressed. They could not make decisions or own property. Bronte certainly flipped the script with this novel showing the empowered woman through her protagonist Helen Graham. Helen Graham is a young woman who changes her identity when she flees her alcoholic husband who leads a life of corruption. She enters this curious city and finds its new face very interesting. Her new neighbor, Gilbert Markham, is terribly fascinated by Helen. At one point I felt he could be considered a stalker because she wouldn't give him the time of day and he still persisted. Eventually, Helene gives him her diary which pours out the confessions of her previously disastrous life and leaves room for hope for a new future and helps Gilbert and the reader understand the pain of this troubled woman. Hélène passionately questions ideas such as the extreme sheltering of girls and the extreme exposure of boys to the harshness of the world. We see this particularly when Gilbert Markham discusses with Helen the difference in treatment between boys and girls and the consequences that entails. Helen's protective treatment of her son Arthur sparks a reaction in Gilbert. Gilbert's response to this is to say that "...and by such means...you will never make him virtuous." His view is that, according to society, to prepare boys to become men, it is necessary that they be exposed to the dangers of the world in order to develop strong moral character. The idea that girls and women must be protected from the harsh realities of the world in order to protect them from moral distress or defilement constitutes a double standard for women. It is this contradiction that Helen addresses, questioning the importance of exposure in strengthening moral character, and the importance of keeping girls in complete ignorance of the vices of the world to prevent their corruption..