The 1920s were years of great changes, in all aspects of society. Women were gaining rights that many thought impossible to achieve just a generation earlier. Despite the feeling of great change that pervaded the world, especially Ireland, women were still frozen in a patriarchal system that allowed them to do little to express their personal freedom or their ability to think critically and complexly. In Elizabeth Bowen's The Last September, Bowen explores internal conflicts in relation to the external forces that oppress the characters. One of the most pervasive of these external forces is traditional society and the history of patriarchy and misogyny it represents. The Last September is a story that subverts and disrupts patriarchal Irish society by referencing feminist ideals and challenging patriarchal expectations. Bowen once said, praising Jane Austen's prose, "the constraints of polite behavior" serve only to "store up" character's "energies" (Glendinning 81). He said that life with the "lid down" is "not necessarily more interesting about life with the lid” (81). he action in the novel occurs internally, and it is through these internal conflicts that the traditional patriarchal structure is subverted. It is through subtle relationships and conversations between the characters that the traditional ideals of society are challenged. Connolly described three distinct waves of feminism in Ireland The novel takes place in the first phase, the “suffragettes…… middle of paper…… are where it goes, as long as it is away from the War and as long as it is away from where it goes. finds now, because he knows he will never feel real there. The Last September functions as a text that challenges society's traditional views of women and women's lives. Bowen does this by demonstrating the idiosyncrasies of many of these traditional practices and by including characters whose thoughts and actions display feminist ideals. Works Cited Bowen, Elizabeth. Last September. New York: Anchor Books, 2000. Print.Connolly, Linda. The Irish Women's Movement: From Revolution to Devolution. 1st.New York: Palgrave, 2002. Print.Glendinning, Victoria. Elizabeth Bowen. 1st. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978. Print.Paxton, Nancy L. “George Eliot and the City.” Trans. Array Women Writers and the City.Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1984. Print.