George Sand

In 1839, a French writer named George Sand provided an interesting quote in a play that was never published:

I was a woman; for suddenly my wings collapsed, ether closed in around my head like an impenetrable crystal vault, and I fell....

Sand weaves a tale of a woman reminiscent of Icarus, who famously flew too close to the sun and had his wings burned off. This character also attempts to ascend above her accepted role, but finds herself with ether surrounding her head like crystal.

You’re thinking, “Wait a sec. Why should this George Sand character know anything about the societal oppression of women?”

The short answer is that she was a woman.

George Sand was born Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin in Paris. Her family had an aristocratic lineage on one side that made her a distant relative of King Louis XVI. On the other side of the family, her mother was a commoner whose father had sold birds for a living.

This duality—highborn and commoner all in the same person—gave Sand a unique perspec…