Chapter One analyzes the coming of age stories of two women who seek independence, power, and respect in both their relationships and in the predominantly male run world they live in, in addition to how they each learn to overcome their struggles and setbacks in order to attain their goals. Jane, in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, and Janie, in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, both gain the freedom and agency they initially desired because of the lessons that each of them learn throughout their personal journeys of growth.

Chapter Two, like Chapter One, examines the stories of women who seek to find a sense of independence and agency within their lives and addresses the different ways each protagonist conquers their hardships in order to achieve their emancipation. However, unlike Jane and Janie, Celie in Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Offred in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale are forced to overcome more extreme physical oppression and abuse. They each defeat their imprisonment by embracing their feminity and sexuality while also looking up to other strong-willed women in their lives.