View source for Week 9 Questions/Comments-327 09

== '''General Questions''' ==
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 '''Chapter 7 '''

== Emma Willard, “Matrimonial Risks,” 1815 ==


== Caroline Gilman, “The Deferential Wife,” 1838 ==

I found Gilman's story to be tragic. In a time when marriage was romanticized and a young women felt leaving her "paternal home" was not something to be dread; the story of Gilman's husband losing all of the romance from the beginning of their marriage is heart-wrenching. I also found that while strides had been made in married life, women such as Gilman, still bit their tongue instead of expressing an annoyance with their husband. The difference between the sexes is made apparent but I did enjoy Gilman stating she wanted marriage to remain romanticized. -Megan W.

I feel like a lot of these expectations on women persisted well into the twentieth century.  To some extent, wasn't this the sentiment (or the challenging of this sentiment) that was the basis for a lot of the marital humor that appeared on shows like I Love Lucy?  I think that the negotiation of a "companionate marriage," or maybe more specifically, the meaning of marriage in general, continues in a lot of ways to today.  -erin b

== Catharine Beecher, “System and Order,” 1841 ==



== Catharine Sedgwick, “First to None,” 1828 ==



== Sarah Connell Ayer, “The Widowed State,” 1832-33 ==




 '''Chapter 8 – School and Mill'''


== Eliza Ann Mulford, “Rules of the School,” 1814 ==


== Emma Willard, “A Rationale for Female Education,” 1819 ==
I think this work is interesting because Emma Willard's goal was to educate women on the same subjects that were taught at men's colleges.  She was profound in using such words as national prosperity, national and unparalleled glory, a nation wise, and to defend her liberties, to persuade members of the legislature.  I think she meant that it was essential to educate women in a way to maintain these liberties.  I think when she refered to the shackles that the revolution removed from the nation she also compared the shackles to that on women.  She made it evident that it was important to focus on educating women on moral and intellectual importance than frivolous things like dress and fashion.  I think she thought women had an obligation to their children, family, and themselves and she took it very seriously - so should those determining education of women. -Marsha Himes

== Miss Burnham’s Report, “A Choctaw Mission School,” 1824 ==
As I was reading Miss Burnam's Report, I kept thinking why would the parents of the Native American children bring them to this school?  Choctaws were more civilized into American cultures than before but I don't think enough to want to send their children off with strangers that taught a different way of life.  I think those parents (in order to survive) knew this was the only way to protect their children and to merge them into American society in a peaceful way.  In Miss Burnam's report, she mentioned difficulties with some of the children.  They would get emotional because they felt their brother or sister was not getting the same treatment as them.  The children were compassionate and concerned for their families.  Learning about God gave them a sense of being a sinner and being forgiven, and this made them feel guilty because in the eyes of what they were being taught, it meant their families were sinners.  One of the girls said her family was all bad and another girl said her brother was stupid and she worried about him.  I think these children were torn by what they learned as young children with their families and what was new and unknown.  When your young it sometimes makes it easier to adapt.  I think some of these girls adapted well, loved their teachers and attached themselves to them because that did not have their parents around.  The teacher became more like a parent to them.  - Marsha Himes


After reading this report, I compared Native Americans leaving their children at the school to parents leaving their children at college. In both cases it is hard for child and parent, and for a first time generation college student it is even more of an eye opener, much like the Native American children. They were unfamiliar with customs, scared to leave parents, felt they had different treatment than other family memebers, and turned to teachers (college case professors) for guidance and someone to rely on when away from home. I agree with Marsha the children were torn and unsure how to react in a new place with strangers. With time I feel the girls adjusted well and were able to learn and feel comfortable with their surroundings. -Megan W.

== Letters from Teachers, “Reports on Western Schools,” 1847 ==


== Rules of the Mill from Lowell and Lancaster, 1820-1840 ==
Although the ability to seek work in a new town, independent of family could be seen as an advancement for young women of the early nineteenth-century, I thought the rules of the Lowell textile mills seemed to echo our old friend patriarchy. These female workers were clearly at the bottom of the power hierarchy beneath the factory management, overseer, and the boarding house keepers. They appeared to have very little freedom of movement or actions. I was curious if these rules would have been different if the Lowell factories had a male workforce. -Allison Luthern

== Harriet Farley, “A Letter from Lowell,” 1844 ==


== The Voice of Industry, “A Spirit of Protest,” 1846 ==



 '''Chapter 9 – Western Frontiers'''


== Amelia Stewart Knight, “Crossing the Plains,” 1853 ==

== Mary Ballou, “A Woman’s View of the Gold Rush,” 1852 ==


== Petitions of the Cherokee Women’s Council on Removal, 1817, 1818 ==
The Cherokee women who composed this address spoke of the great injustice of being forced to move beyond the Mississippi. These women said that they have done what white Americans had wanted: many converted to Christianity, they farmed, and educated their children, sometimes sending them to missionary schools. However, I think these women’s action of addressing the male leaders about a political issue is more reminiscent of Native American women’s traditional gender roles before contact. -Allison Luthern

== Sarah Winnemucca, “Life Among the Paiutes,” 1883 ==


== A Sioux Tale, “A Woman Kills Her Daughter” ==