Difference between revisions of "Week 10 Questions/Comments-327 09"
From McClurken Wiki
(→Mary Boykin Chestnut’s diary, 1861) |
|||
| Line 24: | Line 24: | ||
I was also curious about Mary’s use of Opium. I know opium was used as medicine before morphine was popular, however I wonder as to how it was used. In her diary, Mary said: “I quickly took opium…”, does this mean it was still in its seed form or was it processed into a liquid or pill? Or was smoking an appropriate behavior for women? I was also very much intrigued by Mary’s very confusing ideas about slavery. In one section she writes that “ours is a monstrous system & wrong & iniquity” and in yet another that” my countrywomen are as pure as angels- tho surrounded by another race who are- the social evil!” She appears to think slavery is wrong, however at the same time she retains a very racist attitude that seems to oppose her earlier statement. Maybe she ought to lay off the opium before she begins to ponder theoretical issues... -- Elyse Lawrence | I was also curious about Mary’s use of Opium. I know opium was used as medicine before morphine was popular, however I wonder as to how it was used. In her diary, Mary said: “I quickly took opium…”, does this mean it was still in its seed form or was it processed into a liquid or pill? Or was smoking an appropriate behavior for women? I was also very much intrigued by Mary’s very confusing ideas about slavery. In one section she writes that “ours is a monstrous system & wrong & iniquity” and in yet another that” my countrywomen are as pure as angels- tho surrounded by another race who are- the social evil!” She appears to think slavery is wrong, however at the same time she retains a very racist attitude that seems to oppose her earlier statement. Maybe she ought to lay off the opium before she begins to ponder theoretical issues... -- Elyse Lawrence | ||
| − | Having a husband that was a lawyer and offical in the Confederancy, Mary Boymin Chestnut may have lived/visited near or in Charleston which is port city having access to good that may have been brought over from China which had just experienced the second opium war. | + | Having a husband that was a lawyer and offical in the Confederancy, Mary Boymin Chestnut may have lived/visited near or in Charleston which is port city having access to good that may have been brought over from China which had just experienced the second opium war. |
| + | |||
| + | Like the previous posters I was rather confused/shocked by the casual mention of her using opium. I suppose I have the same question as above how often did people of her status use opium? Another thing that caught my attention was her saying “I was amused. Said Elizabeth was his /present/ wife.” this is an example of what we talked about earlier in the semester about “now wives” and such. –Megan M. | ||
== Rose Williams’s Story in the Federal Writers’ Project Interviews, 1941. == | == Rose Williams’s Story in the Federal Writers’ Project Interviews, 1941. == | ||
