Difference between revisions of "426--Week 5 Questions/Comments--Tuesday"
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I found it pretty clear through Stevenson's reading that the informal meeting between men and women of the lower classes was much more "meaningful" than the 'formal debuts' of the upper crust. Instead of the ballroom environment where women tried to impress the men of nobility status, the informal meeting between men and women after church, at Sunday socials and walks in the park characterize a much more liberating experience. Therefore the question that popped into my head was whether the meeting between men and women in the Southern lower classes between 1820-1840 took on much more meaningful life-long relationships than the courtship based on each other's class resume. --Joe Cirenza | I found it pretty clear through Stevenson's reading that the informal meeting between men and women of the lower classes was much more "meaningful" than the 'formal debuts' of the upper crust. Instead of the ballroom environment where women tried to impress the men of nobility status, the informal meeting between men and women after church, at Sunday socials and walks in the park characterize a much more liberating experience. Therefore the question that popped into my head was whether the meeting between men and women in the Southern lower classes between 1820-1840 took on much more meaningful life-long relationships than the courtship based on each other's class resume. --Joe Cirenza | ||
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| + | I think those meetings at Church, social events and walks in the parks were still based on a social resume. We need to take into consideration the idea of meeting in “appropriate” places. For wealthier individuals that meeting might take place at a debut or the parlor of a wealthy family, but a church yard would also be deemed an appropriate place to meet someone. It implies that both individuals are members of a church, members of the same denomination, and bodes well for the woman being pious and able to guide her family spiritually. Burr Harrison’s advice in the beginning of chapter 2 about choosing a woman who was “a good girl of good health, good temper, good habits and good appearance” and his final warning to choose wisely touches upon both the gender roles we have already discussed in class and the role of courtship in marriages. Even in the courtship stage men were expected to be responsible for the woman, financially responsible, and dominant in the relationship. Women were expected to be physically attractive, pure and submissive. Stevenson points to how damaging it could be if either the man or woman could not live up to these expectations. A man unable to financially support a woman was in some ways not masculine and could be denied approval to marry a girl. A woman unable to remain pure not only embarrassed herself but her entire family and the issue of pregnancy out of wedlock led to shame and the breaking apart of families. We see how societal expectations placed pressures on the family and the consequences of not living up to these expectations just like in marriage. – Mary Beth | ||
== Parenting == | == Parenting == | ||
