Difference between revisions of "Week 3 Questions/Comments-327 09"
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== Esther Burr, 1756-57, Tied hand and foot == | == Esther Burr, 1756-57, Tied hand and foot == | ||
In Esther Burr's journal you can see the basis she has in Puritan traditions. She relies on her faith, family, and her social network of friends. She refers to doing a lot of spinning, taking care of her children and awaiting her husband arrival from trips. She implicates in her letter to her friend that she must marry and not wait so long to do so. Also, at the same time she's not afraid to share her opinion, not that she does it that often. She even astonishes herself when she makes a comment about what Mr. Ewing says about women and friendships. She was not afraid to hold her tongue "I talked him quite silent." The men around her were either appalled by her comments or surprised that she had an opinion on the idea of women not being capable of having friendships. The perception that men had of women was very different then. I think there were women in society (especially those from the elite) that were very intellectual. Were they afraid to show their intellectual abilities in public around males in society? -Marsha Himes | In Esther Burr's journal you can see the basis she has in Puritan traditions. She relies on her faith, family, and her social network of friends. She refers to doing a lot of spinning, taking care of her children and awaiting her husband arrival from trips. She implicates in her letter to her friend that she must marry and not wait so long to do so. Also, at the same time she's not afraid to share her opinion, not that she does it that often. She even astonishes herself when she makes a comment about what Mr. Ewing says about women and friendships. She was not afraid to hold her tongue "I talked him quite silent." The men around her were either appalled by her comments or surprised that she had an opinion on the idea of women not being capable of having friendships. The perception that men had of women was very different then. I think there were women in society (especially those from the elite) that were very intellectual. Were they afraid to show their intellectual abilities in public around males in society? -Marsha Himes | ||
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| + | I think that is a really good question- perhaps women of colonial America were afraid to appear "superior" in some ways to some men, or that they were worried they would be judged critically for stepping outside of traditional gender roles and boundaries. I think a lot of men in the colonial period might have taken women for granted, in a way, and assumed certain gender roles and behavior as "fact", rather than allowing for interpretation or allowing each individual women to define who she was for herself. I think many males may have seen colonial women as a large, homogenous group with similar qualities (often dictated, perhaps, by the males themselves or by societal customs)rather than as individual people with distinct and different character traits and aspirations. - Allison Godart | ||
== Abigail Bailey, 1815, Abominable Wickedness == | == Abigail Bailey, 1815, Abominable Wickedness == | ||
