Difference between revisions of "Week 9 Questions/Comments-327 09"
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When reading First to None I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Catharine Sedgwick. She spent her life surrounded by her friends and her family who she knew loved, admired, and respected her but she never felt like she was a first priority. She states, “I would not advise anyone to remain unmarried, for my experience has been a singularly happy one”. I think it is interesting that such a great writer of stories about the home and family had such a contradiction in her own life. Sedgwick was a successful author with close friends and family, and she was unhappy with her decision to remain unmarried. I can only imagine how the average women would handle a single existence in a society that was so focused on the family. –Erin Sanderson | When reading First to None I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Catharine Sedgwick. She spent her life surrounded by her friends and her family who she knew loved, admired, and respected her but she never felt like she was a first priority. She states, “I would not advise anyone to remain unmarried, for my experience has been a singularly happy one”. I think it is interesting that such a great writer of stories about the home and family had such a contradiction in her own life. Sedgwick was a successful author with close friends and family, and she was unhappy with her decision to remain unmarried. I can only imagine how the average women would handle a single existence in a society that was so focused on the family. –Erin Sanderson | ||
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| + | As we discussed in class, there was an increase in unmarried ladies along the eastern seaboard, part of which was attributed to there being less men. In the case of Catharine Sedgwick, we see another part of that is a result of the idealization of marriage. Catharine bemoans her unmarried status, attributing it to her high standards and unwillingness to accept mediocre offers. Of course, Catharine could afford not to settle, as she had plenty of successful brothers who were willing to take care of her, at least early on. To what extent did the idealization of marriage impact how lower class women chose their husbands? -- Taylor Brann | ||
== Sarah Connell Ayer, “The Widowed State,” 1832-33 == | == Sarah Connell Ayer, “The Widowed State,” 1832-33 == | ||
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I thought that this piece was really depressing. First, she looses four children, then her husband, and not long after both her and her youngest daughter die. But, it was interesting to see through her entries how much she loved and missed her husband. It is a sign of the times that she missed her husband because of the love they shared between them. One question though: what were the meetings that she wrote about? Is it a code for church? -Kristina.S. | I thought that this piece was really depressing. First, she looses four children, then her husband, and not long after both her and her youngest daughter die. But, it was interesting to see through her entries how much she loved and missed her husband. It is a sign of the times that she missed her husband because of the love they shared between them. One question though: what were the meetings that she wrote about? Is it a code for church? -Kristina.S. | ||
| + | Widowhood in the 19th century has several similarities to widowhood in earlier centuries. Women were dependent on their husbands, and without them they could lose their households and be left to rely on distant relatives for support. In the case of Sarah Connell Ayer, this state and the grief over her husband left her miserable and angst-ridden (not exactly prime material for remarriage!). I’m left wondering what effects companionate marriage had on widowhood for both men and women. If women and men looked for partners on the basis of love and affection, did the loss of those partners create even more grief? -- Taylor Brann | ||
'''Chapter 8 – School and Mill''' | '''Chapter 8 – School and Mill''' | ||
