Ann Marie Plane, “Creating a Blended Household: Christian Indian Women and English Domestic Life in Colonial Massachusetts”
1062 Words5 Pages
Ann Marie Plane, “Creating a Blended Household: Christian Indian Women and English Domestic Life in Colonial Massachusetts”
Plane explored the households of Christian Indian women and those of English colonists. The ideal of a blended household is explained and made clear in her exploration. To clearly define the blended household she explored the fact that English household ideology and native practices disagreed with one another and led very different family, marriage, household and religious lives.
English households were deeply rooted with the notion of marriage. Further they saw it just to give all control to the husband. This was done while the wives “tended house” and served as the housewife. Indian women and men were not as…show more content… There was an actual inventory taken of each woman’s home. This candid look into the lives of these women shows us the differences as well as what ties them together. Whether on a farm, the frontier or in town, these women shared the same daily duties. These included the ever important meal preparation, the building and regulating of fires, animal and garden tending, mothering the children and spinning to provide clothing and essentials for their family. This look into their homes showed that no matter if you have two rooms are four, ornamental decorations or punch bowls for entertaining, spinning wheels or none, each woman’s role and duties were just as important as the other. The fact that one woman had little in wealth made little distinction of her from the other two.
Taking a look into the ways of her household solidified the fact that housewives were set apart from their counterparts because of their responsibilities. Their knack for multi-tasking and running a home efficiently was never held to very high standards. Now, with a look into these three women’s homes, it seems that everyone should take with them the notion that no matter the woman’s wealth or social status, her work in the home is pivotal to the success of her family.
Documents, “The Law of Domestic Relations: Marriage, Divorce, Dower”
Marriage is the joining of man and woman as one. In the times of European settlers, that “one” normally meant that a woman became