Barbara Welter's View Of American Culture

History is the framework of every nation. It describes what life was like in a nation, hundreds perhaps thousands of years previously. With history, many citizens are able to examine what lead to a crisis in a nation such as the Stock Market Crash of 1929 or the Civil War in the 1800s in the United States of America. Likewise, the moments of growth and economic success are looked at. From these past endeavors, the people can examine what went wrong and what went right and determine how they can stop themselves from making similar mistakes or act in a way that has been proven to work. In Eve Kornfeld’s “Creating an American Culture 1775-1800,” many different areas of national identity are discussed, including the beginnings of documenting the history of America as an independent nation. This was especially hard for Americans to create a singular national identity because there was bias in the early works, the different colonies or states were extremely diverse, and many intellectuals had different perspectives on the American identity.

The article, The Cult of Womanhood: 1820 - 1860 written by Barbara Welter discusses the philosophy towards women in America during the mid 19th century. A set of demands and expectations based upon four principles: piety, purity, submission and domesticity were placed on women as well as certain behavioral expectations left 19th century women feeling guilty. It also left women feeling this way during the industrialization period as well as having a huge presence of incompatibility with society. Welter shares her viewpoint that the Cult of Womanhood was an attempt to preserve pre modern values in the industrial age. Men held a dominant place in society and continued to prevent new opportunities for women to explore. Narrow minded

From the Puritan writers of the 17th century to the post-Civil War period of American Realism and Naturalism, American culture and writing has evolved dramatically. The shift of style and semantics in the literary works of Anne Bradstreet to Bret Harte directly follows the transformation of the empowerment of women. The continuously changing and developing roles of women are evident in historical events that left an everlasting impression on the developing literature of American history. Although women may have started from a lesser role when compared to men, women have continually achieved equality and acceptance in American literature as time has changed from the 17th century to the post-civil war period.

The next requirement for being a “true woman” was submissiveness. According to society men were superior to women by “God’s appointment.” If they acted otherwise they “tampered with the order of the Universe” (Welter 105). A “true woman” would not question this idea because she already understands her place. Grace Greenwood explained to the women of the Nineteenth Century, “True feminine genius is ever timid, doubtful, and clingingly dependant; a perpetual childhood.” Even in the case of an abusive husband, women were sometimes told to stay quiet

During the mid-nineteenth century there were strict ideologies and guidelines held for women that they were supposed to follow. These expectations were especially strict for the women in the upper and middle classes. Women of the time period were expected to be elegant, beautiful, innocent, and domestic. The standard model for an ideal woman was exemplified in the idea of the True Woman. A True Women was “a pillar of moral strength and virtue” while also being “delicate and weak” (Cruea 189) A True Women was pure and wholesome, displaying all of the desirable traits and utmost femininity.

Over the course of many years, women have struggled to expand their roles and rights in society, hoping to one day achieve complete equality with their male counterparts. Two women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Judy (Syfers) Brady, both recognized the patriarchal society in which women had to endure. They despised the way it heaped inequality and servitude upon women, and decided to assert their opinion on the issue in order to change the perceptions and imposed limitations on women. In Stanton’s speech, “Declaration of Sentiments”, and in Brady’s article, “I Want a Wife”, both women attempt to convince their audiences that females deserve complete equality with men by stating the submissive situations and obligations women find themselves immersed in. This is done to get their female audiences to reevaluate how they have been treated and give them a second chance at attaining equality. Both women employ various rhetorical techniques in their arguments to strengthen, as well as compel other women to oppose the ‘domesticated’ image of women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Judy (Syfers) Brady expressed their views in pursuance of forging a path to a revamped lifestyle for women.

Thesis: A “true women” in the 19th Century was one who was domestic, religious, and chaste. These were virtues established by men but enforced and taught by other women. Women were also told that they were inferior to men and they should accept it and be grateful that someone just loved them.

Women have been treated and portrayed similarly throughout history-- Made to be housewives and handmaidens to men of all ages and expected to be the “perfect woman”, a standard image created by--shocker--men. In fifth-century Greece, the “perfect” woman was expected to obey her husbands at all times. The “perfect” English Renaissance women was meant to be seen, not heard. The “perfect” woman of the eighteen hundreds was given novels to read. Novels that held lighter topics than the newspapers of the day, such as intemperance, nothing too heavy because “once a woman starts reading, she starts getting ideas” (indirect quote from Beauty and the Beast). The tables began to turn in 1848, when the first women’s suffrage movement convention was held in Seneca Falls, when women began to realize what Emma Goldman voiced years later in 1915. The “perfect woman” image began to crumble. Skirts became shorter, topics became heavier, women started thinking, forming ideas, becoming more outspoken, creating their own image, without the aid of men. Slowly, they climbed their way up, proving to be more independent and more than what men thought them to be. How women were viewed as by a society, and their evolution of independence, has bled through in literature, especially through female deities in ancient mythologies. Over time, goddesses of different mythologies have grown bolder and more powerful as the world finally noticed that women were actually people, not pretty trophies. Greek,

Women during the 19th century were held up to four virtues of a true woman: “Piety, Purity, Submission and Domesticity.” Piety was valued because religion did not disrupt the roles of women, and the church is an intuition that instills gender ideologies. The purity of a woman is her greatest assets and shows commitment to their future husbands. Women were to be submissive to their husbands as men to God and lastly, a proper place for a woman was her home. The home is the center of the family where children and men alike, are taken care of, along with any other household duty. Other characteristics that describe women were soft, weak and passive. However not all women were subjected to the same standards across the U.S. The upper and middle classes have been submitted to these virtues more so than the lower or working class. Nor was women in the South, whose “slave mastery and patriarchal

Woman is a charming, gentle creation. They worship and hate women simultaneously. She is being studied, but nevertheless she always remains a mystery. Woman are blessed by nature with a special force. This force is invisible, subtle and gentle, but at the same time large and irresistible. A woman is the embodiment of all the beauty that we now have. Almost all cultural heritage of mankind was created through women and women's participation, because it inspires man for beautiful, noble and courageous acts, helping him to open up and develop himself. Unfortunately, at the moment, the role of a woman in modern society is somewhat distorted. The preconditions for this were created by many generations of previous centuries when a woman was considered a lower-level person, without the right to vote and without the right for self-fulfillment. Their main role was limited to the birth of children and households. Such a tool for the emergence of heirs of the family. If a woman tried to show herself in some other area, she was immediately silenced: burned alive, as, for example, in the Middle Ages, morally or even physically humiliated. Thus, men tried to defend themselves against the obscure nature of women and to emphasize their status as "strong sex." During XVIII century Mary Wollstonecraft challenged crowd with the revolutionary thoughts of equalizing women’s role in both educational and society’s status.

As I analyzed three different issues of the Ladies’ Home Journal that were published in 1960, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of how women were perceived during the year in which my mother was born into. Since the magazine was mainly targeted towards housewives, it included features on marriage, beauty, fashion, food, and interior decoration. The messages perpetuated by the advertisers, news writers, and fictions writers would often contradict each other and sometimes agree. The publications would try to influence women’s marriage life, the way they looked, what they should eat, and how they should care for their families. Marriage and beauty were two of the most important things in a woman’s life according to the magazine.

"The history of American Women” speaks the truth and the battle for opportunity, Collins writes in her presentation, "yet it's less a war against harsh men than a war to rectify the interminably blended message about ladies' parts that was acknowledged by nearly every one of both sexual orientations.” Told sequentially through the convincing stories of individual lives that connected together, it gives a photo of the American lady's experience.  The book recounts the tale of over four centuries of history. It highlights a dazzling exhibit of identities, from the

Put yourself in the shoes of a woman who lived prior to the 1800’s and then the 1900’s and then 2000’s and 2010’s. Now  when you think of societal expectation for  women during these different times what comes to mind? Before more women began to get into the workforce, their roles in the society were limited to housewives, caretakers, child bearers, sometimes just accessory for men use in order to complete their social status and nothing more.In the essay “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid argues that women have often been expected to live up to or conform to certain standards that society sets for them in order to  fit in, be respected and deemed responsible. This can be seen with the set of guidelines or advice that kincaid 's mother gives her

Centuries ago, women’s positions were inside the home, either in motherhood or with domestic labor. They were expected to comply to the demands forced upon them by a patriarchal society. Their opportunities were limited and their importance went unrecognized. Women were denied resources such as education and outside work. Their main role was to marry and take part in their husband’s business. Throughout the 19th and 20th century, women fought and struggled to attain social equality. They became increasing interested in their social position and initiated movements in aim of redefining their status. One way they aimed at justifying their demands was through their writing, defining their roles in marriages and the norms imposed on them by society.

During the turn of the 19th century in Europe, doctrines such as the napoleonic code, and earlier writings from philosophers like Rousseau continued to have a direct impact on how women were seen and treated within society. Virginia Woolf, a 20th century author wrote on how these writings changed societies perception of women and what their roles should be in the eyes of men. In her book, A room of ones own, she writes, “A very queer, composite being thus emerges. Imaginatively she is of the highest importance: practically she is completely insignificant.”1. Virginia Woolf was able to understand the power of these writings during the