Review Of Joan Schlitz's 'The Hired Girl'

In Breaking Tradition, paragraph two states, “People in “polite society” demanded that ladies live under the guidance and protection of their fathers, husbands, or other male relatives. Women could not vote or sign contracts. And under the law, husbands usually controlled their wives’ poverty, if they owned any, and wages, if they earned

Due to the demand of labor occurring in America, industries were at a deficit in workers. This led for young women to be hired to fill the gaps of labor of the deficit. This change went against society’s perception of a woman’s role. Before industries allowed women

In "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", Harriet Jacobs writes, "Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women" (64). Jacobs' work shows the evils of slavery as being worse in a woman's case by the gender. Jacobs elucidates the disparity between societal dictates of what the proper roles were for Nineteenth century women and the manner that slavery prevented a woman from fulfilling these roles. The book illustrates the double standard of for white women versus black women. Harriet Jacobs serves as an example of the female slave's desire to maintain the prescribed virtues but how her circumstances often prevented her from practicing.

Women working men’s jobs were not as welcomed in society as they were in factories. People held on to the belief that women should be house wives and not have to do much in the way of work. The man should provide for the family, and the women should take care of the family. Many of the women who worked were lower class and had to help provide for their families, or were the only providers for their families. Women who worked men’s jobs were looked down upon and thought to be no better than dirt. Although women working in factories were still women, men did not show them the same respect as they did a woman working as a secretary or teacher.

In The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, a book written by Mordecai Richler, women are represented as if they are of a lower status and importance than men. These female characters include Yvette Durelle, Minnie Kravitz, Ida Kravitz, Linda Rubin, and Sandra Calder. Each of these female characters are in possession of negative attributes; ranging from helplessness, to deceitfulness, and all the way up to inanimateness.

The novel entitled “Fifth Business” by Davies Robertson, depicts the main character, Dunstan Ramsay’s lifelong memoir. Fifth Business describes the evolution of a woman's role in society and their relationship with men over the decades (early 1900s to the late 1960s). With the passage of time, women's social status has changed exponentially, as demonstrated by five female characters in the novel: Mrs. Dempster, Leola, Dianna, Lisel, and Denyse. Their role has changed from taking care of children and their husbands to working independently. Women's status in society has significantly improved as they are becoming more equal with men.

In the early 1900s, women were just beginning to live as they wanted. Being able to have a paying job and women being able to vote for certain things was a huge change. What did not change as much, however, was society as a whole. Many men and some women did not like the idea of women being able to do these things. Two books that show the struggles of women in that time are The Great Gatsby and Their Eyes Were Watching God. In The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it follows Nick Carraway as he goes through life in New York during the 1920s. During his time there, Nick reconnects with his cousin Daisy and sets her up with Jay Gatsby, who she was in a past relationship with. Eventually she breaks things off with Gatsby and leaves New York with her husband and daughter, leaving Gatsby to take the blame for a crime he did not commit. On the other hand, in Their Eyes are Watching God, a novel by Zora Neale Hurston, it follows Janie Crawford, a woman living in Florida in the early 1900s, as she goes through life trying to find her true love. Her quest for love began when she was a young girl, her Nanny forcing her into a loveless marriage at the age of sixteen. Throughout both books, the vast majority of female characters have been judged by others for going against societal norms by doing what they want, not what their husband or significant other told them to do. In both of these books’ time periods, women were expected to do whatever men said or told them to do,

Dating back throughout history woman were often considered to be too soft or docile to work. In the early 1800’s, as well as the 1950’s, it was thought that woman should not only be pure in heart, mind and body, but that they should be submissive to their husbands and not work outside the home, this was known as the Cult of Domesticity (Keister & Southgate, Inequality: a contemporary approach to race, class and gender, 2012, p. 228).

The novel entitled Fifth Business by Davies Robertson records the main character Dunstan Ramsay’s lifelong memoir. Fifth Business exhibits the process of the change of women’s role in the society and their relationship with men during different decades(from early 1900s to late 1960s). During these sixty years female's social status has altered prodigiously, which can demonstrate by five female characters in the novel- Mrs Dempster, Leola, Dianna, Lisel and Denyse. Women’s role develop from taking care of their children and husbands to work independently as the era progressed; female's’ position in the society had been rose simultaneously and become more equal with men.

The second job she holds down is with The Maids. This job entails a 7:30 - 3:30 work day at $6.65 an hour. This is the best paid and nicest looking maid job she encountered, and chooses to work there. She quickly finds out, however, the societal downfall of being a maid. Every house she goes to, the homeowners are rude, and often very ‘standoffish’. They seem to want no part of a maid, the class of workers that is ‘below all others’, in their eyes. "Were nothing to these people...nor are we much to anyone else," (100) one of her coworkers explained.

A chart illustrating the Occupations of Women Wage Earners in Massachusetts in 1837 shows that nearly half of the women wage earners were in the hat business. While the hat business isn’t one of high skill, it was new for women to be wage earners at all. The emergence of factories (such as Lowell) created a new demand for workers that men alone couldn’t fulfill. A Letter written by a factory worker around the same time as the chart tells Ms. Edward’s story about her job. She is very happy with her life and tells the recipient of the letter that she enjoys boarding with a family, regardless of how “factory girls” are seen by the public.

Surely, she craved to write—meaning to work here—endangered her husband’s position as an authority. He would not have control any longer toward the narrator—his wife. In the 19th century upper class and middle class women were not expected to earn their own living. Women rarely had careers and most professions refused entry to women. In the middle of the 19th century it was virtually impossible for women to become doctors, engineers, architects, accountants or bankers. After a long struggle the medical profession allowed women to become doctors. It was not until 1910 that women were allowed to become accountants and bankers. However, there were still no women diplomats, barristers or judges. Women were allowed to become teachers majority of women became teaches but this was also a low paying job.

In "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", Harriet Jacobs writes, "Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women" (64). Jacobs' work presents the evils of slavery as being worse in a woman's case due to the tenets of gender identity. Jacobs elucidates the disparity between societal dictates of what the proper roles were for Nineteenth century women and the manner that slavery prevented a woman from fulfilling these roles. The book illustrates the double standard of for white women versus black women. Harriet Jacobs serves as an example of the female slave's desire to maintain the prescribed virtues but how her circumstances often prevented her from practicing.

This was good new for upper-class men like Mr Birling and Gerald Croft, but was clearly very bad news for women like Eva Smith, who were forced to work in servicing jobs such as maids, servants, or factory workers. This leads to another key factor of attitudes towards women; the fact that they have to go to extremes to survive, let alone live comfortably. One of the events that set in motion the train of events leading to Eva’s suicide is the injustices she faced at work under Arthur Birling’s company. Mr Birling clearly shows how bad younger women were treated without giving it a second thought, as he states ‘they wanted rates so they could average twenty-five shillings a week. I refused of course’ which shows just how unsympathetic aristocrats like Arthur were back then..

The Hired Girl has two main structures and a substructure; the main two are striving for freedom and cultural clash. The substructure is daily heroism. The dominant structure is striving for freedom. Joan escapes home because she rebels against her father's tyranny. She seeks for freedom and the opportunity to educate herself. She has aspirations to become a teacher. She is a farm girl deprive from any source of happiness or enlightenment. She refuses to live that way and she confronts her father. She runs away from home as a sing of rebellion and bravery to pursue happiness. She manges to find a job and finds grace among her boss that help her to go back to school.The culture clash occurs when Joan preserve her beliefs despite the circumstances.