Tom Jones Education Analysis

Fay Weldon’s ‘Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen’ (1984) through the form of an epistolic novel, serves to enrich a heightened understanding of the contemporary issues of Jane Austen’s cultural context. In doing so, the responder is inspired to adopt a more holistic appreciation of the roles of women inherent in Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ (1813). Due to the examination of the shift of attitudes and values between the Regency era and the 1980s, the reader comes to better understanding of the conventions of marriage for a women and the role education had in increasing one’s marriage prospects. Weldon’s critical discussion of these issues transforms a modern responder’s understanding of the role of a woman during the 19th century.

Judith Sargent Murray’s On the Equality of the Sexes reveals the struggles women had in the 17th-18th centuries when it came to equal education opportunities. Women were expected to become people of domestication while men had many opportunities to expand their minds and be ambitious, and be leaders. Women were expected to focus on taking care of their family, not to have minds of their own. They wanted change.

An understanding of the educational background of women is necessary in discovering the female oppression of the Renaissance. Education was more than an issue of gender, especially in consideration of the consequences of wealth as well. Yet their oppression stems from their decision in whether or not they should study the liberal arts. Often was the case that women faced social stigmas and societal pressures from family members and learned men of the society for turning away from typically female activities. Lucrezia Marinella writes in her Exhortation, “Therefore, she who devotes her mind to learning – a domain that does

The Enlightenment is known as the revolution that brought to question the traditional political and social structures. This included the question of the woman’s traditional roles in society. As the public sphere relied more and more ?? and the advances in scientific and educated thinking, women sought to join in with the ranks of their male counterparts. Women held gatherings known as salons where they organized intellectual conversations with their distinguished male guests. Seeking to further their status, enlightened women published pamphlets and other works advocating for educational rights and political recognition. Even with this evolution of woman in society, many still clung to the belief that the role of the woman was solely

Focusing on the lives of women, they were not allowed such freedoms like we have in modern times. Education is something that these women were not granted a lot of access to. This is pointed out in the very beginning of the novel. One of the characters mentions, “You cannot read, Anna.” (Brooks, 1). Women were expected to be housewives, they would not need that much education to do that. It seems, though, that women in the book were able to learn a lot through experiences. They had no need of a proper education to be able to survive day to day. Going off the information I have learned and the information presented in this book, I believe that the author was able to properly portray the life of women in the seventeenth century.

In addition to education, Wollstonecraft brings the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau to the reader’s attention because he claims that women should not feel independent, and they should be a man’s companion. “…In 1792 the British writer Mary Wollstonecraft directly confronts Rousseau’s views of women and their education…” This “initiated a debate that echoed throughout the centuries followed.” Even today, this debate is still prevalent among both young and old people.

Articles written during a specific period gives the future population an idea of the issues present during that time. Before the United States became independent, woman education was limited to the skill needed to be a good wife and proper mother. Particularly, upper-class woman were the only ones that had the resources to gain an education. Most middle and lower class focus primarily on the education of their males. European education influence Colonial America’s educational system. Since there weren’t any establish convents schools in the colonies, tutors were primarily hired and later on schools were incorporated. During the first years of schooling, new England girls went to a coed school called “dame school”. In the dame school, girls were thought to knit and sew. Many girls got the chance to go to the town school. However, some town school in new England prohibited girls from attending. In the south, girls got the

In her next chapter, Kerber examines the newfound need for the educating of women. Women were not allowed freedom or a political opinion, but they could not be completely pushed aside. For years women had been taught that education made them undesirable to men and educated women were scorned. Kerber argues that a new need for

The novel Flatland refers to the Victorian era where at the time women were regarding as inferior to males and the family life was practically the only respectable career option for a woman. The man was the leader of the family and the wife was to teach the children and care for the house and her husband. Just before the time of the writing of Flatland girl’s schools were included under the Endowed Schools Act of 1869, but in comparison to their male counterparts Victorian females had extremely finite access to higher education. 1

“The subject of the Education of Women of the higher classes is one which has undergone singular fluctuations in public opinions” (Cobbe 79). Women have overcome tremendous obstacles throughout their lifetime, why should higher education stand in their way? In Frances Power Cobbe’s essay “The Education of Women,” she describes how poor women, single women, and childless wives, deserve to share a part of the human happiness. Women are in grave need of further improvements in their given condition. Cobbe suggests that a way to progress these improvements manifests in higher education, and that this will help further steps in advance. Cobbe goes on to say that the happiest home, most grateful husband, and the most devoted children came from a woman, Mary Sommerville, who surpassed men in science, and is still studying the wonders of God’s creations. Cobbe has many examples within her paper that shows the progression of women as a good thing, and how women still fulfill their duties despite the fact that they are educated. The acceptance of women will be allowed at the University of New England because women should be able to embrace their abilities and further their education for the benefit of their household, their lives, and their country.

The patriarchal nature of colonial Latin America did not encourage women to have an interest in education, instead they are expected to play the roles that only focused on managing a household and family enterprises. With this, women are given limited access to education. Only women in higher and middling ranks have access to education, even then they are still subjected to the prejudice that they are not able to fully grasp knowledge. Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz is an example of a woman who was affected by the educational constraints women faced. She stated that she “kept quiet” about her ability to read for having done it without permission would have resulted to her getting in trouble (Red Reader 159). However, one can note that her ability to easily access educational help was from the

In the modern-day society, education is an equal part for men and women. The difference between the two is rarely seen today. However, in the 1700’s the idea that women should have an education, or the ability to hold an education was a topic that was merely laughed at. Being so, what went into the female brain was solely up to the males of society. Wollstonecraft depicts that women unknowingly subject themselves to men and their sphere because society educates them to do so.

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.

Education was not equal between the sexes and neither between the classes. Gentlemen were educated at home until they were old enough to attend well-known or lesser schools. A lady’s schooling was

The late 18th century can be known as the historical period of the Enlightenment. During this time, society was undergoing drastic changes that would impact people even today. These changes were known as “reforms,” and played a big role in politics and ruling during this time period. One of the bigger reforms of this time was that which would grant women a higher education and place them in a position closer to their male counterparts. The enlightenment authors, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Mary Wollstonecraft, took part in a debate in which they argued about the purpose and education of women. In an article recently written in The New York Times by Nicholas