What Is The Conflict In The Revolt Of The Mother

This generation of women, may it be young or old, are fortunate to live in a country where you can be anything, do anything, and say anything that men can. Although in theory the playing fields are still not completely even, we as a nation have made some substantial progress in women’s rights. Just a few hundred years ago, women livered mundane lives and rarely got to speak up for themselves. In the book, The Midwife’s Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, it follows the life of Martha Ballard through the use of her own diary. Martha Ballard captures the lives of common women in the Early Republic Era by providing an authentic record of the role women played in their communities throughout the developmental years of the United States.

Throughout most of history women generally have had fewer legal rights and career opportunities than men. Wifehood and motherhood were regarded as women's most significant professions. Since early times women have been uniquely viewed as a creative source of human life. Historically, however, they have been considered not only intellectually inferior to men but also a major source of temptation and evil. Colonial women faced the harsh realities of childbirth, housework, and serving their husbands because it was tradition. The ways of the ‘old country’ culture was forced upon a new one, disallowing any room for new ideals. Although constrained by society Colonial women have had their part in shaping America.

Towards the end of the 1800s and into the beginning of the 1900s, the roles of women in society and in the family began to change drastically compared to what it had been in the past. Women were now allowed to own land, vote, and do more than cook and clean. Willa Cather and William Faulkner portray the roles of women in the early 1900s in their short stories, “Neighbor Rosicky” and “A Rose for Emily.” These short stories were both published around the year 1930. Because of what was happening in the US at the time, these stories are very good examples of the ways women were treated at this time.

In 1854 Fanny Fern published what was to become not only her most successful works, but one of the most popular and enduring works of English literature during the Antebellum period: Ruth Hall; A Domestic Tale of the Present Time. Though the title – especially to a modern reader – does little to convey the level of thoughtful and heady critique that Fern expounds through this book, it is actually is a strong indictment of the feminine position as the subordinate housewife, mother, and societal agent. However, despite this criticism, it does not seem that Fanny Fern is critical of the institutions of marriage or motherhood as a whole. Her critique is based on the limiting effects of the conventional roles into which wives and mothers fall, and the deleterious consequences these roles have on the personal development and self-actualization of the women who enter into them. Therefore, it is not the institution of marriage or motherhood that Fern is critical of, but rather the expectations and limitations that society assigns to the women who assume these roles.

Ironically, "Sarah was formally chastised in print by Catherine Beecher, a prominent educator who objected not only to her position for immediate abolition but also to her "unwomanliness" in defending it in public (Intro.Pg1046). This pushed Sarah to her highest limitations and encouraged her to write Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Woman. Sarah angry at the way woman has been treated, makes a powerful statement-hoping woman will wake up. She writes, "Women has inflicted an injury upon herself by submitting to be thus regarded; and she is now called upon to rise from the station where man, not God, has placed her, and claim those sacred and inalienable rights, as a moral and responsible being, with which her Creator has invested her (Letters on the Equality of Sexes Pg.1053 col.2)

1. The first essay clearly shows the impact that an ideology of domesticity on women in New England in the 1830’s. The writer at first calls this time period a “paradox in the “progress” of women’s history in the United States”. During this time apparently two contradictory views on women’s relations to society clashed, unusually, those two being domesticity, which essentially limited women, giving them a “sex-specific” role that they must abide to, this mostly being present at the home with their husbands and whatever kids they may or may not have had at that time, and feminism, which essentially tried to remove this domesticity, trying to remove sex-specific limits on women’s opportunities and

Many people describe the role as a mother and a wife as something that is to be welcomed, a natural stage for women. However for the narrator, it changed from something seemingly beautiful to “old foul, bad...” Motherhood to her is then what creative women were to other people during the 19th century. Creativity was natural for the narrator, unlike motherhood; it was part of her being. Motherhood however, was a prison of domestic

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

At the beginning of the book, Sarah was limited to doing as her mother said and as society expected. For example, Sarah says,“Between breakfast and my departure for Madame Ruffin’s school on Legare Street, Mother saw to it that I was shut in my room, copying a letter of apology to Reverend Hall” (Kidd 46). This quote shows how after Sarah tried to teach slaves the alphabet, her mother forced her to write an apology. It also shows how a young Sarah despises that her mother makes her apologize for trying to be kind to other humans. She was denied her own ideals. As Sarah gets older she moves to the North, which gives her more freedom, much to her mother’s disapproval. A kind man named Israel, who lives in the North, allowed Sarah to stay with him, and she says, “I took up residence in a garret room on the third floor, following months of correspondence with Israel and endless skirmishes with Mother… In her mind, I’d gone the way of the lunatic female saints who’d gotten themselves boiled in oil and burned at the stake” (Kidd 213). This quote shows Sarah knew what her mother thought about her, but continued doing what she thought was right for herself. Sarah stood up for her

During the early 1800's women were stuck in the Cult of Domesticity. Women had been issued roles as the moral keepers for societies as well as the nonworking house-wives for families. Also, women were considered unequal to their male companions legally and socially. However, women’s efforts during the 1800’s were effective in challenging traditional intellectual, social, economical, and political attitudes about a women’s place in society.

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.

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman is one of the many authors that represent the realism movement. Realism is a style of writing started in the mid nineteenth century and lasted until the early twentieth century. Realism was a response to romanticism. One of Freeman’s most popular story is “The Revolt of Mother”, which is a story that represents farm life during the nineteenth century. The main character in this story is Mrs. Penn, who is a dedicated, and loving mother and wife. Even though she is a dedicated woman, her husband does not appreciate her or gives her the respect she feels she is needed. Her husband did the hard work, while she was in the house washing dishes and cleaning like many wives during this period. Her husband keeps on promising that he will build her a house,

Adoniram, like most men of his time, feels he is doing what is best for his family, and doesn’t consult any of the women in his life because their opinion is not valued or respected. This situation, as previously described, is not an isolated incident though. Patriarchal dominance is the standard of the time and it is looked upon by men as a good thing, and sometimes is seen as an affront towards women. Standards have changed in favor of more liberal thinking in these modern times, so therefore it stands to reason that “Father-Adoniram Penn-is thus introduced as the unsavory villain of the piece, a defiant man who will have his way and who will brook no opposition to his plans” (McElrath 257). While it may be true that Adoniram is the main antagonist of the story, he does not fit the stereotype of a villain in this short story. While he does ignore his wife and tries to suppress her ideas, he

“The Revolt of ‘Mother’” by Mary Wilkins Freeman, was a story of a woman who lived in New England around or before the author’s time. The mother, Sarah Penn, was kept out of the families decisions by the father, Adoniram Penn, until one event that lead to her taking drastic actions while her husband was gone. There are many religious symbols and actions taken by “Mother” within the story. Through the story Sarah moved from a feeling of servitude to her husband, to a feeling that she was in servitude to the Lords will and this led her, in the end, to hold power over her husband.

One element of fiction that Freeman uses in her short story is characters. One character in the story is Sarah Penn. The role of Sarah in the story is that she is the mother to her two children, and wife to Adoniram Penn. Sarah is a housewife. She cooks, and bakes the meals for the family. She cleans the dishes after dinner, and cleans the house. Another role that she carries is she is a caretaker. Sarah takes care of the children and her husband. Freeman shows that Sarah was a caretaker to her husband when she says, “She poured some water into the tin basin, and put it in a piece of soap. She got the comb and brushed, and smoothed his thin gray hair after he had washed” (478-479). What Sarah represents in the story is a dynamic character. She is a dynamic character because in the beginning of the story Sarah is more reserved. She asked questions about the new barn that was being built and showed her emotions that she was upset but she never told anyone why. She is dynamic because she has an inner awakening that she learns which was that she needed to be open to her husband, Adoniram. When she goes to get Adoniram to talk Sarah is described as if she is a Queen. Freeman describes Sarah Penn, “Sarah Penn stood in the door like a queen; she held her head as if it bore a crown; there was the patience which makes authority royal in her voice” (472).