In Warner’s The Wide Wide World, The role of Ellen’s parents clearly demonstrates the guidelines for appropriate parenting of the 19th century. Ellen’s super strong connection with her mother and lack of any sort of connection with her father is very telling of this time period. It was expected back then that women stay home with their children, especially daughters, and teach them how to be a ladies. Mrs. Montgomery is constantly quoting the bible and pressuring Ellen to put all her faith in God and trust in him with everything she has. Also the ritual of making bread shows us the small house keeping things that Ellen has been taught to do. She is meticulous while making tea and toast, and it is these skills which are most important to her. In addition to the things Mrs. Montgomery teaches Ellen, it is evident that their bond is very strong. When Ellen thinks about the fact she must leave her mother she “[flings] her arms round her mother, and hid[es] her face in her lap, giv[ing] way to a violent burst of grief” (Warner pg 23).
The relationship between Ellen and her father is nothing like this. Her father is often distant and never at home. This shows us that the role of the father in this time period was simply to provide for the family. He had no stake in raising the children. Things might have been different if the Montgomery’s had a son but I don’t know. Ellen respects her father but I think she is also afraid of him, or at least his power. This is evident when he comes in her room to tell her it is time for her to leave she jumps out of bed and does exactly as he tells her too. And in the morning time she would wait to talk about any plans her and Mrs. Montgomery had until after her father had left the house, so not to bother him with anything.
With all of these instances we can conclude that the father figure in the 19th century was absent most of the time and his chief concern was making sure there was enough money for his family, and maybe disciplining the children. The mother’s role was to raise the children and teach them the things they will need to be socially successful in their later lives.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Constructions of Childhood
Based on MacLeod's "Children's Literature for a New Nation" and Sanchez-Eppler's introduction to Dependent States: The Child's Part in Nineteenth-Century American Culture, five theories for analyzing children‘s literature can be formed. Most children’s literature will contain morals, political statements, little to no setting, simple plotlines, and gender division.
In almost every children’s book we read a lesson is there to be learned. People wrote these books to teach their children how to behave and often these books “offer insight to what Americans wanted of and for their own society” (MacLeod pg 3). All the stories written were there to “provide children with models of virtuous living” (MacLeod pg 4).
Children in literature were also used to make political statements and move the society. They were “attempts to reform, direct, or influence the nation” ( Sanchez pg 7). Books portrayed a “poster child” to show not only kids but adults the direction that America should be moving in. Children were used to evoke certain emotions and make the readers feel a certain way about an issue but in reality the society “consistently fail[ed] to support the daily needs of children…” (Sanchez pg7).
The “authors gave scant attention to the settings in their narratives…” because they were placing emphasis on other things such as morals and such. By not placing a lot of focus on where they story was they were making the story more universal. People could identify with the characters because they could be anywhere, therefore they could be anyone.
Plotlines were made simple so that any child could understand what was going on. It was believed that children “learned much better by example than by precept” so authors filled their stories with predictable example of good triumphing over evil (MacLeod pg 5). The good characters were always rewarded and the bad characters always suffered dire consequences.
And lastly, children’s literature taught most of America some pretty distinct gender divisions. The stories showed us “a mix of behavior and ideals” for specific genders to follow whether it was a child or not (Sanchez pg 15). It taught little girls how to be little girls and little boys how to be little boys. Women and children were portrayed as subservient to the man of the house, and this was the social norm back then.
In almost every children’s book we read a lesson is there to be learned. People wrote these books to teach their children how to behave and often these books “offer insight to what Americans wanted of and for their own society” (MacLeod pg 3). All the stories written were there to “provide children with models of virtuous living” (MacLeod pg 4).
Children in literature were also used to make political statements and move the society. They were “attempts to reform, direct, or influence the nation” ( Sanchez pg 7). Books portrayed a “poster child” to show not only kids but adults the direction that America should be moving in. Children were used to evoke certain emotions and make the readers feel a certain way about an issue but in reality the society “consistently fail[ed] to support the daily needs of children…” (Sanchez pg7).
The “authors gave scant attention to the settings in their narratives…” because they were placing emphasis on other things such as morals and such. By not placing a lot of focus on where they story was they were making the story more universal. People could identify with the characters because they could be anywhere, therefore they could be anyone.
Plotlines were made simple so that any child could understand what was going on. It was believed that children “learned much better by example than by precept” so authors filled their stories with predictable example of good triumphing over evil (MacLeod pg 5). The good characters were always rewarded and the bad characters always suffered dire consequences.
And lastly, children’s literature taught most of America some pretty distinct gender divisions. The stories showed us “a mix of behavior and ideals” for specific genders to follow whether it was a child or not (Sanchez pg 15). It taught little girls how to be little girls and little boys how to be little boys. Women and children were portrayed as subservient to the man of the house, and this was the social norm back then.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
First Post!
I am Kasey, from Magnolia, TX, which is a little town outside of Houston. I am a freshman by year and sophmore by hours here at TCU and although my major has changed quite a bit, for now I am planning on Political Science! I love to play all sports especially basketball! I came to TCU because I was visiting colleges and just picked this one to go see by chance and the moment I saw it I knew I wanted to go here! If I was chancellor the first thing I would change would be to give us a longer Christmas Break! I got out after all my friends and I had to come back before them! I think a good teacher is someone who makes students feel comfortable in the class room and encourages them to participate. A good student is someone who stays on top of their work and participates in the class room. If I could eat with any three people I think it would have to be Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and Michael Jordan because I love basketball and they are the best of the best in my opinion! Three things about me you should all know are that I can be pretty shy in the begining, I am not a morning person so 9:30 isn't amazing to me, and lastly I really like to read so I hope this course has good material! I took this course because it looked interesting and it was required, and I hope to read some great stories! I read all sorts of books, it just depends how I feel. I text a lot but other than that most of my writing was for school. I was on the yearbook staff so I also had to write short paragraphs for that. I feel like I can write pretty well, I usually get decent grades but there is definitely room for improvment! I hope my blog says that I am a happy active person and I want to work hard in this course! I have read the syllabus and I agree to all the terms and conditions!
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