The overall goal of this
blog is ultimately to explore the portrayal of women in American literature in
the past, the impact said literature had on society, and how literature today portrays
women. An important component of that is to discuss early American women
authors. Their work allows us to gain insight into the minds of women who were
struggling with discrimination during that time. By discussing the lives and work
of female authors, one can also view just how deeply women were affected by the
sexism in their society during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
Anne Bradstreet was the first American woman writer to actually
publish her own book, a collection of her poems titled The Tenth Muse Lately
Sprung Up in America. In actuality, America was not yet a free nation at
the time when she wrote and published the book, but it counts as an example of
American literature nonetheless. The book was published in England in 1650 and
became quite popular there, although colonists themselves were fairly apathetic
toward it (Woodlief). Ann’s views were considered feminist for her time, but she
would not seem so to the modern woman. Ann was a puritan, and her writing
reflected that, most of her poems focused on topics like childrearing,
childbirth, her love for her husband, and her faith (www.annebradstreet.com).
However, considering the time period she was born into, she can hardly have been
expected to rock the boat too severely, and at any rate, she certainly paved the
way for women of the future.
Anne’s book is significant largely because she was the
first published American demale writer. However, her work itself was not
terribly visionary. After her triumph, there were many American women who
published books throughout the 16th and 17th century. Most
of them wrote poetry, educational materials, or books for children. None of
them really stood out as dynamic authors (Smith). However, during the 18th
century, two standout American female authors emerged: Emily Dickinson and
Harriet Beecher-Stowe.
Emily Dickinson was a young woman who lived in Amherst,
Massachusetts during the 18th century. Dickinson’s written
correspondences provide valuable insight into the mind of a female intellectual
during that time period. After returning home from the Mount Holyoke Women’s
Academy, where she spent her last year of schooling, she was obliged to return
to the family home and assist with domestic tasks. She wrote in correspondences
to a friend that she was discontent with this turn of events. Her poetry itself
also presents several themes related to the plight of women in a patriarchal
society (www.poetryfoudation.org). In his article Feminist Argument: Emily Dickinson’s Portrayal of Women in Society,
journalist Michael Mathews points out two of her poems in particular, Success is Counted Sweetest and The Bustle in the House, offer insight
into the perspective of women in 18th century America. Success is Counted Sweetest focuses on
feelings of isolation, of being separated from society, which was a feeling
many of the powerless women in America must have harbored. The Bustle in the House tells the story of a household preparing to
mourn the death of a loved one, and it focuses on the menial household tasks
the women of the house must complete, illustrating their subordinate position
in the home (Mathews).
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s work offers insight of a
different kind. In fact, rather than portraying American women as oppressed,
Stowe takes a very different tact. Her acclaimed novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, published for the first time in 1851, is the
fictional account of the lives of several slaves and slave owners. I actually
read the novel myself, and while it contained a multitude of characters and
themes, I read it with the portrayal of women in mind. I found that Stowe’s
portrayal of women differs dramatically depending on their race. The black
female characters are portrayed as oppressed yet strong, proud despite their
bondage. One such example of this is the scene in the novel when a mother and
her teenage daughter are being sold at auction. The daughter is desirable to
several white men in the crowd due to her beauty (Stowe). In that scene, Stowe
makes it clear that black women in America suffer oppression, and that their worth
depends mainly on their labor value and their appearance. However, white women
during that time also commonly suffered the same conundrum, albeit on a less
sever scale. Stowe chose not to acknowledge that. In fact, the main white female
character in her novel is Evangeline, daughter of the eventual owner of Tom,
the slave who was sold away from his family. Evangeline is portrayed as a
pampered, well-educated little girl. Although she dies young, it is clear that
her guardians encouraged her to pursue her dreams and that she had been given
access to plenty of schooling (Stowe). Stowe fails to acknowledge the fact that
during the 18th century, many white women were pigeon-holed into
being housewives and mothers. They, too, were sold at auction, in a way. There is
an obvious disparity in the accuracy of Stowe’s portrayal of women of different
races in her novel.
In summation, although early American women writers were
definitely pioneers of a sort, and although the fact that they wrote at all was
undoubtedly progressive, as a whole they tended to portray women of their time
exactly as they were: powerless, perhaps discontent to be so, but powerless
nonetheless. Although, considering the time period in which they lived, if they
had taken a braver approach and offered portrayals of women that defied social
standards, their work would likely have never been published. I look forward to
my next post, where I will begin to discuss contemporary literature, and
whether it has progressed from the narrow-minded depictions of women that characterize
historical texts.
Sources:
Woodlief, Ann. "Ann Bradstreet." www.vcu.edu.
N.p.. Web. 27 Nov 2012. <http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/Bradstreet/bradbio.htm>.
"Anne Bradstreet ." www.annebradstreet.com.
N.p.. Web. 27 Nov 2012. <http://www.annebradstreet.com/>.
Smith, Gwen. "17th and 18th Centuries ." www.library.unt.edu.
N.p.. Web. 27 Nov 2012. <http://www.library.unt.edu/rarebooks/exhibits/women/17th.htm>.
Mathews, Michael. "Femenist Argument: Emily
Dickinson's Portrayal of Women in Society." www.yahoo.com. N.p..
Web. 27 Nov 2012.
"Emily Dickinson." www.poetryfoundation.org.
N.p.. Web. 27 Nov 2012. <http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/childhood_youth>.
"Uncle Tom's Cabin." www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org.
N.p.. Web. 27 Nov 2012. <http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/utc/>.
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Stowe, Harriet B. Uncle
Tom's Cabin. Fairfield, IA: 1st World Publishing, 2004. Google Book
Search. Web. 2 Jun. 2009.
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