The Essential Role of Servants in the Victorian Family
I desired liberty; for liberty I gasped; for liberty I uttered a prayer; it seemed scattered on the wind then faintly blowing. I abandoned it and framed a humbler supplication; for change, stimulus: that petition too seemed swept off into vague space; "Then" I cried, half desperate, "Grant me at least a new servitude." ( Bronte 93; ch. 10)
Jane was not approaching any new territory when she wanted a new servitude. In fact 12.8 percent of the female population in England and Wales were engaged in domestic service in the nineteenth century (Horn 24). In nineteenth-century England, for any household with social pretensions at least one domestic servant was essential. The guide to the social status of a well-off Victorian family was the status of the domestics employed
…show more content…
There were many types of servants, among them the housekeeper, and the nurse (Horn 49). On the female side of the domestics there were numerous servants. Since this essay is not concerned with male domestics, only a list of female domestics is provided. Female domestics would include the housekeeper, the cook, lady’s maid, nurse, housemaids, kitchenmaids, scullery-maids and laundry staff (Horn 49).
The housekeeper was responsible for hiring and dismissing the female staff. The housekeeper was expected to be a "steady middle-aged woman . . . morally exemplary and assiduous to the harmony, comfort, and economy of the family" (Horn 54). Most often a housekeeper would stay with the same family for several years, forming a close bond with the family (Horn 57). If the family came into financial trouble a loyal housekeeper might stay behind as a general servant, while the rest of the staff would be dismissed. Housekeepers that worked for kin were either unmarried daughters of any age or widows (Hill
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a novel about a boy named Huck who fakes his death and travels down the Mississippi River with a runaway slave named Jim. Throughout the novel they encounter many different characters, most of whom Twain uses to satirize the South. The definition of satire is “a technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society by using humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule. It intends to improve humanity by criticizing its follies and foibles.” Twain satirizes the values, and intelligence of the South through the characters of the Shepherdsons and Grangerfords, Colonel Sherburn and Boggs, and the people scammed by the King and Duke.
The women in Waknuk are also protective of their loved ones. While there are people like Mary Strorm who will follow everything her husband says and not question him or his religion at all, there are...
In the appropriately titled novel, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", by author, Mark Twain, a young boy, named, Huckleberry Finn's life is completely changed. The story is basically that, Huck is sent to live with his strict relatives that try to conform him into someone he isn't, but, sequentially ends up traveling down the Mississippi River, with an escaped slave, Jim. As the novel progresses, Jim and Huck develop an extremely close friendship, which makes him change his views on slavery. Despite numerous chances, Huck never turns Jim in, because of his new outlook on slavery. Although slavery is a main theme in the book, it is not the only one. Because, author, Mark Twain creates a social critique by juxtaposing the idea of freedom against conformity, civilization, and social order. The reader can comprehend that although Jim is clearly looking for freedom, Huck is also, and desperately. Even though Huck is clearly not a slave, he still feels trapped with inescapable restrictions, and limitations, his new guardians and society has placed upon him. It is hard for Huck to conform to a way of life filled with hypocrisies. The novel as a whole reveals Huck’s resistance to conformity in a culture filled with religious hypocrisies. Many characters that affect Huck's freedom, like, his father, Widow Douglas, Miss Watson, Aunt Polly and Sally, the duke and the King constrain Huck to the confinement of his freedom, forcing him to begin his ultimate adventure.
When Huck finds out he has been duped by the King and Duke and Jim has been sold to slave traders Huck goes on a mission to set Jim free stating “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” as his proclamation. Even though society tells him that is the wrong choice Huck believes betraying someone as good as Jim is a worse fate than going to hell. Huck’s transition from prejudice to acceptance of Jim gives light to the immoral act that is slavery.
The novel, The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, foretells of a futuristic story which unfolds about injustice and oppression of the innocent. In a dystopian world a group of eight telepathic children struggle to grow up undiscovered and when the time comes, to escape. A religious creed is set up “The Definition of Man” as a ‘purity standard’. As a result, people lived with much fear and self-hatred. The standard set one neighbor against the other in fear of another ‘tribulation’. A world scale disaster had occurred many generations ago and out of the chaos the ancestors and consequent generations held to what they thought was the ‘true image’. Anything else was the ‘devils’ work. So people lived under surveillance and suspicion, bigotry, and oppression.
The Odyssey is a classic example of great literature, read and enjoyed both under the bright lights of the classroom and the cozy warmth of the home—this idea is well-known. Yet, there exists a question as to how Homer's “story of a man never at a loss” has managed to maintain the attention of the world to this day. C.S Lewis hints at the answer in his book, The Horse and His Boy: “For in Calormen, story-telling (whether the stories are true or made up) is a thing you're taught, just as English boys and girls are taught essay-writing. The difference is that people want to hear the stories, whereas I never heard of anyone who wanted to read the essays.” Lewis is pointing out the true beauty and art of story-telling; this art form makes its audience want to endure each word. The Odyssey lives on today as a triumph of story-telling because its author is what all authors strive to be: a story-telling master. Said story-telling mastery is demonstrated in The Odyssey as it adheres to the popular imagination's demand for things such as conflict, good versus evil, romance, and adventure.
From the start, it is patent that Huck is somewhat an outcast who fails to agree with the morals and perceptions of society. As his bond with Jim tightens, Huck questions and disregards many of the lessons he has received about slavery and race. Rather than following the teachings of civilization, Huck decides to follow his own experience, logic, and conscience. At first, he struggles to decipher which is correct, society or his heart; but Huck decides that regardless of right or wrong, he is going to embrace his conscience in regards to Jim. In the beginning, Huck starts out seeing Jim as a worthless “nigger”, but he gradually defies the Jim Crow South by valuing and admiring the escaped slave. One sees Huck following his moral instincts when he battles social customs and accepts his ideas to help Jim in many dire situations. Regardless of feeling the pressures of having the social obligations to turn in a runaway slave, Huck remembers “how good [Jim] always was” (214) and is internally faced with the dilemma of trying to do what he perceives as right. More than once, Huck comes to the resolution, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (214), because he sees Jim as more of a father and friend than anyone he has previously encountered. For Huck, his time on the raft is where he truly receives his moral education because that is
“The Pastoralization of Housework” by Jeanne Boydston is a publication that demonstrates women’s roles during the antebellum period. Women during this period began to embrace housework and believed their responsibilities were to maintain the home, and produce contented and healthy families. As things progressed, housework no longer held monetary value, and as a result, womanhood slowly shifted from worker to nurturer. The roles that women once held in the household were slowly diminishing as the economy became more industrialized. Despite the discomfort of men, when women realized they could find decent employment, still maintain their household and have extra income, women began exploring their option.
... a feme covert, a dependant. Jeanne Boydston paints a wholly different picture of Eighteenth Century America and women’s involvement in the burgeoning labor market. In The Woman Who Wasn't There: Women's Market Labor and the Transition to Capitalism in the United States Boydston points to the emphasis on household productivity in order to deal with an erratic economy. She tells us that by the mid-eighteenth century the flexible nature of “woman’s work” (which could be done at home, with tools that were readily available) gave rise to the role of wife as “deputy husband”. Though soon the growing linkage between what Boydston calls “independent manhood” and “economic agency” began to overwhelm. There was a reordering of the concept of gender in late eighteenth century America, and the concept of separate spheres that Linda Kerber eloquently debunks began to take hold.
In the early 1800's, women were seeking jobs either inside or outside of the home as they took upon the role of providing for their families. While men were normally the main breadwinners of middle and upper-class families, women still made an impact, either by sewing, knitting, or routinely assisting their husband with agricultural labor or privately owned businesses. By the mid nineteenth-century, however, the role of women drastically changed into what is known as the Cult of Domesticity. Instead of assisting with family income, women played a limited role in
Traditionally the woman's place was thought to be in the home. She was responsible for
A patriarchal social system can be defined as a system where men hold all authority over women in all aspects of life. Men also have the most influence on society and the way it functions. When this kind of philosophy exists within a civilization, it can very well form the way each gender is treated. This is extremely clear in John Wyndham’s novel, The Chrysalids. I believe that the citizens of Waknuk hold a patriarchal ideology and that this ideology directly influences the way men and women are treated and represented in Wyndham’s novel.
but their attitudes are very similar to us, in a sense that the Waknukians and we do discriminate people due to their differences. The author is using the Sealand woman to further enforce this message of discrimination as can be seen from the quote ‘The essential quality of life is living, the essential quality of living is change, change is evolution: and we are part of it’.
‘Typewriters’ were women that were hired by businesses to keep records and conduct correspondence, much like secretarial work. This was a limited job however, because for middle-class white women, there was not many areas to where she could take the literacy she had and earn money from doing so apart from typewriting. This was a small step for women in the work force but nonetheless a step. The woman was still not seen as fully able to do work outside of the home. The cult of domesticity dominated the 19th century. Women were seen as being the ones who had to stay at home and create a safe home devoted fully to taking care of her family. This increased the use of house servants so that the mother could spend more direct time with the children and taking care of them instead of splitting the time between children, husband and house chores. Even though the cult of domesticity supported that woman should be at home doing chores, for those that could afford servants this gave them an outlet. More women were being freed of house work to go out and join clubs, temperance and suffrage
...d his adventure with Jim on the hero’s journey, he now sees the world a different way, a different way that may cause Huck severe consequences if society became involved. Huck believes his ways are right and the society’s ways are wrong. Today the society we live in was Huck’s perspective in the years before the Civil war. Back then during that time society was more strict and involved in slavery. The way we think and act today would probably