North and South and Hard Times
In "Industrial" H Sussman states that "one of the most significant shifts created by industrialism" was that of the "separation of the workplace from the home". This "shift" created "new gender roles" with the "husband as breadwinner [and the] wife as childcare giver" and led ultimately to the "19th century ideology of the two separate spheres - the masculine public sphere of work [and] the private female sphere of domesticity". Is, however, this "shift" one which Elizabeth Gaskell in North and South and Charles Dickens in Hard Times not only reflect but one which they endorse?
If the public sphere is masculine then the opening chapters of HardTimes immediately confronts us with this masculinity in the form of Gradgrind. The opening line of the novel, "Now what I want is facts", is assertive and authorative, the masculine manifestation of public speech. The demand for facts can be articulated by Gradgrind and responded to in the appropriate terms by Bitzer, who too, is part of this masculine world, and who can therefore clinically define a horse. Sissy Jupe however, in the face of such assertiveness is unable to react in any terms other than being inarticulate and "alarmed". Dickens however does not share Gradgrind's demands for the masculine "fact". In writing Hard Times Dickens drew heavily from the criticism of industrial society in Thomas Carlyle's essay "Signs of the Times". In this essay Carlyle condemned a society where: "Not only the external and physical alone is... managed by machinery, but the internal and spiritual also". This is the idea that the competitive, masculine, business sphere has permeated into the private sphere,...
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...ard times but reflections of deeply divided ones.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell, Penguin Classics (1995).
Hard Times, Charles Dickens, Oxford World Classics (1998).
"Signs of the Times", Thomas Carlyle, Thomas Carlyle: Selected Writings , Penguin Classics (1971)
"Industrial", H Sussman in A Companion to Victorian Literature and Culture, ed. Herbet F. Tucker (1999).
"The Industrial Novels", Raymond Williams in Culture and Society (1958).
"What must not be said: North and South and the problem of women's work", Catherine Barnes Stevenson.
"The Domestic Sphere in the Victorian Age", Bonnie G. Smith in Changing Lives.
Charles Dickens: The Critical Heritage ed. Phillip Collins.
Elizabeth Gaskell: The Critical Heritage ed. Angus Fasson.
Dublin, Thomas. Women at Work: the Transformation of Work and Community in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1826-1860. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979.
In addition, Britain’s societal transformation augmented women’s role in society, and according to Braybon in “Women Workers in The First World War,” “A completely different pattern of life was established. for women” and that society had “prevailing attitudes towards women as workers” (Braybon 16). The newfangled life given to women gave most women an enormous surge in recognition throughout society, as people valued women a lot more after they became the backbone of the production of nearly all British goods. Concurrently, King underscores this point in her novel, as throughout the novel, Mary is never discriminated against simply for being a woman. In preceding years and throughout history, society typically perceived women as naturally inferior to men, and women’s occupations were limited to taking care of the family and domestic occupations.
The two works of literature nudging at the idea of women and their roles as domestic laborers were the works of Zora Neale Hurston in her short story “Sweat”, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Whatever the setting may be, whether it is the 1920’s with a woman putting her blood, sweat and tears into her job to provide for herself and her husband, or the 1890’s where a new mother is forced to stay at home and not express herself to her full potential, women have been forced into these boxes of what is and is not acceptable to do as a woman working or living at home. “Sweat” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” draw attention to suppressing a woman’s freedom to work along with suppressing a woman’s freedom to act upon her
Alan Dawley, Class and Community: The Industrial Revolution in Lynn (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2000), Kindle edition, chap. 1.
Throughout history, women have struggled with, and fought against, oppression. They have been held back and weighed down by the sexist ideas of a male dominated society which has controlled cultural, economic and political ideas and structures. During the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s women became more vocal and rebuked sexism and the role that had been defined for them. Fighting with the powerful written word, women sought a voice, equality amongst men and an identity outside of their family. In many literary writings, especially by women, during the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s, we see symbols of oppression and the search for gender equality in society.
All through time, the world has been racist and intolerant of people different from themselves. Countless millions have suffered due to the bigotry of people that couldn't understand change or differences among one another. There was a time when any soul that wasn't blue eyed and blonde haired in Germany, anyone with darker skin where immediately classed as inferior and not human. Even now, when you are not aware, racism is still a considerable problem. But sometimes it isn't one person being racist against another, but rather one person being racist against them self. The movie crash shows good examples of how racism against oneself, caused by fear and misunderstanding, is just as malevolent and evil as racism against another person. Fear is what makes people act racist. Farhad is one of many examples in the movie of a person who recognizes his own race and paralyzes himself through his own fear. Farhad believes that since he is Persian he is immediately being persecuted against and cheated. He flips out at the gun shop when the owner was insulting him which just furthers his fear of Americans. After the events on 9/11, which are referenced a lot in the movie, Farhad thinks that anyone who is Middle Eastern isn't welcome in America. Even after the gun shop owner was rude; his shop was destroyed by racist people who hated him. It is this same fear of being cheated because of his race that makes him very untrusting to people he doesn't know. He calls a lock smith to come fix his door because it won't lock. He immediately thinks that Daniel is trying to cheat him and steal money from him just because of his past endeavors.
The literature of the nineteenth century cataloged the social, economical and political changes during its period. Through it many new concerns and ideologies were proposed and made their journeys through intellectual spheres that have endured and kept their relevance in our own period today. The literature, sometimes quite overtly, introduced the issues arising with the changes in society specifically due to the industrial revolution. In this mixture of new ideas was the question of women's labor and functions among this rapidly changing society. American authors as well as Victorian authors, like George Gissing and Mabel Wotton, explored these issues somewhat explicitly during this period. In America, Louisa May Alcott and Charlotte Perkins Gilman expressed these issues in short stories with strong implications of the dangers of unfulfilled or unsatisfying labor available to women.
In Nathan McCall’s “Makes Me Wanna Holler,” he describes the difficulties he must face as a young black boy experiencing the slow, never-ending process of the integration of blacks and whites. Through this process, his autobiography serves as an excellent example of my theory on the formation and definition of racial identity; a theory which is based upon a combination of the claims which Stuart Hall and George Lipsitz present in their essays regarding racial identity. Therefore the definition I have concocted is one in which racial identity consists of an unstable historical process through which one comes to know themselves in relation to an outside group. In this paper I will present Hall and Lipsitz’s arguments, describing how they confirm and support one another, leading to my theory concerning racial identity. I will then show how this theory is clearly exemplified in the story of McCall’s childhood.
Beginning in the early 1800’s men, their wives and children made the voyage across to America, yet women might as well have been viewed as not a wife but another piece of land, just in a new country considering women’s duties were the same in both the east and the west. In both locations men and women were believed to be apart of “different spheres.” Barbara Welter elaborates on these spheres through her essay “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860” (1966). Welters describes the male sphere was focused around the world of the work force, ...
Around 12,000 B.C., human beings in Asia moved north in search wooly mammoths and made their way across the Bering Straight to Alaska. Over the next several hundred years, they made their way to the Great Plains where they hunted huge mammals to the point of extinction. During the Archaic Period (9000 B.C. 1000 B.C.), bands of hunters moved constantly from one area to another in constant search of a suitable food supply. By 1000 B.C. the first sedentary communities were developed near rich fishing areas along the coasts and large rivers. Sedentary people created complex mound communities along the Mississippi River and in the Ohio Valley. When improvements in corn reached the land north of the Mexican desert, there was a marked boom in sedentary city development. Corn cultivation influenced peoples' religions and improved their health, helping to spawn a population growth after 800 A.D. These urban centers declined in the 13th and 14th centuries because of warfare, soil exhaustion and the disruption of inter-regional trade. In Europe, forces of social change were creating unrest; unrest which would prompt hundreds of people to explore the Atlantic Ocean and reshape the relationship between peoples of the world.
Racism has taken on many forms in America over the past several hundred years. The most substantial or well known is the plight of the African American slaves and the injustices they suffered. Today, a new form of racism is developing; one that has always been around but has now entered the forefront of most Americans minds. This new racism is against members of the Middle Eastern culture and religion. The actions of September 11th did not create a new problem, they just shed light on a problem that we have had for some time. Racism is everywhere in one form or another. To understand it, I think it is necessary to look at the history, causes, and ways to resolve it.
Racism is defined by dictionary.com as '1. A belief or doctrine that inherent differences between the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others. 2. a policy, system of government, etc., based on or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination. 3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.' The first is most appropriate to use for my purposes, as it most general, and defines what i ill be analyzing. The basic problem of racism starts with the idea that there is something different between different races. Though it is an irrational thought, it is a very common one, that can seem unavoidable. We are all taught that we were all created equal, so the idea that one group is inferior to another goes against something that many people stress, and is an important point in many religions. For the most part, humans like the idea of being equal to everyone else. So why do we discriminate against people of different ethnic backgrounds?
First of all what is racism? There is no need to discuss neither talk more about this topic with zero knowledge about racism. So basically the definition of racism is: American Heritage College Dictionary, racism has two meanings. Firstly, racism is, “The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.” For example when the history of slavery started and was practiced throughout America in the 17th and 18th centuries. Secondly, racism is, “Discrimination or prejudice based on race.” This happens everywhere.
Racism can take on many forms that plague the brain with irrationality that affects an individual’s thoughts and actions. Racism can be a physical form, through an external action, or can branch off into unethical thoughts. This is more known to be a discriminative thought, judging a person based on impressions. This social problem can also be ignored by the oblivious persons of the crowd. Many individuals speak out about how racial tension is long gone and forever forgotten ever since the first African-American was elected to be president in 2008, but this can be evidently proven false. Racial tension is still here to target the minorities in the forms of affirmative action and Ferguson conflicts.
As noted in the Norton Anthology of English Literature, the Industrial Revolution provided women with opportunities to work outside the home, but it also "presented an increasing challenge to traditional ideas of woman's sphere" ("Role of Women" 902). The idea of "public and private life as two 'separate spheres'... inextricably connected either with women or with men" (Gorham 4) had emerged as...