After my very hearty commendation in this letter to myself, I have thought it reasonable to introduce myself as Agnes Russell in the case of any confusion in regards to the writer of this diary. I am the daughter of the lord my father Francis Russell, the 2nd Earl of Bedford and currently reside in London, England. Though I am only one and twenty and too young to be married, it is often on my mind. My father often reminds me that I must always keep our family name in mind and present a good image while I live with my distant cousin, Lord William Lennox, and his wonderful wife, to learn the ways of society. If only he knew of all the craziness I have involved myself in, he would be horrified.
It’s not that what I am doing here in London, not
Margery Kempe did something that many people (especially women) would not dare to do- she broke away from the identity that her society had molded for her. The Book of Margery Kempe is one of the most astonishing documents found of the late medieval era and is the first autobiography to have been discovered. Margery Kempe does not shy away from telling the story of the personal and intricate details about her adventurous life. It is hard to say what influenced Kempe to go through such lengths to have her book written. Many think she wanted others to understand and witness how difficult it was to live through the social norms and expectations as a typical wife and mother of the 14th century. Little did she know, her life story would travel through history and show how molding of society influences social norms and self-identification, which are prominent, combating issues today.
For it is a commonplace of our understanding of the period that the Victorian writer wanted above all to “stay in touch.” Comparing his situation with that of his immediate predecessors, he recognized that indulgence in a self-centered idealism was no longer viable in a society which ever more insistently urged total involvement in its occupations. The world was waiting to be improved upon, and solved, and everyone, poets, included had to busy themsel...
...e to overcome her father’s oppressive garnered her ‘good life’ alongside the respect her father and his family business (Hobson).
Jane Addams and Hull House Born in Cederville, Illinois, on September 6, 1860, Jane Addams founded the world famous social settlement of Hull House. From Hull House, where she lived and worked from it’s start in 1889 to her death in 1935, Jane Addams built her reputation as the country’s most prominent woman through her writings, settlement work and international efforts for world peace. In 1931, she became the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Addams, whose father was an Illinois state senator and friend of Abraham Lincoln, graduated in 1881 from Rockford College (then called Rockford Women’s Seminary). She returned the following year to receive one of the school’s first bachelor’s degrees.
It is through letter writing that the power of communication is emphasized. Celie's absence of bitterness for the way she has been treated allows the reader to empathize and perhaps feel the outrage she does not. We feel very acutely her positio...
In “To Set Our House in Order” Margaret Laurence, it conveys the message that alienation is self-inflicted on the character “Grandmother MacLeod” as a result of a tragic event. In this case alienation is used as a coping mechanism for the Grandmother who lost her son Roderick in the battle of Somme. In the story she tells Vanessa, “When your Uncle Roderick got killed, I thought I would die. But I didn’t die” (Laurence 94). This shows how she now avoids affection and emotion in fear of becoming vulnerable. In consequence the Grandmother is in a state of emotional withdrawal which is shown where it states, “For she did not believe in the existence of fear, or if she did she never let on” (93). By doing so she decides she is better off trying to feel no emotion which supports the fact her alienation is self-inflicted.
Messenger: Bless you, fair dame! I am not to you known, though in your state of honour I am perfect. I doubt some danger does approach you nearly: if you will take a homely man’s advice, be not found here; hence, with your little ones to fright you thus, methinks, I am too savage; to do worse to you were fell cruelty, which is too nigh your person. Heaven preserve you! I dare abide no longer.
What if metamorphosis could cause a revolution? In her radical short story Reeling for the Empire, Karen Russell describes a world where women’s rights, independence, and identity are stripped from them and are converted into monsters. The women of nowhere mill are transformed into silkworms, locked away in the mill to spin for the rest of their lives. However an uprising begins as the women begin to reestablish themselves and overtake their oppressors. In Reeling for the Empire, Russell uses the motif of metamorphosis to reveal the dawn of feminism in society.
Clarity in thought and words has always been a desired characteristic—and during the Victorian Era, society viewed articulate statements as a necessary skill for the advancement within a social class. The first time the reader notices just how well thought out Jane’s statements are, is when Mr. Lloyd—Mrs. Reed’s apothecary—is giving Jane “a lecture” (25). When Mr. Lloyd requests to know why Jane is so unhappy, Jane has the restraint to “frame [an] answer” (26) before she spoke. She understands that at her age, she is not able to fully analyze and express her feelings. Therefore, she calmly starts, “For one thing I have no father or mother, brothers or sisters” (26). Further, into this conversation Mr. Lloyd questions Jane to see if she would want to go to school. But before speaki...
Her family life is depicted with contradictions of order and chaos, love and animosity, conventionality and avant-garde. Although the underlying story of her father’s dark secret was troubling, it lends itself to a better understanding of the family dynamics and what was normal for her family. The author doesn’t seem to suggest that her father’s behavior was acceptable or even tolerable. However, the ending of this excerpt leaves the reader with an undeniable sense that the author felt a connection to her father even if it wasn’t one that was desirable. This is best understood with her reaction to his suicide when she states, “But his absence resonated retroactively, echoing back through all the time I knew him. Maybe it was the converse of the way amputees feel pain in a missing limb.” (pg. 399)
I know that this letter may seem odd to you but I am only here to say that I forgive you. I want to bury the hatchet for all the stress and anxiety you have put on my life and Cosette’s as well as the fear you have placed in our hearts all these years. My darling Cosette and I have moved everywhere in order to avoid you. Just knowing that you are alive scares me. I take care to erase every sense of our stay wherever we have to leave a home. I cannot let Cosette out free from our home for fear that you will find her and locate me in the process. Normal things that normal people take for granted never done between Cosette and I for the risk is too great for you to find us. Even though you have ruined my life, I understand and acknowledge why
Daughters have always had a special bond with their fathers, even at the time where women did not have the same rights as men, and were seen as the weaker sex. This father is no different, in wanting the best for his little girl. The father in this letter wants the daughter to accomplish her roles differently than the women before her because he knows that women are capable of accomplishing “male” tasks. The letter also addresses how women were seen and treated by men and the changes that were occurring in order to gain a status quo for both men and women.
Until their deciphering in the 1980’s, the diaries of eighteenth century landowner Anne Lister were an unknown tome of lesbian history. Written largely in a cipher of Lister’s conception, The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister detail not only her day to day routine and superficial social interactions, but also the complexities of her romantic and sexual relationships with women, precise tailoring of her appearance, harassment she faced due to her gender non-conformity, and biting commentary on those in her social circles. Contained in plain hand, legible to anyone who may have come across Lister’s diaries with prying eyes, is documentation of her life in both York and Halifax such as the day’s weather, meals she took with neighboring families,
This simple statement of belief by Ms. Gregory has been the very cornerstone of her career. Ms. Gregory has turned a love of history into a mass fortune and a sense of peace that comes from doing what you love. Although Ms. Gregory spent years being a historian and writer she was a completely unknown British author until 2001, when the world became riveted by “The Other Boleyn Girl”. She was born in Nairobi, Kenya in 1954 and two years later her family moved to Bristol, England. Growing up, Ms. Gregory wanted to be a vet and could often be found in a pet clinic or at home caring for a lost pet. (Gregory, www.philippagregory.com)
I have written this letter and added things as I read your books. I want to tell you so many things that I probably couldn’t tell you in person because i’ll probably be in shock and unable to say anything coherent. Well maybe anything except “ I love you” or “I have lots of feels about Rowan Whitethorn”.