The novel, “One Foot in Eden” by Ron Rash, is an extravagant story that takes the reader into a tail of desperation, forgiveness and the inevitable change that comes with time. The novel is written in first person by four different novel characters who include: The High Sheriff Alexander, Deputy Bobby, Billy Holcombe, and his wife, Amy.
The High Sheriff is looking for Holland Winchester, who is known as a local ruffian and war hero. The Sheriff soon learns from Holland’s mother that he had been having an affair with Amy Holcombe prior to his disappearance. Although Amy loves her husband Billy; he cannot give her a child because he is sterile. Amy goes to Holland Winchester, her neighbor, to give her a child because Widow Glendower promised he would.
Widow Glendower is a minor character in the novel “One Foot in Eden.” However, she plays a vital role. Widow Glendower is often referred to as a witch throughout the novel, often associated with a devilish figure. Many believe that witches are dangerous. “For most of history, in most of the world, the prevailing view of witches is that they present some kind of threat (690 Joshi).” There are certain characteristics that represent the figure of a witch, however, Ronald Hutton states that there is “no general agreement on what a witch or witchcraft is supposed to be.“ Though out the book, some of Widow Glendower’s actions could be interpreted to embody the characteristics of a witch. However, instead of being viewed as a witch or threatening figure, Widow Glendower should be seen as a part of a traditional herbal healing age, who cared for the sick and received a bad label because of history. She should be noted as a gentle midwife that wishes to invoke life, not take it away. Wid...
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Kontoyannis, M., & Katsetos, C. (2011). Midwives in early modern europe (1400-1800). Health Science Journal, 5(1), 31-36. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/845921670?accountid=12777
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Rash, Ron. One Foot in Eden. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2002. Print.
Joshi, S.T. Icons of horror and the supernatural: an encyclopedia of our worst nightmares. Greenwood Publishing Company, 2007. Volume 2. Ebook.
Popkin, B. (1996). Wives, mothers, and witches: The learned discourse about women in early modern europe. Journal of Womens History, 8(3), 193-193. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/203245655?accountid=12777
Various myths that talk about the path of lie and knowledge is a major part of how Widow Glendower illustrates. Many locals fear and also admires the witch all at the same time. Her great knowledge of actuality and her mystic powers. It is hard for people to grasp the ways of Widow Glendower. The character is used to refer to the magical knowledge of the world as a whole.
He is joined by Amy, the wife of a local farmer; her husband Billy; their son Isaac; and the deputy, Bobby, in revealing the tale of the Jocassee community and its people. The story encompasses twenty years in the Jocassee neighborhood and along with the narrators other characters important to the story are introduced to the reader. Widow Glendower is one of those characters. Widow Glendower is perceived by some in the valley to be a witchy woman. She is a midwife to many in the community, a doctor for their illnesses, and a seer of things to come.
Thiebaux, Marcelle. The Writings of Medieval Women: An Anthology. New York: Garland Publishing. 1994. Print.
Whenever we think of witches, we think of shriveled up ladies who wear pointy hats with a big black drape over her. But in England, in the Renaissance era, that is not always how they were distinguished out among the crowd. Many citizens were put on trial and even killed if they were accused of being witches. Many times, these people were falsely accused and therefore murdered wrongfully. Witchcraft was a problem starting around the mid-1400’s and influenced many writers such as Shakespeare, and although it is not a big problem in today’s society, looking back at how this affected the renaissance era in England is something that had a huge impact on their society.
The term witchcraft is defines as the practice of magic intended to influence nature. It is believed that only people associated with the devil can perform such acts. The Salem Witch Trials was much more than just America’s history, it’s also part of the history of women. The story of witchcraft is first and foremost the story of women. Especially in its western life, Karlsen (1989) noted that “witchcraft challenges us with ideas about women, with fears about women, with the place of women in society and with women themselves”. Witchcraft also confronts us too with violence against women. Even through some men were executed as witches during the witch hunts, the numbers were far less then women. Witches were generally thought to be women and most of those who were accused and executed for being witches were women. Why were women there so many women accused of witchcraft compared to men? Were woman accused of witchcraft because men thought it was a way to control these women? It all happened in 1692, in an era where women were expected to behave a certain way, and women were punished if they threatened what was considered the right way of life. The emphasis of this paper is the explanation of Salem proceedings in view of the role and the position of women in Colonial America.
Asma, Stephen. On Monsters :An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.
The epoch of Medieval European history concerning the vast and complicated witch hunts spanning from 1450 to 1750 is demonstrative of the socioeconomic, religious, and cultural changes that were occurring within a population that was unprepared for the reconstruction of society. Though numerous conclusions concerning the witch trials, why they occurred, and who was prosecuted have been found within agreement, there remain interpretations that expand on the central beliefs. Through examining multiple arguments, a greater understanding of this period can be observed as there remains a staggering amount of catalysts and consequences that emerged. In the pursuit of a greater understanding, three different interpretations will be presented. These interpretations, which involve Brian Levack’s “The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe,” Eric Boss’s “Syphilis, Misogyny, and Witchcraft in 16th-Century Europe,” and Nachman Ben-Yehuda’s “The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th centuries:
Parker, Sam. Horror Through The Decades. Bauer Consumer Media, 2009. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. .
In the Malleus Maleficarum, Sprenger and Kramer’s basic argument about the origins of witchcraft is that witchcraft is found chiefly in women due to several reasons that focus on characteristics of women. Sprenger and Kramer argue that witchcraft in women is more probable because women were very naïve and impressionable, carnal lust is never satisfied in women, and they are of lower intelligence and weaker memories than men.
Were the witch-hunts in pre-modern Europe misogynistic? Anne Llewellyn Barstow seems to think so in her article, “On Studying Witchcraft as Women’s History: A Historiography of the European Witch Persecutions”. On the contrary, Robin Briggs disagrees that witch-hunts were not solely based on hatred for women as stated in his article, “Women as Victims? Witches, Judges and the Community”. The witch craze that once rapidly swept through Europe may have been because of misconstrued circumstances. The evaluation of European witch-hunts serves as an opportunity to delve deeper into the issue of misogyny.
One Foot in Eden, written by Ron Rash, is essentially a combination of first person narratives. A book written from the first person perspective is able to incorporate emotion into the text a way that the third person perspective simply cannot. A first person narrative, however, is biased and limited to that person’s personal experience. Rash is inventive when he writes a book containing five person perspectives. In doing this the reader feels all the emotion associated with a first person perspective, receives multiple life experience stories, as well as the truth of events in relation to One Foot in Eden.
Were the Witch-Hunts in Pre-modern Europe Misogynistic? The “YES” article by, Anne Llewellyn Barstow, “On Studying Witchcraft as Woman’s History” and the “NO” article by, Robin Briggs, “Women as Victims? Witches, Judges and the Community,” will be compared, and summarized.
Women in different societies around the world, during the Middle Ages, experienced different hardships and roles. These hardships and roles helped shape how they were viewed in their society. Some women were treated better and more equal than others. In Rome, Medieval England, and Viking society, women’s legal status, education, marriage and family roles were considered diverse, but also similar. In certain nation’s women have more or less power than women in other nations, but none equal to the power that women have in America today.
The witch is both vulnerable and a powerful figure. The resulting tension between power and powerlessness as a response to laws created by those in power, rather institutionalised power: men, can be seen as expressed through such binary metaphors as that of physical strength and beauty versus weakness and ugliness, kn...
Jack Morgan, The Biology of Horror: Gothic Literature and Film (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2002) null03, Questia, Web, 29 May 2010.