Conflicts in Elizabeth Stuart Phelps' The Angel Over the Right Shoulder

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Conflicts in Elizabeth Stuart Phelps' The Angel Over the Right Shoulder

"The Angel Over the Right Shoulder" is fascinating because of the conflict it uncovers between a woman's need to fulfill her domestic role and her need to develop as an individual. The story was published in 1852, when the American people were struggling with the role of women in society. The author, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, introduces two opposing possibilities for this role. One is the woman whose entire being revolves around her domestic sphere and who has no individual identity. The other is an individual who, although fulfilling the role of mother and wife, takes time to cultivate and develop her own interests and person. This essay will focus on discussing the social and historical concepts intertwined with these two opposing viewpoints concerning the role of women in the middle 19th century rather then evaluating them in terms of the story. This will give the reader information necessary to better understand and analyze the events of the text.

The first possibility of woman's ideal social role, revolving entirely around her domestic responsibilities, has its origin in the past. Women of white middle class standing had historically taken on the responsibilities of clothing, feeding and caring for all members of the family, while the men had ensured that the raw materials for these duties existed. Stereotypically, the husband would work the farm cultivating the crops and caring for the animals, while the wife would turn these raw materials into the necessities of life, including food and clothing. When industry began to take over in the early 1800's the specific tasks of gender shifted, but the general spheres d...

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...ideas about the new role of women in society while reading "The Angel Over The Right Shoulder", and to consider the ways in which Phelps encourages or discourages each one. I also encourage the reader to delve more deeply into the wealth of information surrounding this very important time period in the history of the United States, to understand where Phelps' ideas were generated and why she may have seemed to favor of one role of women over another.

Works Cited

Graves, A.J., Mrs. Woman in America: Being an Examination into the Moral and Intellectual Condition of American Female Society. New York: Harper, 1847,c1841

Melder, Keith. Beginnings of Sisterhood: The American Woman's Rights Movement, 1800-1850. New York: Schocken Books, 1977.

Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart. The Angel Over the Right Shoulder. Andover: Warren F. Draper, 1852.

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