Monday, March 19, 2012
Simple Popularity
Obviously one of things readers liked about Fanny Fern was her candor. She said it like it was, no beating around the bush. Fanny Fern was frank and probably a refreshing change from the writings that women (and men) were used to . Ruth Hall was quite a change from George Eliot's Middlemarch. We see the difference in the writing, no flowery writing in Ruth Hall, and no flowery writing in Fanny Fern's "Fern Leaves." Women were just beginning to demand their rights to be educated as men were educated, but there were probably still a lot of women who had very little formal education. This type of writing surely appealed to these women more so than the very descriptive novels like Middlemarch."Fern Leaves" most likely had mass appear because it was easy to understand. The information contained in the stories was practical too! The type of advice that Fern gives, like being careful that your husband doesn't think of you as simply a "upper servant or housekeeper" (2102). If you feel like he is treating you like his maid, just keep your "strings and buttons and straps on," and treat him like he is your employer. That is women's liberation! These women were probably starved for this kind of advice. From reading Ruth Hall, the men obviously thought it was refreshing too.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
IN BEFORE 5!
What really fascinate me in this novel are the villains. More specifically, I'm fascinated by the villains who shock me most: Katy's grandparents. They refuse to help Ruth but gladly take her children when she's unable to efficiently and therefore financially care for them. This behavior suggests societal discrimination to me, to the fullest.
The Grandmother, or "old lady" as the narrator refers to, reveals her capitalist nature in chapter 57: "...now is the time to apply for Katy again; for, according to all accounts, Ruth is getting along poorly enough." She doesn't think to aid Ruth with money, or shelter, or, I don't know, advice? Instead, she wants to take Katy. She goes on to say that, "old Mr. Flake" approached Katy and asked her intrusive questions such as, "what business her father used to do, and what supported them now that he was dead, and if they lived all the time on bread and milk." She describes them as, "a few such little questions." These questions were very insensitive and incredibly intrusive, and therefore, would easily intimidate or frighten a young child like Katy. Still, the old lady just wants the dirt; she isn't worried about her grandchild's well-being. When she goes on to say that Katy replied to old Mr. Flake, "dignified as a little duchess," telling him, "Mamma does not allow me to talk to strangers," leaving with only a half loaf of bread, the Capitalist grandfather says, "Like mother, like child... proud and poor, proud and poor; that tells the whole story" (149). Katy wasn't being proud and poor, proud and poor, proud and poor; she was listening to her mother and buying what little she could.
The Grandmother, or "old lady" as the narrator refers to, reveals her capitalist nature in chapter 57: "...now is the time to apply for Katy again; for, according to all accounts, Ruth is getting along poorly enough." She doesn't think to aid Ruth with money, or shelter, or, I don't know, advice? Instead, she wants to take Katy. She goes on to say that, "old Mr. Flake" approached Katy and asked her intrusive questions such as, "what business her father used to do, and what supported them now that he was dead, and if they lived all the time on bread and milk." She describes them as, "a few such little questions." These questions were very insensitive and incredibly intrusive, and therefore, would easily intimidate or frighten a young child like Katy. Still, the old lady just wants the dirt; she isn't worried about her grandchild's well-being. When she goes on to say that Katy replied to old Mr. Flake, "dignified as a little duchess," telling him, "Mamma does not allow me to talk to strangers," leaving with only a half loaf of bread, the Capitalist grandfather says, "Like mother, like child... proud and poor, proud and poor; that tells the whole story" (149). Katy wasn't being proud and poor, proud and poor, proud and poor; she was listening to her mother and buying what little she could.
Sentiments, Symbolism, and the Hall House.
“On one side of the room hangs a piece of framed needle work, y the virgin fingers of the old lady, representing an unhappy female, weeping over a very high and very perpendicular tombstone, which is hieroglyphicked over with untranslatable characters in red worsted, while a few herbs, not mentioned by botanists are struggling for existence at its base... It was principally to preserve this chef-d’oeuvre of art, that the windows were hermetically sealed to the entrance of vagrant flies” (165).
By the time this passage occurs in chapter 58, Fanny Fern has given us ample opportunities to conclude that the Halls are utterly despicable, hypocritical, and ridiculous people-- shallow and unfeeling in their Christianity as they are in their familial obligations and the doctor’s business. However, Fanny Fern takes so much time with this image, that it must prove something even more fundamental about the Hall household, and I would posit in particular, the character of Mrs. Hall.
The tightly closed room is mentioned first in this chapter-- nothing goes in and nothing comes out, even on a day as hot as the one mentioned. This characteristic alone would be enough to set up the scene of Katy’s captivity in this emotionally arid, hostile environment, but we continue to the contents of the livingroom table-- the place where articles of daily, practical concern are trafficked in a household. In my own case, this surface on any given day could be populated by bills, boardgames, newspapers, catalogs, birthday cards, keys, pet supplies, and the remains of breakfast. In the Hall household, we are given four items of probable significance-- “the Pilgrim’s Pilot, last year’s Almanac, the Directory, and what is the likely equivalent of a tabloid story of a miraculous escape from scalping. I think the point here is that what you keep in your house says something about how you live. We create special places for the things which are important and general spaces for everything else. There is nothing of Ruth or the children in this house (Katy is told to be seen and not heard, ironically making her into the ornament that the couple falsely criticizes Ruth for being). Farming, religious conversation, and common gossip all occupy an equal, mundane place here. There are no religious icons on the bare, white walls-- a place for images and items of which a household generally wants to make an example-- wants other people to see. There is mentioned only Mrs. Hall’s needlework, the preservation of which against all of nature, we are told the windows are so tightly shut.
This needlepoint is its own icon-- a cartoonish elevation not of self sacrifice within the Christian model but of Mrs. Hall’s own childish grief. Badly conceived, poorly executed and static, this is an image of self-pitying bitterness that not a thing in the world is permitted to touch or criticize-- not even a fly. This sentiment controls the house and everyone in it and makes the place an unconscious tomb from which no one can ever be reborn.
By the time this passage occurs in chapter 58, Fanny Fern has given us ample opportunities to conclude that the Halls are utterly despicable, hypocritical, and ridiculous people-- shallow and unfeeling in their Christianity as they are in their familial obligations and the doctor’s business. However, Fanny Fern takes so much time with this image, that it must prove something even more fundamental about the Hall household, and I would posit in particular, the character of Mrs. Hall.
The tightly closed room is mentioned first in this chapter-- nothing goes in and nothing comes out, even on a day as hot as the one mentioned. This characteristic alone would be enough to set up the scene of Katy’s captivity in this emotionally arid, hostile environment, but we continue to the contents of the livingroom table-- the place where articles of daily, practical concern are trafficked in a household. In my own case, this surface on any given day could be populated by bills, boardgames, newspapers, catalogs, birthday cards, keys, pet supplies, and the remains of breakfast. In the Hall household, we are given four items of probable significance-- “the Pilgrim’s Pilot, last year’s Almanac, the Directory, and what is the likely equivalent of a tabloid story of a miraculous escape from scalping. I think the point here is that what you keep in your house says something about how you live. We create special places for the things which are important and general spaces for everything else. There is nothing of Ruth or the children in this house (Katy is told to be seen and not heard, ironically making her into the ornament that the couple falsely criticizes Ruth for being). Farming, religious conversation, and common gossip all occupy an equal, mundane place here. There are no religious icons on the bare, white walls-- a place for images and items of which a household generally wants to make an example-- wants other people to see. There is mentioned only Mrs. Hall’s needlework, the preservation of which against all of nature, we are told the windows are so tightly shut.
This needlepoint is its own icon-- a cartoonish elevation not of self sacrifice within the Christian model but of Mrs. Hall’s own childish grief. Badly conceived, poorly executed and static, this is an image of self-pitying bitterness that not a thing in the world is permitted to touch or criticize-- not even a fly. This sentiment controls the house and everyone in it and makes the place an unconscious tomb from which no one can ever be reborn.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Questions 3/9
1. Do you agree with the quote, "No happy woman ever writes"? How is this concept illustrated in Ruth Hall, and how was it illustrated (or not) in the other novels we have read?
2. How can the personalities or attitudes of Katy and Nettie be compared to those of children from the previous novels? (Adele, Eva, etc)
2. How can the personalities or attitudes of Katy and Nettie be compared to those of children from the previous novels? (Adele, Eva, etc)
Questions for 3/9
1. Do you think there is a connection in the text between the writer/publisher relationship and a spousal relationship?
2. Comparing Ruth Hall to Middlemarch, do you think these texts are making different points about the consequences of earned money vs. inherited money? How does the point of view of a working woman vs. a woman of inheritance set us up for differing interpretations of societal inequality? Or does it not?
2. Comparing Ruth Hall to Middlemarch, do you think these texts are making different points about the consequences of earned money vs. inherited money? How does the point of view of a working woman vs. a woman of inheritance set us up for differing interpretations of societal inequality? Or does it not?
Questions for 3/9
1) Why do Harry’s parents want Ruth’s children? If they
complain about money all the time, wouldn’t the children be an extra burden?
Does reputation have anything to do with it?
2) Compare and contrast the role of gossip and reputation in
Ruth Hall with Middlemarch. Are women writers in the 19th century
trying to tell society something? Have things changed today?
Poor kids
In Chapter 38, when Katy and Nettie are questioning whether their papa will take them away from their horrible situation, I am reminded of Fanny Fern's short story "Thanksgiving Story." The two little girls in the story are remembering a time when their father was alive, and they had food, clothing, and warmth. The mother in "Thanksgiving Story" never has the opportunity to talk, but in Ruth Hall that conversation ends with: "'Papa has gone to heaven, where there is no more sickness, no more pain. Papa is happy now, Katy.' 'Happy? without me, and you, and Nettie,' said Katy, with a grieved lip?"
The fact that Fern repeats these situations leads me to believe that these conversations were had between Fern and her own small children many times, and they weighed heavily on her heart. We need to remember that Fern was not the only one suffering through poverty, loss, and bad relationships. Her second husband may not have been kind to her daughters either.
The fact that Fern repeats these situations leads me to believe that these conversations were had between Fern and her own small children many times, and they weighed heavily on her heart. We need to remember that Fern was not the only one suffering through poverty, loss, and bad relationships. Her second husband may not have been kind to her daughters either.
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