10/17/08-True Womenhood

Background for understanding: (The idea of “The cult of True Womanhood,” or “the cult of domesticity,” sought to assert that womanly virtue resided in piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity- The attributes of True Womanhood, by which a woman judged herself and was judged by her husband, her neighbors, and her society could be divided into four cardinal virtues - piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity... Without them.... all was ashes. With them she was promised happiness and power.).
True Women were to hold the four cardinal virtues:
1. Piety - believed to be more religious and spiritual than men
2. Purity - pure in heart, mind, and body
3. Submission - held in "perpetual childhood" where men dictated all actions and decisions
4. Domesticity - a division between work and home, encouraged by the Industrial Revolution; men went out in the world to earn a living, home became the woman's domain where a wife created a "haven in a heartless world" for her husband and children.[1]

Aim: How is Linda Brent portrayed as an unconventional heroine who portrayal as slave challenges the cult of true womanhood while struggling to reclaim her status as a woman, and reconstructing the ideals of women in nineteenth century America?

Do Now: Write a sentence in your notebook starting with I believe that of the four virtues ________ still holds true in today’s society because….
I believe that of the four virtues domesticity still holds true in today's society because there some women who stays home to take care of the household, the children while the husband works. For example my mom was a house wife while my dad worked while she stayed home taking care of things.

Comprehension Check:
“Sketches of Neighboring Slaveholders”
What dehumanization/degradation do we see in Mr. Conant, Mrs. Wade’s?
Mr.Conant would tie up his slaves in front of his house on a tree and they were stripped their cloths off.
Mrs.Wade would lash her slaves and before she died she punched a slave on it's face and yelled "the devil got you now".
What happened to James the slave? (48-49)
James was lashed hundred time and put into a cotton gin where he was found dead and rats was all over him.
According to Linda Brent, what value do women hold? (49)
"Women are considered of no value, unless they continually increase their owner's stock"(52) There is no value for women during those times, their only reason for women to live is to carry child in their womb.
What happened to the “kind mistress/orphan woman” who took inherited a woman and her six children? (50-51)
"Kind mistress/orphan woman" died peacefully because she knew she was helping out a family of slave by giving them their freedom.
Explain: “The poor worm shall prove her contest vain. Life’s little day shall pass, and she is gone! (52)
I think this quote means that slave women is trying to fight for their freedom and purity which they don't have until the die.
Explain: According to Linda Brent, “slavery is a curse to the whites as well as to the blacks.” (53)
(55)
Linda Brent is trying to say that slavery is curse to the both color because for the white where their husband is being unfaithful and breaking their vows while the black has it physically.

“A Perilous Passage in the Slave Girl’s Life”
Comprehension Check:
What was Dr. Flint’s new plan for Brent? (53)
Dr.Flint new plan for Brent was to build a house for that is 4 miles away from the town where she can live.
How old is Linda in this chapter? (55)
15 years old.

Literary Analysis:
Characterize Mr. Sands
Mr.Sands is nice, educated, a gentlemen and he was eloquent.

Interpretive:
What did Linda Brent do “with deliberate calculation?” (54-55)

Identify Brent’s use of rhetoric in “Perilous Passage” (54, 56)

In her rhetoric, Brent addresses her readers as “O virtuous reader…” why? (56)
She uses rhetoric in this part because she wants the reader to know and understand what is happening and why.
Where do we see hypocrisy of the church? (50)

According to Brent, “I feel that the slave woman ought not to be judged by the same standard as others”- Why? (56)
Linda is saying that slave women shouldn't be judge by the same standard as the white women because slaves women are forced to give up their virtuous while the white women are married and willingly giving them up to their husband.
Why did Aunt Marty/Linda’s grandmother ostracize Linda and tell her that she would “rather see you dead than to see you as you now are [pregnant]. You are a disgrace to your mother?” (57)
Linda is pregnant out of wedlock.

Critical Thinking: Using the four cardinal virtues
Which of the four cardinal virtues do you think is the most important and why?
I think purity is the most important for women because no matter what the society, or the pople your with usually judge you by how pure you are.
What does Linda do that challenges the “cult of true womanhood?”
Linda breaks all of the "cult of true womanhood".
According to the cardinal virtues that makes the nineteenth century woman a “true woman” is
Linda a true woman? Why or Why not?
In terms of saying that is Linda a true women in general than yes for standing up and not giving herself in, but we are talking about the nineteenth century women than Linda isn't a true women because she became pregnant before marriage and she didn't submit herself to Dr. Flint.
Cooperative Learning: Form your Groups and write in your notebooks the following as a header:
Slavery was terrible for both men and women, but one can say that it was far more terrible for women.
Then say if you agree or disagree with this quote and why.
Finally, cite your sources using citations from the text and page numbers.
I agree with the quote because women does get far worse then men. Slave women are sexually, physically, and psychologically abused by their masters. While the men just get physically abused. Women are excepted to submit to their masters when they want them to if not they get abused or they are threaten by their master. For example when Linda didn't submit to Dr.Flint he whispered foul words and he also held a knife near her throat.
Share out!

Vocabulary Words to know:
Chapter IX:
Depredations- the act of preying upon
Inducement-to lead or move by persuasion or influence
Interred-to place in a grave or tomb; bury
Divested- to strip or deprive of property or rights
Cessation- a temporary or complete stopping
Manumit-to release from slavery or servitude
Inculcated- to teach or instill through repetition
Licentiousness-Lacking moral discipline or ignoring legal restraint, especially in sexual conduct.
Chapter X:
Abyss- a bottomless gulf or pit
Eloquent - Having the power of expressing strong emotions
Sophistry- misleading argument