Patriarchal Critique through the Elevation of Emotion: Lydia Maria Child, Margaret Fuller, and Fanny Fern on Women’s Rights
During the Antebellum Period, many held onto the traditional belief that a woman’s role revolved around her responsibilities as a wife and mother. Others believed that women deserved access to education and legal equality. Women’s rights advocates and abolitionists often worked together, both with the intention of transforming oppressive societal institutions. Lydia Maria Child, Margaret Fuller, and Fanny Fern all advocated for women’s rights through their writing, which criticized the patriarchal systems of the time. This paper will focus on the following texts: Child’s “Letter From New York,” Fuller’s “Woman in The Nineteenth Century,” and Fern’s “Blackwell's Island.” All three women use natural imagery to mirror their central argument that women’s legal and social equality in America is natural. This natural imagery is infused with religious connotations, which they use to suggest that women’s liberation aligns with God’s will.
While all authors seek to reform the American institutions that subjugate women, they do so in different ways. Child and Fuller make appeals to feminine ideals, reassuring the readers that liberating women will not threaten these values. Fern however is more explicit, and rejects the traditional values of women as ludicrous through her comedic, satirical writing. The authors all elevate sympathy and sentimentality, which they associate with the natural world, as opposed to rationality that has been cultivated by patriarchal societal institutions. In doing this, they feed into the common association between women and sentimentality in order to subvert it. The authors juxtapose images of the natural world with artificial, restrictive settings, which allows them to illustrate the contrast between man’s flawed creations and God’s exalted ones.
Child, Fuller, and Fern all see emotion and sympathy as the necessary tools to reform American society. Fern argues that jails must be replaced by “noble institution[s] where [the inmates] can find a kind welcome...” (p. 1218). Fern uses the italics to underscore the primary issue of pervasive hostility within jails in America, where the authority figures act like tyrants. Fern adds a transcendent significance to the importance of sympathy through Biblical references. In reference to the prisoners, she asks “how many times when their stomachs have been empty, some full-fed, whining disciple, has presented them with a Bible or a Tract, saying, Be Ye warmed and filled?” (p. 1218). Here, her rhetorical question and the negative connotation of “whining” press the reader to reflect on their own hypocrisy, as they claim to be religious but do not act as the disciples do in the Bible. She criticizes those who proselytize religion but lack the sympathy to provide the prisoners with basic physical necessities. Similarly, Child states “the public sympathy manifested in this case, has cheered my hopes, and increased my respect for human nature” (p. 777). Throughout the text, Child repeatedly refers to the mistreatment Amelia experienced during her relationship with Ballard to convince the reader of Amelia’s innocence. Child believes the jurors’ ability to sympathize led them to the just conclusion regarding Amelia. Similarly to Child and Fern, Fuller elevates emotion, but does not focus specifically on sympathy. She asks, “Can we think that [a man] takes a sufficiently discerning and religious view of her office and destiny, ever to do her justice, except when prompted by sentiment...?” (p. 879). Her rhetorical question has the same effect as Fern’s, pressing the reader to reflect on their own experiences. Through repetition of the word “ever” and the repetitive sentence structure, Fuller places both good judgement and religion on the side of emotion. She argues that it is only through “sentiment” that men are able to see women and their potential accurately.
The three authors position emotion in opposition to forms of reason that have been cultivated and perpetuated by unjust institutions. Child describes the different behaviors of David Graham and Mr. Sandford, Amelia’s lawyer and Ballard’s lawyer respectively. Whereas Graham represents Amelia with a “noble burst of heartfelt eloquence,” Mr. Sandford represents Ballard with an “ability from which [her] open-hearted nature shrinks, as it would from the cunning of the fox, and the subtlety of the serpent” (p. 774). The short, rhythmic description of Graham is juxtaposed with the extended description of Mr. Sandford. The description of Mr. Sandford’s ability includes cacophonous diction, producing an inharmonious, jarring effect. Child uses the symbols of serpents and foxes to criticize the patriarchal institutions Mr. Sandford represents because they signify deceit. Fuller conveys the same idea in her quote, “The lover, the poet, the artist, are likely to view [women] nobly. The father and the philosopher have some change of liberality; the man of the world, the legislator for expediency, none” (p. 870). The job of lovers, poets, and artists is rooted in emotion. The father and philosopher must balance their emotions and formal learning. Alternatively, the men of the world and legislators are guided entirely by formal training and are thus taught to regard women with no respect. The first part of the quote is the most poetic, as Fuller alternates between one syllable and two-syllable words. The last sentence is the least poetic, as Fuller interjects the word “none,” which disrupts the flow and rhythm of the sentence. This literary style mirrors her criticism of the legislators and men for their inability to view women as equals. Similarly to Fuller, Fern addresses this idea by introducing an animal commonly associated with deception in her description. Fern expresses her appreciation for “every man or woman with a smiling face and cheery voice; and thank[s] Him doubly when such have the desire, as well as the power, to unweave the tangled web which insanity has spun over the delicate brain” (p. 1219). Her description of the brain as “delicate” reveals how easy it is to manipulate. Her metaphor comparing insanity to a spider highlights society’s attempt to distort the human mind. The comparison to a web also suggests that it can be unraveled, implying that the effects of society can be reversed. The possibility of reform transforms this comparison into a call to action.
Child and Fern reframe the narratives of the prisoners and Amelia respectively to showcase them as victims worthy of sympathy. Although Amelia is on trial for murder, Child depicts her as a “poor girl [who] had been subjected to wrongs and insults…” (p. 772). In this quote, Child does not characterize Amelia as a murderer, but as a passive victim and the target of misfortune. Amelia is described repeatedly as an “unfortunate girl” and then an “unfortunate prisoner” (p. 773, 774). The word “unfortunate” suggests Amelia’s lack of agency, allowing Child to shift the blame to Ballard. Fern uses the same tactic when she describes the prisoners as “unfortunate sufferers” (p. 1220). Whereas prisoners are normally seen as perpetrators of a crime, here they are portrayed as powerless. She also says, “I must know, as [the prisoners’] Maker knows, what evil influences have encircled their cradles” (p. 1218). The word “cradles” evokes connotations of innocence and vulnerability, which are easily infiltrated by evil influences. Babies are never blamed for wrongdoing, and similarly, Fern criticizes the societal structures rather than the prisoners for their actions.
These two authors use the issue of prostitutes to exemplify the importance of sympathy and subvert the societal dichotomy between the morally righteous and the sinful. Similarly to Child’s use of language to frame Amelia as a victim, she describes prostitutes as “deeply injured women,” portraying them as sufferers rather than culprits (p. 775). She places the blame directly on the men when she asks, “what had been done to the twelve thousand men, who made these poor creatures prostitutes?” (p. 775). By altering between descriptive prose and rhetorical questions, she invites the reader to engage with the text. Further, Child asks what “law and order” does for the “degraded, ruined souls” of prostitutes,” suggesting that the societal institutions have failed the women (p. 776). In “Blackwell’s Island Number III,” Fern says to Mrs. Grundy, a nineteenth century name for a person concerned with convention, “You would push [prostitutes] ‘anywhere out of the world,’ as unfit to live,... they, the weaker party, while their partners in sin, for whom you claim greater mental superiority, and who, by your own finding, should be much better able to learn to teach the lesson of self-control — to them you extend perfect absolution” (p. 1221). Ms. Grundy is representative of the traditional tendency to absolve the men involved of blame, while defaming the prostitutes.The long sentence is used to investigate the validity of Ms. Grundy’s behavior and the dash used at the end serves to emphasize the hypocrisy of it. Further, she says that she would not “give a fig for [men’s] virtue if temptation and opportunity favored…” (p. 1222). In this quote, Fern voices her doubt over men’s supposed moral superiority, depicting them as equally susceptible to manipulation as prostitutes are.
The emphasis Child, Fuller, and Fern place on emotion as necessary to reform American society is made tangible through natural imagery. Child states that when the court announces Amelia’s innocence “the surging of long repressed sympathies [came] in like a roaring sea” (p. 776). The rhythm of the sentence mirrors the ebbs and flows of a wave, as Child switches between monosyllabic and polysyllabic words. The alliteration of “surging” and “sympathies” contributes to the harmonious rhythm. The lyrical quality of the sentence emphasizes the naturality of the sympathies that were set free. The word “repressed” posits the release of the sympathies in opposition to a culture which attempts to unnaturally repress them. Similarly, Fuller employs rhythmic sentence structure, accompanied by alliteration and figurative language. She states “the gain of creation consists always in the growth of individual minds, which live and aspire, as flowers bloom and birds sing, in the midst of morasses, and in the conceptual development of that thought...which ages of failure only seemingly impede” (p. 874). In this quote, she develops a metaphor comparing the growth of individual minds to flowers blooming, suggesting that it is only natural for women to be educated. However, she suggests women have been prevented from this natural growth for centuries through detrimental societal institutions. Fern’s melodic syntax, broken up rhythmically by a series of commas, mirrors the syntax of the two previous authors. She states, “I must go a great way back of those hard, defiant faces, where hate of their kind seems indelibly burnt in; -back-back-to the soft blue sky of infancy, overclouded before the little one had strength to contend with the flashing lightning and pealing thunder of misfortune and poverty which stunned and blinded his perception” (p. 1218). The second half of the sentence is dominated by cacophonous diction, reflecting its harsh meaning. She uses the double metaphor to compare a baby’s innocence to a cloudless blue sky, and society’s effects on the child to a thunderstorm, which hardens the baby to the world. The three authors conflate nature and emotion through language, and place them in opposition to societal institutions which obstruct the development of natural tendencies.
These authors position the natural world, the world of God’s creation, in opposition to artificial settings, established by man. At the end of the “Letter From New York,” Child leaves the reader with an image of the oppressive courthouse with an ethereal image of flora. She explains that the court “with its monotonous reoccurrence of the straight line and the square, its heavy pillars, its cavernous dome of massive rings, its general expression of overpowering strength is well suited to a building for such a purpose” (p. 778). Child emphasizes the geometrical perfection of the court, which is absent in nature. The “cavernous dome” has connotations of darkness, and in conjunction with its heavy pillars, evokes an oppressive mood. This imagery is juxtaposed with “graceful palm leaves, intertwined with lotus blossoms” outside the Court (p .778). Unlike the overbearing atmosphere established by the court, nature is described as “graceful.” This lighthearted language has positive connotations associated with brightness and elegant fragility. While Fuller is less descriptive than Child in her discussions of nature, her argument is similar. She states that in an attempt to relegate women to the domestic sphere, men want to prevent anyone besides the “shepherd from climbing the wall, or the flock from using any chance to go astray” (p. 877). She compares women to sheep confined in a pasture. The arbitrary placement of the wall is meant to restrict their movement and was erected to maintain the dominance of the shepherd, or in terms of the metaphor, the patriarchy.
Fern describes the jail cell repeatedly in “Blackwell’s Island” with language similar to Fuller’s that emphasizes confinement. She describes different aspects of the cell, such as its small size,” its “dark[ness],” and the “bolts and bars” (p. 1217, 1218). This image is juxtaposed with the image of the outdoors. She describes the “blue...river that plashes against the garden wall below, flecked with white sails, and alive with gay pleasure seekers…” (p. 1218). Her short, abrupt descriptions of the jail contrast with the drawn-out sentences about nature, infused with figurative language. The dark and restrictive atmosphere is placed in opposition to the bright, colorful, and spacious atmosphere outside. The comparisons drawn by all authors seek to emphasize the naturality of equality for all, especially women, and condemn the societal institutions established to restrict this.
Child and Fern use animalistic diction to argue that the patriarchy creates a cycle of dehumanization. Child states that “[The jury] felt little anxiety to protect Ballard...that he might feel safe to prowl about after other daughters and sisters of honest families” (p. 776). Ballard is characterized as a predator on the “prowl,” and the daughters and sisters are portrayed as his prey. Whereas Child focuses on the dehumanization of the males in power, Fern focuses on the dehumanization of the victims as a result of their maltreatment. Fern argues that the way to restore a man’s self- respect is not “to degrade him before his fellow-creatures, to brand him, and chain him, and poke him....like a hyena in a menagerie” (p. 1218). The repetition of verbs mirrors the never-ending chain of abuses. She continues by saying “no wonder that he growls at you, and grows vicious...no wonder that he thinks the Bible you place in his cell a humbug, and God a myth” (p. 1219). The repetition of “no wonder” rids the prisoners of blame, suggesting that the people treating them like animals are responsible for their behavior. Not only are those in power responsible for the dehumanization, but they are responsible for the prisoners’ disbelief in God. This reveals the hypocrisy of those who claim moral superiority over the prisoners.
Despite their similar central concern regarding women’s equality, the three authors use different literary strategies to achieve their aims. Child adopts the expected values for women of the time in order to advocate for Amelia’s innocence. Fuller appeals more to the traditional institutions of the time than women’s values per se, arguing that education and legal equality would bolster these institutions, rather than dismantle them. Fern rejects both of these strategies entirely, as she instead uses satire to explicitly reject gender norms. In Child’s defense of Amelia, she states, Amelia was “a virtuous, discreet, amiable and quiet, before her acquaintance with Ballard (p. 774-775). Here, Child points out that Ballard’s treatment of Amelia is particularly injurious because it warped her value system, which used to align with traditional values.
She goes on to describe Amelia during the trial as “marked by a beautiful propriety” and “subdued” (p. 777). Child feels it is important to note that even in the midst of the highly stressful hearing, Amelia maintains her composure, which appeals directly to an upper-class, conservative audience. Fuller uses similar tactics when she states, “Ascertain the true destiny of woman, give her legitimate hopes, and a standard within herself; marriage and all other relations would by degrees be harmonized with these” (p. 878). Here, Fuller argues that liberating women will not cause them to leave their husbands but will improve marriages and all other traditional societal institutions. Moreover, she states “A house is no home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body” (p. 879). Here, she simultaneously advocates for women’s equality while appealing to a woman’s traditional role as homemaker. Fuller argues that family life overall will be improved by educating women. Unlike Child’s description of Amelia as quiet and docile, Fern writes about the pleasure she gets from disturbing her husband when he is serious. She “salt[s] his coffee - and pepper[s] his tea - and sugar[s] his beefsteak…” (p. 1213). Not only does she disturb her husband, but she rejects the role of housewife by deliberately ruining his food. Additionally, in “A Law More Nice Than Just” she discusses how ridiculous women’s apparel is and goes on a walk in her husband’s clothing, an action that would have likely triggered public disapproval (p. 1217). These different strategies represent the diversity of tactics women writers used during this time to advocate for societal reform.
Child, Fuller, and Fern all use their writing to advocate for women’s legal and social equality. They play into the stereotype that women are inherently sentimental, and elevate emotion above abilities and knowledge that are fostered through oppressive patriarchal institutions. They argue that it is precisely one's ability to sympathize that will help reform these institutions in ways that will benefit all of society. They use natural imagery to make their abstract ideas tangible and argue that women’s liberation is natural. By placing natural imagery in opposition to artificial, man-made structures, they place God on the side of women’s rights. While their rhetorical strategies greatly differ, all three women were highly influential during their time for challenging the conventional roles of women.