Shout Out To The Ladies

It's amazing what a few decades and some degree of social acceptance can allow. Fall River reads a great deal more like contemporary novels that follow it by over a century than the likes of Charlotte Temple which precedes it by a few decades. Even the preface which, like Charlotte Temple and The Female American, spends its time justifying the novel's existence by claiming its reality, feels more modern.

Still, there's the whole "shout out to the ladies" in the preface and at the end of the first chapter. I swear, but women back in the day were truly pathetic. Truly...

Uh oh... What? No! NO! Now, wait! Before you get up in arms, let me explain!

It's all about sociocultural status and positioning. Women in the West, and until recently (which could be argued I think), have been positioned subservient to men in a variety of ways. One of the most effective, popularized with chivalric notions, is through the idea that women are physically and emotionally weak and, despite the implication of possessing a greater degree of ethical and moral sense, can easily be led astray, especially if they are young, pretty, and possess any degree of sexual awareness. All of this requires that they are sheltered, kept out of harm's way, and guided by either trustworthy men (who are invariably older and, often, financially secure) or older women (I haven't figured this one out quite yet).

So, yes, I stand by the pathetic comment, although I'm being somewhat facetious. Please don't get mad at me.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading the entire novel within the next few days. I suspect that it'll be lots of fun given the way it begins, of which I'll have more to add of greater literary depth later.