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National Domesticity II

National Domesticity II. Exploring the Role of Domesticity Across the 19 th C. Louisa May Alcott. Civil War-era writer Noted Abolitionist and Feminist Best known for Little Women (1868) “My Contraband” (1869) was originally published during the war as “The Brothers” (1863).

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National Domesticity II

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  1. National Domesticity II Exploring the Role of Domesticity Across the 19th C

  2. Louisa May Alcott • Civil War-era writer • Noted Abolitionist and Feminist • Best known for Little Women (1868) • “My Contraband” (1869) was originally published during the war as “The Brothers” (1863)

  3. Civil War Era Domesticity • (Historically, the ideological character of domesticity is largely based on the conflicts it is set to resolve) • A large number of iterations of Sentimental Fiction circulated politically in this period. • Southern Pastoral: • Romances of the plantation economy • Emphasized values of heritage, lineage, chivalry; lots of connections between family and land • Slavery as an idealized background

  4. Civil War Era Domesticity • Abolitionist Domesticity • Reformist-minded ladies exercised “republican motherhood” in steering the ethical direction of the nation • Sentimental narratives of slave domesticity were regularly adopted to the abolitionist cause • Children and wives being “sold down the river” • Master/slave sexual relations “corrupting Southern manhood” and breaking families in a different way

  5. Civil War Era Domesticity • Two Examples • A Romance of the Republic by Lydia Child (1867): a tale of a pair of exemplary Southern ladies who discover a lost black ancestor several rungs up the family tree. The novel directs a sentimental attack on the idea that these delicate and accomplished ladies might be reduced to slavery. • Miss Ravenel’s Conversion from Secession to Loyalty by J.W. Deforest (1867): A rebellious, but charming young lady with Confederate loyalties falls in love with a young Union soldier. Her conversion to Union supporter and obedient daughter/wife are accomplished at the same time.

  6. Back to George and Cott • Domesticity as • “Regulative norm” • “republican motherhood/cult of domesticity” • “national universal” • Mirroring rhetorical shifts in conceptions of popular sovereignty (from patriarchal dominance to “consent of the governed” and contract) • Exemplifying the two-sided character of citizenship: governance and freedom of choice

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