Happy New Year!

"even as a child she instinctively apprehended the dual life - that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions"

What does this mean to you? Does it describe most of us, some of us, a select few? Write a paragraph reflection which includes connections to your own life or the lives of people you know well or at least know of. You don't have to share the paragraph with anyone, but we will speak about the quote as a class terms after you finish writing.

What do you know (or suspect) about the daily lives of  working class, middle class, and upper class women around the turn of the 19th/20th century (approximately 1900)? 

Some questions you might consider:

What were some of the probable characteristics of their work lives?

What was their home-life like? 

What expectations existed concerning love and family?

What percentage married?

How many children did the average woman have?

How might one's race and ethnicity influence the quality of life of women? 

What percentage worked outside the home?

What kind of work might they have done?

Discuss with one another...then as a group.

Read and annotate the following:

Chapter 2: The Sacred Calling

From “Of Woman Born” by Adrienne Rich

Pg. 43, part 2

Double-entry journal - 3 entries

Quote and page #

Reaction

From earliest settled life until the growth of factories as centers of production, the home was not a refuge, a place for leisure and retreat from the cruelty of the “outside world”; it was a part of the world, a center of work, a subsistence unit. (page 47) In it women, men and children as early as they were able, carried on an endless, seasonal activity of raising, preparing, and processing food, processing skins, reeds, clay, dyes, fats, herbs, producing textiles and clothing, brewing, making soap and candles, doctoring and nursing, passing on these skills and crafts to younger people.  A woman was rarely if ever alone with nothing but the needs of a child or children to see to.  (2)

I have sort of suspected this, but it was interesting to hear Adrienne Rich confirm it in this article. Because most people were farmers (for centuries) and their homes were essentially mini-businesses, the woman, man and chidren often worked together to produce goods for sale and to take care of the numerous needs of daily life.