Bradstreet, Knight and Rowlandson in Colonial New England
In the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century New England the situation of women was unidealistic, rather complicated and demanding as the, so to say, male-centered society was somewhat ungrateful toward them, especially concerning the education of women. In the "limiting context" (1) of the Puritan world, restriction and dependance dominated over the female population. As wives were mothers and homemakers, the burden of household chores and children was all weighted on them. Particularly in poor families, where there was no help for the wife, women had to concentrate on multiple tasks besides raising children and cooking. They had to "make clothing, and doctor their family on top of cleaning, making household goods to use and sell, taking care of their animals, maintaining a fire and even tending to the kitchen gardens" (2).I would like to examine the three most well-know woman writers of Puritan New England, Anne Bradstreet, Mary Rowlandson and Sarah Kemble Knight by comparing and contrasting them to one another while studying the 'world' they lived in, concerning their social positions, opportunities in the Puritan world and the purpose of their writings. They were, basically, the most outstanding examples from the seventeent
For example:"in Philadelphia, numerous private schools with no religious affiliation taught languages, mathematics, and natural science, and there were night schools for adults. Concerning the curriculum of schools in the seventeenth-century New England, we have to take a look at Literacy, Instruction and Gender in Colonial New England by Jennifer Monaghan. " However, the laws did not allow girls to be taught to write as well up until 1771, when the legislation finally included the possibility to females to write (14). "One of the most enterprising of the colonies in the educational sphere was Pennsylvania" (18). Ramon Gonzalez, "Anne Bradstreet, 1612-1672" 34. " However, Increase Mather, Cotton Mather's father, was the one who helped and guided Rowlandson into the direction of publishing her narrative (23). In the case of Knight, we find evidences in the text of her Journal that she frequently had an impulse to write on the spot and that she also wrote a diary on purpose while traveling. While Bradstreet's world was definitely brave and strong, it seems that Knight's writing stepped over the border with a little more chin-up attitude. Jennifer Monaghan, "Literacy, Instruction and Gender in Colonial New England," in Cathy N. " Here we also have to note that "Anne Bradstreet had her manuscript taken from her without her knowledge and published in England because she would never have dared publish in America" (37). Linas Erikson, "An Outline of American History.
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