As a female in a highly patriarchal society, Anne Bradstreet uses the reverse
             psychology technique to prove the point of her belief of unfair and unequal
             treatment of women in her community. Women who wrote stepped outside
             their appropriate sphere, and those who actually published their work
             frequently faced social censure. Compounding this social pressure, many
             women faced crushing workloads and struggled with lack of leisure for
             writing. Others suffered from an unequal access to education, while others
             were dealing with the sense of intellectual inferiority offered to them from
             virtually every authoritative voice, that voice usually being male. Bradstreet
             was raised in an influential family, receiving an extensive education with
             access to private tutors and the Earl of Lincoln's large library. She was part
             of an influential family who encouraged her writing and circulated it in
             manuscript with pride. That kind of private support did much to offset the
             possibility of public disapproval. Bradstreet believed that women in her
             society were treated unfairly, and that gender should be insignificant. In her
             "Prologue" she addresses conflict and struggle, expressing her opinion toward
             women's rights, implying that gender is unimportant and male dominance is
             wrong. Bradstreet asserts the rights of women to learning and expression of
             thought, addressing broad and universal themes. The "Prologue" has a humble
             tone with slightly hidden surprises, containing a muted declaration of
             independence from the past and a challenge to male aut...