Thursday, September 15, 2011

Stanton

     Stanton in this writing, is discussing gender inequality and fighting for women's rights.  She begins her argument with the statement that men are very different from women and because they are so different they cannot begin to understand why women want their own rights (paragraph one page one).  I think this is a smart way to begin her argument because her audience is largely men who are powerful during this time period.  While she was also speaking to women, Stanton knew that if any changes were going to be made they had to do some convincing when it came to those that were high up.  She goes on to quote a poem from History of the Condition of Women which describes being a woman as being a slave.  A slave to her family, and society as a whole.  This poem is important to her writing because it shows that there is no way out for women in the society that they find themselves in.  Stanton is trying to convey the seriousness of the inequality that is so often glazed over and I think she does a good job of it with this poem.
     As Stanton goes on to argue her point and show that women and men are in fact equal, she references other works that have already been published.  I really admire this about Stanton because it reinforces and backs up the points she is trying to make.  An example of this is on page two footnote twelve.  I really enjoyed reading letter two because it addressed specific ways that men were supposedly superior to women in a clear, concise manner that I could easily understand.  Another thing I really admire about Stanton's writing and speaking is how she utilizes history to reinforce her statements.  She does this on page three paragraph four when discussing Webster, Van Buren and Clay.  I think this further legitimizes her point and also appeals to her audience of wealthy, educated men who without a doubt know these historical figures and how important they were to society.  I also admire how Stanton brings in other countries and cultures to show how gender inequality is present everywhere.  This proves her point and shows the seriousness of the situation (page three towards the end).  I think it was also smart of Stanton to reference the Bible periodically in her writing (paragraph one page four).  During this time period (mid-eighteen hundreds), religion was a substantial part of the population's life.  The church controlled a lot of what they did, and the way they thought.  I believe these references may have been what sealed the deal for some who were listening to her argument.

3 comments:

  1. After class today I just wanted to make a couple of notes. Intellectual, powerful women today are viewed as cold, mean, and even unfeminine. That doesn't really give a lot of incentive for women today to assert themselves. We also discussed American traditions. Can they change? And if they do change, are they changing for the better? I think that if traditions are going to change, some people are going to end up happy, some are going to be unhappy, and others are going to be indifferent to the situation. Even though we have made a lot of progress since Stanton's time, I think there are still lots of improvements to be made.

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  2. I agree that we still have a long Way to go on women's rights but we are moving in the right direction. Stantons writing tells us a lot.

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  3. I agree with you, about Stanton being an firm believer in female rights. I wonder what she would say, about this time period.

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