Prompt: What do you notice about this text that you think is worthy of further inquiry? This can be a major theme, a question you have, a recurring image, a particularly vexing phrase or passage, or even a single word that you think has particular meaning within the text.
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16 replies on “In-class writing 3/1/18”
There is a continuous connection between the natural beauty of mother nature to the corruption and ugliness of humans through Mary Wollstonecraft’s letters. Even if it is not a direct comparison or connection, she will talk about the people of country or some ugly aspect of it and then follow it up with a magnificent scene from nature. When reading these letters, I felt as though they could be written on the back of a postcard and her vivid descriptions of nature is the picture on the front. It would be in interesting contradict to see such a beautiful picture on the front of a postcard and then a disheartening experience of the country on the back. This connection is more accurately described on pg. 24 when she explains how the reason for her appreciation of nature is because as she has gotten older, she’s become disgusted with certain parts of the world and its people.
Since there is no particular plot, I believe that there is a theme here that emphasizes nature in a way that attaches her sensibility to it. Whether she talks about the scenery or the people of the land she encounters, she has a certain desire to connect to them. I believe that her feelings are associated to the scenery she encounters bringing forward her emphasis and detail on nature and her sensibility to it.
Would this have worked better as a novel of a woman writing letters? I ask myself this as I look through the different chapters. At first it is about letters in numerical order. Then it switches to a series of appendices with a journal or diary entry format. The flow if this book is a bit indecisive to me which makes me wonder if the author also has a bit of indecision in her personality. She does go about these countries much like a food critic who makes the rounds of new restaurants in town. Though her imagery is beautiful, you start to wonder if she ever found a place she is really happy with. Not just about the landscape but with the people as well.
The title of the reading is A Vindication of the Rights of Woman , therefore it is correct to assume that women and femininity are the major themes in this book. The issue in Wollstonecraft’s writing is how society should treat women, and that women’s minds are just as capable of reason and virtue as men’s are. Even though she states that women are more physically strong than men, but to her that strength isn’t really all that important in the modern society. Her point is that it’s not like men and women are strangling one another for food or running away from from predators that may consume us. What matters to Wollstonecraft is the quality of a person’s mind and that there is no difference between men and women’s mind therefore the strength of men here doesn’t come in concern.
There’s something that I noticed, particularly in the text of “A vindication of rights of women” where the author was keep mentioning the word reason with a capital “R”. I think she wants to emphasize the readers to remind them that the power of reason is very important as it will guide them and will define them from their inside look to be the better person from that time to what they will be today and in future.
My take on Mary Wollstonecraft in this excerpt is to discharge the notion of men and women having different gender roles. She clearly has a distaste for the pre notion that women should “be quiet and dress nicely,” as men and women are born both equal and competent thus we shouldn’t categorize each other consistently. I believe the theme at hand is feminism as she advocates institutions such as a public education system that currently exists in this day and age. I agree with the concept of an equal starting point from birth and to prosper from a superficial era into a knowledge based society.
One aspect of the text that is worthy of further inquiry is the influence on how the environment and nature of the text uses concepts like imagery, to share the experience of visiting these Scandinavian countries to the reader and create a simulation of seeing the average lives of people living in these countries through the eyes of Wollstonecraft and through the descriptive introduction paragraph of each letter of each unique location visited and it’s people who live in each location presented to the reader.
How much of her feminism was inspired by the fact that she was concerned for the future of her daughter? Or was it because of her abusive father? She mentions in the beginning of the book that she was told she asks ‘men’s questions’. Was it uncommon for women to have any sort of opinion on how society worked? To be honest, I wasn’t even aware feminism existed before the mid 19th century.
One of the major themes of this text is nature and the effect it has on us. Wollstonecraft provides detailed descriptions of her surroundings frequently throughout her letters. She depicts the diverse Scandinavian landscape Romantically and seems to be emotionally attached to nature. She says that “only benevolence and the honest sympathy of nature diffused smiles over my countenance when they kept me standing” during her journey. Nature helps Wollstonecraft feel better about her life. I think the role of nature in this book can be explored further.
i was particularly interested in Mary Wollstonecraft very descriptive words whenever she described landscapes or scenery. She was able to use metaphors and imagery in a way that made you be present in Scandinavia with little use of your imagination. Her use of the word of sublime always described nature or the scenery around her, but i guess she didn’t think the people or their treatment of their servants as so sublime. As much as i enjoyed her descriptions, I kept looking forward to a plot.
In Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, the first thing that confused me was that she doesn’t say why she traveled to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. She doesn’t provide any information as to why she travels to these place. Overall, I think that the book shows what it was like to be an active, passionate, capable and brave woman at the end of the 18th century-during a time when the French Revolution was sweeping over Europe. Also, there is a recurring theme of nature throughout the book.
I remember William Godwin commented on this book ‘If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book.’ so my question is that is this book worth such a hype? I know its a good book and Wollstonecraft had an astute eye for details.I like her ideas but lacking of the plot seems a bit dull to me.
Continuing to use a peculiar style of writing, Wollstonecraft goes into a very detailed description of landscape which once again seems to have no particular plot or direction. While on the surface it may seem perplexing, the feelings she imbues into her writing brings out a political aspect that accentuates her discontent with the general society. It was interesting to contemplate why she chose such a form of media to bring about these ideas, in a way that downplays the landscape around her. It would seem that she could do so similarly by directly discussing her qualms regarding mankind, yet, instead she resorts to discussing the landscape.
The most important thing about the letters are their texture, they include all the details we needed to know. There is a theme that has taken over the texture how the always tries to connect with people she have encountered. She tries to convey the relationship between self and society. Overall she is trying to explain the relationship between the nature and society.
In the “Letters Written during a short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark”, the author uses the word “Farewell” with the exclamation point in couple letters. Sometimes I think I am able to image her emotion and her feeling in the way she said the word “Farewell!”. But sometime i am not sure that either she feels bad and sad about leaving that place or not since she praises the beauty of the place at the same time she gets some bad experiences during the trip.
Throughout the novel, there is a great emphasis on the Scandinavian landscape and the sublime. It intrigues me why there is almost no focus on the characters but rather the surroundings.Why must Mary make her emotions hidden from view? What is the significance of feeling detached yet connected at the same time to her character?Why is the phrase “cultivating the mind” repeated over and over again?