Background for understanding: (The idea of “The cult of True Womanhood,” or “the cult of domesticity,” sought to assert that womanly virtue resided in piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity- The attributes of True Womanhood, by which a woman judged herself and was judged by her husband, her neighbors, and her society could be divided into four cardinal virtues - piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity... Without them.... all was ashes. With them she was promised happiness and power.).
True Women were to hold the four cardinal virtues:
1. Piety - believed to be more religious and spiritual than men
2. Purity - pure in heart, mind, and body
3. Submission - held in "perpetual childhood" where men dictated all actions and decisions
4. Domesticity - a division between work and home, encouraged by the Industrial Revolution; men went out in the world to earn a living, home became the woman's domain where a wife created a "haven in a heartless world" for her husband and children.[1]
Aim: How is Linda Brent portrayed as an unconventional heroine who portrayal as slave challenges the cult of true womanhood while struggling to reclaim her status as a woman, and reconstructing the ideals of women in nineteenth century America?
Do Now: Write a sentence in your notebook starting with I believe that of the four virtues ________ still holds true in today’s society because….
Comprehension Check:
“Sketches of Neighboring Slaveholders”
What dehumanization/degradation do we see in Mr. Conant, Mrs. Wade’s?
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What happened to James the slave? (48-49)
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According to Linda Brent, what value do women hold? (49)
- The only value that women have is their womb. Slave women are treated like cattle in which their only purpose is creating more slaves so that the master could work or sell them.
What happened to the “kind mistress/orphan woman” who took inherited a woman and her six children? (50-51)
- The kind mistress remarried to a man who treated the children as his own slaves in which he could to whatever he want. The mother was free and the two eldest boys were sold to Georgia, three of the daughters were sold to the masters plantation where they were taking advantaged of the master and his brother and had children, the third daughter went insane, and the last daughter was so young that she was left to her mother.
Explain: “The poor worm shall prove her contest vain. Life’s little day shall pass, and she is gone! (52)
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Explain: According to Linda Brent, “slavery is a curse to the whites as well as to the blacks.” (53)
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“A Perilous Passage in the Slave Girl’s Life”
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Comprehension Check:
What was Dr. Flint’s new plan for Brent? (53)
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How old is Linda in this chapter? (55)
- Linda was just 15 in the chapter.
Literary Analysis:
Characterize Mr. Sands
- Mr. Sands is considered an educated, honorable, eloquent white man.
Interpretive:
What did Linda Brent do “with deliberate calculation?” (54-55)
- With deliberate calculation she lost her virtue so that she can be sold
Identify Brent’s use of rhetoric in “Perilous Passage” (54, 56)
In her rhetoric, Brent addresses her readers as “O virtuous reader…” why? (56)
Where do we see hypocrisy of the church? (50)
According to Brent, “I feel that the slave woman ought not to be judged by the same standard as others”- Why? (56)
Why did Aunt Marty/Linda’s grandmother ostracize Linda and tell her that she would “rather see you dead than to see you as you now are [pregnant]. You are a disgrace to your mother?” (57)
Critical Thinking: Using the four cardinal virtues
Which of the four cardinal virtues do you think is the most important and why?
What does Linda do that challenges the “cult of true womanhood?”
According to the cardinal virtues that makes the nineteenth century woman a “true woman” is
Linda a true woman? Why or Why not?
Cooperative Learning: Form your Groups and write in your notebooks the following as a header:
Slavery was terrible for both men and women, but one can say that it was far more terrible for women.
Then say if you agree or disagree with this quote and why.
Finally, cite your sources using citations from the text and page numbers.
Share out!
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