Although there are some definite similarities between girls of yesterday and today, one main difference stood out more to me. In the show, Anna mentioned that girls shouldn’t try and act a certain way for people to like them, they should act like themselves. This is the exact opposite of how young girls were raised in the nineteenth century. For instance, Gerty is an awful little girl with a mean streak and a temper that often gets her in trouble, but when she runs into Emily Graham, she’s told “you can be good and then everybody will love you” (Cummins 63). This implies that if Gerty was to act like herself, no one would like her and we can’t have that! The same applies to young Ellen, who unlike Gerty, is quite well mannered, but is told by her mother that, “If you are a good child, and make it your daily care to do your duty, she cannot help liking you” (Warner 13). Being human beings, it would be impossible for one to be ‘good’ all the time, yet we still find people who like us for ourselves. But it makes me wonder if this ideology was around in the nineteenth century and it was simply ignored or is this merely a new way of thinking that has come across in the past couple centuries?
If young Gerty had appeared on Amy Pholer’s show, she probably would have said that her favorite thing to do would be to light candles or look at the stars, perhaps clean the house and make toast for Uncle True. It’s probable that she might has told Amy that she loved her because she was so nice to her and might have yelled or had a tantrum if they asked her dance. I could also see her saying that she didn’t know what either a rainbow or a butterfly was seeing that she had never been to school and where she lived seemed quite gloomy. In answer to the question how she would “even herself out”, I can see Gerty saying something along the lines of trying to pray to God (because she is trying to learn) or talking with Emily, Mrs. Sullivan, or Uncle True.
Devon,
ReplyDeleteThis is such an awesome blog post. Your writing style is fantastic :) I really liked how you pointed out that Anna thinks that girls should just be themselve while during Geryt's time, girls could only "be themselves" as long as that meant being good 24/7. In poor little Gerty's case, she did a good job at being herself, but not so great at being good.
Devon, I enjoyed reading your blog, you do a great job at comparing Gerty with Anna. I also wrote about the Anna's comment of how girls now in days should try to be themselves. I think that now in society we do appreciate people more when they are true to themselves and do not try to be something else they are not.
ReplyDeleteDevon, I really enjoyed your blog and your comparisons of the girls. I agree that girls in gerty's time were raised differently than Anna. I've also questioned if the ideology of just being yourself was present in the 19th century.
ReplyDeleteYou did a really good job thinking about what Gerty's reactions would have been to the questions Amy asked her. I also like how you talked about the idea that parents did not teach their children to be themselves, which I had never really thought of until then. While I think parents are telling their kids today to be themselves I still think it is hard for kids and people in general to be themselves when the media tries to mold you into who you should be.
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