Sunday, November 13, 2011

Contextual Documents

I. Geographical Context:
  • Students will view the route Sarah Kemble Knight took (on horseback) on the following map:

II. Historical Context:
The above image of Fisher’s Tavern, courtesy of the Dedham Historical Society, is taken from:http://www.learner.org/amerpass/slideshow/archive_search.php?number=7057&fullsize=1

III. Activities/Engagement with Text:
  • They will be divided into 3 groups, and each group will be assigned one of the following passages: 
    1. HUSBAND: “You must first lay it down for a Foundation in general, That there is Inequality in the Sexes, and that for the better Oeconomy of the Word, the Men, who were to be the Law-givers, had the larger share of Reason bestow’d upon them; by which means your Sex is the better prepar’d for the Complance that is necessary for the better performance of those Duties which seem’d to be most properly assign’d to it…” (26).
    2. BEHAVIOR: “Therefore nothing is with more care to be avoided, then such a kind of Civility as may be mistaken for Invitation.  It will not be enough for you to keep your self free from any criminal Engagements’ for if you do that with either raiseth Hopes, or createth Discourse, there is a Spot thrown up on your Good Name; and those kind of Stains are the harder to be taken out, being dropped upon you by the Man’s Vanity, as well as by the Woman’s Malice” (99).
    3. CENSURE: “Your Wit will be misapplied…if it is wholly directed to discern the Faults of others, when it is so necessary to be so often used to mend and prevent your own.  The sending our Thoughts too much abroad, hath the same Effect, as when a Family never stayeth at home; Neglect and Disorder naturally followeth; as it must do within our selves, if we do not frequently turn our Eyes inwards, to see what is amiss with us, where it is a sign we have an unwelcome Prospect, when we do not care to look upon it, but rather seek our Consolations in the Faults of those we converse with” (129-130).
  • The students will be asked to find passages in Madam Knight’s journal which  demonstrate that Madam Knight transgresses expectations set forth in the previous sections of the conduct manual.
  • I will also include a quote from Cotton Mather’s popular sermon from Ornaments of the Daughters of Zion (1692), with which Knight would have been familiar:
      The Attainment which therefore I Recommend unto you, is that in Prov. 10.20.  The Tongue of the Just, is as choice silver.  A Woman is often valued according to the Silver that she has to bring unto them that will call her their Mistres, in order to their being Master of that. ‘Tis a few Pounds, Shillings, and Pexee, that makes her weigh heaviest on the scale of the vulgar Estimation.  For a woman of a Silver Tongue is the person of whom we may most Reasonably Say, she is not of Little worth.  As your speech ought always be True, and there should be no less an Agreement between your Heart and Words, then between your words and (illegible, possibly Thoughts], ever speaking As you think, tho’ it may be not All you think; lest you put Brass or Tin instead of Silver: so your speech ought likewise to be Rare, like Silver, which is not so common as Copper or Iron is.  Be careful that you don’t speak too soon, because you cannot fetch back and eat up, what is uttered; but Study to Answer.  And be careful that you don’t speak too much, because when the Chest is always open, everyone counts there are no Treasures in it; and the Scripture tells us, ‘tis the Whore, that is Clamorous, and the Fool, that is Full of words.  Let there be comely Affability and Ingenuity at the same time, in all your Speech, that it may be as Grateful as a Bag of Silver would be to the Receivers of it; and O let there be no Dross in your whole Communication. (Mather 50-51)
  • Students will consider, how does Knight explore this issue in her journal?  Does she follow this advice herself?
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)