Category: cult of domesticity

+

+ african american literature, alice walker, american history, american literature, cult of domesticity, enslaved, harriet jacobs, incidents in the life of a slave girl, slave narrative, the slave's narrative, Trimiko Melancon

Harriet Jacobs’ Challenge to the Cult of True Womanhood

by

A while back, I wrote a post about the ways that Harriet Jacobs, in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, challenges the Cult of True Womanhood. Specifically, she counters it by showing the ways that society denied her the chance to adhere to the four pillars of the Cult of True Womanhood. Thinking about this some more, I want to briefly look … Read More Harriet Jacobs’ Challenge to the Cult of True Womanhood

+

+ american literature, chocorua's curse, cult of domesticity, early american literature, harriet jacobs, slavery's pleasant homes

The Cult of Domesticity in Two of Lydia Maria Child’s Stories

by

Every time I read Lydia Maria Child’s work, new thoughts and paths emerge. Discussing “Chocura’s Curse” and “Slavery’s Pleasant Homes” this semester, my classes explored the ways that Child address the Cult of Domesticity. In the above stories, Child does not necessarily address each of the four pillars of the Cult of Domesticity–piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Notably, she addresses the pillars of domesticity … Read More The Cult of Domesticity in Two of Lydia Maria Child’s Stories

+

+ "The Only Man on Liberty Street", african american literature, american literature, cult of domesticity, dancers on the shore, domestic sphere, Literature, the servant problem, william melvin kelley

William Melvin Kelley’s “The Servant Problem” and the Domestic Sphere

by

Last Thursday, I wrote about William Melvin Kelley’s “The Only Man on Liberty Street” from his 1964 short story collection Dancers on the Shore. Today, I want to take a moment to look at another story in that collection, “The Servant Problem,” exploring the ways that Kelley addresses the domestic space and sexual policing of black bodies, topics that occur in “The Only Man … Read More William Melvin Kelley’s “The Servant Problem” and the Domestic Sphere

+

+ a darkness at ingarahm's crest, african american literature, american literature, cult of domesticity, frank yerby, patricia hill collins, southern literature, southern womanhood, the dahomean, Uncategorized

Frank Yerby and the Myth of White Southern Womanhood, Part 2

by

Over the past couple of posts, I have written about the way that Frank Yerby challenges stereotypes and the Cult of True Womanhood in The Dahomean (1971) and A Darkness at Ingraham’s Crest (1979). Today, I want to conclude this discussion by briefly highlighting the ways that Yerby constructs his African, African American, and mixed-race female characters in these two novels as counters to … Read More Frank Yerby and the Myth of White Southern Womanhood, Part 2

+

+ a darkness at ingarahm's crest, african american literature, american literature, cult of domesticity, frank yerby, gillian, southern literature, southern womanhood, the dahomean, Uncategorized

Frank Yerby and the Myth of White Southern Womanhood

by

As mentioned in my recent post on Gillian (1960), Frank Yerby challenges the myth of Southern womanhood in his works. While I did not discuss how he does that in Gillian, I want to explore how he shatters the myth in A Darkness at Ingraham’s Crest (1979), the follow up to his 1971 book The Dahomean. While The Dahomean chronicles Hwesu’s life in Africa, … Read More Frank Yerby and the Myth of White Southern Womanhood

Archive
Follow me on Twitter

Blog at WordPress.com.