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Maria Edgeworth Group Page

Page history last edited by VanessaLatiseC 10 years, 8 months ago

 http://mariaedgeworthenglish3120.weebly.com/

 

 

 

Introduction

 

 

 

This presentation is on the brilliant children’s literary works, and pedagogy of Maria Edgeworth. Edgeworth was born in Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, England on January 1, 1768. She was the third child of Richard Lovell Edgeworth who was an Irishman and Anna Maria Edgeworth who was English. She lived in England with her parents until her mother died when she was only five years old, and later she (with her father and step-mother) moved to Ireland.

 

One review of Maria Edgeworth and her contexts was completed by Heidi Kaufman and Chris Fauske. Within their review of her works, they concluded that her move to Ireland greatly influenced her rationale and views. Kaufman and Fauske stated that “she used her fiction to address the inherent problems of acts delineated by religious, national, racial, class based, sexual, and gendered identities". Edgeworth was an intelligent woman and despite 18th century customs and norms for women, she knew that as far as what is most important, being educated and morally in tuned (knowing right from wrong) outweighs superficiality. Edgeworth also believed in the ability for one to be able to think for oneself as well as the ability to think critically and this is seen throughout different situations in her Rosamond stories.

 

In this presentation we will discuss the biography of Maria Edgeworth, the political and religious contexts of various selections of her works, the pedagogy and an analysis of a selection of her works, as well as various reviews and criticism of her works.

 

 

 

        

 

 

Teionna Eiland 

 

Biography

 

Vanessa Custard

 

 

     Maria Edgeworth was born January 1, 1767 in Oxfordshire, England to her parents, Richard Lovell Edgeworth and Anna Maria. As a young child Maria's personality would be molded from her mother ( and aunt). Although her blood mother did have some effect on who Maria was, after her mother died, it would be through her step mothers that would play a great deal in raising her as mother should. We must consider that Maria Edgeworth is the second born child of 21 children that her father would have between all his wives. Of the several marriages Richard has had his first wife's, Honora Sneyd, who is significant to Maria's life. “In the year 1775, in consequence of Mrs. Honora Edgeworth's failing health, Maria was placed at school at Derby with Mrs. Lataffiere.” (A memior, 2) Her experience at this school would shape her first admiration for education and teaching.

     Maria learned how to write with great penmanship, learned grammar, engaged in art, and French and Latin. She received such a good education from Mrs. Lataffiere that when she later attended school in London by Mrs. Davis she would complete lesson well in advance and her work would be selected from the teachers for examples to the class. (10) While this in itself was essential, being she was a girl during this period, the internal things that she took from her experience with her instructors are what she admired most. The things that made the biggest impression was the patients and attention to detail that her teachers had. Ironically they recalled and admired similar things in Maria as well-her telling stories in great detail and spending recess time reading! Unfortunately, in 1781 began to have eye pains which the doctor thought would cause her to become blind. Maria never went blind but during the time in the care of the doctor it would contribute to Maria's education, because she she had full access to his book and she took full advantage.

After recovering from the care for her eyes, Maria was taken from school. She spent a great deal of time working for her dad doing secretarial work. I was during this time that she really began to write. Although she would produce children's literature, which would occur later in her life, Maria would publish many works addressing political and cultural issue, specifically surrounding women. Her first published work would be “Letters for Literary Ladies” in 1795 which focused on social change for women. She would go on to publish many other works, such as Castle Rackrent (her first published novel) in 1800 and again in 1801, and “Essays on Irish Bulls” and Belinda in 1802. (106) It is important to mention that many of her works were edited from her father before publication because he was himself an educator and someone who she looked too for her views. Her works that directly addresses education was focused on on both the parent and for the child. Maria's educationally work included The Parent's Assistant (1796), Practical Education (1798), Early Lessons (1801) and Moral Tales (1801). Many of these works were also edited and published with the help of her father as well. Even though the work went through her father for editing, many of the stories put in these book were already previously written by Maria and read to her sibling. After her father's in 1817, Maria Edgeworth would continue to write many successful works. Of these were Frank which is a sequel to Frank in Early Lesson as well as the Rosamond, which was also a sequence to Early Lesson-and we will go into further detail of this section throughout the website. Maria Edgeworth died on May 22 1849 are having a heart attack. Like many other females authors of her time, her literature was well received in the realm of teaching children and parent in the since she too was helping the role of women. Now more than ever, her work is being considered still in very innovative ways to her time.

 

Cultural/Religious Context

 

Antrea Jenkins

 

Catholic Emancipation 

 

In society where you have more than one religion groups in a denomination, usually they’re divided. One group will dominate over another. The opposing group is subject to social, economic and political discrimination. They can be barred from gaining prominent positions in occupational hierarchy of society. Catholic Emancipation in the 18th century and 19th century process by which the Roman Catholics in Britain were relieved of civil disabilities. This act allows room for Catholic’s to experience some of the freedom that they had not experience before. There was a time when the Catholic’s had been prohibited from owning land, voting, holding political office, from living in a corporate town, getting education in Dublin, seeking professional careers like medical, military and law. They were under such strict rules dating all the way back to Henry VIII. In 1607 Catholics were barred from holding public office, in 1613 constituencies of the Irish House Commons were altered to give plantation settlers majority. Any profession that would give them a good quality of life they were restricted from doing it. This was do to fact that penal laws were in place. These were laws imposed in attempt to force Irish Catholics and Protestant dissenters (Presbyterians) to accept the reform Christian faith as English as they would state, established by Anglican church. Catholic were fined if they didn’t attend Anglican services, they could worship privately but if they worshiped in public they were arrested.. In 1641 Irish Rebellion took place were the Catholic tried to overthrow the English Administration to force change but they were unsuccessful. Change begin to take place. In 1778 the first Relief Act allowed Roman Catholics in Britain to purchase, inherit land and join the army. Because of these decisions in 1779 riots ensued in Scotland. In 1782 the establishment of Roman Catholic schools and bishops were allowed and in 1793 the Irish Parliament with the relief Act, which granted Irish Roman Catholics the right to vote and hold most offices.

In 1800 Act of Union between Ireland and Breat Britain (Jan. 1, 1801), legislative agreement uniting Great Britain ,England and Scotland and Ireland under the under the name United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1823 Daniel O’Connell a lawyer started the Catholic Association; he won the seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. In 1829 the Roman Catholic Relief Act was passed, this removed the rest of the restrictions on Roman Catholics throughout the U.K of Great Britain and Ireland. Maria Edgeworth sympathized with this Emancipation and gradually supported.

 

Absentee Landlords and Tenants

 

Following the Act of Emancipation there was a new system put in place for managing the landlord’s property; this was called the middleman system. Despite the fact the Act was passed 1829 some Catholics still lived in poverty. There was a chain of command in place, this social ladder with the English Angelo Irish family at the top, who owned most of the land. They were the privileged social class in Ireland. They held majority of the power over the housing situations and the tenant was at the mercy of the landowners. Many of them lived in England and were called absentee landlords. Some of these landlords would only come to their properties maybe twice in a lifetime. During this transaction the middlemen would lease a huge piece of land from the owners at a fixed rate then re-leased to a tenant for whatever they saw fit. They would collect the rent and send it to England. Sometimes the tenants would work for the landlords, only to be paid minimal wages to raise crops and livestock for export. Often times the tenants would be evicted because they would afford the high rent and if any improvement were made to the property the tenant wasn’t entitled to those improvements. The British Government set up Royal Commission, to inquire about land in Ireland, Daniel O’Connor deemed as unfair because it was only made of landlords and no tenants. The tenants were expected to live in these unfair conditions. Their homes were not weather protected; the landlords weren’t there to ensure the home was maintained. Maria wasn’t a stranger to home ownership her family owned land in Longford. Maria Edgewoth had her view on this middleman system. She believed the reason Irish agricultural was having a problem was because it was being mismanaged rather than the returns falling low. She thought the problem was due in part of the lazy landlords with lack of concerns for their estates therefore they felled to make enough investment in the agricultural improvements. Edgeworth wrote Castle Rackrent, it was a satire on Anglo-Irish landlords. She based this novel around the things that she saw with the slumlords not taking care of the properties, yet making profits and completely destroying the Rackrent family fortune. However Maria was far from the moral of her satire Castle Rackrent she was very forgiving with her tenants and was very good at maintaining their estate. She believed that better management of agriculture would raise food production and lower prices.

 

Irish Potato Famine

 

Irish Potato Famine took place were over one million people died from starvation and disease and millions emigrated from Ireland. The potato was the man source of food for the peasants. The cause for this famine was a fungus that infected the potatoes which left the land destitute. The population dropped tremendously. The effects changed the demographically and politically. This cause the peasants to rent a small piece of land from absentee landlords for their survival but this wasn’t enough. There was tension that arose because it was said that British government was slow and inadequate in responding (Kinealy 1994). British government led by Sir Charles Trevelyan was more concerned with making money than saving lives. British colonism introduced these free market trade reforms, where peasants were hired to build unnecessary roads in order to earn money to buy food. The wages wasn’t enough to match the high food prices, enforced by British government in order to attract imports to Ireland from America. During the famine Maria worked hard to help with the relief efforts of the peasants. She wrote benefit relief letters to the Quaker Relief Committee, insisted that those who paid their rent in full would receive relief. She used some of her own money to help with the famine and receive donations as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pedagogy/Story Analysis

 

The edges of centuries are interesting places, full of change.   When the eighteenth century bumped into the nineteenth, the winds of reform were definitely blowing – reform of political systems, including who could participate, and reform of social systems, including a review of gender roles.   While the view of the two different spheres of operation (public for men, domestic for women) still definitely held sway, new opportunities were opening for women, especially within the realm of education.  A new view of childhood had also been emerging for some time, characterized in the works of John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau.

 

When John Locke wrote his Thoughts Concerning Education in 1693, he considered the child as a rational creature, an individual that needed to be trained to think for himself (or, indeed herself, as he was writing about the education of a friend’s sons and daughters).  This view was a change from that held earlier of children as little adults or as beings for adults to exercise their will upon.  Locke’s view also became extremely influential, and set the stage for those who would later expand on his ideas.  One such author was Jean Jacques Rousseau.  Rousseau wrote Emile in 1762.  In this book, Rousseau writes about the character Emile’s educational progress.  The child throughout is assumed to be good, and assumed to have natural inclinations which can be brought out and trained through directed experiences which respect the child’s naturally developing abilities.   The child should, in short, be respected, and guided by activity/experience, as well as given a certain degree of autonomy in decision making.  The outcome that Locke, Rousseau and others sought has everything to do not only with emerging views of childhood and human development but with emerging democratic views of a society of responsible free thinking individuals.

 

One can then track this amazingly modern view of education forward from Rousseau to Richard Lovell Edgeworth, a man of many accomplishments and interests, including education.  This type of experiential guided education of children-including girls is outlined in “Practical Education”, published in London in 1798 and co-authored with his own daughter Maria, whose education he had himself had carefully guided.  There were many objections to this kind of broadly based, scientific, free-thinking education for girls.  These objections are outlined and then succinctly dealt with the first section of Maria Edgeworth’s Letters for Literary Ladies published in London in 1795.  It’s important to note the nature of the objections, as they give us some insight into how progressive these ideas were, as well as giving us some context for Maria’s accomplishments as an author.  The “gentleman” cited warns his friend about the dangers of the education he has outlined for his new-born daughter.  He warns him about the limits of what women can safely learn; expounding a widely held belief that women’s minds could be harmed by too much learning that took them away from their more domestic natures (their “natural abilities”).  As stated on page 5: “In the course of my life it has never been my good fortune to meet with a female whose mind, in strength, just proportion and activity, I could compare to that of a sensible man”.  He also later warns (pages 10, 12) of the inevitable moral and political decline of society when women have power (though there may be exceptions, he notes in careful consideration of the past queens of his own society).  All of these objections amount to a belief that the natural abilities of men and women fall into the aforementioned two separate spheres of operation –public for men and domestic for women.

 

The Edgeworth’s treatise Practical Education was first published in 1798, consisting of two volumes outlining what they see as the ideal approach to educating children.  The educational system they propose is practical, experiential, scientifically based and developmentally appropriate (as we would say today).  They applied the focus on science and observation seen in Locke’s time to the understanding of children’s cognitive, moral and social development.  As stated in the first page of the preface:  “We have chosen the title Practical Education to point out that we rely entirely upon practice and experience.”  They therefore emphasized practicality, daily life skills and life lessons drawn from and building on the natural consequences of carefully limited choices made by the child.  They also had a direct focus on introducing a subject early, without the child necessarily knowing they were being introduced to a “subject” or “lesson”.  Also from the preface (p 3-4):

 

            “We have found from experience that an early knowledge of the first principles of science may be given in conversation, and may be insensibly acquired from the usual incidents of life.  If this knowledge be carefully associated with the technical terms which common use may preserve in the memory much of the difficulty of subsequent instruction may be avoided”. 

 

Walk into any school where children are examining fall leaves they’ve brought in from outside during recess and listen to the teacher explaining in a fun way a child can understand, but using the appropriate terms why the leaves have color, and you are looking at this educational principle in operation.  The Edgeworths had a keen understanding of how to introduce a topic experientially, and then build upon the knowledge thus gained.  They were also themselves keen observers of children.  All of these basic educational principles came to life in Maria Edgeworth’s Rosamond stories.

 


 

The Purple Jar

 

This is the first and most famous of the Rosamond stories, first published in 1796 as part of The Parent’s Assistant, then in 1801 in Rosamond, and in 1821’s Early Lessons, v2.  In it we are introduced to the charming, somewhat willful Rosamond, the seven year old protagonist of these stories. She is a well observed and well-drawn character.  Her recurring exclamations of “Hey Mamma” throughout are both believable and endearing.  Maria Edgeworth’s writing is grounded in observed reality.  Immediately within this first story we see her educational basis in experience and in a guided decision making process, as well as some embedded social commentary (reminiscent of Wollstonecraft) about women and superficiality.

 

Rosamond is given the ability to decide between something pretty that she wants but doesn’t need (the apparently purple jar) and something she does need (new shoes).  The fact that the jar is not actually purple and that her current shoes are so worn that they have stones coming through the holes in them emphasizes the importance of the decision her mother is allowing her to make.  She is asking her to choose between frivolity and practicality.  This is a telling choice for a little girl at a time when women were supposed to be trivial:  Edgeworth’s comment on training women from an early age for decisions, not superficiality. However, Rosamond does what most children do, and tries to find a way to have both what she wants and what she knows she needs, asking her mother if she could buy both the shoes and the jar.  Her mother rejects this idea, citing economy.  Why present this story and why is this best known of her children's tales?   

 

This story succeeds on many levels.  In this story we see Edgeworth giving a concrete example of the natural consequence of a bad decision for a child to read or for a parent (presumably mom) to share with them.  Helen Zimmern pointed out in her review “Practical Education – Children’s books" (Children’s Literature Review of 1883, p52-72), the difficulty most children had in finding material to read that was not above their heads.  Children were read to or if already literate, were reading books written for adults.  Edgeworth gave them something of their own.  The character of Rosamond is someone a child would identify with, as is the decision she makes.  The descriptions of her adventures are also fun to follow.  There are plenty of child friendly, accurate sensory details (as in the descriptions of the windows as she and her mother walk down the street and the “very disagreeable smell” of the shoe shop mentioned on p6.  Even the typeface is large and easy to read, and yes, kids, there are pictures.  All this is appealing and leads to a lesson.  The reader may cringe at old shoes for a month but the adult reader should remember that this is fiction.  A real life mother would probably not let her child walk around in shoes with holes in them; but a fictional mother may, in order to illustrate the author’s educative point. Of course, a fictional mother can also give guidance that a real life mother may not always have the presence of mind to give.   We see this when the mother tells her she hasn’t examined the vase well enough to know if she “likes it exceedingly” (p6).  This gently nudges the child to evaluate what they see.  This encapsulates the essence of science. This story is Edgeworth’s instructional tool for making rational decisions (without winding up with sore feet).   

 


 

Rosamond's Day of Misfortunes

 

In another tale, "Rosamond’s Day of Misfortunes” (Early Lessons, v2), we see Edgeworth’s ability to further explore and develop her character.  We also see into her everyday life.  In this story, Rosamond begins with a questionable decision to stay in bed late, then moves on to one small miscalculation after another, beginning by tangling the laces of her cap, then pulling them into a knot while trying to dress in time for breakfast.  This event points out the structured nature of her day and her panic at disappointing her father by being late, points out the hierarchical nature of family life.  The father is only alluded to as a sort of distant power.  He never actually intrudes into the very domestic sphere of this story. 

 

Throughout, Rosamond’s emotions escalate at each misstep.  It is a picture of the self-fulfilling nature of having a bad attitude as well as a little picture of the hysterical woman/child common to the thinking of the time.  In contrast, calm and steady older sister Laura defines the helpful rational attitude that Edgeworth wishes to foster.  As Rosamond grows increasingly distraught, Laura remains calm and reassuring.  We have progressed to how rational decisions and attitudes interrelate to affect daily life. We have a child sized Sense and Sensibility

 

Maria Edgeworth’s Early Lessons lead the child through various life situations exploring decisions and attitudes, habits and natural consequences.  The stories are designed to engage, entertain, and in the process develop rational thinking.  The fact that one of the main characters is a little girl illustrates just how progressive she was in her educational ideas.

 

 

 

Jan Blaschak

 

 

 

 

Criticism/ Review

 

     The world responded to Maria Edgeworth and her work in many different ways. Reviewers believes she is only accepted due to the appeal of didactic moralism.  Her didacticism struck modern readers as gendered liability, technical regression or familial obligation. Others believed that she could have been capable of far greater things had her father not infected her with his shallow optimism. It is believed that her father edited many of her works.

 

            Maria Edgeworth saw a definite need for children’s books to fill the literary world; and to facilitate her duties as a teacher. She created moralistic tales for children. Her tales were written with motion and sprit. They are told in the simple language of the young. She went straight to the hearts of her little readers because they could understand her work as opposed to the earlier literature that was being read. This type of literature did not cause them to have to have the help of adults. Her stories have a freshness that children are quick to respond too. Her children tales are truly engrossing, veritable masterpieces of style and execution. Her novels will always be worth reading for their strong sense and shrewd and observant humor. She is known today for creating the regional novel; a form later popularized by Scott. She can also be recognized for a vision that produced strong heroines which influenced such later novelist such as Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, and George Eliot.

 

            Not every review was as positive as the above. Critics responded to the Purple Jar in a sense of Rosamond being a poor young child that was terribly mistreated by her mother. It was stated that an “unjustifiable trick was upon her by her mother.” (Zimmern) They felt that Rosamond should have been informed the nature of the jar and then allowed to make a decision. If given all the details of the jar and Rosamond still chose the jar then the mother’s actions are justified. Zimmern also felt that this was a part of the Edgeworth system to make misdirected or mistaken desires to stultify themselves. Maria Edgeworth’s juvenile tales reflect too much of the stiff wisdom of her age.  These are not matters which children, not morally blasé remark.

 

Stephania Johnson

 

Conclusion

 

 

 

 In conclusion, Maria Edgeworth was one of the few authors who emphasized the significance of the roles of educators. Her novels are morally and socially driven with a message and hope for young women to become self sufficient and higher order thinkers. Edgeworth believed in progressive education and was not in favor of traditional education. In her book Practical Education (1798) she discusses how variety while teaching is best for the students. Instead of focusing only on one topic and “boring” students to death, she believes that educators should focus on varying lessons and topics in order to keep students attention. She believes that people, especially children, are only able to “truly” focus on one thing at a time, and while educators are varying their lessons, they need to keep in mind that “while variety relieves the mind, the objects which are varied must not all be entirely new, for novelty and variety when joined, fatigue the mind", Edgeworth.

 

 

 

Furthermore, Edgeworth proclaims that the teaching of children should require specific methods, appropriateness and proper sequencing, and most importantly, empowering and enabling instruction, not fatiguing or disabling instruction. During the 18th century, women were objectified and were to be pretty and silent. Roles were limited to home-makers, school teachers, and care-takers and higher order thinking was not something that was of great importance. Little girls were pretty and were expected to grow up and become pretty women. Edgeworth, however, did not limit herself to societal norms, and she voiced her opinions of the importance of self sufficiency and critical thinking through characters in her writings. In the Purple Jar, the little girl wanted the pretty seemingly purple jar, however she knew quite well that she needed a new pair of shoes. In Rosamaond’s Day of Misfortunes, the little girl decided to stay in bed late, however she knew that she needed to get up and begin her day. Both stories involve a female child making her own decisions, even though they aren’t “good” decisions, they are her own decisions and I believe that the ultimate purpose of Edgeworth’s writings is to educate women, beginning with young girls. If we’re able to educate young girls at the very beginning of their school years, then they will grow up to be higher order thinkers, rather than artificially programmed dependent “ladies”.      

 

Interesting Fact

 

 

 

21st century scholars have categorized The Purple Jar as a parable of which a young girl receives her first menstruation, but is highly disappointed and discovers that it isn’t what she bargained for. Her mother, due to the fact that she has been menstruating for many years, doesn’t show any sympathy for the young girl, and her father is disgusted; hence the fact that he refused to take her anywhere until she got new shoes (or until her menstruation ends for the month).   

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

Teionna Eiland 

 

 

Sources

 

Bertram, Christopher, "Jean Jacques Rousseau", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/rousseau/.

 

 

Edgeworth, Frances A.B. A Memoir of Maria Edgeworth: with a selection from her letter by the late Mrs. Edgeworth, Volume 1. J. Master and Son, 1867. ebook

 

 http://books.google.com/books?id=HmY4AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=maria+edgeworth&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Fd0OUvTqLYmuyQGn64Aw&ved=0CFYQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=maria%20edgeworth&f=false

Edgeworth, Maria,  Early Lessons, 10 parts in 5 volumes (London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1801-1802)-comprises Harry and Lucy, parts 1-2; Rosamond, parts 3-5; Frank, parts 6-9; "The Little Dog Trusty," "The Orange Man," and "The Cherry Orchard," part 10; 4 volumes (Philadelphia: Printed for J. Maxwell, 1821).

 

Edgeworth, Maria,  Letters for Literary Ladies, to Which Is Added an Essay on the Noble Science of Self-Justification (London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1795; corrected and enlarged, 1799; George Town: Published by Joseph Milligan, W. Cooper, printer, 1810).

 

Edgeworth, Maria, The Parent's Assistant; or, Stories for Children (3 volumes, London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1796; expanded edition, 6 volumes, London: Printed for J. Johnson by G. Woodfall, 1800; 3 volumes, George Town: Published by Joseph Milligan, Dinsmore & Cooper, printers, 1809).

 

Edgeworth, Maria and Richard Lovell, Practical Education,  2 volumes, London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1798; New York: Printed for G. F. Hopkins and Brown & Stansbury, 1801; revised edition, 3 volumes, London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1801; republished as Essays on Practical Education, 2 volumes (London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1811).

 

Myers, Mitzi, “Socializing Rosamond:  Educational Ideology and Fictional Form”, Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 14.2 (Summer 1989): p52-58 Rpt. In Children’s Literature Review.  Ed. Dana Ferguson, Vol. 153.  Detroit:  Gale.  From Literature Resource Center.

 

Uzgalis, William, "John Locke", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2012/entries/locke/>.

 

Zimmern, Helen, “Practical Education – Children’s books”, Maria Edgeworth. Boston, Mass.:Roberts Brothers,1883.p52-72. Rpt. inChildren's Literature Review. Ed. Dana Ferguson. Vol. 153. Detroit:Gale. Word Count: 4513.F

 

Fauske, Chris., Kaufman, Heidi. An Uncomfortable Authority: Maria Edgeworth and her Contexts.

2004, Rosemont Publishing 

 

The Great Potato Famine and the Transformation of Irish Peasant Society

Dean M. Braa

 

Science & Society

 

, Vol. 61, No. 2 (Summer, 1997), pp. 193-215

 

Published by:

Guilford Press

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40403619

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maria Edgeworth Group:

Antrea Jenkins

Jan Blaschak

Stephania Johnson

Vanessa Custard

Teionna Eiland 

 

 

 

                                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments (3)

sjblaschak said

at 11:31 am on Aug 12, 2013

Hi guys its jan- I noticed in reading the first book of stories that they are teaching life lessons that build on each other, through the natural consequences of Rosamond's actions or attitudes- they start with right decision in the purple jar and move to right attitudes in the day of misfortunes story. I'm interested in what you guys think of the last story in book one. The way the lessons are presented run in a direct line from Locke and rousseau as far as the pedagogy and presented methodology go. That's what I'm working on right now.

az4918@wayne.edu said

at 11:44 pm on Aug 12, 2013

Hey Group Stephania- Jan I agree with your interpretations. I just want to add that her stories consist of moral judgments and social identification. Reason for education focus- She focused on Educ. of girls because her father had progressive views about women roles in society and the right to be educated. He believed that educ. was the central to the construction of the "new" 18th century. She felt that girls and women should be educated in the use of reason. This would cause them to become better wives and mothers. Review/ Criticism- She is only accepted due to the appeal of didactic moralism. She is more deep- seated, temperamental, and psychological. Her didacticism has struck modern readers as either gendered liability, technical regression, or familial obligation.

az4918@wayne.edu said

at 11:53 pm on Aug 12, 2013

TREA I found some info some info on her Irish background- She was known as the "Irish Jane Austen". She went to live with her father in Ireland. She collected material for novels about Irish landlords and peasants. Her concern for Ireland was more that literary. She worked for the relief of Irish peasant during the Irish famine. She wanted to show that Irish was equal to the English. I HOPE THE INFO FROM BOTH POST IS HELPFUL!

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