After reading both Ragged Dick and our other domestic novels, we found out that evidently little girls should always be dainty and Christian and that little boys are the exact opposite, they’re “ragged”! Also, like we mentioned in class, I was surprised at how Christianity was barely mentioned at all in Ragged Dick and when Dick did mention he had never read the Bible, it wasn’t a big deal at all (p 63). If Ellen or Sybil hadn’t heard of the Bible I think they might have been shipped away to some Christian boarding school immediately before any of the neighbors found out such a scandalous detail.
I also don’t think that any of our little leading ladies would have ever been involved in a conversation involving a “big pile” of Bibles they saw on the street. From what A Wide Wide World and our other stories tell us, little girls spend hours in the store, fretting over what kind, color and size of Bible they want (p 42). This is something very different to the role a Bible plays in a little boys’ life. Something I took from this comparison is that little girls are in need of more guidance than little boys. Maybe little girls were thought to be in need of an influence from a higher power to show them how to act, as they couldn’t make the proper decision on their own? I don’t quite agree with that but I can see it all throughout our readings so far this semester!
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2 comments:
I like how you mentioned how importance religion was with young girls but not boys, and that you thought Ellen or Sybil would be "shipped away to some Christian boarding school." I think that is very true and that this difference was very big. I also like how you talked about the role a bible plays in a boys life (a big pile) vs a girls and that you said this may be becausr girls need more guidance. I did not even think of this but I totally agree because girls in our texts have had such difficulty making decisions, with the exception of Sybil. Great blog!
Shannon,
I agree with what you stated in your blog about how different girls and boys are portrayed, specifically with religion. I also notice that the authors did not make religion or christianity an important aspect of little boys lives. Compared to the little girls in our novels who are almost obligated to know about God, in order to be "good" girls.
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