Cardinal Virtues of a "True Woman"

Objectives:
E2-Students will understand how multiple levels of meaning are conveyed in Jacobs' Incidents.
Students will use inference and deduction to understand the text.
Students will evaluate literary merit based on an understanding of the genre, the literary period and tradition.
E4-Students will express their thoughts and views clearly with attention to the perspectives and voiced concerns their peers and teacher.

Background for Understanding: (The idea of “The cult of True Womanhood,” or “the cult of domesticity,” sought to assert that womanly virtue resided in piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity- The attributes of True Womanhood, by which a woman judged herself and was judged by her husband, her neighbors, and her society could be divided into four cardinal virtues - piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity... Without them.... all was ashes. With them she was promised happiness and power.).
True Women were to hold the four Cardinal virtues:
1.Piety- believed to be more religious and spiritual than men
2.Purity- pure in heart, mind, and body
3.Submission- held in "perpetual childhood" where men dictated all actions and decisions
4.Domesticity- a division between work and home, encouraged by the Industrial Revolution; men went out in the world to earn a living, home became the woman's domain where a wife created a "haven in a heartless world" for her husband and children.

Aim: How is Linda Brent portrayed as an unconventional heroine who portrayal as slave challenges the cult of true womanhood while struggling to reclaim her status as a woman, and reconstructing the ideals of women in nineteenth century America?

Do Now: Write a sentence in your notebook starting with I believe that of the four virtues___ still holds true in today’s society because….
I believe that of the four virtues Domesticity still holds true in today's society because there are many stay at home soccer moms that feel it is their duty to care for the kids and be that homemaker they always dreamed of being.

Comprehension Check: “Sketches of Neighboring Slaveholders”
What dehumanization/degradation do we see in Mr. Conant, Mrs. Wade’s
Mr. Conant was stripped of his clothes, except his shirt, whipped, and tied to a large tree in front of the house. He wasn't brought down from the tree until three hours later in which he died. (pg.49)
Mrs. Wade would lash the slaves in her barn with the might of a man. When Mrs.Wade died she was punched in the face by one of her slaves' who had nursed her children saying "the devil is got you now" (pg.50)
What happened to James the slave?
James was lashed hundreds of times and placed into a cotton gin where he was found dead because he escaped from his master.
According to Linda Brent, what value do women hold?
Women have no value unless they continually increase their owner's stock; give birth to children. They are put on the same equality level as the animals.
What happened to the “kind mistress/orphan woman” who took inherited a woman and her six children?
She passed away peacefully.
Explain: “The poor worm shall prove her contest vain. Life’s little day shall pass, and she is gone!
I think this means that the slave women's struggle for purity/equality/freedom is unsuccessful, and trying to achieve that may take a lifetime.
Explain: According to Linda Brent, “slavery is a curse to the whites as well as to the blacks.”
Slavery is a curse to the whites as well as to the blacks because it makes white fathers cruel and sensual; the sons violent and lustful; it contaminates the daughters,and makes the wives angry and bitter. The blacks suffer from dehumanization/degradation.

Comprehension Check: “A Perilous Passage in the Slave Girl’s Life”
What was Dr. Flint’s new plan for Brent?
Dr. Flint's new plan for Linda was to live in a small secluded house four miles away from town that he was going to build.
How old is Linda in this chapter?
Linda is fifteen years old in this chapter.

Literary Analysis:
Characterize Mr. Sands
Caucasian, sympathetic, educated, eloquent, not married, generous

Interpretive:
What did Linda Brent do “with deliberate calculation?"
Linda had sex and got pregnant by Mr. Sands.
Identify Brent’s use of rhetoric in “Perilous Passage”
"And now, reader, I come to a period in my unhappy life, which I would gladly forget if I could. The remembrance fills me with sorrow and shame." (pg.57)
"The months passed on. I had many unhappy hours. I secretly mourned over the sorrow I was bringing on my grandmother, who had so tried to shield me from harm." (pg.60)
In her rhetoric, Brent addresses her readers as “O virtuous reader…” why?
Linda addresses her readers as "O virtuous reader" because she wants us to know that her actions were an attempt to free herself from Flint.
Where do we see hypocrisy of the church?
When the slaves attended church services the sermon being preached to them was about being sinners and good servants to their slave masters. An example of this would be "Your hearts are filled with all manner of evil. 'Tis the devil who tempts you. God is angry with you, and will surely punish you, if you don't forsake your wicked ways." (pg.75) "You must forsake your sinful ways, and be faithful servants. Obey your old master and your young master--your old mistress and your young mistress. If you disobey your earthly master, you offend your heavenly Master." (pg.76) God wanted everyone to love one another and live in peace.
According to Brent, “I feel that the slave woman ought not to be judged by the same standard as others”- Why?
I think Linda said this because she feels that slave women have to do certain things to get themselves out of bad situations, whether it be get pregnant by their master or someone other than their master. The slave women are forced to give themselves to their masters.
Why did Aunt Marty/Linda’s grandmother ostracize Linda and tell her that she would “rather see you dead than to see you as you now are [pregnant]. You are a disgrace to your mother?”
Linda's grandmother told her that she would rather see her dead than to see her as she is now because she taught Linda right from wrong and wouldn't expect her to do something like this.

Critical Thinking: Using the four Cardinal virtues
Which of the four cardinal virtues do you think is the most important and why?
I think purity is the most important because you want to make sure that whoever you connect with is special and on the same level with you, mind, body, and soul.
What does Linda do that challenges the “cult of true womanhood?”
Linda became pregnant out of wedlock.
According to the cardinal virtues that makes the nineteenth century woman a “true woman” is Linda a true woman? Why or Why not?
I think Linda isn't a true woman according to the cardinal virtues because she broke them all, however I don't believe that those virtues make a "true woman". Those virtues are just ways to keep the woman in her place and not have a say about the way she thinks or feels.

Cooperative Learning: Form your Groups and write in your notebooks the following as a header:
Slavery was terrible for both men and women, but one can say that it was far more terrible for women.
Then say if you agree or disagree with this quote and why.
Finally, cite your sources using citations from the text and page numbers.
I agree with this quote because the women always had to watch out for their slave masters. The slave women would get physically, sexually, mentally, and emotionally abused. The women were expected to submit fully to their masters. The women were property and were heavily reminded of that. They were on the same equality level as the animals. For example Flint tried to get Linda to submit to him many times. "He told me I was his property; that I must be subject to his will in all things." (pg.27) "I would cherish you. I would make a lady of you." (pg.36)
Share out!

Vocabulary Words to know:
Chapter IX:
Depredations- the act of preying upon
Inducement- to lead or move by persuasion or influence
Interred- to place in a grave or tomb; bury
Divested- to strip or deprive of property or rights
Cessation- a temporary or complete stopping
Manumit- to release from slavery or servitude
Inculcated- to teach or instill through repetition
Licentiousness- Lacking moral discipline or ignoring legal restraint, especially in sexual conduct.
Chapter X:
Abyss- a bottomless gulf or pit
Eloquent - Having the power of expressing strong emotions
Sophistry- misleading argument