Verified Document

Marriage Views Smedley, Agnes. Daughters Of Earth. Term Paper

Marriage Views Smedley, Agnes. Daughters of Earth. 1929. The Feminist Press of CUNY Reissue 1987.

It is interesting to read Agnes Smedley's philosophy of marriage as expressed in the early feminist classic Daughters of Earth in light of the current controversy over gay marriage. The author takes an explicitly deflationary view of marriage's effect upon women, and also to a lesser extent, a negative view of the male's participation in what she considers a form of social bondage. Rather than seeing personal connections as a source of positive alliance between individuals, she sees marriage as a threat to society and the formation of effective unions of labor and politics.

Smedley calls marriage "a relic of human slavery," rather than as a potential right all human beings ought to strive to. Because of the history of marriage and its limiting legal and social constraints upon the female partner, the author believes that a true marriage of equals is impossible, no matter how high the character of the participants involved. It should be noted that Smedley did not make her assertions regarding marriage...

Smedley's transparently fictional book Daughters of Earth is autobiographical in nature, and it does not chronicle the life of a typical, cosseted young woman.
Rather, like her protagonist stand-in for herself "Marie," Smedley grew up as a working-class daughter in Midwestern and Western mining towns. However, her protagonist Marie does not regret her family's poverty so much as the suffering she sees in the female, subjugated experiences of her mother and her sister Annie. Her mother inflicts suffering upon the girl because of frustrations of her own plight. "She developed a method in her whippings."(11) The girls learns not to hate her mother as hate the status her mother and her sister, as well as herself, are subjugated to as a result of a society that tries to demand that women become allied with men, however unreliable the character of many men in marriage.

These early experiences of Smedley, as paralleled in her novel, did not…

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Marriage Involves a Natural, Indissoluble
Words: 1225 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Both exogamy and endogamy were common in the past. For instance race-based differentiation in marriages were enacted as laws and they originated in the American colonies within the seventeenth century.in many cases laws outlawed, criminalized and even banned marriages between whites and "negroes" or "mulattoes." These bans went on even after United Sates was founded. This is an example of endogamy whereby people were only allowed to get married

Marriage Is a Social Institution With Strong
Words: 1587 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Marriage is a social institution with strong political overtones. The institution has created and enforced gender norms throughout every human society in all historical eras. Therefore, one of the reasons marriage works is because it is often strictly enforced with social codes. Marriage is only now starting to fall out of favor, and is being viewed more and more as an option rather than as an expectation. Yet there are

Marriage Law Society Marriage, Law
Words: 785 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

2. Should marriage be a path to citizenship for an American citizen's alien spouse, children, siblings, or parents? Discuss the pros and cons of prioritizing family reunification in our immigration policies. Marriage should certainly be a path towards American citizenship. People should be free to determine their spouse and this choice should not be restricted to any geographic area. It is often the case that love knows no boundaries. Individuals should

Marriage and Divorce
Words: 1986 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

Marriage and Divorce Interview One: Olivia/College Student When Olivia speaks of her own relationship, she does exhibit some of the traits common to young people when selecting a mate, meaning that she admitted to being attracted to her boyfriend initially based on his smile, and height, also citing his sense of humor as something which drew her towards him. Olivia demonstrates some practical notions of marriage, along with some that are still incredibly

Marriage After the Ritual Is Over
Words: 2155 Length: 6 Document Type: Research Paper

Marriage - After the Ritual is Over Marriage: After the Ritual is Over Marriage as a lifestyle is far different from the actual wedding. Unfortunately, many people are very focused on the ritual of getting married and not focused on what takes place after the ritual is over. Sometimes this is so pervasive that it can cloud a person's judgment as it relates to the person he or she is marrying -

Marriage and Dating in the Middle Ages
Words: 1174 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Marriage and Dating in the Middle Ages Throughout the ages the ideals a marriage is based on have greatly fluctuated. Whereas the practice of arranged marriages isn't common in the Western world, during the Middle Ages, marriages were often arranged on the basis of land ownership, or the acquiring of power and wealth. Dating in the Middle Ages was practically an obsolete step in the higher classes. Classes were not allowed to

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now