Comparing Fanny Fern And The Speech Of Miss Polly Baker
Morgan Leonard
Essay 1: Compare and Contrast
Dr. Robert Klevay
ENGL2570 WI1
CRN: 2846
March 2nd, 2016
Benjamin Franklin and Fanny Fern’s writings exemplified, and even sparked gender role controversy for over many years during the mid-1800s and the mid-1900s. Franklin’s writings primarily showed up in daily newspapers and appealed more to a male audience, rather than a wider female audience that Fern had obtained in her writings as a social critic. In the readings “Tom Pax’s Conjugal Soliloquy,” Fanny Fern and “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker,” by Benjamin Franklin, they both demonstrate opposite gender roles, illustrate situations in which women are not being paid attention to, and their audiences appeal to the gender role opposite to the …show more content…
An example from the speech would be, “What must poor young Women do, whom Custom have forbid to solicit the Men, and who cannot force themselves upon Husbands, when the Laws take no Care to provide them any; and yet severely punish them if they do their Duty without them; the Duty of the first and great Command of Nature, and of Nature’s God, Increase and Multiply” (Franklin). Franklin is attempting to get the male readers to understand, and hopefully imagine what these women are put through. He hopes that if they hear or even see it for themselves, then maybe these men will come to their senses. However, Franklin is still quite humorous in this speech, for instance, the very last line in the speech “in my humble Opinion, instead of a Whipping, to have a Statue erected to my Memory” (Franklin). Franklin is trying to be humorous, but at the same time get a point across to the court officials.
In “Tom Pax’s Conjugal Soliloquy” Fanny Fern writes from a husband’s perspective. In this case, his wife, Mary Pax, is a prosperous writer who places her career above, and sometimes beyond, her obligations as the wife of Tom Pax. By writing from the male point of view, Fern uses a warm sense of humor and so has to tread ever so lightly. Fern paints a domestic-like scene where as mentioned earlier, the gender roles are
Essay 1: Compare and Contrast
Dr. Robert Klevay
ENGL2570 WI1
CRN: 2846
March 2nd, 2016
Benjamin Franklin and Fanny Fern’s writings exemplified, and even sparked gender role controversy for over many years during the mid-1800s and the mid-1900s. Franklin’s writings primarily showed up in daily newspapers and appealed more to a male audience, rather than a wider female audience that Fern had obtained in her writings as a social critic. In the readings “Tom Pax’s Conjugal Soliloquy,” Fanny Fern and “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker,” by Benjamin Franklin, they both demonstrate opposite gender roles, illustrate situations in which women are not being paid attention to, and their audiences appeal to the gender role opposite to the …show more content…
An example from the speech would be, “What must poor young Women do, whom Custom have forbid to solicit the Men, and who cannot force themselves upon Husbands, when the Laws take no Care to provide them any; and yet severely punish them if they do their Duty without them; the Duty of the first and great Command of Nature, and of Nature’s God, Increase and Multiply” (Franklin). Franklin is attempting to get the male readers to understand, and hopefully imagine what these women are put through. He hopes that if they hear or even see it for themselves, then maybe these men will come to their senses. However, Franklin is still quite humorous in this speech, for instance, the very last line in the speech “in my humble Opinion, instead of a Whipping, to have a Statue erected to my Memory” (Franklin). Franklin is trying to be humorous, but at the same time get a point across to the court officials.
In “Tom Pax’s Conjugal Soliloquy” Fanny Fern writes from a husband’s perspective. In this case, his wife, Mary Pax, is a prosperous writer who places her career above, and sometimes beyond, her obligations as the wife of Tom Pax. By writing from the male point of view, Fern uses a warm sense of humor and so has to tread ever so lightly. Fern paints a domestic-like scene where as mentioned earlier, the gender roles are