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Module 8 - Part
2: Explorations and Exercises
Other parts of this module include:
Index |
Part 1: Overview |
Part 3: Texts and Contexts |
Part 4: Web Resources
Women and Learning in the Seventeenth
and Eighteenth Centuries
To respond to these exercises, it helps to have some appreciation of
the cultural assumptions explored in them. Click on Web
Resources for further insights into the way ideas about the human
and divine in each culture colors the literary texts that we are
studying.
These questions are arranged into three color-coded categories.
Level A invites you to look closely at some specific aspects of
individual texts. Answering these questions shows that you have read
carefully and understand the significance of important words and ideas
as they appear in context.
Level B asks you to think more deeply about the implications of some of
the details that you have isolated.
Level C allows you to build on the findings of the first two categories
to theorize broadly about the relationship of the text to social and
historical forces beyond the work itself.
Topics in this module's Exploration and Exercises section include:
Focus on Reply to Sor Filotea de la Cruz
Level A
- Sor Juana opens her apologia by citing the "two obstructions" that
have kept her from responding to the critique of her intellectual
pursuits that the Bishop of Puebla included in his preface
to the "Letter worthy of the wisdom of Athena," which
he published without her permission. What are these obstructions?
- Sor Juana compares herself to many renowned theologians
and a series of biblical figures in the course of her
self-defense. With whom does she claim affinities? What
rhetorical effects does she achieve by proposing these
likenesses?
- How did Sor Juana learn to read and write? What other
subjects did she study? How does she justify the piety
of her continuing studies?
- When the Abbess "commanded [her] not to study" (p.
418), how did Sor Juana continue her intellectual work?
- How does Sor Juana display her theological erudition
in explicating the argument of the "venerable Doctor Arce" (p.
421), who believes it acceptable for women to study and
teach in private?
Level B
- How would you characterize Sor Juana's tone in the opening
paragraphs of her Reply to Sor Filotea de la Cruz ?
What does her choice of words suggest about the gratitude
she professes to the Bishop for having had her "scribblings printed" (p.
405) without her knowledge?
- Discuss the connection between the scene depicted
on the medallion worn by Sor Juana in her portraits with
the scene that she paints in protesting her unworthiness
to "Sor Filotea." Why
does she mention that Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist,
was "blessedly sterile" (p. 405)? Who plays the role of the "Mother
of the Word" in this instance? How is this perhaps ironic,
given the identity of "Sor Filotea"?
- What is the effect of her quotation from 1 Corinthians
12:11 ("You have compelled me") as she explains her motives
for writing (p. 408)? How is this typical of the way
Sor Juana cites biblical authorities for her actions?
- Women throughout the centuries have educated themselves
in their fathers' libraries. Why does Sor Juana speak
of the books belonging to her grandfather (p. 409)? How
may the circumstances of her family situation have contributed
to her personality development?
- Discuss Sor Juana's references to cooking and the
thoughts that come to her in the kitchen. How does she
implicitly defend a woman's right to the life of the
mind in this section of her Reply (p. 419)?
What does she mean when she says, "had
Aristotle prepared victuals, he would have written more"?
- Sor Juana not only anticipates the feminist arguments
of later champions of women's education like Mary Astell
and Mary Wollstonecraft, she also warns against relying
on men as instructors for young women. Explain the "notorious peril" that she mentions
on p. 423. How may this help us understand the apparent non
sequitur with which she moves from the description of cutting
her hair when she fails to learn her Latin lessons to her reason
for entering the religious life, "given the total antipathy
I felt for marriage" (p. 409)? What complex attitudes
toward men emerge in these sequences?
Level C
- In the Athenagoric Letter , Sor Juana took the
side of Saints Augustine and Thomas Aquinas against the teaching
of Antonio de Vieira. In many ways, her Reply to Sor Filotea
de la Cruz resembles the Confessions of St.
Augustine , selections from which may be found in Volume B
of the Anthology . Compare and contrast the
temptations that Augustine fought with the "inclinations" against
which Sor Juana fights. How does gender complicate the
desire to serve God that each writer expresses?
- In the Reply to Sor Filotea de la Cruz ,
Sor Juana speaks frequently of veiling the truth. "I have sought to veil
the light of my reason-along with my name" (p. 408),
she insists. How might this be an implicit attack on
the Bishop of Puebla for violating her privacy by publishing
her letter? The Bishop himself (imperfectly) veils his
identity. Discuss the motif of veiling throughout: What
did the seven-year-old Juana Ines hope to do in order
to study? How does the mature nun compare herself to
Moses (see pp. 406 and 414)? How does she compare the Athenagoric Letter to
Moses (p. 427)? How does Sor Juana apologize for the
tone she adopts in writing to Sor Filotea, "which, had I seen you without your veil, would never
have occurred" (p. 430)? What happens to manners and
morality when one cannot hide?
- Although the title chosen for Sor Juana's discussion
of Father Vieira's sermon was presumably meant as praise,
she finds certain ironies in being compared to Athena.
She shows her deep secular learning in reflecting on
the "politically
barbaric law of Athens by which any person who excelled by
cause of his natural gifts and virtues was exiled from his
Republic" (p. 414). In the same paragraph, she moves from ancient
Athens to Renaissance Italy, mentioning as well the maxim of
the "impious Machiavelli." Discuss the practice that
she singles out for criticism, and compare and contrast
evidence from earlier volumes of the Anthology in
support of her claims (see, for example, the Apology
of Socrates in Volume A and the writings of Machiavelli
in Volume C). What role does she cast herself in here?
- How does her description of barbed architectural adornments
(p. 415) contain an almost blasphemous self-comparison
to Christ, the Word, as a sign? How does her recognition
of the importance of "signs" speak to her sense of vocation
as a writer?
- In explaining her predilection for poetry, Sor Juana
quotes Ovid: " All I wished to express took the form
of verse " (p. 426), a line Alexander Pope also alludes
to in describing his own calling: "I lisped in numbers, for
the numbers came" ( Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot ,
l.128). How else does she demonstrate her affinity for
classical learning? How would you compare her use of
sources with that of an essayist like Montaigne or an
Augustan poet like Pope?
- Discuss the ways in which the Reply to Sor Filotea portrays
the pressure of Sor Juana's ceaseless mental activity
and compare her to fictional female characters like Dai-yu
who suffer because they cannot still their minds. How
do such passages add to the poignancy of her concluding
paragraphs ("If ever I write
again, my scribbling will always find its way to the haven
of your holy feet" [p. 430])?
Focus on The Story of the Stone
Level A
- How does the opening chapter of The Story of the Stone attempt
to justify the novel's preoccupation with "a number of females" (p.
150)? What is the importance of Crimson Pearl Flower
and the two-year-old daughter of Zhen Shi-yin and Feng-shi?
- Why does Dai-yu blush when Bao-yu hears her quoting
a line from The Western Chamber (p.
161)? How does this episode underscore the significance
of literature and literary taste in The Story of the Stone ?
- What plays are selected for the festivities at the
Taoist temple that Grandmother Jia attends with her huge
entourage? How does the old lady react when she learns
of the choices? How does this episode provide evidence
of the level of literacy and culture customary among
the upper-class women of the Ch'ing Dynasty?
Level B
- Compare Dai-yu's poem on the fading blossoms that
Bao-yu overhears in Chapter 27 to the poems exchanged
during the drinking game in Chapter 28. One of the participants
in the game is Nuageuse from the Budding Grove, "a high-class establishment
specializing in female entertainers" (p. 187). Explain
her song about a honeybee and a flower (p. 190). What
connection between sexuality and song does the entertainer
embody?
- Explain the use of literary allusions in the tense
scene among Bao-yu, Dai-yu, and Bao-chai in Chapter 30.
Why is the title The Abject Apology significant?
How is the shrewd Xi-feng, who is less cultured than
the younger ladies, still able to grasp the meaning of
this exchange?
- The narrative prepares the reader for a moment of
total understanding shared by Bao-yu and Dai-yu in Chapter
32 by noting that he brings her romances to read (p.
236). How does The
Story of the Stone show the significance of shared
allusions in the establishment of their relationship?
- What does Bao-yu's literary taste mean in the context
of his family obligations? What does he characterize
as "stupid
rubbish" when he's advised to mix with "officials and administrators" (p.
236)? How does the novel's emphasis on his feminine appearance
contribute to the reader's understanding of the kind
of learning to which he responds?
Level C
- How do the means by which the marriage of Bao-chai and
Bao-yu is effected reflect the interest in dramatic presentation
in The Story of the Stone ? Discuss the significance
of theatrical motifs in this novel and compare them to the
self-reflexive view of theatre in The Peach Blossom Fan .
- Trace the routes by which handkerchiefs are exchanged
in The
Story of the Stone , and compare their significance
as forms of intimate communication with the letters
sent to each other by characters in The Tale of Genji or
to the symbolic uses of the fan in The Peach Blossom
Fan .
- Discuss the relationship between Dai-yu's intellectual
gifts and her ill health. What price do educated women
often pay in literature? Consider the case of Dorothy
Wordsworth: Why should mental activity make women sick?
Compare the nature and cause of Bao-yu's bouts of sickness.
- Read Deborah Johnson's article on "Chinese Women's Literature" and
comment on the importance of writing in women's lives
as enacted in The Story of the Stone and in
the actual instances described in the article.
Focus on Sor Juana, "Arraignment of the Men"
Level A
- What is an "arraignment"? What attitude toward men
does this poem express?
- What contradictory actions does Sor Juana accuse men
of taking in their relationships with women?
- The translator, Peter H. Goldsmith, may add a bit
to the original in saying that man "with hot breath fogs the glass,
/ Then laments it is not bright." What are the connotations
of "hot breath" here?
Level B
- A quatrain omitted from this version of Sor Juana's "Hombres
necios" condemns men for pursuing a woman as if she were
Thais and then expecting her to behave like Lucretia
after she's been had. Who are these classical exemplars?
How does the contrast between them support the poem's
argument?
- Sor Juana wrote hundreds of poems in traditional modes
that would seem to be very distant from the theological
arguments she makes in her Reply to Sor Filotea de la Cruz .
In this poem, however, we can see some connections to
her serious discussion of the dangers of having men teach
girls ( Reply ,
p. 423). What image of male behavior do both texts project?
Why did she choose to enter the convent?
Level C
- Compare "Arraignment of the Men" with Alfonsina Storni's "You
Want Me White." What perspectives do the seventeenth-century
nun and the twentieth-century activist share? What rhetorical
devices separate their ways of making their case?
Focus on Hannah More, The Bas Bleu: or, Conversation
Level A
- More begins her poem with a rhetorical device known as pretirition that
was particularly popular among Roman orators, who often announced
that they would pass over some outrage in silence, and in the
process of saying what they were not going to say, express
their thoughts in full detail. What phenomenon does More say
she will not mention? How much time does she actually spend
on it? What purpose does this introduction serve?
Level B
- This poem takes the form of a compliment to Mrs. Vesey,
in whose home the first of the English salons was held.
How does Hannah More view the French salonnières?
What kinds of distinctions does she draw between English
and French literary manners?
Level C
- Hannah More would not have claimed to be a great writer
and refers to this slight but attractive poem as a "trifle." Nevertheless,
it demonstrates a knowing familiarity with the conventions
of the period. Which eighteenth-century English writer in particular
seems to have influenced her? Note, for example, the sequence
describing the "frigid beau" (ll. 106-124). For whom does he
worship "the Cosmetic powers"? What protagonist of another
poem in couplets similarly worships at a shrine devoted
to self-beautification?
- More addresses Conversation, praising it as "the noblest
commerce of mankind, / Whose precious merchandize is MIND!" (ll.
296-96). As the development of the salons suggests, conversation
is one of the great arts of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, but the authors in the Norton Anthology often
cast a skeptical eye on big talkers. Discuss the role
played by conversation in Moliere's Tartuffe or
Voltaire's Candide .
What is the relation between volubility and substance?
How much does a facility for speech have to do with a
character's intellectual depth? How intelligent are the
women in these texts and how do they express their intelligence?
Focus on Mary Wollstonecraft, "Of the Pernicious Effects
Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in
Society," Chapter IX , A Vindication of the Rights of
Woman
Level A
- What are some of the "unnatural distinctions" that
Wollstonecraft deplores in this chapter?
- Wollstonecraft judges women as critically as she does
men. What does she mean by saying that married women
will remain "cunning,
mean, and selfish" (paragraph 4) if they cannot function
independently in society?
- Many of Wollstonecraft's observations seem as timely
today as they were in 1791. How would a twenty-first-century
audience respond to her views on breastfeeding, for instance?
- For what sorts of jobs does Wollstonecraft think women
were qualified for? Two centuries after she wrote, how
fully has her vision been realized?
Level B
- Wollstonecraft has a gift for metaphor and a very
sharp eye. Comment on her use of figurative language.
Look, for example, at phrases like the "barbarous useless parade" in front of
Whitehall (paragraphs 23), and "the harlequin coat, worn by
the civilized man" (paragraph 24).
- Explain the argument that Wollstonecraft makes in
paragraphs 18 and 19 about soldiers in the modern world.
What would it mean to turn a "distaff into a musket" and
a bayonet into a pruning-hook?
Level C
- Wollstonecraft felt betrayed by the denigration of women's
abilities that even the most progressive men expressed. She
wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman to
object to Talleyrand's proposal that "universal" public
education should be offered only to boys; she returns
throughout the book to her disagreement with Rousseau,
whose work she admired in general, because of the strictures
he put on the education of girls in his novel Emile . Why do men who protest
their admiration for women nevertheless not want to put them
on equal footing with men? Look at the excerpts from Rousseau's Confessions in
Volume E and speculate on how his relationships with women
might be consistent with his ideas about their education.
- Wollstonecraft concludes this chapter by famously
urging that men "generously snap our chains." Here, as
in paragraph 15, she compares the fate of women and of
slaves. Has she justified the comparison by the way she
describes the lives of women? Discuss the morality of
the world she wants to make.
- Two of the illustrations attached to this unit portray
women on horseback. Compare and contrast the depiction
of Queen Christina and Chaucer's Prioress and look at
them both in the context of the image Wollstonecraft
conjures up in paragraph 21. How do one's means of physical
transport become a symbol of character and ability in
each of these cases?
Focus on Wang Yun, "I scratch my head"
Level A
- Paul Ropp explains that this song was written for
a lost play whose heroine took up male disguise in order
to pursue a career as a government official. The speaker
accordingly expresses her concerns in a form generally
restricted to men. Show how the genre called "heroic abandon" seems
an apt choice for the tone and content of the poem.
- "I scratch my head" mentions the rewards reaped by "bad
writing." Who are the persons who manage to succeed despite
their lack of talent?
Level B
- Like Mary Wollstonecraft, Gu Ruopu understands that
men as well as women have been dealt a bad deal by the
society in which she lives. With the help of Ropp's commentary,
explain the significance of the references to Pan Yue
and Shen Yue. What makes some men as vulnerable to dissatisfaction
as most women?
- Discuss the final lines of Gu Ruopu's song in light
of the importance the speaker puts on writing. How does
the imagery of weeping and writing recall the imagery
associated with Dai-yu's exercise of her creative abilities?
Level C
- Like The Story of the Stone , on its infinitely
grander scale, "I scratch my head" begins with the act
of creation. In each case, what has gone wrong with the
universe? How might one compare the view of the injustices,
especially those suffered by women, inherent in late
imperial China as seen in Gu Ruopu's poem and Cao Xuequin's
novel?
- Compare and contrast Gu Ruopu's view of "rouged beauties" and
their fate with the portrait of such women in Wollstonecraft's Vindication and/or
Pope's Rape of the Lock . Describe the attitudes
and behaviors for which the use of cosmetics serves as
a metonymy.
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