Notes

Varieties (published Jan 10, 1880; vol. 1 no. .2):

*Varieties is a column in most volumes of The Girls Own Annual Paper that gives advice to young women. This particular column gives advice to women entering into marriage.

• “The truth is, that a maiden in marrying sacrifices much; she gives up her independence; to a great extent, her preferences; she consents to great changes in her pursuits, her habits, and, frequently, her friendships; she abandons almost all her past.”
  • Women are taught that being self-sacrificing is the norm so they do not expect otherwise. Jane Eyre slowly gives up her identity for Rochester as their relationship progresses. Elizabeth gives up everything, including her life, waiting for Victor in Frankenstein.
  • Women give up everything for men, but what do men give up for women? There is the rare exception of Jude from Jude the Obscure, who gives up everything because of his marriage to Arabella. Or is this the argument for infidelity? Jude does not take this route.
• “Depth of the chasm”
  • There’s a hole between her maidenhood and her married life. Should the man be filling this hole, or should she try to find something outside of her marriage?
• “Unless her love has lighted upon a man wholly meriting it, and fully capable of compensating her for the losses she has sustained, of making her even richer than before.”
  • The idea of what Jane Eyre is losing when being with Rochester at the end
  • Lady Audley’s first husband couldn’t take care of her and refused to do what could help take care of her – George abandoned her, even though he planned to come back eventually
  • Arabella views her marriage to Jude as a transaction and when he’s unable to give her the life she wants she leaves him (Arabella and Lady Audley are very similar).

A Sister’s Love (published Jan 17, 1880; vol. 1 no. 3):

*This is the third chapter of a serialized story being published in The Girl’s Own Annual. The story is about a young girl who is searching for work to raise the money to send her younger brother to school. This girl, Katie, deals with the struggles faced by being a “lady” of higher class in relation to looking for work.

• Includes a decorated H to attract readers’ attention
• Serialized story— hard to get the full picture without the other chapters
• “For the first time she was realising all the pain of her posi-tion, all the mortifica-tion of having to en-counter strangers and in asking them for work, virtually solicit their patronage.”
  • Reminds me of Jane Eyre looking for housing and work after leaving Rochester
  • Women have to beg for work, while men are expected to get work and are valued higher as workers—inferiority to men
• “treated like a lady till she made know her errand, then dismissed with scant courtesy.”
  • Working is beneath “ladies”, only women of less-than-favorable reputation are looking for work
  • Work is a man’s job, women are too delicate
• ““As if Frank wasn’t worth all that and a great deal more,” she thought. “What have I had to endure yet?”
  • comparing herself to a man
• “Like Charlotte Bronte with the reviewers of her first book, I’ll assert my right to be as ill-used as a man.””
  • Charlotte Bronte is being used as an example of feminism and female agency. She was scrutinized by some of the public, but she became beloved by women readers when she was revealed to be a woman writer.
• “In this heroic frame of mind”
  • Katie is trying to make herself a female hero, like Charlotte Bronte’s characters, but she is already a hero in the story we are reading.
• “ I cannot go on as I have begun,” she said to herself.  “It seems so lower-ing, and there is no knowing what I may subject myself to if I’persevere.”
  • She is doing work beneath her class because that is the only way for her to achieve her goals and make money.
• “He was an elderly man, quiet and unpretentious, although he had a full share of the sagacity and penetration indis-pensable to the members of his profession.”
  • She has to look for work from a man.
• “Certainly. I have heard of other young ladies taking to this sort of thing.  It is tedious, and it is unremunerative.”
  • He is telling Katie that this work is not going to be fun, or pay her significant wages.
• “Poor as the work is, I should not like to put it out of the reach of any who might be needing it more.”
  • Men need this work more than a high-born lady
• “It was curious that the readiness to employ her was again ex-cused by reference to other claims made more pressing.”
  • She is seen as inferior and he is using this as an excuse not to hire a woman
• “It often happens,” said the old gentleman, “that an invalided law-clerk or superannuated schoolmaster takes to this kind of thing. The supply is not nearly equal to the demand, so I do not see why you young ladies should be allowed to take it from them. Women are more aggressive now than they used to be.”
  • Men need jobs more than women, and if women act to support themselves or others they are labeled as aggressive
• “Well, the girls of a family are in general shielded and taken care of, but they feel all the burden in seeing it. If duty binds them at home instead of ordering them out in the world, is it not hard for them to sit there with tied hands because if they proclaim their wants, their respectability will be com-promised, and because that being patent they must leave effor to those to whom poverty is neither crime nor shame?”
  • People stick to tradition and convention and they are told to follow their sense of duty.
• “You want to put a shoulder to the wheel, do you not? It is quite interesting to know the history of some of the applicants for copy. My last was an artist, whose pictures, gems in their way, accumulated round him without ever finding a purchaser. To me, one of the truest proofs of his genius was in the fact of his being content with the scanty subsistence he could obtain for labour in this direction, in order that he might devote the remainder of his time to an art by which he could neither earn fame nor wealth.”
  • Pursuing art without commercial gain is admirable
• “ladies’ bazaar,”
  • A female-specific pawn shop or consignment store
• “She was thankful to have the prospect of earning so much towards the fifty pounds, but how was the remainder to be realised?”
  • Serialized novels include repeated lines about the previous chapters’ events to make sure the readers know what’s going on
• “Where’s there’s a will there’s a way”
  • Something we still say today

Bits About Animals (published Jan 17, 1880; vol. 1 no. 3):

*This section is comprised of a variety of short stories about different animals, including birds, dogs, cats, horses, and more. It is serialized, so there are various pages in multiple editions of the Girl’s Own Paper that include these stories.

Wild Horses

• Black Beauty— horses in the 19th century
• “Mares and foals compose the rest of the number.”
  • women and children
• “When the foals increase in size, their chief will no longer allow them to  remain amongst them, but chases them away from their usual haunts” –
  • their power is threatened
• “with an eye of regret”
  • reminds me of when a man marries a woman and the woman regrets it
  • Sue and Jude
• “receiving visits from its mother, who furtively nourishes it”
  • different from Beauty, who no longer sees his mother
  • healthy family dynamic
• Some novels / stories talk for the animal in the third person, like this, whereas Sewell spoke for Beauty in the first person – Sewell made us relate to the horse more.

French Cats

• “That cats in France possess more intelligence than dogs is the firm conviction of a friend of mine”
  • The intelligence of animals is debated, because animals are often seen or portrayed as inferior to humans, and only be seen by some people
• “She” – not only is it an animal, but also a female
•  “received the visitor with suitable respect at the bottom of the staircase”
  • animals have to be respectful to humans like women must be to men
  • What roles people play in relation to respect and superiority

Pompey

• “how could we leave him behind? “
  • Dog as part of the family, but also considered expendable
• ““Your dog is really too free,” said her son, a boy of about twelve years of age. “Everything will be spoilt.””
  • Too much freedom ruins the animal, people cannot control them
  • A boy of only 12 years old already has this instilled into them
• “wild with delight”
  • Paradox? Too much emotion is considered ‘wild’. This goes for animals and for people during this period, especially women.
• “They would not allow him to be tied up, but the Styrian youth undertook to keep Pompey in order, and once or twice administered to him a rather smart caning”
  • Black Beauty getting whipped even though she did nothing wrong – the dog was just having fun and enjoying himself
  • The caning is a ‘smart’ move, otherwise the dog would be uncontrollable
• “he had secretly snapped the cane in three pieces, and had hidden them under the mat on which he stood!”
  • Smart pup! He knows being caned is bad.

A Dog That Calculated Time

• “But what made us all like him was the devoted affection he showed for a little boy”
  • He is only liked because he shows affection for humans
  • We do not know how he’d be treated if he did not like people
• “Wherever Tom went, if otherwise unguarded, Moss accompanied him, his wistful looks turned towards the child, and woe betide the person who offered to touch the boy in an unkindly fashion.”
  • Here the dog is an equal, watching over the weak little boy, a protector
• “Poor Moss took his little master’s first absence greatly to heart; refused food for a couple of days, and looked as miserable as a dog could well do.”
  • The human is still the master
  • “as miserable as a dog could well do” emphasizes that they are not equal
• “From that time Moss went every Saturday to meet Tom, never making a mistake, or starting on the wrong day, or at the wrong time.”
  • Smart pup! He is depicted as the perfect dog.
• “Poor Moss! He heard the beloved voice, but his glazing eyes could not see his young master; yet, guided by the sound, he dragged his failing limbs to the lad’s feet, and there he dropped and died.”
  • It is expected that the animal dies at the end, usually in the process of helping people or working for peoples’ benefit.
• “Tom has long been a grown-up man. As a lad he knew how to value a faithful friend, though he walked on four legs. I hope he will always find friends as faithful who walk on two, and do not grow their own overcoats as old Moss did.”
  • Tom should find friends that are human now. He has outgrown his animal companions. Animal stories are often for children during this time. Black Beauty started out as an exception and was made into a children’s book later.