Wise Beyond Her Years

When reading The Hidden Hand, I was struck by Capitola’s realization of the limitations that are put on girls and women in general during this time period. Capitola is forced to starve on the streets. She tells the judge that it was “because I was a girl, was not allowed to carry a gentleman’s parcel or black his boots..” (182). Capitola goes on to describe that multitude of jobs that she was not permitted to do, due to her sex. This radiated with me because this thought was not recognized by many adults, much less children during this time. Within children’s literature a it has been said that a common theme is feminism. Capitola is demonstrating this idea by showing the inequalities that are prevalent and clearly pointing out how they are wrong. The inequalities were not just seen in little girls, but women as a whole at this time.

Capitola continues to push the envelope throughout the story, not just by cross-dressing, but by proving that just because she is a girl does not mean that she has to be scared and delicate. When she is shown her room at Old Hurricane’s house the maid makes it very clear that there is a trap door and that she might not want to stay in the room for that reason. Capitola instead is almost drawn the trap door, saying, “I think I should rather like it” (202). Unlike the typical “proper girl” at the time she does not need a man to hold her hand and comfort her. The trap door is another adventure that excites her. She explains her excitement when she says, “I have been in to much deadly peril from the living ever to fear the dead” (204). Even though she is young, her age does not represent her life experience.

Capitola is not only mature beyond her years, but is also ahead of her time. She questions the labor divisions for males and females by cross-dressing, proving that she is just as capable as the boys. Her overall attitude towards life and readiness to jump into anything whether it be changing sexes or playing with trap doors also questions who women are allowed to be and what they can contribute.

The Balance of Life

From the 19th century through today girls have struggled between being “ladylike” and showing their true emotions. As seen in the clip the 3rd grader, Anna, is no different from Gerty in this way, but the way they deal with these two extremes do differ.

Anna talks about balance in life, whether it is in school or yoga, balance is a necessity in her life because it helps her stay centered. Balance is something that Gerty has not yet discovered for herself, which causes her to go from two extremes depending on her circumstance. Gerty’s emotions about the abuse that she experienced when living with Nan Grant have been suppressed since she left and she has been encouraged to automatically leave that life and become a lady. This new train of thought slowly comes to her, but True sees glimpses of her old self come back, scaring him of who she is deep down. True says that, “it had never occurred to him to dread any difficulty in the management of the child” (116). Unlike Anna, Gerty does not have tools like yoga to help her express her hurt and anger towards Nan Grant. She lashes out her feelings by saying mean things about Nan Grant that are inappropriate, but that is the only way she is able to get her frustration out. I believe that this day in age girls are encouraged more to talk about their feelings and are given more outlets to discuss problems in order to work through them, which was definitely not available to Gerty.

Anna also talks about how you should want people to like you for who you are, which is another aspect of Gerty’s life that she struggles with. When first meeting Willie, Gerty tries to hide her face from him, but Willie took “her hands directly down from her face and holding them tight in his own, he fixed his eyes upon her…” (112). Willie did not make fun of her as she expected, which was a first in her life since she had been told she was ugly from the time she can remember. She was taught to not like herself, which is easy for girls to do this day in age as well, due to the constant pressure for girls to look a certain way and weight a certain amount. Even though Wilie accepts Gerty, she still feels insecure with herself, which is depicted when they are looking in the window at the rich family’s house. “She did not like the idea of being started at and talked about” (130) because people had done that her whole life. Scarred by the words of other people, Gerty is in constant shame of her looks and of who she is as a person.

I believe that if Gerty was on Amy Pholer’s TV show she would have been real with how she felt, but I do not think she would have had the maturity that Anna had. While Anna told us she does the lion pose when something is troubling her, I feel as if Gerty would throw one of her “tantrums” (145) instead.

Loss of the Didactive Element

Within stories such as The Wide, Wide World, where the focus was on a middle upper class white family, lessons of morality, religion and education are themes that are at the core of the story. Uncle Tom’s Cabin however shows a different view of children during the time of slavery. Unlike the light and almost dull lifestyle of Ellen Montgomery, the world of a black slave in Uncle Tom’s Cabin is far from light and dull. As Stowe presents the character of Haley, who is a trader, it is apparent that his heart has been so hardened by slavery that he is less humane then they consider the slaves to be.

The children throughout the story are forced with the reality that family does not last long and when someone leaves it is most likely forever. This is depicted when Tom leaves his family and “the two boys, who now seemed to comprehend at once their father's destiny, clung to her gown, sobbing and groaning vehemently” (169). In children’s literature parents are the teachers to their children in order to ensure a brighter future, but in the case of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, children are not promised many years with their parents if any.

This race against time is seen again when the mother and son are both up for sale at the auction and Haley only buys the son. She responds to this tragic loss by saying, "Couldn't dey leave me one? Mas'r allers said I should have one, -- he did," she repeated over and over, in heart-broken tones” (197). In The Wide, Wide World tears were often suppressed, but here the mother does not hold back her tears because she loses her son to animalistic men and has already lost all of her other children to slavery. The families that are torn apart in this story have little time together and the time they have together is so treasured, that teaching them lessons about how to maintain good morals does not come into play.

When Haley sells Lucy’s ten-month-old son into slavery, the unbearable reality of the short breath of time some of the families had together, made this children’s literature truly different from that of The Wide, Wide World. The description of her body when she is told about her son says that, “dizzily she sat down. Her slack hands fell lifeless by her side. Her eyes looked straight forward, but she saw nothing. All the noise and hum of the boat, the groaning of the machinery, mingled dreamily to her bewildered” (208). The small glimpse of hope and happiness of her life was stolen from her in a glance and deflated all the life she had left in her. As we have stated in class, whenever a baby is brought into a situation it makes it worse, which is very true for this case. The disconnect between this story and other didactic stories about children is the dehumanization of the people. Lucy has nothing left to live for after her baby is taken, whereas once Ellen’s mom dies she has a chance for a future.

Love Equals Obedience

Throughout The Wide, Wide World the role of parents is almost as an instructional guidebook for the children. In the case of Ellen Montgomery the role of the mother versus the role of the father differed greatly.

Mrs. Montgomery serves as a moral compass for Ellen, teaching her lessons in faith, obedience and education. When Ellen is unsure of her faith her mother always reminds her that, “God sends no trouble upon his children but in love” (24). The trust in God that Mrs. Montgomery displays sets an example for Ellen to not live for worldly pleasures, but rather for faith in a higher power. When Mrs. Montgomery teaches Ellen about obedience she relates it back to how she should treat her aunt and do her work. Ellen learns through her mother that her aunt, “loving or not loving [her] depends solely and entirely upon herself” and the work that she does (33). Mrs. Montgomery instills in Ellen a strong work ethic as well as proper manners for when she goes and lives away from her. The role of domestic education is also of utmost concern to Mrs. Montgomery. She buys her a desk with supplies, a Bible and a workbox in order to be able to do all the necessary things if something happens to an item of clothing. At the emotional moment when Mrs. Montgomery is about to give the workbox to Ellen as a surprise she tells her that the gifts, “serve as reminders for you if you are ever tempted to forgot my lessons” (50). The mother role that Mrs. Montgomery plays is that of a teacher or instructor of the proper ways of womanhood.

Mr. Montgomery differs greatly from this, which is seen in his title of Captain. Distant from most of Ellen’s life the greatest thing they have in common is bloodline. Throughout the story language like command and obedience appear they draw back to the role of those under the captain, which in this story are Mrs. Montgomery and Ellen. Ellen does not talk about her father often and one of the few time she mentions him her “heart secretly questioned the truth of” what he said about her aunt (34). With little interaction between Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery seen until the end of the story it seems as if the Captain could have another family and life somewhere else. He does not seem to be truthful in what he says because he lies to Ellen when he tells her that he “meant to have called [her] before, but [he] overslept [himself]” (75). The reader understands this blatant lie because in the previous pages Mrs. Montgomery was the one that wanted to tell Ellen that she was going to leave that morning, but the Captain would not allow it.

Mrs. Montgomery is Ellen’s best and really only friend in this story. Ellen receives love only from her mother because her father is either away or extremely distant from her. Ellen loves her mother so much that she wants to serve her and make her happy, which even means suppressing her own feelings of sadness in order to appease her mom. When her Mrs. Montgomery talks about her love for God and how it is greater than her love for Ellen, she stands perplexed saying, “I do love you a great deal better” (51). The love that they share for each other at times makes them seem more as friends, but then reverts back to the formal mother daughter relationship of the time.

Captain Montgomery is more of a fixture in Ellen’s life. She is able to say she has a mother and a father, but she never talks about her feelings of him leaving her or being upset that he is gone. Ellen’s father is summed up well in the end when she does not even remember him taking her to the carriage and saying goodbye or setting the candy on her lap. I feel this image represents the majority of their relationship because throughout her life she has only caught fast glimpses of him. The only thing she remembers from that morning is the fact “that she lost her mother” (77).

Theories for Studying Children's Literature and Childhood

One theory for analyzing childhood literature is due to the fact that childhood is a universal experience. Sanchez-Eppler refers to age as “inherently transitional,” meaning we all went from childhood to adulthood. Few things in life are universal like childhood and the processes of growing up. While the experiences are not all the same, the idea of going from being dependent and evolving into being an individual is a collective understanding (Sanchez-Eppler).

Another way in which children are relevant to analyze is because of the way they were used as metaphors during the 19th century. Children were used throughout literature to describe hope for the future (MacLeod). Adults were anxious about the future and its uncertainties; therefore they focused on teaching the children obedience, “the first law in life,” so that their future would look how they wanted it to be (MacLeod). In order to understand American literature during this time period and its historical context, there must be an understanding of what children were representing in the literature.

America’s future was also shifting from an Agrarian culture to becoming more and more industrialized and children’s literature depicted this as a negative progress (MacLeod). Through studying specifically children’s literature it gives a window to how societies were shifting and what they wanted to youth to see as evil. Children were even instructed in the stories about not being materialistic, and instead helping others (MacLeod). The changes that were being made in the American lifestyle were unwelcomed and it is depicted through the use of children’s literature during this time.

Loss of innocence is a theme that occurs throughout literature seen through children, which is interesting to analyze because it is a trait one can never regain. As seen in Harriet Appleton’s poem, childhood is “an object of desire” that is remembered, but can never be fully relived (Sanchez-Eppler). Studying children allows for one to tap into a part of them that has passed, almost like a loved one dying, and reviving it in a way that gives one glimpses of who one once was.

Sanchez-Eppler explains how, “age is inherently transitional,” as opposed to race, gender and other inequalities. Due to the dynamic nature of age it is interesting to study childhood because unlike race or gender we have all passed through the stage of reliance (Sanchez-Eppler). Sanchez-Eppler relates it to how we can understand Feminism more through “childhood and the acts of children” (Sanchez-Eppler). This view allows for the word child to be replaced within the writings with where one might feel in a