Mary Wilkins Freeman

Mary Wilkins Freeman
Introduction. For this assignment, we will be continuing to discuss the salient themes and conceptual perspectives we see operating in the narratives we encounter. The
added ingredient in this analysis will be the historical and cultural contexts in which we will be generating this analysis. You will be responsible for researching
and then connecting the historical and cultural moment that gave rise to your chosen texts to the texts themselves and perhaps even the author’s own intentions and
perspectives. But be careful. Authorial intention does not always answer historical questions. Poe did not necessarily set out to reflect upon the moral implications
of slavery or the industrial society emerging in mid-nineteenth century America. Yet he does. Likewise, Robert E. Howard, the famed (and doomed) author of a myriad of
horror tales, including one in our texts, wrote primarily of foreign and fantastic lands, yet the racism and anti-technological themes of his work clearly reflect
anxieties and cultural concerns native to the American Midwest between the wars. In other words, it is often the critic or analyst who discovers more about the
author’s historical or cultural perspective than the author might intend. This is the critic’s role. Embrace it. Listen to the author if possible through biographical
or even autobiographical texts, but in the end do your own research and draw your own connections. Readings To be announced via email. (Stay tuned.) Getting Started
The first step in this assignment will be finding an appropriate subject for your study. I suggest that you pick someone from our texts. I would investigate them using
the “Biographical Notes” at the end of each book. Find someone who fits two basic criteria. 1) He or she is prolific enough and popular enough that you will be able to
find at least three stories they have written in the horror genre. The more of their work you can read, the better, but this doesn’t mean that everyone needs to write
about Ray Bradbury. (In fact, let’s call Bradbury and Rod Serling off limits.) And then 2) your subject needs to occupy a time and place that is equally accessible
through research. I am requiring that you find at least three academic resources, be they biographies, histories, or literary studies, to flesh out the historical and
cultural position of your subject.
Prompt: Armed with the above resources, answer the following question in an 8-10 page, thesis-driven essay: How does the work of your chosen author reflect a salient
historical and/or cultural concern
(or set of related concerns) endemic to their time and place? “Notes: I must use 3 short stories from Mary WIlkins Freeman. The first story has to be grounded in a
horror genre story, which will be her story “Luella Miller.” I chose the second story to be “The Revolt of Mother” where I was going to discuss the themes of women
within the context of New England. Mary Wilkins Freeman was active between 1880-1932. This is almost exactly around the time of the Women’s Rights Movement.
Her story “The Revolt of ‘Mother'” was published in 1914. The year before, the National Women’s Party is formed to fight for the federal right women to vote. These
members protested at the White House that year and practiced other forms of civil disobedience which could have been the influencing factor that give rise to her story
“The Revolt of Mother.”
– Make sure to note specific historical events or ideas.
goal: connect detailed analysis to an equally detailed explanation of that historical context. References needed: 3 Mary Freeman stories/plays/poems (anything of hers)
+ 3 academic resources “be they biographies, histories, or literary studies, to flesh out the historical and cultural position of your subject.”
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