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Motherhood and the Periodical Press: the Myth and the Medium University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English English, Department of 12-2019 Motherhood and the Periodical Press: The Myth and the Medium Susan A. Malcom University of Nebraska - Lincoln Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/englishdiss Part of the Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons, and the Women's History Commons Malcom, Susan A., "Motherhood and the Periodical Press: The Myth and the Medium" (2019). Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English. 158. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/englishdiss/158 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. MOTHERHOOD AND THE PERIODICAL PRESS THE MYTH AND THE MEDIUM by Susan A. Malcom A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College of the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Major: English (Nineteenth Century Studies) Under the Supervision of Professor Melissa J. Homestead Lincoln, Nebraska December, 2019 MOTHERHOOD AND THE PERIODICAL PRESS THE MYTH AND THE MEDIUM Susan A. Malcom, PhD University of Nebraska, 2019 Advisor: Melissa J. Homestead In this study, I utilize close readings of the periodically published works of three women writers – Kate Chopin, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Elia Peattie –through the lenses of historical/biographical, affective, and biosocial theories. Examining these works against the backdrop of America’s mythologized mother exposes the social ubiquity of the myth and the realities of motherhood nineteenth-century women experienced. Chapter one examines the mythological nature of American motherhood as it evolved from a politically and socially nuanced Republican Mother and the role of American periodicals as a medium of perpetuating that myth. Historically, American motherhood was an extended function of the biological reality women experienced, but colonial mothers soon accepted the higher calling of political guardianship, a calling that demanded piety, purity, and domesticity. The systematic layering of these motherly expectations through domestic literacy practices, female education, and reinforcement in the pages of America’s ever-growing periodical press immortalized this mythological mother as the standard bearer for American women. Chapter two addresses the editorial constraint of America’s mythic mother that Kate Chopin faced. The mothers Chopin observed in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana expressed passion and desire, a sharp contrast to the mythical mother of the South. Tracing Chopin’s publishing pursuits reveals her authorial purpose in crafting a publishable motherhood until the real mothers she observed could make their appearances. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper grasped the power of America’s mythic mother to bring about social reform. An affective reading of Harper’s Christian Recorder fiction in Chapter three reveals her purposeful revocation of white maternal benevolence and grants full rights of the mythic mother to her black sisters with the charge to bring about racial uplift. In Chapter four, I focus on the geographical and cultural realities of motherhood Elia Peattie observed and experienced while writing from the frontier borderlands of Omaha, Nebraska. From a biosocial perspective, Peattie and her heroines engage in rewriting the gendered script they inherited to match the realities they experienced. iv This work is dedicated to my grandchildren, those who will celebrate this day with me and those who may be yet to come. I hope you will always have dreams that are bigger than you think you can accomplish, and when you do accomplish them, I hope they will be stepping stones to new and bigger dreams. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS From the moment I began this project, I have enjoyed the support of family, friends, and colleagues. I knew I would grow intellectually and professionally through this work, but the greatest reward has been the serendipitous friendships I have enjoyed through these years of work. I am humbled by the love and energy unconditionally poured into my life by those I might never have known had I not embarked on this journey. To Melissa J. Homestead I owe a debt of gratitude that can never be paid. This work exists because you challenged me to think, you expected me to grow, and you stifled all my doubts with encouragement. You have been a wise mentor and, more importantly, a friend. Thank you, Susan Belasco, for recognizing my potential when I was pondering my educational future and encouraging me to pursue graduate work in English. I have never regretted that decision. And, after guiding me through my first graduate degree and launching me into my PhD program, you wisely transitioned me to Melissa’s scholarly care. I have treasured your continued support through the completion of this project. To Fran Kaye, you have challenged me to consider all my potential blind spots with regard to minority writers, and I have borrowed a variety of teaching strategies from your Plains Literature class for my own classroom. And to Priscilla Hayden-Roy, thank you for posing tough questions that helped me to think more precisely and to see possibilities beyond the scope of this dissertation. To my Dissertation Sheroes, Kelly, Janel, and Lindsay, thank you! You brought friendship and camaraderie to my graduate isolation. Watching your struggles and your vi successes encouraged me to keep moving forward. I have such fond memories of Mill- moments when we sat in silence, huddled over the clicking keys of our computers until someone broke that silence with some nineteenth-century discovery that usually evoked raucous laughter. Thank you for being there in my dark moments as well and reminding me that I had everything I needed in me to keep on keeping on. Although there are no words to adequately express my love and appreciation to my family for their support these past years, I will simply say, Nicole, Michal, and Phillip, you have always been my greatest earthly motivations. Thank you for continually finding ways to provide the family moments that keep me going. I am so proud to call you my children. Thank you, Reg, for encouraging me in the midst of your own health battles. Your words, “keep writing” kept me looking forward when I didn’t think it was possible. Finally, thank you Mom and Dad for never doubting me. Thank you for showing me what a life of faith, determination, and persistence looks like. I am so grateful to share this day with you, Mom. We both know that Daddy left this world believing this day was coming. He was such a great listener, and he taught me that questions are a sign of intelligence, not weakness. I know that he is smiling and celebrating with us! vii Table of Contents Introduction . 1 Chapter One . 7 America’s Mythologized Mother Chapter Two . 46 Deconstructing Southern Motherhood: Kate Chopin Chapter Three . 90 The Gospel of Domesticity: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Chapter Four . 160 New Frontiers of Motherhood: Elia Peattie Conclusion . 216 Bibliography . 220 1 INTRODUCTION America’s Republican Mother donned new garments when she entered the nineteenth century, but her national dominion remained unchanged. Throughout the century, she informed motherly attitudes and behaviors, and under her mythical but ever- watchful eye, the nation continued to thrive. National periodicals immortalized her through advice columns, advertising, and literary works. Informed by her virtues, mothers sought to live up to her expectations throughout the century and guided their daughters to seek her approval as well. Sarah Robbins’ work, Managing Literacy, Mothering America points to the role of “domesticated literacy” as a mother’s means of guiding and shaping the social understanding of her children and thereby shaping “their influence on the nation.”1 According to Robbins, texts and textual meanings are socially constructed, and the mother’s role in selecting text, interpreting text, and writing text informed social and political ideals for generations to come. Amy Kaplan explains that domestic language framed conversations of America’s geographical conquests and this domesticated “language of empire” paralleled woman’s extended influence outside her home.2 America’s mythic mother was ever-present, always nurturing the minds of the next generation while few real-world mothers embodied the model she prescribed. By late nineteenth century, American mothers were still primary caregivers but their presence in the public sphere had grown to be commonplace. Middle-class mothers 1 Sarah Robbins, Managing Literacy, Mothering America (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004), 2,3. 2 Amy Kaplan, “Manifest Destiny,” in No More Separate Spheres!: A Next Wave American Studies Reader, edited by Cathy N. Davidson, and Jessamyn Hatcher (Durham: Duke University Press, 2002), 187. 2 extended their influence outside their personal domestic space through benevolent mothering, and lower-class women were often present in the workplace. The periodical press, which had so faithfully promulgated the myth of motherhood, offered up its pages to reflect the realities of motherhood as they were penned
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