Tracing the Common Themes of Women Authors

Throughout American literature, female authors have followed several themes in their writing.  Comparing two of the prominent female authors we have studied in this course, I was able to trace several recurring themes in their texts.  Anne Bradstreet and Susanna Rowson, though from different eras, touched on some of the same ideas that have concerned women throughout history and even affect women today.  Bradstreet and Rowson, through different techniques, embellished on the ideas of conscience versus desire, longing for your husband, something sacred being desecrated, stolen or abused, and a mother's love of her children.

A theme that stood out extraordinarily to me through both of the women's work was that of conscience versus desire.  Bradstreet embellished on this idea in her poem, "The Flesh vs. the Spirit" (pp. 268-270).  She was able to personify one's conscience and the desire of the "flesh."  At the beginning of the poem, she showed the polar opposites of the two:

One Flesh was called, who had her eye
On worldly wealth and vanity.
The other Spirit, who did rear
Her thoughts unto a higher sphere.  (ll. 5-8, p. 268)

This was also a major theme that was sewn through all of Rowson's novella, Charlotte: A Tale of Truth (pp. 851-916).  In the course of this book, Charlotte was constantly battling with what she wanted to do, or was being persuaded to do, and what she knew was "right."  From the point when she got the letter from Montraville and determined that she would not open it, her ideas of "right" and "wrong" became more and more clouded until she ended up destroyed by the end of the story.  La Rue was constantly making her [something is wrong with this sentence] continue to meet with Montraville, but she did anyways, and paid a price for it.  She was constantly battling between her fleshly desire and her conscience and eventually lost her life in the struggle.  It might be looked at that Charlotte is Bradstreet's "Spirit" and La Rue is Bradstreet's "Flesh."

A main idea that was prominent in both authoresses' works and one that still continues among women today is a longing for your husband or significant other.  Bradstreet devotes more than one poem to her husband and expresses sadness and anticipation when he is away from home.  She summarizes her feelings in a few lines:

Where ever, ever stay, and go not thence,
Till nature's sad decree shall call thee hence;
Flesh of thy flesh, bone of thy bone,
I here, thou there, yet both but one.  (ll. 21-25, p. 272)

She mourns for him while he is gone and longs passionately for him.  Charlotte expresses the same feelings towards Montraville, even though he had become cold and purposefully distant from her.  She says to herself, "I will place a confidence in his honor; and I am sure he will not be so unjust as to abuse it" (p. 888).  It is interesting to compare these two women and their situations.  Bradstreet's husband is apparently faithful, loving, and true, while Charlotte's lover is distant, selfish, and unfaithful (in thought at least).  "Full of these painful thoughts [of the other woman he loved], Montraville walked out to see Charlotte:  she saw him approach, and ran out to meet him: she banished from her countenance the air of discontent which ever appeared when he was absent, and met him with a smile of joy" (p. 887).  Yet in their different circumstances, both women long for their husbands with the same passion.  Perhaps this shows something of the female character:  devotion, loyalty, and trust of one's spouse are all attributes common to these two women, as well as others in history and women even today.

Another theme that was evident in both texts was the desecration or abuse of something sacred to these women.  Bradstreet addresses this issue with her poem, "Here follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House":

When by the ruins oft I past
My sorrowing eyes aside did cast…
My pleasant things in ashes lie,
And them behold no more shall I.  (ll. 20-21, 27-28, p. 278)

The reader can almost feel her pain in losing her belongings and memories.  She mourns over the home that was sacred and dear to her for all the reasons that our homes are dear to us, which personalizes it.  Bradstreet also touches on this matter when she writes, "The Author to Her Book."  She feels betrayed when a poem of hers was taken and publicized without her knowledge:

Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth didst by my side remain,
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad, exposed to public view. (ll. 1-4, p. 270)

On a less materialistic level, we see Charlotte's irreplaceable traits of innocence and naïveté stolen and abused.  Montraville succeeds in stealing Charlotte's heart; and he not only steals it, he abuses it as well.  Montraville entices Charlotte so she will fall in love with him, then he abandons her, choosing to believe lies about her fidelity as an excuse for his behavior (he no longer loves her).  He began with a guilt trip: "I have flattered my fond heart, that I was dearer to Charlotte than anything in the world beside" (p. 872).  She begged him not to leave with bitter feelings towards her and she was eventually taken to live with him.  By the end of the story, his fiery love had turned cold: "Charlotte, from this instant our connection is at an end . . . I have done with you forever" (p. 859).  At this point Charlotte is broken in heart and in spirit.  Her innocence has been marred (she is pregnant at this point in the story) and her naïveté stolen both by the wicked Belcour and the selfish Montraville.  In this respect, something sacred has been stolen from Charlotte.  On an emotional level, Charlotte experienced what Anne Bradstreet did on a more material level:  the loss or abuse of something sacred.

Anne Bradstreet and Susanna Rowson also touched on the subject of a mother's love for her children.  Bradstreet, a mother herself, devoted at least one of her poems to her eight children.  She talked of the joys of being a mother but also the pain of seeing them leave home and take a new path:

If birds could weep, then would my tears
Let others know what are my fears
Lest this my brood some harm should catch.  (ll. 41-43, p. 274)

In the same way we the pain and anticipation in Charlotte's mother when she has found that Charlotte wants to return to her parents' home: "'I would if possible fly to her, support and cheer the dear sufferer in the approaching hour of distress, and tell her how nearly penitence is allied to virtue' . . . She wrote to her Charlotte in the tenderest, most consoling manner, and looked forward to the happy hour when she should again embrace her, with the most animated hope" (p. 899).  It is evident that both of these mothers love their children dearly, even after they have been wronged by them.  Their mother-love is so strong that they would gladly take them back.  In many cases this true today as well, that a mother will love so dearly that she would do anything for her child and even take them back after they have been dishonest.

Anne Bradstreet and Susanna Rowson cover many of the same topics as each other, yet in different ways.  Both are very empathetic, but Bradstreet writes about herself, thus personalizing it, and making it real for the reader.  From her perspective, the reader gets a first person point of view on these emotions.  Rowson sets her message to fiction, which gives the reader a different feel.  One may still be very empathetic towards Charlotte but may be subconsciously thinking that something like her story may never happen, while with Bradstreet, we know it is true.  Also, Bradstreet uses more imagery in her texts, while Rowson uses more emotion to evoke pity.  Bradstreet doesn't try to get pity in her poems; she is simply writing for herself.

Another difference between these authoresses is that Bradstreet seems to have a more optimistic tone in all her poems, ending with praising God through the bad times or finding hope.  However, portraying these same themes, Rowson puts a negative to her story.  Everything that Charlotte learns is from a bad experience, and by the end of the story our heart is so overwhelmed with all the trials she has seen that you may walk away depressed and heavy laden with her burdens.  It may be more preferable to get these same ideas by reading Bradstreet's lighthearted poems over Rowson' heavy novella.

In conclusion, both of these women have presented the reader with a small insight into a woman's soul and mind.  Through their different techniques, they embellished on the tender issues of conscience versus desire, a woman's longing for her husband, something sacred being desecrated, or abused, and a mother's love of her children, issues that have traveled with women throughout the ages, and continue to do so today.

(1524 words, but there were many long quotations)

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