Over time, the texts we have studied in this class have illustrated the progressive growth of confidence in women over time. In previous texts, women were shown as submissive and obedient. The Panther Narrative shows a woman standing up for herself. She refuses to allow her father to dictate her life to her and reluctantly follow his demands. She knows that she is in love and goes to extremes to get what she wants and achieve it even if that means disobeying her father.
Additionally, when captured by the “Indian of gigantic proportion” she refuses to comply with his demand to follow him to bed. She stands up for herself and devises a plan to kill him and escape. In previous texts the woman would have more than likely done what was asked of her.
Finally, in The Panther Narrative the woman is not seen as the evil, seductive temptress that she has been portrayed as in so many other texts. Here, she shows confidence and displays increasingly more similarities with women today. This obvious revision in the way women are portrayed in print may largely be due to the positive moral the female gender was gaining leading up the beginning of the feminist movement.
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2 comments:
Hi, Meredith,
It interested me to read your observation that in texts from the earlier 1700s, the woman in the Panther Narrative would have likely given in to the Indian's demands. I think you make a good point, because the women in the infanticide texts, in particular, are portrayed as extremely weak and unable to withstand temptation. (Hence, the rationalization that they must be "kept in line" by male authority.) To see a woman finally standing up for herself and what she believes to be right was very refreshing for me as a reader. Even if the text was fictional, the portrayal of a strong-willed, constant woman is dramatically different from anything else we've read. I'm glad you brought that up.
Hey!! While I was reading your blog I started thinking about how I really liked that finally a woman stood up for herself, at least in the beginning, and things didn't end horribly for her. I think that the Panther Narrative is very different from the others we've read because of this and also because it's not forcing its readers to believe something or feel a certain way. I think that also plays a part in the women's strength because reading the infanticide and execution narratives probably scared women half to death, and reading these might make them feel stronger and like they have the opportunity ti be independent.
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