Good Wives Sacrifice
“Reform was more than just another job, it was an important part of one’s self” - L. Marie Child
In the following excerpt, Marie Child details just how much a woman may need to sacrifice in order to be showcased as a ‘good wife’. Child depicts the life experience of one exemplary ‘good wife’, Lady Biron; she was defined by her relationship to the men in her life such as her husband and her father with little other identifying information. Child described Lady Biron with great brilliance through her intellect, motherly sacrifice, and womanly responsibility. After getting married, Lady Biron gave birth to two twin daughters. However, Child describes that with the birth, Lady Biron’s ‘brilliant intellect was obscured forever’. [1] She became delirious, and remained in this state without a cure. Her husband then devoted his whole life to her and their children. She continued to have children after her non-descript diagnosis. Child goes on to detail that although Lady Biron distempered in all other respects, she was able to maintain ‘perfect love and docility to her husband’.[2] Her husband treated her with the same respect in return. According to Child, their mutual love continued into eternity. Nearing the end of their lives together, Lady Biron ‘departed from his life’.[3] After a prayer and holy service, Lady Biron and her husband laid side by side and were buried in the same grave. Further, his death could have been perceived as utter heartbreak, ‘God in his mercy took them at once from the world, whose bitterest portion is a widowed heart’.[4]
From this description, Child is exemplifying the ideal relationship and sacrifice. Child highlights the intellectual sacrifice Lady Biron made for her family and husband. This sacrifice culminated in enduring love from both her husband and God. In order to more fully understand this expectation, the broader U.S. context and culture is essential in contextualizing Lady Biron’s actions. After increased immigration flow in the 1820s, reformers believed that these, “hordes of poor, religiously suspect aliens were one of several indications that America was changing rapidly, and that decent men and women had to act quickly to keep it on a morally true course”.[5] Consequently, Lady Biron is described as truly exhibiting the ideal qualities of a moral, good wife through her ability give her life for a strong and everlasting family. This narrative conveys a sense of importance a woman must place in childbearing and on her romantic relationships. True love can be achieved through traditional means and will lead to ultimate happiness and remembrance. This theme echoes the previous section, Religion and Age of Reforms, that focused on a way to refine the gifts of God. Lady Biron lived to her greatest gift of reproductive capability and traditional family values as defined by God as he bestowed upon her the glorious gift of childbirth. Consequently, one can infer that the religious values and expectations set in this narrative offer a desire to uphold the current cultural ideals rather than add to reformation and progress. In reflecting on Child’s motivations in sharing stories such as Lady Biron, she believed that, “reform was more than just another job, it was an important part of one’s self”.[6] Therefore, self-reflection and motivation were at the heart of her influential perspective. The audience must also understand that the Biron family had enough means and time to be able to bear three children and also affluent enough to sustain this type of lifestyle. Further, the lack of discussion of race and class assumes that the intended audience is of the white, middle class demographic. While this source material is limiting, the reader can also infer senses of percieved normality outside of societiy's diverse composition in reality. While these stereotypical perspectives are highlighted in the biographies, Child challenged the norm through sharing stories of the female experience.
[1]Child, Lydia Maria Francis. Biographies of good wives. New York: C.S. Francis, 1846. pg.51
[2] ibid., 52
[3] ibid., 52
[4] ibid., 52
[5] Walters, Ronald G., American Reformers: 1815-1860. New York: Hill and Wang, 1978. pg. 5
[6] Child, Lydia Maria Francis. Biographies of good wives. New York: C.S. Francis, 1846. pg. 53