I
really enjoyed Mr. Quigley’s presentation, and one of my favorite aspects was
his discussion of micro-history as a concept. The idea of using narrative to
make a greater point reminded me of Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried and his ideas of truer than true. In that
book, O’Brien suggests that many war stories that never happened are “truer
than true” largely because they reflect the greater realities of war, an idea
that seems quite similar to that of the pregnant principle of a micro-history.
I do think, however, that it is important to be careful with these
micro-histories, specifically in that they can often lose that pregnant
principle or become vehicles for ideas they do not truly reflect. I felt that
this was sometimes the case in Fanny Kemble’s story. While I felt that she
represented an excellent microcosm of the power struggle between the
Copperheads and Republicans and of American’s greater feelings about slavery, I
felt that her story failed in many ways when it came to feminism.
Perhaps
the most important piece of this failure to me was that Kemble often failed to
exist outside the patriarchal power structures of her time. She began her stage
career because her father needed help, she gave up her career as soon as she
married, and she refused to publish her journal for years due to loyalty
towards her former husband. Now, none of this is to diminish her formidable
accomplishments. Her ideas about slavery were interesting and important, and
her skill as a writer is clearly evident in her journal. One area where she did
seem to stand as someone especially interested in women’s issues was her
relationship with her husband. She seemed to feel that a large portion of the
problems in their relationship stemmed from his treatment of her as an
inferior, and seemed to clearly desire a more equal relationship. All that
said, I do not think she has any special resonance as a feminist icon.
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