Respond to ONE of the following prompts.
1. In "The Introduction of the Sholes & Glidden Type-Writer, 1874," Christopher Keep sketches out the cultural context in which Dracula's readers would interpret Mina's self-training as a typist. How does this context affect your understanding of Mina's decision to learn type-writing, especially her sense of the possibilities and constraints of femininity? Be sure to quote from the Keep article and from Tuesday's reading (Ch. XVII - 24).
2.In this past week's reading (Ch. IX - XVI), which focused on Lucy's medical treatment, un-death, re-animation, and final death, we hear almost nothing from Lucy herself. Write a journal entry from her point of view, in her voice, about this part of the novel. Be as specific as possible -- touch base with an incident (or incidents) in the novel to ground your entry. You may take some liberties with her character, but don't turn her into a completely different person.
Mina’s decision to learn typewriting reflects what was told about her when we first met her. Our first inference on her character was that she desperately wanted to have freedom, but was too constrained by views of women at the time to do so. The article regarding the introduction of the type-writer said it was “first and foremost an agent of modernity.” Mina secretly wanted to be a modern woman, in terms of intellect, and the type-writer reflects that.
ReplyDeleteArticle essentially highlights the fact that the type-writer was an easy entrance to the workforce for women. “It helped not only to transform business practices at a time in which they were becoming more and more dependent on the transcription and management of printed matter, but contributed to the significant rise in the number of middle-class women who were able to enter the white-collar workforce.” The type-writer opened windows for women to be productive. Mina said this was a way to “help Jonathan,” but really it was a way for her to feel like she was doing something worthwhile.
Although this did offer some freedom to women, it came with restraints. Women were not paid as much as their male counterparts. Their positions were to be terminated if they married. The job offered no room for advancement. “Such strict terms of employment served not only to tamp down the fears of male clerks who felt that women would squeeze them out of jobs they had come to expect as their own, but to answer those critics who argued that paid employment would lure women from the higher moral responsibilities of matrimony and maternity.” Mina’s type-writing skills were like this in that she was learning a skill, but it was in order to help her husband.
Mina is able to put her talents with the type-writer to use, but does so transcribing a man’s journal. Her thoughts are not good enough to be transcribed, but Dr. Seward’s are. She is able to exercise freedom, but under a male’s watch.
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