Elsie’s Womanhood (Annotated)

He positively insists on equality between them: Good lord, he's saying that in front of his mom. Somehow, about eleven months after the wedding, Elsie's got an infant in her room. Graphic accounts of gunshot wounds? Totally cool by Mrs. Going on the baby's age, she must have been conceived in short order.

So all that wearing of white was a style choice. Finley has been foreshadowing the Civil War throughout, quite subtly, I find; this passage exemplifies her skill at it: Dinsmore; "shall I accept it? I have great confidence in your judgments. I thought I had heard you both say real estate was the safest of all investments. I bet there are a fair few homeowners today who wish they had Dinsmore and Travilla's crystal ball. T, Travilla's mother, gets sick and dies.

Elsie's Womanhood

My money's on metastatic, inoperable cancer; Mrs. T has a slow, painful decline, which diabetes really couldn't offer back in the day. Somewhere in all that, Elsie's pregnant again; she gives birth a week after her mother-in-law dies. Every time she has a kid, they treat her like she's breakable. Dinsmore lost Elsie senior yes, Elsie is the second in a line of three right after she gave birth at, oh gods, sixteen and two weeks. Compared to that, Travilla married an old maid. Childbirth and Elsie apparently don't get on well; she takes her sweet time recovering, and I'm getting a hint of post-partum depression from "You want change, daughter," Mr.

Dinsmore said, coming in one morning and finding her lying pale and languid on a sofa; "and we are all longing to have you at home. Do you feel equal to a drive over to the Oaks? So, too, does a subsequent trip to Europe. Somehow I don't think they'll ever see their plantations again. Just as well, though, because the Dinsmores and Travillas are all pro-Union.

They have family on both sides, which is heartbreaking, but they also have money out the ol' posterior, so Elsie can afford to lend a bit to the war effort and still be comfortable waiting out the war in Europe. The worst scare they have there is baby Elsie's seizure. Ignorance was bliss back then; Dinsmore's wife, Elsie's stepmother, blithely mentions that her sisters had seizures all the time as kids. Because the kid's a Dinsmore by blood, of course this seizure kicks off an illness, and of course the illness almost kills the baby.

Don't worry; the youngest Elsie has her own adventures waiting in future books. Elsie number two promptly makes another baby, just in case.

1. Der Barbier von Sevilla: Die Opern der Welt (German Edition).
2. Elsie's Womanhood by Martha Finley - Free Ebook!
3. Sonata - Score.
4. Product details.
5. Politische Bildung im Sachunterricht der Grundschule (German Edition).
6. Elsie Women's Refuge. () - People and organisations - Trove;
7. Handbook of Surface and Colloid Chemistry, Third Edition.

Meanwhile, back on the farm, Dinsmore's most decent sibling, Walter, goes to war and dies. But Elsie makes sure he's Saved! Nobody's spared in that respect, really; almost everyone we've met so far loses someone. Oh, and Dinsmore's actually upset over the Emancipation Proclamation because he's going to be poorer without his slaves.

Travilla has the bright idea to actually pay their people to work, though he's not entirely sure they'll take the money! Two years later, the war ends, everyone comes home, and we find out just how Walter bit it: Yeah, I know catches his death. Again, magical new baby! Miraculously, Viamede survives the war intact. I guess not selling before they went to Europe paid off.

Just as well, because everyone else's homes have been ravaged like Catherine Coulter's early heroines. We catch up with Dinsmore's kin. His father's a widower, his sister a widow twice over -- married two Confederates -- and oh yes: I like that she sticks up for herself as a surviving child when Dinsmore Senior!! By the end of the book, it's , Elsie's thirty-one as far as I know, and Travilla's as madly in love with her as ever. Of course he's not going to get fifty more years to tell her so, but he wishes for them anyway.

He's a real sweetheart. I should also, at some point, mention that he does have a first name Edward but I kept flashing back to Twilight every time I tried to use it, so he's stuck being Travilla to me. No review of this book is complete without at least mentioning the fact that it is a product of its time. Finley remembered the era of which she wrote -- this is the antebellum fantasy to end all antebellum fantasies. Attitudes we know are racist today were accepted then, though Elsie tries to treat her slaves as people within the confines of her worldview.

She works to reunite families where she can, and opines that such reunions are worth many thousands of dollars; in pre-Civil War terms, that must have sounded positively abolitionist.

Elsie's Womanhood by Martha Finley

Undone, of course, pages later: I like to think perhaps the characters are putting on a show and laughing behind their hands at all of those silly white people -- which may or may not fly in the face of history. Thank God the other ones are set well after Elsie Dinsmore, eternal figure of fun. Henry made fun of her, and now, so can I -- but I rib with love.

Like I said, I ship Elsie and her husband. I like this book best of the ones I've read; sure, it has a few too many B-plots, but if you ignore those which you can without losing much , this is a great little yarn. Feb 17, R.

Contributors

Gammon rated it it was ok. I think this is the one where the series started to go downhill for me. View all 3 comments. Don't ask me why. Feb 10, Amy Rae rated it did not like it Shelves: I picked up Elsie's Womanhood because I'd never read an Elsie Dinsmore book and felt like I should--and specifically because the summary for this book said she had babies in it, and I'm always here for marriage and babies. I figured this would be a duller Anne's House of Dreams , because what popular culture tells you about Elsie Dinsmore is this: Elsie Dinsmore is a goody-two-shoes Christian who always does the right thing and has very boring adventures.

If you check out Wikipedia's Elsie Dinsmo I picked up Elsie's Womanhood because I'd never read an Elsie Dinsmore book and felt like I should--and specifically because the summary for this book said she had babies in it, and I'm always here for marriage and babies. If you check out Wikipedia's Elsie Dinsmore in popular culture , you'll notice that she was shorthand in old Hollywood for naive young ladies.

I thought this meant I was getting into something didactic but ultimately bland. And the reason I was wrong is because of everything popular culture doesn't tell you about Elsie Dinsmore, starting with issue number one: Lucky me, I landed on the book in which the Civil War happens and Martha Finley's Reconstruction-era romanticism is in full flower.

Elsie Dinsmore, as mentioned, is a good young lady who always does the right thing--the problem being that the right thing is defined by a horrifyingly outdated set of morals that's presented as unimpeachable in its goodness.

You would be forgiven for being uncertain at first whether Elsie's family owns slaves or not, because they're consistently referenced in euphemism. Your confusion will probably be cleared up when she buys two more slaves over the course of the novel, and not a word goes to manumission.

The fact that she's purchased them, by the way, is proof of her righteousness in this book, because she's buying the husband and grandchild of her "mammy. What do you ask? Dinsmore's man John, Aunt Chloe, and Uncle Joe, went with them; and it was a continual feast for master and mistress to see the happiness of the poor old couple, especially when their grandchild Dinah, their only living descendant so far as they could learn, was added to the party; Elsie purchasing her, according to promise, as they passed through New Orleans on their return trip.

When she arrives at the Louisiana sugar plantation she owns and sees the overseer whipping a female slave, she's ready to fire him. Her father steps in with what's presented as good common sense, however: Dinsmore shook his head gravely. The sugar-making season will shortly begin; he understands the business thoroughly; we could not supply his place at a moment's notice, or probably in a number of months, and the whole crop would be lost. We must not be hasty or rash, but remember the Bible command, 'Let your moderation be known unto all men. Every scene at the sugar plantation is painful to sit through; it's full of dialogue straight out of a minstrel show and discussions of slaves as childlike "creatures" in desperate need of a white owner to guide them in all things: I turned it on 1.

The answer is "badly," obviously, but I needed the deets. She leans on the idea that the South probably would have gotten rid of slavery eventually, because as good Christians, they understood that their actions and godly consciences didn't align. However, because the North was pushy about it, the South dug its heels in as a natural, understandable consequence. It's typical "the South will rise again" claptrap, essentially, but you'd honestly be better off reading Gone with the Wind , because at least people tell Scarlett O'Hara off once in a while.

People who disagree with Elsie Dinsmore are straight-up villains; there's a dude in this book who keeps trying to kill her admittedly, that's not a great thing to do, but the way it's written is so dumb and ends up starving to death in Andersonville and presumably going to Hell as his ultimate punishment. But I'm getting off-track.

Biographies

So anyway, the Dinsmore family is over in Italy during the war, and when the Emancipation Proclamation is issued, they do at least tell the slaves they have there. The slaves then beg for reassurance that they'll still be able to stay with the Dinsmores, with one going so far as to weep over that hateful freedom Lincoln declared: Uncle Joe he sing an' jump an' praise de Lord, 'cause freedom come, but your ole mammy don't want no freedom; she can't go for to leave you, Miss Elsie, her bressed darlin' chile dat she been done take care ob ever since she born.

But even if you set aside the race issues, Elsie is terrifyingly submissive towards her father. Please don't speak so. I am as ready now as ever to obey your slightest behest. The undertones are creepy and incestuous, and they're Elsie-specific in a way that's never demonstrated towards Elsie's younger siblings. A major lesson in this book is that you should never break an oath, even when you were forced to swear it: D'ye hear," and he held the muzzle of his piece within a foot of her breast.

Every trace of color fled from her face, but she stood like a marble statue, without speech or motion of a muscle, her eyes looking straight into his with firm defiance. Better promise than die. But oh, papa dear, dear papa! I am sick, I am suffering; you will stay by me?

I perceive there has been some villainy practised upon you, and a promise extorted, which I shall not ask you to break; but rest assured, I shall keep guard over my precious one. This is resoundingly disturbing in context of Elsie's general submission to her father. I hate to pearl-clutch, but I genuinely find this sentiment dangerous to young girls potentially reading this. These books could easily be used to reinforce grooming and normalize inappropriate relationships between adults and children; the man she marries in this book tells her, "Ah!

I wish you were ten years older," in the first Elsie Dinsmore book, when she's eight years old. Even without active grooming, they reinforce a worldview in which girls should keep every promise they're forced to make and do whatever men in authority say. That's still an equation that provides ample opportunity for predators to take advantage of the morality on display in Finley's writing. As recently as nine years ago, there was an effort to repackage Elsie Dinsmore and various other characters into what was essentially a conservative American Girl line called A Life of Faith , featuring dolls, clothing, and somewhat updated books.

This series might not be mainstream anymore, but they're still considered classics in many conservative Christian homes. While A Life of Faith's publisher is out of business, the original books aren't out of print. And that's why this review is enormous. Because it's not enough to tell you that this book is racist, sexist, creepy, and--frankly--poorly written. We haven't even touched on how glurgy the death scenes are. I want to show everyone I know in hopes of keeping the Elsie Dinsmore books off of a few more little girls' bookshelves. Frankly, I think the books ought to be categorized as adult fiction in libraries these days; they're as worthy of study as any book that romanticizes the antebellum South, but I don't think they belong anywhere near their original target age group.

If you want a book full of real virtue and heart, please consider Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes instead. Sugar is also set on a sugar plantation in the deep South, but it provides a far less "Old Folks at Home" view of slavery and features a main character who's full of courage, compassion, curiosity, and determination. I'd much rather people read about her than Elsie any day.

And since I'm now morbidly obsessed with Elsie freaking Dinsmore, please enjoy some other articles and blog posts on how unsettling these books are: Jan 05, Tara Lynn rated it it was ok Shelves: I find that as I read or re-read classic literature from every age, my patience for certain topics or pieces has definitely increased with age. While I would never say I was a devout fan of any "ism", I would think that feminists, as well as people who believe in equality would have had a great deal of trouble reading this series.

I can understand the period in which the pieces were written; and that the limited experience of the author would have made it's mark on the novels. While I can find e I find that as I read or re-read classic literature from every age, my patience for certain topics or pieces has definitely increased with age. While I can find each story to be a sweet simple piece, perfectly suited to little girls, the constant references to "gentle and obedient darkies," and the long suffering piety of Elsie herself drive me to give it only three stars.

She seems so much less than what a normal girl of her age would have been, even given the constraints of upbringing and the period itself. Having read the earlier novels and seen the near-martyrdom she experienced at the hands of a self-absorbed and utterly fastidious father, I would almost say that I find her obedience to be less natural in form, and more acutely a symptom of PTSD. Rather like Melanie Wilkes, the unsung heroine of Gone With the Wind , the overwhelming gentle piety and good humor without any rancor in the face of all events is trying to the reader.

However, unlike Elsie, Melanie presents a great counterpoint to the other more volatile characters around her, allowing them to use her as a living conscience. Contributors Australian Women's Register. National Foundation for Australian Women Series: Dictionary of Sydney Trust Series: Women's Refuges Magazine, Her Story, copy, in ring bound folder, ca. Large format photographs, ca. Includes Collective Members , correspondence, ca.

Includes various issues of feminist magazines, posters, ephemera, government publications and financial papers BOX 8X Large format printed material including newsletters and story boards related to the history of Elsie Women's Refuge, ca. Series of large project boards with affixed photographs related to the history of Elsie Women's Refuge, ca. Lesbians - General Camp Women's Association newsheet, ca. Minutes, handouts, budgets and reports, general and personal correspondence, funding submissions, conferences, press releases, newsletters, campaigns BOX 20 Women's Abortion Action Campaign W.

Abortion Bill, Abortion letters - personal correspondence addressed to Hon C. New Zealand's feminist magazine, various issues including special editions, ca. Australian Women's Broadcasting Co-op A. Government Advertising and Media U. Melbourne Women's Liberation Newsletter, ca. Women's changing roles, Women and psychology, Women's Studies conference, Adelaide, Women and madness conference, Melbourne University, Women's health in a changing society, , notes, proceedings etc.

Magdeline Women's Magazines various incl. Sister and Join Hands ca. Various Socialist Feminist journals ca. Includes also various reports and working papers ca. Various leaflets, booklets and reports, ca. Including Vashti's Voice, Melbourne, ca ca. BOX 45 Women's Liberation miscellaneous files, ca. Mabel Collective papers ca. Publishers lists, Distribution, Reviews, United Associations - some newsletters cont. Women's Liberation booklets ca. Correspondence regarding speaking engagements I.

Domestic violence, Government statement L. Housing, Institutional criminology, media M. Women's Sociological Bulletin, ca. Including miscellaneous newspaper cuttings, and folders containing cuttings labelled: Articles are tipped onto plain sheets, indexed, and annotated.