Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Women in the early nineteenth century were looked as solely delicate flowers by society. Flowers are Beautiful to look upon; simplistic in their design from the petals all the way down to their stems. For a man, using the flower as a metaphor was the perfect way to describe a women’s attributes given that time period. But, there was a novel by Franny Fern known as Ruth Hall, that shook the idea and made the harsh reality of a women’s oppression come into focus. Linda Grasso explored this topic further in her article, “ANGER IN THE HOUSE: FANNY FERN'S RUTH HALL AND THE REDRAWING OF EMOTIONAL BOUNDARIES IN MID-NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA.” The main idea of the article was how this book was trying to illustrate the frustration behind the masses anger. The general public looked at Franny Fern’s book as an insult to not just men but to her family. The author had put a lot of herself in the book (literally) and the general consensus was they felt that a woman had no right to be so upset and to lash out. For me I did agree with a lot that the article had to offer in reference to the story. But, while reading Ruth Hall for myself I feel that the author could have done it in a more eloquent way to execute her point. I mean, Fern had to get backup to keep bad press off of her and in Grasso’s article she mentioned that Stanton had to act as Franny Fern’s advocate. “Stanton draws a direct relationship between Fern's experience as an oppressed white woman and that of a slave's. Distressed that Ruth Hall received a "severe" review in the Anti- Slavery Standard, Stanton contends that Fern's story should be read as if it were a slave narrative. (255.) Instead of Franny Fern just plowing away and being brash she could have avoided all that. I think that the reason why it worked in favor for the womens movement was because they had to do major damage control. I would have to disagree with Linda Grasso’s article because yes, women have been depicted as dainty little flowers and Franny Fern wanted to make sure that everyone knew that though a flower is beautiful it can prick you. But instead of giving off that particular imagery she could have been describing the man eating plant from little shop of horrors. No one takes someone who wines and moans seriously. Franny Fern caused a ruckus, she was the obnoxious gadfly to stir everyone awake and see what was going on. Luckily, there were others to be at her side and fix it but at times having a loud mouth to every party could work in your favor.

Works Cited

Grasso, Linda. "ANGER IN THE HOUSE: FANNY FERN'S RUTH HALL AND THE REDRAWING OF EMOTIONAL BOUNDARIES IN MID-NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICA." JSTOR: Studies in the American Renaissance. Joel Myerson, 1995. Web. 2 July 2012.