Brooklyn & Give me Liberty or Give me Decadence? (weakness of body and mind))

[Mark Wright AIA]

Howdy

--- Terrance Flaherty <lycidas2 at earthlink.net> wrote:
....in Lawrence Stone's account, "extreme
> slimness, a pale complexion and slow languid movements, all of which
> were deliberately inculcated in the most expensive boarding schools"
> (Family 445). Weakness of body and mind seems to have given women
> greater sexual attractiveness by increasing the scope for male
> control. 
> 
> Besides the heroines' illnesses, their childlike qualities contribute
> directly to their attractiveness.

Is Dicken's David Copperfield some kind of critique of this ideal of
the feminine? Our hero unwisely chooses a child/wife, and their lives
are as blighted by her wan helplessness (& even, to be uncharitable,
uselessness) as they are by the general wickedness and duplicity around
them.

Mark

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards®
http://movies.yahoo.com/