Margaret Fuller's The Great Lawsuit: Man Vs. Women
1208 Words5 Pages
As a result of the educational opportunities and paternal support awarded to Margaret Fuller, she was able to recognize the gender inequalities prominent in 19th century colonial society; in her work, “The Great Lawsuit: Man versus Men. Woman versus Women,” Margaret Fuller inspires women’s liberation, by displaying tenets of Feminism, which continues to be appreciated in modern American society. Nineteenth century American society is a place where most present day women would not wish to live, particularly if they value their freedom and education. A woman’s place was clear, she was to remain domestic and restrained, a homemaker and caretaker (Gary, Faye, Linda M. Sigsby, and Doris Campbell 1). In a white-male dominated society, women subsisted…show more content… In turn, women are oppressed economically, politically, socially and psychologically. Fuller depicts a situation in which women are neglected, “… she does not hold property on equal terms with men; so that, if a husband dies without a will, the wife, instead of stepping at once into his place as head of the family, inherits only a part of his fortune, as if she were a child, or ward only, not an equal partner” (Fuller 750). This illustration displays economic and social oppression. The woman, instead of receiving aid after tragedy, is left in despair. Economically, she not only loses her supporter, but the rights to her husband’s assets as well. Socially, she is treated as equal with a child, not her husband and partner. Thus, encouraging the idea that woman is inferior to…show more content… She states, “the improvement in the education of girls is made by giving them gentlemen as teachers, who only teach what has been taught themselves at college, while methods and topics need revision for those new cases, which could better be made by those who had experienced the same wants” (Fuller 768). Fuller argues that girls should have male instructors because they are better educated themselves and in turn are better able to educate. She also declares that girls should receive the same education the male instructors received, allowing girls access to the same knowledge as boys. She writes, “Yet books have not been furnished, and a little elementary instruction been given in vain. Women are better aware how large and rich the universe is, not so easily blinded by the narrowness and partial view of a home circle” (Fuller 768). Fuller, as an educated woman, understood the importance of such education and believed that all women deserved the opportunity to receive an education equal to that provided to man.
Fuller urged, that just as the nation itself had been granted freedom, every member within it ought also to have their freedom (748). Freedom to attempt and achieve their full potential, regardless of gender. “We would have every arbitrary barrier thrown down. We would have every path laid open to woman as freely as to man” (Fuller 752). Fuller believes that nothing should prevent woman from accomplishing