The Characterization of Aunt Martha - Book Report/Review Example

17 May The Characterization of Aunt Martha Aunt Martha’s gender is of a lot of significance for the enlightenment, moderation, and empowerment of all women in general and the black women in particular. Aunt Martha was a firm believer of the intellectual equality of the women to men. She believed that women had all it takes to stand shoulder to shoulder with men in all walks of life. In her time, the role of women was limited to the boundaries of the home. Women were considered as men’s property, and they were supposed to take care of their husbands and women.

While this was essential for the sustenance of the family system in the society as well as good nurturing and up-bringing of the children, the American society was deprived of a huge intellectual base with the women restrained in homes. Aunt Martha placed emphasis upon the need to explore this intellectual resource, so that not only the society would benefit, but also the status and identity of the women in the society would change for the better. Aunt Martha wrote in her diary, “If ever I live and grow up, my one aim and concentrated purpose shall be and is to show that women can learn, can reason, can compete with men in the grand fields of literature and science and conjecture.

, that a woman can be a woman, and a true one, without having all her time engrossed in dress and society” (Martha cited in Jacob 372). Aunt Martha was aware of this potential in women because she saw the same potential in herself as a woman, which makes her gender very important in the work she did. Perhaps, she would not have been as confident about the women’s competency had she not been a woman herself. Aunt Martha challenged the view that women think differently from men, and are thus not suitable for tasks that require a man’s mind to be performed.

This can be assessed from this quote of hers, “One man's mind differs from another man's mind far more widely than all women's minds differ from all men's” (Martha cited in Jacob 372). Aunt Martha belonged to a family where daughters were not encouraged to seek education. This ignited the spark in Aunt Martha to cross all hurdles in her way to gain education. From her childhood, she was very frustrated and irritated with the perception that women very intellectually inferior to men. Aunt Martha had nine siblings in total, and she was the eldest of all.

Born to the family of Baltimore Quakers, there existed a sense of intellectual and spiritual equality between men and women in her family. However, in spite of this sense of equality, there still existed a strong perception that daughters were not to be educated. At the tender age of three years, Martha wanted to learn how to read, but her mother was reluctant to grant Martha her wish because of her belief in the dire consequences of educating daughters. With her quest for knowledge and education, Aunt Martha has achieved the status of a pioneer in the women’s education.

Her dedication reflects in the establishment of the Bryn Mawr institution as a center of excellence for learning. Throughout her life, Aunt Martha took several steps at different times for the betterment of women. In the year 1889, Aunt Martha together with Mary Gwinn and Mary Garrett offered the Johns Hopkins University Medical School a large gift in compensation for equal basis of admission for both women and men. Blacks have been a minority in the history of the US, and have seen tough times over the centuries.

They have been enslaved, stereotyped, and considered inferior in the predominantly White society. Aunt Martha was a White woman whose contributions changed the perceptions of the black people in general and black women in particular in the society. This meant a lot to the black community since they saw the support coming from a very unconventional source. Aunt Martha is one of the strongest and exemplary women in the history of the US. She has been the iconic image of the black people before the Civil War, and was a loyal and practicing Christian.

Aunt Martha was motherly towards people in general and was extremely civilized and cultured. Both her gender and her race are of extreme significance. Being a White woman, she not only struggled for the empowerment and education of the women in the society, but also proved that White people can be very sincere and empathetic towards the Black people. Works Cited: Jacob, Kathryn A. “Martha Carey Thomas, 1857-1935: Feminist and Pioneer Educator.” n.d. Web. 17 May 2012. .