In this pictorial illustrustion, Phillis Wheatley displays herself with the upmost care and thought. She expertly protrays her persona by exhibiting certain characteristics that directly address the very stringent stereotype that she was dealt in her society.  By dressing in a demur civilized manner Wheatley contradicts the negative image of barbaric, unintelligent, lacking knowledge of morals and the soul, and being a woman of ill repute.  Instead Wheatley is forcing her audience to acknowledge that her writings are valid and came directly from the cervices of her mind.  She places a book by her while she is scribing some literature on a piece of paper which indicates that Wheatley possesses the level of education that enables her to both read and write on a level superior to the standard that society dictates about her. She is focused on her work while addressing topics of morality and religious content. Refusing to come across as ignorant of her status, Wheatley addresses her master in a respectful way that only adds to her charm as a young woman of intelligence, modesty, and civilized manners. 

I am obnoxious to each carping tongue Who says my hand a needle better fits, A Poets pen all scorn I should thus wrong, For such despite they cast on Female wits: If what I do prove well, it won't advance,They'l say it's stoln, or else it was by chance —Anne Bradstreet, 1678

When Anne Bradstreet wrote these immortal words she penetrated to the heart of society and its standards. She addressed the issue of her feminality with a cunning poise that only a woman of excelled intellect could deliver. Realizing the obstacles and resistance she would face, Bradstreet did not beat around the bush but rather found the loop holes and walked right through them with grace. A society ruled by men influenced her boundaries of writing to the point where she felt pressed to say that she knows her literary works would be questioned about their validity, that her knowledge of words would be doubted, and most of all she would be judged and challenged about stepping over the line that defined her sphere of influence.  Her writings were vast and varied with subjects of the home, passionate love, God, nature, and so much more.  This opened the door for women, she pioneered for her fellow women to show them the beautiful world their God had created to be explored.  Yet, despite all her courageous acts in writing the times still required a man's approval to succeed.  Luckily for Bradstreet she acquired just that from various men who felt her works were worth supporting, which is what we see on this cover.  A man boasts of her accomplishments before revealing it is a collection of works from a gentle woman that has been deceased.  It is simultaneously encouraging and frustrating yet our country has come a long way to increase the recognition of women writers today.

 

Susan B. Anthony exemplifies the strength that women writers needed to be successful in the 19th century.  She was an economically independent woman who refused to remain silent in a male dominant society that told her women were not capable of having voice that mattered in politics because it was not their place to have an opinion in such matters because one must possess a mind that can reason beyond the boundaries of the home.  Anthony stood up for the things that mattered to her and proposed agruments that demanded mindful consideration from her male counterparts.  She defied the odds and it lead her to become a renowned speaker for causes like anti-slavery, women's suffrage, and the temperance movement all of which resulted in change due to the collective efforts of women like Anthony and the male supporters.  Not allowing the chains of society's mold for women to bind her down, Anthony emerged a woman who chose to be resilent from the blows she was dealt and lead a national movement.  I believe that due to the time period Anthony grew up in she was able to break out from the oppression in a more obvious manner than her earlier female writers which is most likely why we see larger results of her works.

When specifically looking at Anne Bradstreet’s writings, the reader may interpret her works of art two different ways.  One being that she honestly does not see herself to be worthy of a large acknowledgement of praise for her writing, or rather in my opinion, I believe her to be utilizing the opportunity that writing has given her to shrewdly exploit the irony of how society views her literature.  That is not to say that Bradstreet completely rejects her religious beliefs, in fact she speaks often of being humbled before the Lord, a trait that many Puritans sought after.  Rather, Bradstreet desired to expand her reader’s understanding of God.  By introducing topics of extreme passionate love for her husband and children, the struggles she faced when she lost her house, and the yearning desperation she had when thinking about leaving her family behind if she died was a very brave step to take in that time period.  This idea seems foreign today, but during Bradstreet’s time, this was almost blasphemous by allowing her family to become what society defined as an idol in her life.  Fear completely enveloped her reader’s minds when they were faced this contradiction to their way of life.  It was completely unheard of to read literature by a woman who was actually addressing the struggles that they were attempting everyday to stifle.  Her writing was dangerous to a society that was dictated and dominated by males who knew that educated women who thought for themselves and wrote about it were doomed to an immoral downfall.  This way of thinking is what made it necessary for Bradstreet to have the support of prominent men that could vouch for her.  There is no way to actually measure how much this restrained Bradstreet’s writing, but it laid the ground work for future women writers to build a powerhouse of intellect and imaginative literature.

Phillis Wheatley created something for the African American community that had long been shipped around like enslaved cattle, meant only to be beasts of burden, a means to an end, she created a voice.  It stirs up emotions of respect and awe in those who really knew the impact of her writings especially in the face of so much adversity.  Wheatley had to stand against three major prejudices in her time; she was a woman who was black and owned by a white man.  No one believed that she had to ability much less the right to progress past her lot in life, to raise her status on the social ladder and improve her present life.  Yet despite the odds Wheatley earned her manumissions through the power of her quill and paper.  Many people believed her to lack the skill of a poet, even Thomas Jefferson spoke of the inability of black people to know true poetry outside the box of misery they dwelled in and specifically addressed Wheatley to be nothing more than a being on this earth completely devoid of any possibility of being a poet herself.  She like many women authors needed the support of distinguished white supporters, which were mainly lead by men, to help cut through the red tape of society.  Wheatley had a unique story of a first-hand experience of the effects and damages of slavery that needed to be read.  Her accountants were often doubted due to the eloquence in which they were delivered to the general public because Wheatley defied the stereotype; she was a black woman who knew how to fastidiously address the issues of slavery through her words, her writing, and her thinking.  Wheatley broke the mold, she opened a crack in the door that would later bust open for later generations; she made a difference.