a Giancotti
Dr. Bowman
October 11, 2017
Midterm Essay
“Title”
Have you ever thought about what it would be like to live as a woman in 1869? In John Stuart Mill’s The Subjection of women, he makes the argument of inequality between men and women. Mill deeply explains his beliefs throughout this book, and makes it clear that he is incredibly opposed to how women are treated during that time period. He believes that perfect equality between men and women will improve humans and bring them closer together. “The legal subordination of one sex to the other is wrong in itself” (Mill, page 1). He often compares the subordination of women to slavery in the sense that women and slaves are not treated very differently. In the text The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by himself, Douglass tells his life story about being a slave and the horrific experiences he encountered. In these two texts, there are clear connections between The Subjection of Women and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass that support Mill’s comparison of the suppression of women to slavery.
Mill argues how unjust marriage is in the second chapter of the text. He says marriage is a “destination appointed by society for women” (Mill, page 31). This statement is explaining that throughout a woman’s life, she knows that her goal when she is an adult is to become married, not because she desires to, but because that is what society expects of her. This process happens by a woman’s father “selling” her away to a man of his choice, and women have no choice in deciding who they will marry. Once a woman is married to her husband, she has absolutely no power and is completely under his control. Any property she owns now belongs to him, even if she owned it previously to the marriage. This also includes any income she has or is making. Women were also not allowed in politics, which included running for office and voting. On top of all of this, if they were to have any children in their marriage, the children were legally owned by the father. If the father were to die, she still would have no rights over the children unless he made her the legal guardian himself. He even had the ability to send them away after his death. If she ever wanted to leave her husband it would be very difficult. First, she would not be able to take anything with her. This includes the children and any belongings – they all belong to him now. Secondly, if the husband wanted her back he could either force her by law to come back or physically drag her back. Mill’s portrayal of marriage almost describes it as a legal bondage.
In Douglass’s life, he encounters many of the same problems that Mill explains. When Douglass is born, he is born into slavery and remains a slave for a huge part of his life. As a slave, he knows almost nothing about himself. Douglass recalls not being allowed to ask when his birthday is and wonders why the white children all know their birthdays. He knows very little about his identity, which includes not knowing for sure who his father is. Sadly, he is separated from his mother, who is also a slave, very early on in his life. She walks twelve miles at night just to see him, however, he only sees her about five times in his whole life. When she becomes sick Douglass is not allowed to go see her before she dies. This is an example of how few rights slaves had. If they were to run away from their owner, they could be hunted down and brought back for a cash reward. Slaves were to obey their masters and never betray them. This even included not saying anything negative about them. Slave owners kept their slaves uneducated as a tactic to keep them controlled. According to Douglass’s second owner Mr. Auld, if slaves were taught to read and write they “would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master” (Douglass, page 20). Douglass soon learns that slaves are kept uneducated because they would be harder to oppress if they knew how to read and write. Education would ultimately transform them from the easy to control “animals” they were, into untamable humans.
Unfortunately, slaves were actually treated just like animals. In politics, they did not even count as a “real” person and they could not vote. They were legally sold and bought by slaver owners, just like animals were. They would line up to be auctioned off, and there would be other animals such as cattle, pigs, and horses right beside them. When they were sold they would end up in many different places, and most of the time they were separated from their families. Once again, there is a clear theme of a legal bondage.
Looking at these examples from both texts, there is a resemblance between the two. First, just like when a woman gets married, and when a slave is sold, they lose almost all of their rights. Women are sold to their husband from their father and slaves are sold from owner to owner. Mill compares husbands to slave owners in the sense that they are both owners who have absolute power over who they own. Secondly, women and slaves are not allowed to vote or run for office. They have absolutely no place in politics. They are expected to fulfill their duties that they are asked to do and that is it. Thirdly, both have zero rights when it comes to their family, especially their children. Women, by law, have no ownership of their children. There is no way they could change any of that. Slaves are often split up from their families when they are sold. This is seen when Douglass is split up from his mother. “I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger” (Douglass, page 2). Douglass felt no remorse for his mother’s death because he barely even knew her. Her death was equivalent to a stranger dying.
A major topic in both the suppression of women and slavery is the lack of education. It would be a rare occasion for a slave to be educated. Frederick Douglass knew he was lucky to have the chance to learn how to read while he was a slave, but he had to sneak around to do so. When Douglass moves in with the Aulds, the wife Sophia begins to slowly teach him how to read. Soon after, her husband finds out and orders her to stop. He says, “if you teach that ni**er how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave” (Douglass, page 20). Slaves were not to be educated, and especially not by their masters. To learn, Douglass would do his daily errands of getting bread as quickly as possible so that the little white boys he became friends with could teach him how to read from his book. They would give him "bread of knowledge” (Douglass, page 23). In The Subjection of Women, Mill points out the difference in education between men and women. He tells his readers that women are kept away from most occupations and are discouraged from being educated. He then points out that this shouldn’t be happening because there is no mental difference between the two brains. They both have their strengths and weaknesses: male brains can work for longer periods of time, while female brains are very good under pressure and can perform quickly. No one has proven that women cannot accomplish what men can.
Clearly, women and slaves have a lot in common, but there are some differences between the two as well. If Mill’s description of women is analyzed deeper there is a view that the suppression of women may be worse than being a slave. Women are expected to maintain the household, which seems simple, but in reality it is not. This consists of taking care of the children, taking messages, cooking, keeping up a proper appearance, planning dinner parties, writing letters, planning evening parties, having morning visits, and tending to the overall needs of others. It is made clear to the wife that nothing she does for leisure is important enough to distract her from meeting the needs of others. When it comes to slavery, obviously they are treated very poorly as well, but there are some differences. Mill states, “but no slave is a slave to the same lengths” (Mill, page 33). Slaves have all kinds of tasks throughout the day, such as farming, sewing, and serving their master. However, unlike women, when they are finished with their task for the day they are done. They have time to go back to the place they live and rest on their own free time. This does not happen for women. Their job of meeting the needs of others continues around the clock, and if there is a chance to rest it can be easily interrupted. “Above all, a female slave has an admitted right, and is considered under a moral obligation, to refuse her master the last familiarity. Not so the wife: however brutal a tyrant she may unfortunately be chained to… he can claim from her and enforce the lowest degradation of a human being, that of being made the instrument of an animal” (Mill, page 33). This quote from The Subjection of Women clearly explains the difference between slaves and women. In the beginning, Mill tells us that slaves, even female ones, have the right to refuse their masters. However, women are never allowed to refuse their husbands, or any man at all. Men are allowed to treat these women however they would like and are also allowed to ask them to do anything they like with no refusal.
There is also a difference in the type of power women and slaves have over them. Men wanted more than just “slaves” for wives. They wanted women to believe that they were less than men in all aspects, so, society has made women believe they are the weaker sex since birth. Women have been brainwashed to “enslave their minds” in to believing they are the complete opposite of men. Men do this because “Men do not want solely the obedience of women, they want their sentiments” (Mill, page 15). Women are more likely to obey their husbands if they believe they are the weaker sex and have to rely on men. Men love the idea that women have to rely on them for almost everything. This makes the women “willing slaves” instead of “forced slaves”. However, in Douglass’s case, the power he has over him is enforced very differently. “The masters for all other slaves rely, for maintaining obedience, on fear” (Mill, page 15). Slave owners did not care for relationships with their slaves. Slaves were supposed to obey their masters, and to make sure that happened, most masters used fear to scare the slaves into cooperating. In Douglass’s narrative, he recalls his Aunt Hester being whipped for not following her master’s orders. “I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition. I was quite a child, but I well remember it” (Douglass, page 4). Clearly, Douglass’s first master wanted to prove his power over his slaves by torturing them. This tactic would keep other slaves from acting out because they would fear what he would do to them.
When these two texts are closely compared, it strengthens Mill’s arguments about the suppression of women. Douglass’s story accounts for many horrific and degrading experiences that slaves had to endure. After reading about these experiences, and then reading how Mill compares the suppression of women to slavery, it proves to his readers that women really were suffering in the time period of 1869. Fortunately, in today’s society slavery has been abolished and there have been major improvements in women's rights and the equality between women and men.