Sunday, September 23, 2007
By the sweat of one's brow...or bro?
Ah, the power of the female mind! No offense, guys. But it stands to reason that one should be suitably impressed by someone who asked "How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" Mary Wollstonecraft asked this question, as I'm sure you know, and dared the women of her time to answer it for themselves. It was a bold move in 1792, but I think it is a question that, for all intents and purposes, seems timeless. What is she really asking here? Is it specific to women? Is the notion of a "rational being" limited to one sex or the other? No need to be politically correct here, it is far better to say what you really think. Just be sure to qualify your answer with relavant examples, either textual or personal. (300 words/35pts)
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I personally think Mary Wollstonecraft feels that women should be treated fairly and at the same time to exert themselves to receive their goods or things such as their rank. And I feel this quote is not just to women, however it might be in this text. When a women is married she is put at the rank of her husband. And this is the same with families. People are born into rich families and heirs. While others are born into poor families. This may not matter when they are young, but when someone grows older and more mature I think what they put out is what they should be judged by. In other words Mary Wollstonecraft question is how can a human be ranked or placed in a higher rank by something they did not put out for themselves and provide for. And no, rational being does not just apply to women it applies to all men and women. From my own personal experience I am happier when I reach a goal or put my work towards a task. Yes, sometimes I would like to just have everything I wanted and be seen as the greatest. But really at the same time this wouldn't be that great. People are ranked by what they do and how they do it today. But back then some people were just seen as what their husband did. Or even just given an upgrade in life for no reason. So I guess really the quote has changed over time because it applied more to women back then and more to everyone today. And I myself agree with Mary Wollstonecraft about how people should be treated fairly but should still exert themselves. Because really why should people just get what they want if they never really had to do anything for it.
"How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" Mary Wollstonecraft. I believe this statement speaks clear for itself. She wants to know how women, or anyone as a matter of fact, can increase in excellence, intelligence, and respect with something that they have not yet experienced. For example, how can any really understand what it feels like to lose someone close to them if they never really lost someone? How can someone know what it feels like to have cancer if they have never had it themselves? These are examples, but I do not think she meant with issues such as those. I believe that she wanted to say how can women really be respected or respect themselves if they have never got a proper education, are living ignorantly, and claim to understand and be able to do important tasks like the following: raise children, keep a household harmoniously happy, or do anything involving something they have not learned or experienced. She is saying that people are born either wealthy or deprived, man or woman, with a close family or one that is far apart. For example, someone can say they know what it is like to be rich, yet they were born rich. How can they really know what it is like if they’ve only experienced this because they came from a rich family? They know it from the beginning of their lives, but they have never really experienced getting to the top. It was just given to them by luck. Who can choose to be woman or man? No one, so the other will never fully know what it is like to be the opposite sex. How can men assume women will not be able to accomplish that of men? In her day, men did this and never gave women a chance as she explains in the following passage. “In tracing the causes that in my opinion, have degraded woman, I have confined my observations to such as universally act upon the morals and manners of the whole sex, and to me it appears clear, that they all spring from want of understanding. Whether this arises from a physical or accidental weakness of faculties, time alone can determine; for I shall not lay any great stress upon the example of a few women (Sappho…I wish to see women neither heroines nor brutes; but reasonable creatures.) who, from having received a masculine education, have acquired courage and resolution; I only contend that the men who have been placed in similar situations have acquired a similar character, I speak of bodies of men, and that men of genius and talents have started out of a class, in which women have never yet been placed.” I believe back in her day she was asking women about this because they mostly lived through others experiences, such as their husbands, instead of really knowing what life was all about. Others judged them by their marriage. This question does apply to all humans though, and makes the person reading it really think about the answer. Also, I do not think that being a “rational being” is limited to one gender. Men and women alike can be “rational”, or in the way Wollstonecraft describes a rational being, they can be treated equally. They can learn the same things, have the same jobs, and be judged the same. These rational beings will understand better through their encounters in life and really learn to appreciate what they have, while being treated the same no matter whether male or female.
Mary Wollstonecraft was obviously fed up with the attitude towards women at that time. She wanted to open up the eyes of the world and let everyone know that women are just as, if not more important and intelligent as men. Mary Wollstonecraft, as well as many other people, has this opinion that the minds of women are superior to the minds of men. Even though I am a woman, I very much disagree with this opinion. I think that the minds of men and women are the same and that everybody has the potential to be as smart and successful as they want, regardless of gender. The “rational being” in my opinion, is the most successful being. History has been dominated by males and honestly, I think the reason for that is because men can penetrate women. Men and women were made to reproduce and because men inherited a stronger build and women inherited the build to support children, people developed the mentality that women were to take care of the children and men were to provide for the family. Rape is also a factor in this. A man can sexually assault a woman and a woman can sexually assault a man, but because a man can impregnate a woman, this puts a different kind of pressure on the physical and mental health of women. As we all heard in Mr. Cervi’s class, it was not uncommon for men to beat women in the 17th century and this idea had been practiced way before and after this time period. Men were the “superior being” simply because they had muscle and they didn’t have to worry about producing children. As far as intellect goes, men and women are on the same page and I think they always will be. I give Mary Wollstonecraft kudos for helping everybody realize that women are just as valuable as men and for daring to say what many women were dying to scream at the male gender
“How can someone be exalted for something that they did not obtain on their own?” (as put into Katie language.) It is true that this is quite a powerful question. Though initially this statement may be meant to a women audience it does not stop there. I feel that there should be no difference between men and women except maybe some physical features. I can not stand when people tell me, “You can’t burp, you’re a girl!” or “You can’t spit, you’re a girl!” Just because I am female does not mean I didn’t drink soda at lunch! Also, when people find out that I, a girl, landscaped my dad’s entire office, they are stunned to find that a girl would handle such things. Such things as professions and the likes should not be decided upon what sex you are born as. And though many women may joke as so, how rational someone is does not pertain to what they were born with between their legs. (Sorry to be so blunt but it helps to get my point across.) In conclusion, just because they are boys doesn’t mean they are dumb.
I believe Mary Wollstonecraft was trying to stir up the self-awareness and intellectualism within women, rather than making an accusation towards women of her time in this particular quote. In, 1792, many women were fighting for their rights: their right to vote and the right to an education, along with many other things that were regarded only to be done by men. Wollstonecraft is questioning women’s justification to be considered intelligent and hold the name of virtue and respect. She sees some women as flighty, and describes “soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste” (in the introduction of “A Vindication of the Rights of Women”) to be characteristics of weakness. Wollstonecraft, however, was encouraging women to question their own actions in order to earn the respectable titles that they were fighting for. An example easier to grasp would be ‘how can you argue for the right to be considered smart, if, in fact, your actions do not prove it?’ Wollstonecraft principally aimed to awaken the rationality in women, who for centuries, had been walked all over by their male counterparts. I think she must have been very brave (or at least had a loud mouth) to be able to express her personal opinions on the injustices of how women are treated and the women that go along with it. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I would have the courage to speak out to this great extent, at a time when it was unacceptable for a woman to think for herself. Also, considering that people didn’t have much to do for entertainment except read, this must have angered quite a bit of people, especially men.
"How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?"
This quote reminds me of what my father always used to tell me. I come from a family where most of the women stayed at home and took care of the family instead of going and working for themselves. Once when he asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I told him I was going to be a mom, just like a woman should be. But he told me that I could be anything I want. I should not let my sex or age or any other factor that I cannot control stand in my way of doing what I want. That is what Mary Wollstonecraft is saying. Us as women cannot control that we are women. Our gender is predetermined. So how can we be held accountable for something that we cannot change? Our gender determines WHAT we are. It is our actions and exertions that determine WHO we are. But Mary Wollstonecraft is not speaking to men and telling them to give us equal rights; she is reminding women that we have to work just as hard as the men. At the time Wollstonecraft wrote this, women wanted equal rights. The right to vote, the right to own their own land, the right to an education, were all desired by the women of 1792. But women could not just sit by and have these things happen to them. They were going to have to work at their education, they were going to have to exert their energy into their land, and they were going to have to be educated in politics in order to vote. A rational being is any human that has the power to think for themselves, and they should not be judged on something that is predetermined; they should be judged on the exertions and accomplishments made in their life.
Well, after reading the quote, “How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?” by Mary Wollstonecraft, I knew right away that I would definitely be on www.dictionary.com to really understand what it was even saying. I decided to reword the quote like this: "How can a rational being be able to make somebody or something noble or more dignified by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" After looking at it like this, helped me a lot. Now I understand that Mary Wollstonecraft was asking, how can someone that thinks properly think that is it okay to make something seem more distinguished than something else if they don’t believe it themselves?
This question could be asked to anyone or anything. I do not think that is specified to women, because it could stand true for anyone. The notion of a “rational being” could be anyone because the word “rational” means to be able to think clearly and sensibly and depending on what your definition of what sensible thinking is, will change your views on the quote.
This quote reminds me a lot about me in school. A lot of people have high expectations of me because they know I am capable of doing things. But, until I prove myself and believe in myself that I can do it, no one, including myself can see me higher or more incapable than anyone else that doesn’t take that extra step in completing something.
Throughout history, women have been looked to be inferior to male figures. This is probably because a lot of women do not want to step “out of their place”. However, like Mary Wollstonecraft is trying to explain, no one is going to give anyone credit for anything that they didn’t earn by their own actions.
I think that even though Mary Wollstonecraft was a huge women's rights supporter, she still meant for "rational being" to be applied to both men and women. After reading A Vindication of the Rights of Women (yes, I did read it already because I thought it was due on Monday!) it was clear that Wollstonecraft wasn't trying to prove the point that ALL men are pigs... after all, she included lots of direct quotes from philosophers that were men. I don't think that you have to be a certain sex to be "rational" either- there have been plenty of people throughout history that can be considered rational from both sexes. I just think it's impossible to be "rational" all of the time. Even Mary Wollstonecraft kind of got crazy/carried away with some of the arguments she was making in "A Vindication." Besides that, I think she was most interested in people living up to their standards and rights as human beings. She went up a hard ladder and took her activism one step at a time (A PUN! sorry mike henry:)- an exertion that she completed with her own hard work. The point she was trying to prove was that people should be happy because of the accomplishments THEY made, not the accomplishments someone fulfilled for them. In other words, the hard work pays off. I would have to agree with Mary Wollstonecraft because she followed this philosophy and seemed to achieve success from it- "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" became very well-known and obviously must be SOMEWHAT important if we are reading it in Room 204. And Wollstonecraft is a really, really weird last name.
Mary Wollstonecraft: Feminist Extraordinaire.
Actually, I don't think Mary's quote is overly feminist. I mean, way back then she probably got forty lashes for it (by anyone intelligent enough to decipher its meaning), but when applied to today's society, I think it makes perfect sense and should pertain everyone. I never was an overly feminist person myself. Female peers- don't beat me; but I think most of today's "feminist issues" are brought about by women themselves. Excuse me for being a tad raunchy, but I think that anyone who allows oneself to be advertised half-naked (or in some cases, the whole ten yards) and DOESN'T expect to be treated differently is just plain silly. People such as Christina Aguilera or everyone's favorite Paris Hilton are exactly what they make themselves out to be, and I don't feel one bit sorry for them when they're labeled "slut", "whore", or any other diction only allowed on Jerry Springer. Not only are these people..."inappropriate" visually, they set bad examples in their manners. I don't mean they don't say their "please" and "thank-yous" every once in a while. I mean these people, as do many other rich-for-reasons-I-cannot-explain people, rarely see the need to DO things for themselves. "Fetch me my water!" "Bring me the newspaper!" Why bother living life themselves? They have oodles of money that can do that for them! Even in our own beloved AP classes (snickers), it is not uncommon to hear "Did you do your homework? I need it." Then the student borrows the homework for the Designated Nerd and quickly copies it unto his or her own paper and hands it in, acting as if he/she was up all night doing the work [as the Designated Nerd plots revenge in the corner...] But, that doesn't help come test time- for the student now doesn't know the information because he didn't take the time to do his/her own homework. Listen, peers: I know this was an incredibly long and painful blog to get through, but all I'm trying to say is, in agreement to M.W., do stuff on your own. Accomplish your own victories. Life seems a bit more purposeful that way.
P.S.: I am not a suck-up. : )
***borrows the homework FROM the Designated Nerd
TYPO ON BLOG --- sorry!
When I initially read the question I thought it was basically asking why people earn noble status when they don’t deserve it or don‘t work for it. For example, if you are born into a royal family, by birth you are automatically considered royalty yourself. Yet in this same time period there are so many struggling people that work day in and day out to try for the opportunity to increase their social rank. While this ideal was relevant in 1792, it still is today. We still see people who have absolutely no special talent that are born into rich, famous families who receive the same degree of publicity for what? Nothing. Most of the time, these people are worse off than the average person and would do anything to be in the lime light.
This question is not overly feminist, but that could be due to the fact that today women are more accepted as equals than in the eighteenth century. At the time this was released, I’m sure it provided much drama and speculation over whether women deserved the rights that men had been enjoying for years and years. Yet, I’m sure that others, women especially, had these same thoughts but were not bold enough to publish them. This question can be boiled down to the simple question- is it right to take something, or credit for it, if you haven’t worked for it? Today we believe that just being here entitles us to something, which is very different from the eighteenth century. Now people fight over the government’s money and complain about unemployment, when I believe Mary Wollstonecraft is really asking if those unemployed deserve anything. She is implying that we should have to work for what we get. In the eighteenth century though, the women were fighting for their freedoms as equals. Women were perceived as the inferior sex and I think that in the time this was written, the intent was to help women out and explain that women deserve things too, but as time has progressed, men, too, could be incorporated in her question. In 1792, this question dealt merely with the rights that Mary Wollstonecraft believed all women should have and today it can encompass bigger issues that include both sexes.
This question is one that plagues everyone from the 1700s to today, and im sure that this will still be a big issue into the future. this question is even more known now because of the fact that there is a woman who is attempting. For me it's not a fact that women aren't as smart as men because many great thinkers of the past are women. during world war 2 when all the men were out getting shot at all the women of the country helped to keep the country working. Also women were the people who trained male fighter pilots. Women can be just as strong as men they just have to work for it. Not that long ago the first women firefighter was introduced into the atlantic city fire department. Women aren't weak and aren't stupid. the're are as good as any man and if not better. The only thing that women have against them is the fact that they could become pregnent. that's why it's almost impossible for women to become CEOs and such for large corperations. Women have the same if not better traits then men.
“How can a rational being be ennobled by anything that is not obtained by its own exertions?”
-Mary Wollstonecraft
When I first read this quote I thought of my grandmother. She was a women who grew up in the time period where women didn’t work, but simply cooked, cleaned, and had kids. What if one day she stood up for what she believed in and went and pursued her dreams? The thought of doing that never even crossed the minds of women during that period. I believe this quote is saying that women can not expect to change things or give themselves power or self respect, without exerting themselves. Women during that time period were treated unfairly and had no idea. They had no idea that they could have rights and ideas, and that they could even have a say in things. But without saying anything and standing up for what they want or what they believe in, nothing will change. You can’t wait for someone else to step up and do it. I have learned that over the years, depending on people is not such a good idea. Like in soccer, you can’t let your mark run by and expect your defenders or goalie to pick her up. It is amazing to see the change of the roles of women over the years. They went from housewives, to business women of power. They are obtaining high ranked jobs, and they are doing it with a force. I believe this force is like a challenge. The world everyday challenges women, already assuming we are going to fail because of her sex. Well look out world because the women are stepping up and taking the control we deserve to have.
"How can anyone be rewarded for the things they have not worked hard to achieve?" is what I translate this to. I don't believe that Mary Wollstonecraft meant for this to be specifically meant for women, but even in today's times women have to work harder then men in some cases. Everyday, women are subjected to the verbal harrassment of hearing how the masculine community rises above us and we have to work ten thousand times harder than usual. In one of my fellow peer's blogs, she stated that she does not feel bad when a celebrity is branded with the term "slut" or whore." I completely agree. Women for centuries have had to earn the respect that we are given today and they ruin it. By wearing tasteless outfits and participating in illegal activities, it gives women a bad name. Even though celebrities are a small amount of our population, they are the most noticed and the biggest role models. Our future generations of women are growing up into a world where these are the women that we have to admire. When Mary Wollstonecraft wrote this, she meant that we have to work hard for our achievements. Why should we look up to the people that do nothing for the money they make and then give women a bad name? To reach your own goals, you get a sense of satisfaction. I know that when I finish a big project and recieve a good grade, it brightens up my day. How can someone go through life having everything just given to them? Where is the life lesson? They go through time learning nothing and making no mistakes. Living a life like this is incomplete. You need to make mistakes to learn from them and work harder to gain the pride and self confidence that you have for yourself. I believe that this is why M.W wrote this. So that women, and men, can know that we should not just be given all the answers in life. We should complete the tasks ourselves and eventually we will be rewarded for it.
The first time I read that quote, I was a bit confused. I guess there were too many distractions in my house. But once I cleared my mind, I figured out what I thought this quote meant. To me, women shouldn't be treated any differently because they're women. They can't help that they're women, that's just the way god planned it. I believe that is a song title by a doo wop band that was made some time in the 50's. Anyway, back on the matter at hand. But, this quote isn't just for women. As a matter of fact, this quote could be used for anyone or anything. I feel that women should have the same opportunities as men and shouldn't be belittled and degraded. However, in today's society, many things that women do go unnoticed. For example, the WNBA. Does anyone really watch that? Also, USA's women's national team. They advertise themselves as "The Best Team You Never Heard Of." They're basically stating that they know, that no one knows about them. Although they aren't getting nearly as much publicity and fame as men do, they still play because they love what they do. This goes to show that, even though women achieve great success, they still don't get the same recognition as men.
I don't think that this quote is restricted solely to women. I do think that during the time period in question, the 1790s, when women were, according to popular belief, best suited as little more than tidy broodmares, the quote was applicable to women. Any recognition, money, fame - anything, really - the household obtained was accountable to the man. Of course, men were "ennobled" by this. It was cliche for the time period - women would stay home and do the work while men walked around in a continuous state of being enamored with themselves. That being said, I do not think that is what things are like today. Today, in a time period where you "choose your own destiny," as someone so aptly put it, that someone being quoted about a million times over within my life span at least, women and men equally can do just that - choose what their exertions are. It is up to those men and women the choice is given to to do it - to exert themselves and thus be ennobled by what they accomplish. Unfortunately what happens is that we as people - men and women - often choose to exert other things, such as our power over others, to accomplish work we in turn will feel ennobled by. I am reminded of middle school here. I was always the nerdy girl. I'm not even going to lie here. I was always the smart kid who did all her homework and got all A's, and in turn I was always the girl who was not-so-subtly (honestly, the kids in some of my classes thought they were so smooth when it was PAINFULLY OBVIOUS TO THE WORLD THAT EVERYONE COULD HEAR THEM) whispered to, "Hey. Em. Did you do your homework? I NEED IT..." I would grit my teeth and, more likely than not, not hand it over. I always hated the notion of my work being pirated for some idiot's gain. I told myself I would never be like that. The first time I ever copied a homework (math. It was always math I didn't finish, math I had trouble with) assignment was my freshman year. It was like a sugar high - first the initial ecstacy of getting it done on time, and then I crashed. I crashed and burned. I was whirled back to the time sitting in GEPA Math or Reading telling the Johns and Matts and Katies of the world no, you cannot copy my homework, it is mine and I did it, and I was ashamed of myself. I rarely copy homework now. (A math assignment here and there.) Maybe it's because I have no life and do all my homework at home (har har), but I would like to think it's because I believe in what Mary Wollstonecroft is trying to say in this quote.
I have read all your comments at length, and what I can say, unequivocally, is this: The 204 AP Langers rock my socks!
Seriously, your comments thus far have been reflective, insightful and cogent, and I could not be prouder of you all! Well done, pumpkins!!!
"How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" This statement quoted by Mary Wollstonecraft, in simple terms, is generally questioning how women can allow themselves to live with limits given by others, in particular men. How are they able to settle with only reaching for the stars if they could easily touch them if the opportinities were permitted by society. In Wollstonecraft's case, I believe that she is referring specifically to women, being that during this time the injust treatment of females to gain social and political power remained a battle. Her point in this question was to make readers ponder upon why something like this stood as a struggle if women were at the very least as competant as men. Women fought endlessly to acquire eqaul rights with men, and they also believed that these rights should have been given to them in the first place. It is crucial for women in todays society to apply themselves in all that they do and strive to make the world better than it was when rights were not equal. It is safe to say, however, that our world has benefited greatly from the brilliance of females, and we would not be half as far without their knowledge and ability. Women have made an outstanding comeback in society since this quote was accurate, and they continue to prove themselves more and more. In the grand scheme of things, Mary Wollstonecraft makes the point that if women go out and conquer what they are doubted on, they will recieve respect and honor from every member of society in return, and we can all agree that they have been doing a pretty fine job so far.
I think Mary is simply saying that you must earn any degree of status or nobility. Just because you're a man shouldn't mean that you are automatically considered just, noble or great. This is also true for women. No one should be looked up to or looked down upon unless the judgments are based upon the person's actions or choices. This doesn't just apply to women, and it doesn't just apply to gender. No race, social class, or family name is inherently better than another. It's what you do with your life that matters, not what you were born into. In essence, you are defined by the things that you do. Although Paris Hilton’s father had to work hard to make his life the way it is, Paris herself is lazy and for the most part unsuccessful. Since she didn’t earn the money she has herself, it means that she doesn’t deserve the nobility that comes with having so much money. On a smaller scale, cheating on a test and getting a 100 does not make you smart. It makes you a cheater. At the same time, if your whole family or algebra 2 class cheats, it does not make you one. No one, not even you, can call you a cheater if you didn’t cheat. Don’t let your actions conform to a given label; let your label conform to your actions. If you act like a slacker, you should be called a slacker. If you keep high moral standards, you should be called a moral person. This quote denounces stereotypes. We assume that because a certain appearance means that you will have a certain quality. Mary says that these assumptions are wrong. The quality comes from the actions of a person, regardless of whether or not their appearance fits the quality.
Mary Wollstonecraft was very critical both toward men and women of her time. I have no doubt that she directed to both sexes. She saw the problem that women faced in the late 18th century a result of male and female contributions.
This reminds me of Henry David Thoreau’s quote, “The student who secures his coveted leisure and retirement by systematically shirking any labor necessary to man obtains an ignoble and unprofitable leisure, defrauding himself of the experience which alone can make leisure fruitful.” It is by our own work that we enjoy and receive the benefits of work. Emily Brill mentioned cheating (or the euphemism “homework copying”) as an example of Wollstonecraft’s idea. First, you don’t actually gain any knowledge from cheating, you actually cheat yourself. Second, you can’t take any praise for the work which you cheated off of, it’s not your. If you did, you would feel ashamed. Only by the sweat of your own brow (metonymy I believe) can truly ennoble you.
Mary, if I may call her, wrote primarily to women and called them to step up. She wanted women to acquire their own virtues, virtues that men even seemed to lack. She asks how often we find men of superior ability. Although this doesn’t really apply to our time, as Brill put it, we can make our own destiny, but in the 1790s, this was a big deal. Men were seen as better just because of their gender. But men never needed to be much better because necessity didn’t require it. So she asked why women can’t step it up a notch. It was a feeble voice in a masculine society, but you can hear it reverberate today. If men were taught by their mothers wouldn’t it also benefit the men to have educated wives? And the women could most certainly learn, as Nicholae said, women are no different than men in some respects; they were just women because God made them that way.
I believe Wollstonecraft meant this line for everyone, although men don’t fit the line too well. I see the argument that men were just more privileged in social sense, but men at the time and today still obtain their own virtues. Women, at this time, were merely tools for the household or made men their tools for life. Rarely did a woman have the ability to learn such as men and truly make their own decisions. But there lied the problem. Although men were no more superior in ability, they had the opportunity to work for their virtues and their life. Women could, but it was not the norm, nor was it easy. They were underprivileged but they still could succeed. And all what Wollstonecraft was asking was for women to take life by the horns and live a little more of a man’s life. And now in the year 2007, although women are still receiving less than men, the equality of the two sexes would please this author.
After reading this question, I realized that I needed to break it down. I always work better when I know exactly what a question is asking. Once my observations were clear, and I knew what I was reading, after going to (www.dictionary.com), I was ready. In actuality, Mary Wollstonecraft directed her statement to both sexes, not necessarily only to women. I observed that she also meant that you must work hard for everything. In this time, I believe women had to work much harder than men though. Even today, there has yet to be a female president. I strongly believe the reason behind this is because nobody wants a woman being in charge. Although having a woman as a president would be a distinguishing factor, this is something people don't even want to imagine. Gradually, over time, it seems as though men think less of women. Women can't be smarter than them, of women can't be in charge of something. This needs to change soon, especially because it directly led me to think of a situation with my uncle and me a few years ago. One day, while going to my grandmother’s house with my uncle, I realized we were driving really fast. In the rearview mirror and behind me I saw flashing lights; a police officer. My uncle pulled the car over as he waited for the police officer to approach his car. Once the officer stepped out, it was a woman. My uncle muttered, "It's a bi*ch cop!" At first, it seemed funny because when I was younger, I thought curse words were funny. However, now that I realize how he meant it, I am led to believe that even a family member of mine thinks less of women. This discourages me when I think of the future and women. If women have been going through this for hundreds of years, what makes me think it'll stop now? It won't. I don't understand why nothing is being done about it.
In addition, I believe hard work should be glorified. Well, maybe not the word glorified, maybe honored and recognized? That's better. Anyway, this refers to all human beings she's letting everyone know how important it is to be a hard worker. This also brings back memories to when I was in about the 4th grade. A boy wanted to cheat off my test and I said no. He only had two questions left, and I had the desired answers. After I had already said no to him, he decided I guess that I couldn't say no to him because girls are less than boys. He took it upon himself to pretend he needed a tissue and a drink and constantly walked by me and my test. He peered over my shoulder and I tried to cover my paper. It was too late. The next day, my teacher went over that answers in class. He and I were the only ones in the entire class that got all the problems right. However, there was one hard question. That was the one the boy cheated with. My teacher gave him a homework pass and a good phone call home because of it...To this day, I still don't know why I never received a good phone call home. I think it was because I am a girl. He was ennobled because of his fake hard work, when the real winner stood in the background, not saying a word.
577 words. ANOTHER PROUD NIGHT =) AND GUESS WHAT, IN 16 MINUTES, IT'S GONNA BE MY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY WITH AJ!!
LOL.
Mary Wollstonecraft once asked the question "How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" As I read this quote over and over again I couldn’t fully understand it. Until I finally decided to pull out a dictionary and look over the words I was not completely sure of to see if I could get another meaning out of the question. After rereading this question and putting the definitions I looked up into the quote, I finally understood the point she was making.
I believe that Mary wrote this quote for the women to become respected for the humans that they are. She is making the point that people have to earn there respect by the efforts they make. If feel that the point she is making is that women during this time did not get the respect men got even if they did the same thing that a man would do. Even though we have gone through the women’s suffrage and now women have the right to vote and are becoming equal to men, in reality they are still as highly honored.
When people go to watch sporting events they do not usually go to watch the women play, they usually go to watch the men. Even though, the men and women might be playing the same game and enduring the same pain, people still honor the males more. Although this reference is about England it stills holds truth. My soccer trainer is from England and at practice the other day someone mentioned the soccer game they were watching on television how the America’s women team was beating England’s women team. His comment was that in England no one cares about women’s soccer, men take all the priority over in England. I feel that reference proves my point, that although, women and men may be doing the same task or playing the same game or putting out the same effort to accomplish something men get honored more. And her question is basically saying that any human should be honored if they put effort into a task. Even though, women put effort into tasks they do not always get the respect they should.
"How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" At first I thought about men and how many of them were raised in a wealthy family and given the chance that woman and even other men couldn’t to rise in rank. But then many men were able to accomplish more than what a woman could because of chance and opportunity. And Wollstonecraft was right, how can someone rank themselves if they don’t have the opportunity? I believe, want us to know that women in that century could not higher themselves in their community. Women were married off to a man and if lucky she was married to a rich and well known man. Unlike men, women weren’t allowed to have proper education nor get a well paying job. They were denounced to house chores and baring their husband’s children. I think that Wollstonecraft was trying to say that how women were suppose to get a rank if they can’t put any of their own effort into it? This was difficult back in the time for them; they were ranked from the husbands their families chose them and receive the rank that he brings along. Wollstonecraft didn’t think that a person being born from a wealthy family should deserve a high rank especially since women weren’t allowed to get an education. She believed that women were smart enough and had the intelligence, but they weren’t raised up to use their intelligence. Instead they were brought up to be beautiful and marry a man that was believed to have wealth. Today women are now allowed to do what they weren’t able to back in the days. I agree with Wollstonecraft that women can obtain their own rank in society without the help of men and maybe even more. Wollstonecraft believed that women could do more and maybe better than what a man could, if given the chance to blossom.
I think that Mary Wollstonecraft is asking people how someone can be acknowledged for something that they didn’t accomplish. Especially back in 1792, people were ranked by their family’s status and not by what they had accomplished themselves. It wouldn’t matter how great the actual person was, but if they were born into a rich family then they were considered “high status.” I also think that she is referring to how women were ranked according to their husbands. If their husbands were high in society, then they earned a high place in society for doing absolutely nothing. Their opinions didn’t matter and they didn’t accomplish anything to get where they were. I don’t think that this question is directed specifically towards women. I think that the question was directed towards both sexes to make them think about whether the way they lived was ethical. I think she specifically had women answer the question because she wanted to see how they’d feel because they were the ones that were being acknowledged for doing nothing. I think that men could quite as easily have an opinion, but I think that they’d have an opposite opinion as women. The women that had rich husbands would say that there is nothing wrong with being ennobled by something that they didn’t obtain by their own exertions. I think the men though would say that people should only be acknowledged for what they eared themselves. I think Wollstonecraft knew the answers that she’d get and wanted to open people’s eyes to what was actually going on at the time. The women she asked might also have said that people shouldn’t be acknowledged for what they didn’t accomplish, which would verify her thoughts. I don’t think that the notion of a “rational being” should be limited to one sex because it wasn’t just women who were recognized for not doing anything. Yes, they were given acknowledgement and an upper hand if they were married to a good husband, but people who are born into these families also have the upper hand. Men who are born into rich families were also given an upper hand compared to someone who was born into a common or poor family.
"How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?"
I'm not going to lie, when I first read this quote by Mary Wollstonecraft I couldn't grasp what she was stating. But instead of frantically searching on the internet for a thought out, typed written answer somewhere out in computer land I decided to make my own view, which is really the main objective to this blog.
After analyzing this quote and thinking of how I wanted to say what I'm thinking I realized that this statement is very powerful. Ms. Wollstonecraft implied this statement to women, but also implying that just because you're a man doesn't justify your nobility and profoundness over a women. At the same time, women shouldn't be viewed as the lesser or weaker of the two genders. I think Mary's reason for writing this was a reflection of how times where in the late 1700s, implying her writing towards women's views. Generally, men were the ones who worked and earned money for the family and women merely existed to make babies and take care of the home. Women weren't look upon as becoming successful and running their lives for themselves.
I relate this to politics. Has their ever been a female president? Better yet, has their ever been a black, female president? Just as in Mary Wollstonecraft's time, today women are still well under men in social class.
--And by the way I was just reading my other classmates blogs and I'm just saying now that I didn't copy Amber's little point on female presidency. I seriously was thinking about that when I first read what our topic was about and didn't notice it until now. But it's kinda cool because I feel the same way as her.
I can also recall a personal experience of mine when I was in the car driving with my sister, Jamie. We were at a Phillies game and we still needed to purchase tickets. So Jamie thought she might get a good deal buying some off of the guys selling them on the street outside. So we walked up to this one guy and we said we needed two tickets and asked him how much he would sell them to us for. He came up with some ridiculous number, thinking two girls wouldn't know how much he actually paid for these tickets. But my sister is not stupid and she said, "Yeah never mind, I know how much they really cost and hey aren't that much money." The man was looking down to us, women, thinking he could take advantage.
Anywho, Mary sums up everyone's life in a nutshell. I personally don't think it's fair that women are looked down upon but we still see it everyday.
This is a bold statement by Mary, especially for her time. She wants people to open our eyes and see that gender shouldn't make a difference how you are treated. Also though, I don't think she is limiting it to just females. I'm sure if in a situation a male was being treated unfairly, she would still stand her ground with that statement. Both genders suffer from this all the time. For females there is always the "woman shouldn't drive" and its ten times worse being a blonde female. For males it might not exactly be large direct things but things like "girls night." Little things like this matter. When have you ever seen "guys get in for free tonight?" So Mary isn't just targeting one sex she is covering both. Until we due away with this ignorance of eachother maybe we could all be equal.
I think Mary is really asking how someone can be distinguished for something they didn’t work to get. Of course this isn’t just specific to woman because men are the main one’s distinguished for things they had put no effort into. I do think she wants women to realize that we do have to sometimes work twice as hard and not to except the role we are handed and go the extra mile. But all people in general despite age, race, and sexuality may accept certain exertions that they themselves have not obtained. For instance not only in school even in the work force there our times when working on group projects someone may try to skate through and later take all the credit for work they didn’t contribute to. Back then I think she just wanted to prove the point that men sometimes receive credit for things that really they had no role in, for the simple fact that their men. Like when a man gets a job over a woman because he’s a man even though that woman may have been far more qualified he was given the job just because he had a y chromosome. So she wants woman to always work for what ever goal they so deserve so that no matter what they can never be denied what is rightfully theirs.
Why hasn’t there been a female president? Why did it take awhile before women could vote? Why are people shocked when there’s a female chairman or ambassador of some sort? These are all question that are constantly being asked but, yet us as Americans are looked upon as one of the non-discriminating and equal nations. There are many countries such as Sri lanka, India, Israel and The Untied Kingdom that have had women lead there countries and still uphold the task just as good or even better than a male.
“"How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" - Mary Wollstonecraft
So what is Mary Wollstonecraft actually saying? Well you know there’s different people so that means different opinions. In my opinion what Mary is trying to make of relevance to the reader is that how can someone whether female or male be placed in whatever position (in most cases good) they are if they have never experience what it may have taken to get there. Another way that I perceive the quote is that how can one be judged (especially women)on what they can or cannot do if they are not given a chance to try it themselves. For example, I was watching something on television one night, if I recall it was on ESPN and there was this young lady about seventeen in high school and she played football. Of course she was the only girl on the whole football team and I’m sure in the state to be playing on a J.V level but being that girls “can’t play football” she was constantly picked on and so forth. The point that I am trying to get across here is that she played a sport that isn’t suppose to played by girls and did just as good or better than the males on her team.
In my opinion, females are capable of accomplish the same things that males can accomplish and because we are said not to be able to do it when we are given the chance we do it even better.
Mary Wollstonecraft’s quote is referring to not just to women, but to men also. This quote needs to be broken down and replaced with simpler terms for easier comprehension. “How can a rational person be made noble by anything that is not obtained by his/her own exertions?” Wollstonecraft is trying to make a point that women should not be made noble just because of the fact they are women. The same logical meaning can also be applied for men. In essence, I think this quotation is trying to ask what separates a man from a women in terms of potential to succeed? I think both genders both deserve the same opportunities, regardless if they have a penis or a vagina. No one gender is superior; therefore everyone deserves an equal opportunity to succeed. Back when this quote was written, women did not have the same rights as men. Women were used for baby making. They were not required to go to school, earn a degree and make money for the family. Look how different it is in the today’s word. It is not all that rare to find women who have raised a family by herself. My parents were divorced since I was a young boy and I was raised by my mother. This quote can apply to so many things also, such as the holocaust. It was not a person’s fault if they were born Jewish, yet to Hitler and all his followers, being born Jewish, along with many other distinctive characteristics, was considered taboo. In modern day, other countries are executing homosexuals. This quote applies to them also. A person cannot help their sexual orientation, as they are born that way, but even that just an opinion. Women have come a long way since this statement was written. They are no longer considered a minority, and their rights and opportunities are just as equal as a man’s.
Mary Wollstonecraft once said, "How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" I had to take a step back and admire the quote for a second, and try to figure out what she is really asking. After looking up key words like "ennobled" which means to elevate the respect, “exertions” which means a vigorous effort it was easier to understand the quote. She is asking why regular human beings are being respected and congratulated when they did not meet the expectations. There are two sides to this quote. First of all Wollstonecraft is speaking too every human being, not to a specific race, gender, or age group. Instead her point is more questioning the morals one individual. The first side is that no matter how hard the task is, if you were good enough then it should have been done. I take this outlook on myself regarding anything competitive. Most of the time I hear I am to hard on myself, or thinking about it to much, therefore I can directly relate this to a million things, but I will chose soccer. When you know how to kick a ball, know how to pass one, and know how to score, I expect to do those correctly every game. However every game this does not happen. My point is that it is not the little things that happen, but major events. For example a perfect opportunity presented itself and the shot had goal written all over it. That shot is shanked. I feel horrible on so many different levels; it feels as if I let my team down, the fans down, and most of all myself down. It is hard for me to realize that nothing is perfect but still it is hard to get over events like that. In this situation I feel as Wollstonecraft felt, that if you were good enough, the shot would have gone in. The second view is not the outcome but how you did. This view does not settle with me because its not the type of person I am, but to some it is how they feel. This side shows that it is ok to fail as long as you went down swinging. It is ok to lose, as long as you gave it 100%. I do not feel this way because I am highly competitive, and expect to win 100% of the time. However I do realize that this is impossible and understand, but giving in is not one of my options.
"How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" The first couple of times I read this quote I had some trouble finding what it actually meant. The more I stared at it and picked apart each word, the more I understood. With the help of the one and only dictionary.com I realized exactly what Mary Wollstonecraft was trying to get the readers to think about. This one complex question disguises a meaning a lot simpler than its wording. With this question Mary Wollstonecraft is basically asking how can someone elevate and succeed in things they themselves did not put forth the effort to accomplish. No one gains anything from someone else’s success, which opens this quote up to everyone, not just females. Men and women both have to experience the world and learn from the things they do and have to do. Having men go out and conquer the world while women sit at home would only lead to the downfall of the human race. Mary Wollstonecraft’s choice of words “rational being” simply means a person who has the ability or reason. Using the word “rational” makes the reader think the too must achieve all they can in life since they have the ability to do so. Just like the entire quote, the phrase “rational being” applies both to men and women. Once women starting standing up for their rights it seems as though many men have backed down from their responsibilities. Everyone has the ability and reasons to make something of themselves. I know this may sound cliché but I truly believe, with a little guidance and the proper support we all could make the world a better place.
=)
"How can a rational being be ennobled by anything that is not obtained by its own exertions?"
-Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary was, in essense, asking how people can be praised and dignified for things that they did not accomplish themselves. This is a question that applies to women in the time period it was written in, 1792, as well as today. Back in those times, women were portrayed as inferior to men simply because they were women. They were given menial tasks to complete and were believed to only be good for producing children, cooking, cleaning, and of course, taking care of the "man of the house." They strived for some sort of political, economic, or social power; however, it was not given to them until women's suffrage and other activist issues came into play. Their exertions wer plentiful and their work was genuine, yet it was the man who was being ennobled for it. Mary Wollstonecraft insinuated that this was wrong. She knew that women did not deserve to be treated as a lower-class minority with no say in the world. Obviously, this was a stepping stone in women's rights, because look at how far America has come. Women today have their own families, jobs, businesses, and even corporations. A select few in foreign countries even have power over a nation. They accomplished these feats by their own hard work and determination and were in no need of anyone else. Some people are those people eager to find the so called "nerd" in each of their classes in high school. They aren't big on completing assignments and would find the "chosen geek" whom they could copy off of. Does this ultimately get you ahead in any way ? Possibly. Yes, you may have a 100% on that particular assignment but for a grade breakdown, how much is homework worth ? Maybe 25%...Tests on the other hand are weighted much more heavily and someone who copies, may not understand that material and therefore, not do well in the end. This is a lesson to be learned by Mary Wollstonecraft because essentially, it was probably written for women in 1792, but can be applied to all "rational beings" in 2007.
-And wow, that turned out much longer than I anticipated writing.
In this quote, I believe that Mary Wollstonecraft is posing a question that was initially intended for women but also applies to society in general. How can someone be put into nobility for something that they did not work for?
Way back when in the days of 1792, women certainly did not have the freedoms that they do today. As Mr. Cervi would say, all that women were good for during that time period (in the opinion of the men) was tidying up the house and making babies. Meanwhile, the men would get a good education and inherit the family fortune. Why? Because they were men. So, how can men be put on a pedestal for just being born like that?
Today, as a few others have already stated, Paris Hilton spends her life partying and making video tapes that get passed around cyberspace. And she's supposedly famous? But all she ever did was inherit her father's fortune -- not even attempting to work for those billions of dollars or even uphold her family's honor.
How can someone get promoted to manager without first working as a box boy or cashier first? How can a man become the president of a company despite the fact that he knows nothing about the company that he's running (as in the movie "Tommy Boy")? And how can someone become a billionaire without working a dime's worth of work ever in their life?
Basically, what Mary Wollstonecraft is that people should work for the thing's they are given before getting a place of honor.
in the last paragraph in my post, the last sentence should be "Basically, what Mary Wollstonecraft is saying is that..."
When Mary Wollstonecraft asked, “How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" she had both an overt meaning to women as well as an implied meaning that could be accepted by both sexes. Specifically when Wollstonecraft said this it was specifically aimed at the way that women often latch onto the accomplishments of their husbands when evaluating the accomplishments of their lives. In her day, the only way for a woman to move up in society was to marry up. Wollstonecraft challenges the female population to move up by their own merits in society rather than becoming completely dependent on patriarchy. Not even in fictional worlds can woman escape some form of being seen as only the sum of their male counterparts. Pop culture glutted with female characters made to be almost indistinguishable from currently existing characters. For example, Batwoman is seen as little more than Batman with breasts. Ms. Pac Man is merely Pac Man with a bow added onto his head. Hillary Clinton is merely a slightly manlier version of Bill Clinton (Oh wait, she’s real. But you get my point anyway.) It is obvious that today, even though women can achieve great things, they are still in many cases relegated to playing second fiddle to men and being judged solely by the men they are associated with.
Even though this quote was originally aimed at women it can also be seen as a reflection of the actions of all people. Often when people fail at accomplishing goals of their own they begin to attempt to live vicariously through others. Upon seeing the success of a friend, men and women will often seem to latch onto this success and try and find a way to connect themselves to it. This way, without performing any feet extraordinary enough to be impressive, people can still convince themselves that they are somehow something to be glorified and revered. A good example of how people become proud of something that’s not really their own success to be proud of is professional football. People can become so wrapped up in supporting their favorite team that if their team wins, they feel pride equal to if they had actually been part of the team. It is as if somehow, you sitting on the couch eating sour cream and onion potato chips off your chest gave your team the edge it needed to fight its way to victory. When Mary Wollstonecraft asks, “How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" she implores all humans, not just women, to live off of their own accomplishments rather than basing your life on the deeds of others.
After careful consideration, Mary Wollstonecraft probably meant to target women with this quote. As Ms. Bunje stated ever so nicely, Wollstonecraft “dared the women of her time” to aim higher and farther than the homes that they would eventually marry into. This was surely a radical statement to make in the 18th century, which was during a time when women would have up to 8 children on average! But this quote has stood the test of time.
Think about it. It has taken over 200 years for women to gain the right respect they deserve. Now, being an independent young woman, I’ve learned that we need to work hard to earn respect. The only way a woman can obtain this opportunity is if she is given the chance to spread her wings to their full extent. I feel the need to reiterate: it has taken over 200 years for women to gain that respect.
My parents have always taught me that I can do anything that I set my mind to. I think I would be shocked to find that anyone’s parents have told them otherwise. But this confident statement holds even dearer to a woman’s heart because many of their parents, grandparents, and so on did not have to opportunities that we have today. It is a rare and controversial time that a woman is not accepted to college or does not get a job. This is especially apparent in this day and age. Look at the statistics! Colleges need to stretch far to level the ratio of boys to girls. Today, women are bolder and more independent.
So what does this have to do with Mary Wollstonecraft? Everything. She stood for all of the chances and opportunities that women have now. She might have yearned and dreamed for everything that we have worked so hard to receive. Her strength can be found at the heart of the quote. She knew that women would someday have to work hard and fly miles and miles to be exalted for their potential. Now, does this mean that the same truth does not apply to men? Of course not! Every “rational being” must travel a long way to reach their goal. Mary Wollstonecraft wanted women to be included amongst the men.
I personally don't believe that Mary Wollstonecraft was directing this comment just to females. She may have been the foremost feminist of her time, but this quote applies to everyone, not just women. I also believe that this quote was more relevant back then than it is now. In history the other day, we were talking about Americans and their morality and pride. Mr. Cervi posed this question to us: "Would an American war veteran be more likely to accept a government check after World War II or if he or she was returning from the war in Iraq today?" During the time of Mary Wollstonecraft and even up until the mid-20th century, Americans were very proud people. Everyone worked for what they had, and worked hard for it. These people would most likely send the check back because they did not believe they earned it. Nowadays, if a person recieves a government check in the mail, the most likely response is, "Is this it?" People get whatever they can for free.
Even though I do not believe this statement was directed to ony women, it still applies to women very much. Women were looked down upon in the old days, as most people know. Women were not given the right to vote, to hold the same jobs as men, and even to receive the same schooling as men. However, the women took a stand. In 1920, women were given the right to vote because of the work of Susan B. Anthony and her supporters. This is only one example of how women got what they wanted by fighting for it. If women were not willing to fight for what they believed in and what they knew was right, we would still be looked down upon by men. In this day and age, we now have the possibility of a woman president. No one 200 years ago could even fathom a woman running a country other than royalty. Women have been able to vote for almost 90 years, and have been a huge part of the elections of many political officials. Also, women have risen higer than men in the economical world. There are hundreds of women CEOs of major corporations throughout the world. This is what Mary Wollstonecraft was talking about when she said that people are not complete without earning what they own.
When Mary Wollstonecraft wrote “A Vindication”, she was standing up for women’s rights. She wanted women to be strong and achieve things for themselves, not solely rely on their husbands to bring home the bacon. Although Wollstonecraft isn’t completely opposed to the idea of men, I believe the quote is more directed towards women. Back in the late 1700s, men went out and made a living, while women sat at home being housewives. She wanted women to go out into the world and make something of themselves, not have someone make it for them. How can you feel like you’ve lived an accomplished life if you’ve really never accomplished anything for yourself? As time passes, the quote becomes less relevant because women are so active in the work force. They’re not restricted from any field of work, making it somewhat difficult to relate to the quote.
When I was younger, I didn’t think I would ever be able to tie my shoes. The whole bunny ear thing was far too confusing for my 5-year-old brain to grasp. My dad would tie my shoes before I headed off to school. However, when I learned how to tie my own shoes, I was ten times happier than I had been before. Achieving something for yourself fills you with this warmth and sense of completion that everyone should be able to feel. Wollstonecraft wanted women to be able to put themselves out there and change the future for their children and grandchildren. As Roseanne Barr once said, “The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it.”
This question posed by Mary Wollstonecraft is in fact, as Ms. Bunje has stated, timeless. The words has relevance at the time Wollstonecraft wrote this mainly to women but I do sincerely believe that she meant this to be a question for all of us to ask ourselves. Women at the time were for the most part idle creatures whose main job was to stay home, cook and take care of the kids. Wollstonecraft wished for women to become dignified for their honorable needs. This question can be posed to people today, especially to those students who are on the verge of making important life deciding decisions. We students are on the verge of choosing the colleges we’ll to attend, on majors and careers. All the while we’ll also be changing and shaping our personal, political, intelligent identities. However, we must remember not to comprise our own personal ideals and beliefs in the process. We must remain true to ourselves, who we are, and who we want to be in order to reach those goals. Our lives will truly reflect dignity and worth if our actions are truly own and honorable. The notion of being a rational sex is not limited to any particular sex. Nationality isn’t determined by the sex of the person, it is the determined by the personality of the person. If you are an extremely rational person, you are the type of person who generally likes to work out the logical basis of things. Two of my best friends, one female and the other a male, are like that. Every person has the same susceptibility to be rational or irrational and it is not based on sex.
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I wasted an hour typing this up on the phone with Caitlin. - Mikey.
Wollstonecraft was not referring to only one sex at all! This goes for any person with any little sense of pride. If she were to paint this idea out for her readers in today’s society, people of both sexes would be able to relate perfectly. Picture this; you just won $1,000,000 in the lottery! Congratulations! Now that you have all this money handed right to you, you must be extremely happy, correct? Sure! Of course you would be! However, try picturing this; you graduated from college, have a degree in business management, start a well-known company, sell it, and come out with $1,000,000! What situation would make you feel prouder and successful? Hard work does pay off, female of male, with pride. Sometimes, it not always better to take the easy way out. Suppose you grew a cherry tree in your back yard, cared for it, and cherished it. Once the cherries are ripe, you decide to make a delicious cherry pie. Or, why spend all that time when you can drive 5 minutes to Wawa and buy one for 5 bucks? It’s up to the person to decide what to do, though it seems pretty obvious what would bring more satisfaction and happiness. And for all the students, who I’m sure, have worked VERY hard on a project, remember a time when you worked so hard on something and got an ‘A’. I bet that feeling felt pretty amazing, full of accomplishment. Now, think of a time you worked with a partner and let them do all of the work. How did receiving that same ‘A’ make you feel? It may be tempting to choose the easy way, or the safe way, or the quicker way, but honestly, the end result won’t be the same if you do. Man or woman, go the extra mile and work hard for what you want. From 1792-2007, nothing has changed. As generations pass, the feeling of hard work paying off can never be replaced with something handed to you for nothing.
My perception of this quote is how can a person be awarded something without working hard for it? In 1792, men were the so-called “rulers” of the household. They inherited their family’s fortune and land and pretty much everything and they didn’t have to do a single thing to earn it. Women didn’t get anything and they got stuck with all of the hard work. They got married, stayed home to have and take care of the babies, cleaned the house, cooked dinner, and made sure her husband was always satisfied. Mary Wollstonecraft is asking women of her time period how come men receive all of the benefits without having to work for them? Nowadays, I don’t think that quote would be asked for just men. It would be asked to everybody who never did anything in their life and yet still became famous or rich. My mom just received her Master’s Degree in Management. Not only did my mom have to do school work for 6 years, but she also had to take care of her family and manage a full time job. Like most people, she has to work her way up the social status ladder to actually become a manager one day. People who work their way up in life are respected more because they had to put a lot of time and effort in order to get where they are today. People like Paris Hilton or Nicole Ritchie are only famous because of their family. Both of their families are filthy rich and those 2 girls use that money to become famous. They didn’t have to work at all to get where they are today. People like that are viewed as snobs in society because they used their parent’s popularity and wealth to become who they are today. That goes back to Mary’s question. How can somebody become an instant aristocrat when they didn’t work for it? In 1792, you just had to be the 1st born man in your family and you automatically claimed everything your family owns. Now, you can just be born into a wealthy family over in Tinsel Town and become instantly famous all thanks to your parents. This quote has a lot of meaning to it and people should be asking themselves more often: How come some people don’t have to work at all and always get what they want while I have to work as hard as I can to get what I want?
What Wollstonecraft is saying in this statement I believe isn't being directed to the male gender specifically. I personally think that this statement can be expressed to decribed both genders. Even though it may seem that she specifically addresses the male gender, Wollstonecraft overall addresses every gender because we are all "rational beings." Overall, I personally think Wollstonecraft is trying to say that one person cannot pride themselves in something they haven't worked for and earned. For example, when we work in groups there is always someone who doesn't do anything but still gets the good grade from everyones work. This instance pertains to what Wollstonecraft stated becuase the person is taking the pride of a good grade when they didn't earn it or as Wollstonecraft would say, didn't "obtain by its own exertions."
Mary Wollstoncraft directed her quote towards the women of the 1792 time period. Now, over two centuries later, I believe that this quote applies to not a certain gender, but to all people in general.
Although it's a rather short sentence, it has such a deeper meaning than just a few words. Wollstonecraft basically put in complicated terms "why should men be so much more honored and revered than women when they didn't really do anything in particular to achieve that level of greatness, except being born to a certain gender." Men didn't have to conquer an empire to be put on such a high pedestal. Just because they were male they were allowed to vote and own land freely. Women were just housewives and thought of as nothing greater than that.
This rule applied to real life before and after it was written. This could even apply to back when there were kings and empires. To be king, men didn't have to run in elections or do anything special for their empire, they just had to be the son of the present king. What did they ever do to deserve such a high rank and such great level of authority? Now, I believe this correlates with events like Jack and Kelly Osbourne becoming supposedly "such talented" singers/artists. Everyone knows that they really don't have that talent, but they're given the opportunity and portrayed the way that they want to be portrayed because their father is a multi-million dollar rocker.
Mary Wollstonecraft published an excellent quote in the hopes of proving to people (men at the time) that they should have to work for the honor that they receive, and that they shouldn't be looked at as authoritative and powerful without having to earn that respect.
When I first read this quote I was unsure about it and I had to keep rereading it. When I looked at other people's answers I kind of got an answer. I started to understand it more. The blog that caught my attention the most was Emily M's comment. This quote was not just being directed to the female gender. It was being directed to everyone. It's true that in 1792 females would tend to take the "mother" role in the family, and the father would be the one who went out and supported the family. Even today we can see this. There are many bright female students that go to some of the most prestige colleges. They then find the man of their dreams and fall in love and have a family. Most females tend to take jobs that will allow them to be able to take time off to care for their children and be there for them. For example, my mother and father both went to the same college and were both smart. My mother wanted to take a job where she would be able to care for her children and raise them when they were young. She decided to take a teaching position because it was good hours and she had the summers off. I'm not trying to put teachers down. I love them and they are what get us to our dreams. But my mother did have the chance to become a lawyer or doctor but took a job that would allow her to care for her children. Everyone is equal and every person should strive to be what they want to be and strive to do there best. All people should work to get where they are in life. Whether they are female or male, both have the same chances in being what they want to be in life.
Well as usually my blog is almost late, but unlike my others this will not be short. “How can a rational being be ennobled by anything that is not obtained by its own exertions?” I believe that Mary Wollstonecraft is trying to bring something out in women. Something that will drive them to show everyone that there is no difference between men and women intellectually except for some physical features. I believe that its her way of getting women to do what she wants which is prove that they are more than baby makers and that they can make just as much different in society as men.
As for is the notion for being a “rational being” being limited to one sex or the other, I do not believe it. How can someone say that when we have such influential women and men both in the world? Women have made as much as an impact as men on our society.
Mary Wollstonecraft is saying that women shouldn't be put down just because they are who they are. Women are strong and support their male companions through tough times but sometimes when the women need the support the men turn them down. It's like us girls have to be strong for ourselves and have no help from the boys. I think if it was a mind power over physical power women would win in a hear beat. What woman would not support that?
"How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" Mary Wollstonecraft wrote this quote in order to tell women that they should acquire virtues that they could call their own and not just depend on their other half, their “man”, their husband per say. Wollstonecraft is saying women need to start developing their own thoughts and stop listening to what men tell them to do, how to act, and what to think. Being a rational being does not just apply to women, however I feel that this particular quote was directed to the women of the time in order for them to see and hopefully start to believe that they were just important as men. I mean come on, without women it would be kind of hard to keep the population alive. A personal connection to this text is somewhat plagiarizing. How can someone take credit for the work of someone else? How can you live with yourself knowing you did not do the work but are getting recognition for the thwarted efforts of another human being? Also, she is saying in this quote that how can a person truly gain the knowledge of something that goes on in the word through word of mouth alone and not by actual experience of the event. Mary Wollstonecraft wanted women to be respected as equals and she wanted the women to be able to have the knowledge that men were bestowed upon through many years of schooling that women did not have the opportunity to have. If Mary was alive today I think she would be happy to see that although men and women are still not always considered equals, women are now heads of major corporate companies and doctors and lawyers. Women have done so much over the past century it is sometimes incomprehensible how they used to be viewed.
Now that my blog is not late, I shall finish my previous statement concerning the power of women in our society. Early in our society, men have dominated due to the fact that no one was man enough to give women the choice to make decisions. But lucky for us since that time women such as Rosa Parks and Susan B. Anthony and plus one of the most influential women right now bidding for the Presidency, Hilary Clinton. Before women did not even have the option of voting and today the have the desire and support to become President. So I believe there are no boundaries to who can be a “rational being” or not.
By observing Mary Wollstonecraft's quite scholarly query "How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" we can see that this lady obviously has strong feelings toward the equality of the rights of Women and Men. This quote goes much deeper than only a few word questioning society, it does it in such a way that makes everyone wonder how and why men naturally consider themselves better all-around beings. What was such a great accomplishment by men that women could not duplicate if her mind was set to it? What large influence has a man had over something that a woman could not further succeed in? It is these kinds of questions that fuel the main meaning of this controversial excerpt. Just because over the years women never really thought about accomplishing superior tasks in the world which would forever change our lifestyles, doesn’t mean they couldn’t. There were some fine examples of these rebellious women who wanted to make sure that they left some kind of imprint or footprint in the sands of today. Great women such as Dorothea Lynde Dix and Amelia Earhart were people who showed that men and women were really no different intellectually. So why does the male gender still consider itself the dominant sex? If it has been made obvious that no matter what sex you are you can accomplish the greatest of tasks in this world, then shouldn’t the “barrier” that stops women from getting the respect necessary be destroyed. The Female race has proved that they are capable and deserves to be seated equally next to the male sex. The man did not create this earth, so why act as though we solely own it?
--------I Am Honestly Sorry About This, My Parents Made Me Attend The Speaking Of Dr. Kesselman About Colleges,right after soccer... I did this as soon as i got home =/------------------
sorry ms bunje my mom wanted to go to this freakin museum to see the king tut exhibit and i didn't get in til like 8:45
This is a very bold statement for someone to make in that day and age and I believe that her meaning behind this statement is self-explanatory for her time period. But, at the same time if you are reading this statement during this day and age you could probably establish a very different opinion about the statement. In Wollstonecraft’s day age she is making the point to women about how can you have respect for something that you know you were never even connected to in any sense. Women weren’t revered for anything more than being a housewife. They weren’t given any major duties in society to prove that they were just as important as a man in any aspect. When women did try to step out of their shell to do something more worth while it was taken as a statement that her husband could not control his household so that would just create problems for her. Some will try to make the argument that all women even in this day and age if given the chance to make something of themselves wouldn’t take it so how could every women be connected to something great. Well my friend just like Whitney Houston said “I’m every woman its all in me”, all women in a sense share a common bond that can not be broken by anything. This is simply because we we’re all repressed together and when we were finally granted our rights and treated like equal human beings we all rose up together not just a select few of us. If you look at this statement in this time though you can take this statement in a totally different context. This statement could be telling young people to get out and make something out yourself instead of being a slacker. So many opportunities are out there for us to succeed and to be part of something that to let this opportunities just slip by you would be ridiculous. You should always be an active member in society because if your not how could you look back at it admire the many changes that we have undergone and how far we have come.
"How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" Mary Wollstonecraft. By asking this question, I think she is trying to ask, not just women, but all people alike, how can someone be alright with just "getting by" in life. If you never really work for anything in your life, was anything you ever received worth anything at all?
One could make a comparison to cheating, the same example almost everyone knows. If you are given a certain date of a test and study every day from the time you received the material to the test day, you expect to pass the test. If you get a perfect score on the test you feel a sense of satisfaction and self acheivement. In contrary to that statement, if you are given the date and dont't study at all for the test, then cheat off of someone and still get the same perfect score, there is very little or no gratification and satisfaction through that method. Another example is this year's football team (I know your probably sick of it already). We worked so hard in the offseason giving hours and hours of time to weightlifting practice and film study. I literally couldn't get a job because of my football schedule. So when it came time for our first game and we knew how much time, effort, and hard work we had put into the team and family we built, suffering the first lost was the hardest. Normally football players don't cry but it was hard not to shed a tear, or for some, a faceful of them on that night. Whereas, if we didn't put all of the time and effort throughout the year there would be no crying or suffering.
In her question, Mary is directly speaking to women in this question, because of the time period and role of women, but later looking back on her thoughts, they can be applied to modern time and people.
Through her question, I think Mary Wollstonecraft is trying to say that nothing worth having, worthy of honor, or ennoblement, is free of work. Everything that is valued takes a contribution of time and effort.
I know im a Jock...=D
For women, in 1792, it was out of the ordinary to make such a bold statement like Mary Wollstonecraft’s, "How can a rational being be ennobled by any thing that is not obtained by its own exertions?" Although this statement could pertain to both men and women, I think in this context it’s more geared towards women. I believe the question that is being asked, in other words, is how can an individual settle with just cruising through life, and if everything that one gains isn’t through their own self accomplishments then how can you take credit for what you “earned,” and was it really worth anything at all? In the time frame in which Mary Wollstonecraft asked this question women were fighting for their place in society, they were trying to ultimately be considered as an equal to their husband’s, and gain the same respect. Women’s intelligence was constantly being questioned and Mary Wollstonecraft seemed to be trying to push the bar by helping women realize that they do have the right to live, and cooking and cleaning for their husbands is more of a favor rather then their own achievements. Compared to today’s society women are viewed as equals to men and can work for all their aspirations in life, they can have their own goals. It is better that women are no longer inferior to men, and are now able to accomplish tasks on their own rather then referring back to their husbands or any man at that. Hard work and dedication are aspects that every individual can obtain; it’s the drive to work hard and stay dedicated that is hard to reach. Every individual has the ability to overcome the challenges in life and work for what they want, and, in the end, the reward of self-achievement is far better than any other reward.
Hey Ms.Bunje I discussed most of what was going on with my life and I hope you will accept this blog late, I would really appreciate it and I swear it will never happen again!
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