Fuller Journal

Jennifer Tischler

November 01,2011

Journal on Fuller

English 48A

Lankford

 

Author Quote:

"All men are privately influenced by women; each has his wife, sister, or female friends, and is too much biased by these relations to fail of representing their interests. And if this not enough, let them propose and enforce their wishes with a pen. The beauty of home would be destroyed, the delicacy of sex be violated..."(Norton, 1643).

Internet Quote: 

"Women have equal capacity with men, should be allowed to grow and flourish as individuals.  It will take individual woman to change the way women are thought of, i.e., must stand in the face of peer pressure"  (http://softchalkconnect.com/lesson/files/yibT5GFd2csWYe/Week_8_American_Mind2.html)

Summary:

Fuller is explaining that while most men feel they are the central power of society, they are all under the inescapable influence of a woman.

Personal Response:

Upon reading Fuller's arguments, James Brown was on repeat in the back of my head. The fact that a man invented nearly everything material under the sun makes it "a man's world," but without the nourishing or influence of a woman, it can't flourish. Nobody wants to admit that they are nothing without a "minority," but the fact of the matter is, we all are something because of others--this makes us equal. SES, power, physical strength, and all else aside, we are equal, and if you look at it from an aerial view, none of us are anything without a smaller influence. I am glad that Fuller argues the difference between men and women, because it is a prime example. Women are looked at as meek and meager because for the most part, they have passive personalities. For the longest time, they have been viewed as weaker, and incapable of being a bread winner. In America, especially today, the ability to do so is high on the power scale. But how did most of the men get so high up? Surely, their fathers were not at home with the apron on making their dinner or staying home to take care of them when they were sick. However, as Fuller conveys, most men are not going to admit that. That is why you might subtly pick up, in the works of even the most masculine writers, hints of female influence. This is because it more than likely will never be expressed verbally.