I would like to start off with the fact that this has been, by far, the most understandable read we have done this year. Although Wollstonecraft tends to ramble about many things, she still comes back to her main point of pointing out the nature and role of women, and I appreciate that she established that in the beginning. As a woman living in the 21st Century, I find inspiration and relatability in her words. Her legacy has so shaped reality that most of these things I already followed before my teenage years. I never had to worry about getting an inferior or entirely different education than all the men in my life. I definitely will not have to subject to being "... the toy of man, his rattle..." (Wollstonecraft 33) because I have been able to gain reasoning and dependency only on God.
Now to the point of this blog. I found that Wollstonecraft's emphasis on love succeeding to friendship (29) is extremely important to the dynamics of families and woman's role in it. She shows that if love does not blossom into friendship, it will stay innocent and stupid. Therefore, if later in life children are born, the love Wollstonecraft is discussing is wasted on the parents instead of used to nurture the children. In modern terms, fairytale romance cannot hold up under the pressure of familial responsibilities. The children will be neglected, and the parents will be non the wiser.
I commented on Gray's and Osten's posts.
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