Oh man...

Mary Wollstonecraft's essay was definitely a big one. The minute I started to read it, I realized it would be a long, confusing read. I wouldn't say that it was necesarily bad...it was just really long...longer than it needed to be. I thought she brought forth a lot of really good points to show how women are viewed and how there isn't equality and everything else she pointed out. Most the time I was confused. I could tell her points were good somehow...but I didn't really understand them.

Her vocabulary was really...interesting. There were a lot of words that I didn't understand. I guess you could say that's what really confused me a lot. I tried to look up most of the words, but there were just too many of them. Maybe during her time Wollstonecraft's language was understood, but for this time...I was just confused.

Even though I was confused most of the time, there were definitely some points, sentences, and arguments that really stuck out to me and interested me. A huge point she seemed to make was that women are expected to be a source of entertainment, amusement, and pleasure. "She was created to be the toy of man, his rattle, and it must jingle in his ears whenever, dismissing reason, he chooses to be amused." That sentence showed exactly what Mary was trying to point out. Another sentence, "Rousseau declares that woman should never, for a moment, feel herself independent, that she should be overned by fear to exercise her natural cunning, and made a coquetish slave in order to render her a more alluring object of desire, a sweeter companion to man, whenever he chooses to relax himself." I didn't like the idea that women can't be independent, or that women are basically there for an object of desire.

Wollstonecraft did a pretty good job of putting out examples and reasons to support her views. I think she was confusing. The essay could have been easier to understand and more to the point. I can't say I really enjoyed reading the 19 pages, but I am willing to say that it intrigued me enough.