The home: its work and influenceGilman, Charlotte Perkins
General
The home: its work and influence
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins
Home
The boy baby feels it first; and that we have touched on. The home
teaches the boy that women were made for service, domestic service,
that the principal cares and labours of life are those which concern
the body, and that his own particular tastes and preferences are of
enormous importance. As fast as he gets out of the home and into the
school, he learns quite other things, getting his exaggerated infant
egotism knocked out of him very suddenly, and, as he gets out of school
and into business, also into politics, he learns still further of the
conditions of life. Proportion changes, perspective changes; he grows
to have a very different view of life from the woman's view. The same
thing happening to a man and a woman produces a widely varying effect;
what is a trifle in the day's large activities to him is an event of
insistent pressure to her; and, here, in the eternal misunderstanding
between the home-bred woman and the world-bred man, lie the seeds of
ceaseless trouble. The different range of vision of the occupant of the
home and the occupant of the world makes it impossible for them to see
things similarly. We are familiar with the difference, but have always
considered it a distinction of sex.
We have called the broader, sounder, better balanced, more fully
exercised brain "a man's brain," and the narrower, more emotional and
personal one "a woman's brain"; whereas the difference is merely that
between the world and the house. The absolute relation between any
animal's brain and his range of activity is patent to the zoölogist,
and simply furnishes the proof of its law of development. The greater
the extent and complexity of any creature's business, the greater the
mental capacity, of course.
We are familiar with the mental effect of living on small islands--"the
insular mind," "insular prejudice" are well known terms. The smaller
the island, the more deprived of contact and association with the rest
of the world, the greater the insularity of mind. The Englishman is
somewhat affected by the size of his country; the Manxman still more,
and the dwellers on the lighthouse rock most of all. Our homes are not
physically isolated, save on scattered farms and ranches--where the
worst results are found; but they are isolated in their interests and
industries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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