In The Lowell Offering, a literary magazine by and for the young women employees of the Lowell textile mill, girls were able to contribute writings about their personal experiences as well as express themselves and their concerns. Written in the mid nineteenth century, we must first recognize the historical context in order to understand the … Continue reading Control and Autonomy in The Lowell Offering →

The largest theme I see throughout The Lowell Offeringis young women gaining some control in their life and finding their identity while they are at the mills. The control aspect is having the choice to employ themselves, they control what they buy with their income, and finally, they control what is published in The Lowell Offering, to … Continue reading Control and Identity in The Lowell Offering →

In the 1791 book Charlotte Temple, author Susanna Rowson bring up a lot of themes readers may link to adolescence. The book takes places in the 18th century and focuses on a rather sheltered girl from a middle class family named Charlotte Temple. From reading the story, I think that the topic of wealth plays … Continue reading Charlotte Temple: Ignorance of Wealth →

There are many reoccurring themes in Susanna Rowson’s novel Charlotte Temple. Charlotte Temple, the main character of the novel, is a girl in her adolescent years who happens to be very naive and is easily manipulated. Like most people in their adolescent years, Charlotte strives to be independent, but ultimately, this leads to her death. During adolescence, … Continue reading Charlotte Temple: No Autonomy, No Identity →

During our class discussions about Charlotte Temple, we talked a lot about agency, and specifically, we talked about how Charlotte essentially has none of it. Throughout the entire novel, Charlotte is almost entirely incapable of making decisions for herself, and she’s dependent on self-serving adults who repeatedly manipulate her to get what they want. We … Continue reading Autonomy and Control in Charlotte Temple →

The novel Charlotte Temple tells a story about an innocent 16 year old girl who makes a huge decision that changes her whole life. And what was that mistake? Deciding to follow a 30 year old man named Montraville out of her country to the United States. With Charlotte's personality, a sweet young girl who … Continue reading True love? →

As we discussed the excerpts from The Lowell Offering in class, I mentioned the disconnect I saw between the self-proclaimed “sisterhood” of the young women and the frequent laments of estrangement that multiple girls expressed throughout a variety of excerpts. Looking back at the excerpts, I notice an alarming number of unbalanced power dynamics within … Continue reading Factory Girls and Adolescent Power →

The Lowell Offering by New England Mill Women details the hidden reality of what mill girls had to suffer from on a daily basis. Before analyzing the accounts of these factory workers, it is important to understand the premise for the mills and what challenges led to women working in the mills. Foreseeing the endless economic … Continue reading Life As A Mill Girl: A Deceptive Experience →

I was particularly moved by our class discussion about The Lowell Offering, a series of literary magazines written for and by employees of the Lowell textile mill of the mid-to-late 1800s, all teenage girls and young women.  Historically, The Lowell Offering has a particularly engaging story in its own right; following the Industrial Revolution, hundreds, … Continue reading Stronger Together: Exploring Power and Agency through The Lowell Offering →