Angel In The House

Coventry Patmore believed his wife Emily was the perfect Victorian wife and wrote "The Angel in the House" about her. Though it did not receive much attention when it was first published in 1854, it became increasingly popular through the rest of the nineteenth century and continued to be influential into the twentieth century. The Little House series reflects what Patmore originally wrote and strongly believed. "The Angel in the House" theme is both introduced and intertwined throughout the series. It begins in The Little House in the Big Woods and continues to reveal itself throughout The Little House in the Prairie, thus giving to audience a view of nineteenth century culture.

Patmore wrote that "Man must be pleased; but him to please is woman's pleasure." This common concept of the nineteenth century reveals itself in this stanza. Women held one position in society, and it held constant throughout the eighteen hundreds: Please man. Ma, in The Little House series, is a prime example of the "Angel in the House." Ma is always there for Pa. She realizes that he provides and she obeys. Ma, in The Little House in the Big Woods, had a schedule for each week. .She washed on Monday, Ironed on Tuesday, Mended on Wednesday, Churned on Thursday, Cleaned on Friday, and Baked on Saturday. On top of those chores, Ma prepared food and tended to Pa and the children. There wasn't a day for Ma's needs and desires. Ma presents herself as the stereotypical housewife of the nineteenth century, and I feel that the strongest example of the "Angel"/housewife concept is the fact that Ma left the luxurious Eastern part of America for the more desolate West. She gave up a life of luxury to obey Pa. She no longer has the lavishness she had in the East. She is transformed by the way of the West. Going from something to nothing not only a difficult task, but is a shining example of what "Angel in the House" women are supposed to do.

Patmore continued to say "And if he once, by shame oppress'd, A comfortable word confers, She leans and weeps against his breast, And seems to think the sin was hers." This stanza brings up two very good points about the culture of the eighteen hundreds: Women were to think that men were always right and women were always wrong, not matter the situation and women should not take compliments. Ma conforms to both of these concepts. A good example of the notion that "men are right and women are wrong" appears at the beginning of Little House on the Prairie. Pa asks Ma to move West, so long as Ma did not object. However, Ma does object, but