ruthtakesitwell

Ruth | Elizabeth Gaskell

Ch 13: Sally is not a fan of Ruth #butalso #isitherfaultThatBisdeformed #droppedhimonhishead #yikes #sheknowsthesecret #byebyehair #ruthtakesitwell #staytuned #hashtagbrigade

BarkingMadRead @librarybelle @ruthiella @currentlyreadinginCO @amor4libros @bookwormjillk @catlass007 @mcctrish @indoordame @rubyslippersreads @thebookhippie @dabbe @crinoline_laphroaig
@clare-dragonfly @julieclair @aimeesue @quietjenn @kao @bklover @alldebooks @jewright @cuilin @willaful 7mo

Cuilin Does anybody else feel like in order to make this more palatable to a Victorian reader Ruth had to be punished in some way? Hence the hair being cut, almost like she‘s in prison???? 7mo

IndoorDame @Cuilin I think you‘re right 7mo

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IndoorDame When it says Faith switched to the informal you with Ruth and she didn‘t notice at first… is the implication supposed to be that Faith lost respect for her when she found out about the pregnancy, or that she‘s trying to make the fiction of their distant “family connection” convincing since they gave her a family name and now their reputations are on the line too? 7mo

Ruthiella I think also that Sally is protecting her naive employers. She‘s saying, “if I can see through this ruse, so will others. Let‘s make it work”. 7mo

TheBookHippie @Cuilin YES!!!! This exactly. 7mo

AllDebooks @Cuilin absolutely. 7mo

AllDebooks I have read a lot of Victorian fiction and history and never heard of widows cutting their hair. I went down a Google rabbit hole and found this quite interesting 🤔 https://journalofantiques.com/features/the-evolution-of-mourning-wear/ 7mo

currentlyreadinginCO I felt that, too, and how the punishment failing to shame Ruth changed Sally's desire to punish her in the first place @Ruthiella 7mo

dabbe @Ruthiella Agree 💯. 7mo

Clare-Dragonfly I was skeptical that Sally dropping him could have caused his “deformity” but I searched Wikipedia for “hunchback” and it *can* be caused by trauma! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyphosis 7mo

Clare-Dragonfly @IndoorDame I read it as Sally using the formal “you” with her employers—the Bensons, not Ruth—when they arrived, but as she got comfortable again, switched to the informal “thou” she is used to. I don‘t think she switched pronouns with Ruth. 7mo

IndoorDame @Clare-Dragonfly oh, makes sense. Thanks 7mo

mcctrish “Men on the other hand weren‘t expected to follow the rigid mourning rules” @AllDebooks the world really hates women! Imagine if we didn‘t just want equality and autonomy and decided to get even 7mo

Clare-Dragonfly @AllDebooks Fascinating, thanks for sharing! I‘d heard of deep mourning and half-mourning but somehow I‘d missed the existence of second mourning! 7mo

willaful @Clare-Dragonfly Interesting... I was skeptical too. 7mo

willaful @Ruthiella Also a good point. 7mo

julieclair Such an interesting article, @AllDebooks ! Thanks for sharing. 7mo

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