Thursday, June 23, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
She does not like the English dress
She thought that if Mary’s dress, which was singularly and gaudily decorated has a less savage aspect, she might look more natural to her; and she signed to her to remove the mantle she wore, made of birds’ feathers, woven together with threads of wild nettle. Mary threw it aside, and disclosed her person, light and agile as a fawn’s, clothed with skins, neatly fitted to her waist and arms, and ambitiously embellished with bead work. The removal of the mantel, instead of the effect designed, only served to make more striking the aboriginal peculiarities; and Hope, shuddering and heartsick, made one more effort to disguise them by taking off her silk cloak and wrapping it close around her sister. Mary seemed instantly to comprehend the language of the action, she shook her head, gently disengaged herself from the cloak, and resumed her mantle. An involuntary exclamation of triumph burst from Oneco’s lips. “Oh tell her,” said Hope to Magawisca, “that I want once more to see her in the dress of her own people—of her own family—from whose arms she was torn to be dragged into captivity.”
A faint smile curled Magawisca’s lip, but she interpreted faithfully Hope’s communication, and Mary’s reply, “ ‘she does not like the English dress,’ she says” (239.)
This passage from Catharine Maria Sedgwick's novel, Hope Leslie, may be one of my favorites from the entire work. Not only is it a striking scene between Mary and Hope, but on a shallow level I can relate to that, and certainly other girls like myself can as well. In my teen years, I used to identify with a variety of different sub cultures (punk, goth, indie, hipster, the list goes on) and by extension would dress in a style appropriate for the respective scene. In response to this, my family would be confused or horrified by what I chose to wear and begged for me to dress in something they considered to be more socially acceptable. Though my teenaged self's relation to culture and fashion may be trivial in comparison to Mary's, I like to think that we were vaguely on the same page with this topic. Fashion does play a part in the cultures we identify with, as evident in the above passage. Just as I dyed my hair black and forced myself to listen to my uncle's Bauhaus tapes when I identified as a goth during freshman year of high school, Mary has fully embraced the Native American culture she grown up with while in captivity, as we can see by the clothing she wears. Her refusal to wearing the cloak, a representation of "English dress," demonstrates her faithfulness to her own culture as well as the rejection of her born culture. To wear the cloak, she would be literally concealing her cultural attire, which in a sense would hide away her identity.
How I imagine Mary's Native American apparel.
On the subject of cloaks and domination, there is another passage in the text that mirrors these ideas, that being the scene of Sir Philip offering Hope Leslie his cloak:
"Now, thanks to my good stars, that I am so fortunate as to meet you; suffer me to wrap my cloak about you; you will be drenched with this pitiless rain."
"Oh no, no," she said, "the cloak will but encumber me. I am already drenched, and I shall be at home directly," and she would have left him, but he caught her arm, and gently detained her, while he enveloped her in his cloak" (201-202). I find this seemingly platonic exchange rather disturbing and to a point violating. The conversation doesn't seem to actually be about the clothing article, but rather a conversation about their relationship in disguised. (A cloaked conversation about cloaks, if you please!) The sentence "suffer me to wrap my cloak about you" sounds rather sexual, perhaps alluding to Sir Philip's desires to wrap himself about her. In addition, Hope's claim that the cloak will "encumber her" possibly suggests that Sir Philip is truly the one who is a burden on her, as I don't see how a cloak on a rainy day would be a bad thing. It is not the cloak Hope is refusing, it is the man. Nevertheless, we see Sir Philip's display of sexual dominance by forcing the shawl upon her despite her refusal. The word choices contribute to the particular disturbing quality of the scene. The fact that he is "detaining" her gives the sense that Hope is trapped, and the "envelopment" of the cloak around her conveys a smothering sensation.
I can surely understand why Mary is opposed to the English dress.
Girls before garments (alternative title: Boys and blue bonnets)
A collage portrayal of Hope Leslie's fashion options.Apparently, the idea of "bros before hoes" existed even in early America.
In this passage from Sedgwick's Hope Leslie, we are given the idea that clothing can be a method of displaying love and faithfulness, but the refusal to wear a certain garment also demonstrates these feelings to others. When initially reviewing this passage, I, like Jennet, thought that Hope was being narcissistic and annoyingly picky about her appearance (perhaps a little aunt Grafton-esque, in other words). Of course, it would be odd for Hope to be overly concerned about her outward appearance being as lovely as possible. However, upon looking closely at the quote it is obvious that Hope's sudden desire to change her wardrobe is out of respect for her friend Esther. In this case, wearing Everell's gift of the "blue fillet" is Hope's silent declaration of her love for him. Of course, this concept is not something solely genuine in the world of Hope Leslie. I consider this to be similar to the cliche high school romance traditions of wearing your boyfriend's Letterman jacket or class ring. I myself fell habit of wearing a bracelet that an old boyfriend of mine had given me for Valentines day. To wear a certain clothing article from your beloved on a regular basis reaffirms the affections you have towards them. We can see this in the following quote:
“I tell Hope, one does not want always to see the same thing; and she doth continually wear it—granted, it keeps the curls out of her eyes, and they do look lovely falling about it, but she wears it, week-days and Sundays, feast days and fast days” (121).
In the eyes of her aunt, her persistent wearing of the headpiece is a fashion faux pas, though the reader may see this as Hope Leslie repeatedly and openly displaying her affections for Everell by flaunting his gift. But, as the first quote implies, it is important to hide the symbols of one's affections for the sake of a friendship. Knowing that her friend, Esther, also has romantic interests in Everell Fletcher, Hope decides not to wear the accessory that she associates with her beloved. From this gesture, we can see how truly devoted a friend Hope Leslie is. By passing up an opportunity to wear the blue fillet, Hope is not only acknowledging that she must wear a completely different outfit, but that her feelings for Everell must be hidden away with the headpiece for the good of her friendship.
You have to admire a girl for that. It is not easy to let go of a someone you are infatuated with because they are pursued by another. And it is not easy to let go of a prized article of clothing. (I to this day miss the pair of red canvas flats that my mom forced me to throw away once they got too battered.)
Fashion with Mrs. Grafton
Mrs. Grafton of Sedgwick's Hope Leslie seems by far the most fashion savvy of the women characters. In fact, it appears that her relationship with clothing and fashion borders upon obsession. When it comes to fashion, she is either condemning plain, puritan clothing, chattering away about certain clothing articles, or trying to convince her niece, to wear clothes that she picked out for her, as though in an attempt to make Hope as stylish as she. From looking at passages where Mrs. Grafton is talking about certain fashions, I have found an interesting connection between clothing and the human body, which I have interpreted as a representation of how fashion is physically a part of her life.
“My gown was a trifle too dark—but do not mention that to Lady Amy, for I make no doubt that she took due pains, and only wanted a right understanding of the real hue, called feuille morte, which, between you and I—sub rose, mind—my gown would not be called, by any person skilled in the colours of silk. . . . Now Everell, I do not wish to be an old woman before my time, therefore I will have another silk of a brighter cast. Brown it must be, but lively—lively. I will enclose a lock of Hope’s hair, which is precisely the hue I mean. You will observe that it has a golden tinge, that makes it appear in all lights as if there were sunshine on it, and yet it is a decided brown" (120-121).
Seeing how particular Mrs. Grafton is about her dress, I attempted to find a (somewhat) period appropriate dress that suited her color needs. I think the specimen I found met all the requirements, seeing that it is brown and as a golden tinge in the light:
Personally, I think I would have made an amazing fashion consultant for Mrs. Grafton.Grafton also seems to find fashion as a sort of medicine, as seen in the lines, "Alice always went as plain as a pike staff, after you left England; and a great pity it was, I always thought; . . . we had such a world of beautiful new fashions, it would have cured Alice of her moping" (281). To Mrs. Grafton, to emerse oneself in the beauty of fashion not only would have improved Alice's style, but would also raised her from the depression she faced after losing her beloved. It seems what Grafton is proposing is an early form of "retail therapy." Again, I find this an example of how fashion is related to life, as in Mrs. Grafton's mind fashion is a cure for depression, and a method to improve the quality of one's life. As my mother would say, "Living in depression is no way to live."
When conversing with the fellow author of the blog, Julia, we imagined that if Mrs. Grafton had her own fashion blog, (because of all the characters in the novel, she probably would be the only one to keep a fashion blog) she would definitely use it to babble on about what she loves and hates about fashion, and perhaps post pictures of her fabulous outfits that she painstakingly planned out, from the colors to the matching accessories. Once in a while, I'm sure she would complain about how plain some people dress in comparison to her, and wonder why her niece refuses to dress as exquisitely as her.