Mary Wollstonecraft 1759-1797

Childhood Family moved around a lot Father a failure professionally & abusive

Adolescence & Young Adulthood 1780 Her mother dies; she flees home to the Blood family, subsists on needlework & painting 1784 Sets up a school with Eliza and Fanny Blood 1787 Publishes first book Thoughts on the Education of Daughters

Work 1786 Forced to enter the household of Viscount Kingsborough to work as a governess Publishes her second work Frustrated in her work as an educator, turns more and more to writing Befriends radicals and artists of the time period

Maturity 1790 Publishes her Vindication of the Rights of Man in response to the French Revolution (similar to Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man) 1792 Publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Women, her best-known work

Matrimony and Motherhood 1797 Marries William Godwin August 31st gives birth to a daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, later Shelley (author of Frankenstein) Dies 11 days later of complications

Gender Describe the state of gender relations today. Do you think there is equality between the sexes? Do men and women have the same opportunities for education, careers and the pursuit of happiness? Do you see a significant difference between your generation and your parents’ generation? How do things look for the future?

Terminology Nonfiction Types of nonfiction: Essay Expository Rhetoric Argumentation Annotation

Gender Do you think Wollstonecraft’s arguments are still relevant today, in contemporary American society? We would probably all agree that men and women today have equal access to education, but in other ways do women and men share equal rights ? Have our views about marriage changed? Explain. If Wollstonecraft were alive today in America, would she be pleased with the state of gender relations?

Terminology Nonfiction—Prose writing that is about real people, places, and events Types of nonfiction: essays, biographies, autobiographies, letters, memoirs, speeches Essay—Comes from the French word meaning “attempt”; a form of writing in which writers express their opinions—may be formal or informal Expository—a form of nonfiction writing the explains something; exposition Rhetoric—the art of speaking or writing well Argumentation—writing that seeks to convince readers to adopt or reject an idea or proposal (a form of persuasive writing) Annotation—the act of annotating—adding notes by way of comment or explanation