Comments on Advertising for Love: A good wife?

mario - good point! It's definitely true that...

2009-11-17T08:02:44.558-05:00

mario - good point! It's definitely true that a lot of people wanted to marry people for income/class status because it equaled their own (assuming they weren't lying about themselves). And yes, this dude is definitely very arrogant about his abilities! But it's interesting to me that his two criteria are her money and her ability to be a political writer. Seems like he wants things that are of use to him.

Yeah, I would assume that he just never made it to...

2009-11-17T02:48:56.973-05:00

Yeah, I would assume that he just never made it to the Senate--even then, we're talking quite an accomplishment.

But I don't know that he's necessarily looking for cash as much as status. I think we can assume that Preston's not a JC Fremont-type who could make it to the Senate based on his fame rather than his class and connections. If I'm correct here, I think his reading of his own, uh, "capability" is going to telegraph a number of characteristics in addition to arrogance and ambition: white (obviously), wealthy and privileged, well-bred, genteel, etc. The ad is meant to imply that he is all those things, regardless of whether that's true. It's also meant to imply that only respondents of a similar social class respond, and that the lady be "wealthy" is just to drive the point home.

True - Or maybe Mr. Firman just never made it to C...

2009-11-10T00:00:04.868-05:00

True - Or maybe Mr. Firman just never made it to Congress! And yeah, it's scary how much this could still be true today.

drwende - To be sure (and this is after the woman's rights movement had gotten its start), but there's a difference between there being educated female political commentators and an aspiring male politician wanting to marry one!

Bianca - I sometimes consider that possibility, but it seems so stilted, really. I think it is essentially what it claims to be. They're all so odd!!

Because I am imagining how rare a female political...

2009-11-09T20:13:51.700-05:00

Because I am imagining how rare a female political writer might have been - do you suppose he may have been proposing to a specific person? Perhaps the senator thing was an inside joke, and the political writing something he knew personally about her?

This one seemed a little odd to be a generic ad no? I know we will never really know, but just the immediate thought I had.

Unless we're back before the earliest feminist...

2009-11-09T18:49:38.444-05:00

Unless we're back before the earliest feminists, educated women did publish the odd political article in the editorials, albeit anonymously or under male pseudonyms. And while women couldn't speak for movements like Abolition, many kept up voluminous correspondences to get the word out. So he may mean "writer" in one of those senses. Either way, yes, he's looking for practical help as well as cash.

Pam - I couldn't find anyone in the history of...

2009-11-09T15:35:07.569-05:00

Pam - I couldn't find anyone in the history of the US Congress with the last name of Firman who would have been in the right timeframe. I wonder if the bachelor had a minion who was doing his dirty work and Preston Firman was his filter person???
Working in politics...this isn't exactly far from the truth still to this day. All politician wives have a certain "look".