Boys and Girls in American Literature

In 19th century American Literature when we read about young girls we think of innocence, maturity, pleasing their peers and commonly will some how God will tie in with their story. However, when thinking of little boys we see liars, gamblers smokers and no parental control what so ever. It is as though boys and girls are complete opposites of one another.

When we first started reading about young girls the 'ideal' girl to be is simple: Ellen Montgomery. She is the cookie cutter American daughter of her time because she was only concerned with pleasing her mother, never dared to show her weakness in front of her father, and wanted to grow closer to God. Her favorite activity everyday was making her mother toast. From the text that we read we can only assume that Ellen is a very ' do as you are told ' child, and never dared to act out. Also, you notice that she has no friends of her own that she plays with, but only her mother. 

Raged Dick was by far one of my favorite characters thus far because he was so interesting and kept me wondering what sort of crazy nonsense he would be getting himself into next. none the less he was also not exactly the model young boy that you hoped to have of your own one day,"I am afraid that he swore sometimes, ad now and then he played tricks upon unsophisticated boys from the country, or gave a wrong direction to honest old gentleman unused to the city." (page 255). He has such a care free spirit that you wish you had the guts to attain. He does not have parents, a warm bed to sleep in, but is always in a upbeat mood. However, we also see the crazy life of a 14 year old boy that lives in a city alone, "It is not uncommon to see a little boy, too young to be out of his mother's sight, smoking with all the apparent satisfaction o a veteran smoker." ( page 257). 

What I enjoyed that we touched on in class was how in this text we see  lot of the text relate to important historical figures and landmarks as well. " This coat belonged to General Washington...when he died he told his widder to give it to some smart young feller that hadn't got none of his own; so she gave them to me." (page 254). When thinking of General Washington we think of a leader, an honest man that played an important key role into our nation becoming what it is today. in my opinion, i believe that the reason there are historical figures spread throughout the text is because the author is wanting young boys to become interested in leaders. This could strike a boys curiosity in school and hence more young boy become educated. 

Overall, boys and girls differ very much in 19th century literature and there are no common grounds on which they share anything.