In The Lamplighter by Maria S. Cummins, the aftermath of Paul Cooper’s downfall, and Gerty’s proverbial rise can be taken as an indication of a collective desire for balance in society. It is not only in The Lamplighter that we see well-to-do characters falling and virtuous, hardworking characters rising. Even in modern literature this moral prevails: work and be rewarded, be rewarded and fall. What makes Gerty’s situation so interesting is the author’s willingness to break the archetype and show the reader the clockwork of their society, and of our society.
The twist in The Lamplighter is that Gerty does not have to work to rise out of the dregs of society: she has True, who earns her social salvation for her. This sort of Christian imagery pervades the entire story. After one particularly abusive night, Cummins directly addresses Gerty (and, in a way, the audience). “Poor little, untaught, benighted soul! Who shall enlighten thee? Thou art God’s child, little one! Christ died for thee.” And indeed, answering the author’s request, True comes along and brings her up from her lowly state, at no expense to Gerty. “Little Gerty had found a friend and protector.”
Unfortunately, as physically well off Gerty becomes, she has an unavoidable flaw: she is stuck in her street urchin lifestyle. When put into the loving hands of True she does not know what to do. In a way, we all understand her struggle to fit in to an alien situation. Girls today, while the demands of our society are different, deal with the same issues and are portrayed largely in the same way. The video The Yogini we see a modern Ellenesque girl, Anna: perfectly good, an example to all. Anna is independent, hip, and seemingly intelligent; not traits praised by eighteenth century society, but the point is she is well adjusted to today’s society. Which in my opinion is, dare I say, pointless. All our societal expectations are subjective; it is necessary, especially in America that we recognize individuality; that is not to say that it’s wrong to expect good manners, but I digress. We expect young girls to find their niche and obey the social norms, something that Gerty would struggle. Frankly, I don’t even think she could get on to a smart girls” show. As far as she has risen she is in no way an example for other girls. Though, playing along, if she were on the show she would have probably inquired about a way she could balance her life, come into sync with society.
Nice Major American Writers picture! hehe. Well, it is hard for me to say whether I agree with you that Ellen could even get on the show (probably because of her ugliness and bad manners) because I really feel for her. I agree, however, I do think she is an o.k. model for a girl today ( that might be because I was a tomboy when I was young hehe) because she is at least healthy emotionally. You might disagree automatically. Yet, it is my belief that one is to express their feelings (not quite so blatantly as Gerty, here, does) even when they are bad emotions and Gerty is constantly told not to. It's annoying. I go on and on and then I realize that my comments say more about myself, I think, than they do the topic at hand. Anyway thanks for therapizing. I've drunk way too much coffee and the more I talk, the more I sound out of it.
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