Abstract
Viktoryen devrin orta sınıf ailesi, sınıf kimliğini tanımlamak üzere hizmetçiler tutmuştur. Dönemin ideolojisi, hizmetçilerin varlıklarını hissettirmemesini gerektirirdi, böylece mahrem alan kamusal alandan ayrılmış olurdu. Bütün iş alametlerinin ailesel alandan silinmesi gerektiği için, hizmetçiler göze batmamalılardı. Aynı zamanda, kültürel hayal gücünde, Viktoryenler, işçi sınıfı kadınlara belirgin vücutlar, orta sınıf kadınlara ise zarif bir hafiflik atfettiler. Charles Dickens’s romanı David Copperfield, romanla aynı adı taşıyan anlatıcının hizmetçi tasvirleri aracılığıyla bu toplumsal cinsiyet ve sınıf ideolojilerine tepki gösterir. David, hizmetçilerin belirginliğini patronların sınıf hiyerarşisindeki yerine göre belirlemek suretiyle, bu diktelere hem uyar hem karşı çıkar. Peggotty, Littimer, ve romandaki diğer hizmetçiler gösterir ki, David’in anlatı süreci onun içsel ruhsal ihtiyaçları ve sınıf ideolojisinin dayatmaları arasında geçen bir pazarlık sonucu şekillenir.
References
- Cullwick, H. (1984). The Diaries of Hannah Cullwick. London: Virago Press. Davidoff, L. (1973). Mastered for Life: Servants and Wives in Victorian and Edwardian England, Journal of Social History, 7, 1. Dickens, C. (1990). The Personal History and Experience of David Copperfield the Younger. New York: W. W. Norton and Co. Gallagher, C. (1985). The Industrial Reformation of English Fiction: Social Discourse and Narrative Form, 1832-1867. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Horn, P. (1975). The Rise and Fall of the Victorian Servant. New York: St. Martin’s. Jordan, J. O. (1998). Domestic Servants and the Victorian Home, Homes and Homelessness in the Victorian Imagination, ed. M. Baumgarten and H. M. Daleski. New York: AMS Press. Michie, H. (1992). Sororophobia: Differences Among Women in Literature and Culture. New York: Oxford University Press. Michie, H. (1987). The Flesh Made Word: Female Figures and Women’s Bodies. New York: Oxford University Press. O’Toole, T. (1996). The Servant’s Body: The Victorian Wet-Nurse and George Moore’s Esther Waters, Women’s Studies, 25, 4. Poovey, Mary. (1998). Uneven Developments: The Ideological Work of Gender in Mid-Victorian England. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Robbins, Bruce. (1993). The Servant’s Hand: English Fiction from Below. Durham: Duke University Press. Ruskin, J. (1983). Masters and Servants, Selections from the Writings of John Ruskin. London: George Allen. Trodd, A. (1987). Household Spies: The Servant and the Plot in Victorian Fiction, Literature and History, 13, 2. Vanden, B. C. R. (1995). Cookery, Not Rookery: Family and Class in David Copperfield, David Copperfield and Hard Times: Charles Dickens, ed. J. Peck. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Abstract
The Victorian middle class kept servants to define their identity as middle class. The ideology of the period dictated that servants must not make their presence felt, so that the private sphere may be properly separated from the public one. Traces of business must be effaced from the domestic space, so servants must not be conspicuous. At the same time, the Victorians ascribed to working-class women conspicuous bodies in their cultural imaginary and their middle-class counterparts appeared ethereal. Charles Dickens’s novel David Copperfield responds to these gender and class ideologies through its eponymous narrator’s portrayal of servants. David conforms to and challenges these norms by correlating the servants’ visibility to their masters’ place in the class hierarchy. Peggotty, Littimer, and other servants in the novel show that the process of narration for David reflects a negotiation between his spontaneous psychic needs and the impositions of class ideology.
References
- Cullwick, H. (1984). The Diaries of Hannah Cullwick. London: Virago Press. Davidoff, L. (1973). Mastered for Life: Servants and Wives in Victorian and Edwardian England, Journal of Social History, 7, 1. Dickens, C. (1990). The Personal History and Experience of David Copperfield the Younger. New York: W. W. Norton and Co. Gallagher, C. (1985). The Industrial Reformation of English Fiction: Social Discourse and Narrative Form, 1832-1867. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Horn, P. (1975). The Rise and Fall of the Victorian Servant. New York: St. Martin’s. Jordan, J. O. (1998). Domestic Servants and the Victorian Home, Homes and Homelessness in the Victorian Imagination, ed. M. Baumgarten and H. M. Daleski. New York: AMS Press. Michie, H. (1992). Sororophobia: Differences Among Women in Literature and Culture. New York: Oxford University Press. Michie, H. (1987). The Flesh Made Word: Female Figures and Women’s Bodies. New York: Oxford University Press. O’Toole, T. (1996). The Servant’s Body: The Victorian Wet-Nurse and George Moore’s Esther Waters, Women’s Studies, 25, 4. Poovey, Mary. (1998). Uneven Developments: The Ideological Work of Gender in Mid-Victorian England. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Robbins, Bruce. (1993). The Servant’s Hand: English Fiction from Below. Durham: Duke University Press. Ruskin, J. (1983). Masters and Servants, Selections from the Writings of John Ruskin. London: George Allen. Trodd, A. (1987). Household Spies: The Servant and the Plot in Victorian Fiction, Literature and History, 13, 2. Vanden, B. C. R. (1995). Cookery, Not Rookery: Family and Class in David Copperfield, David Copperfield and Hard Times: Charles Dickens, ed. J. Peck. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Subjects | Creative Arts and Writing |
| Journal Section | Articles |
| Authors | |
| Publication Date | June 26, 2020 |
| Submission Date | February 10, 2020 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2020 Issue: 64 |
