Mary Martha Sherwood (1775–1851)

Ostensibly related by a clergyman - the narrator of the piece - this children's novel from Mrs. Mary Martha Sherwood follows the story of the eponymous Susan Gray. Born to humble but pious people near the market town of Ludlow, in Shropshire, Susan was orphaned at the age of six, going to live with an aunt in town after a stint in the poorhouse. Here her upbringing was far more lax, and she might have gone to the bad, if she hadn't been taken in by a kindly local lady, Mrs. Neale, who sent her to a day school. After the death of this benefactor, seventeen-year-old Susan went to work for a Mrs. Bennett, in order to learn to become a washerwoman. Here she attracted the attention of "the Captain," who, aided by Mrs. Bennett, pursued her despite all of her pleas to be left alone. Although Susan remained steadfast and virtuous, her reputation was ruined by gossip, and she fled back to her home village, where she found work in the hay-making. Her reputation followed her however, and she eventually died, relating her story to the local clergyman on her deathbed. Her example became a source of pride in her village, and her story was thereafter used to warn young women and girls of the dangers awaiting them, out in the wider world...

Originally published in 1802 - the "parlour edition" I read was published in 1816 - The History of Susan Gray is one of many pious tales written by the prolific Mrs. Sherwood, an early 19th-century author in the evangelical Christian line, who produced over four hundred books. It was an assigned text in the course I took on early English children's literature, stretching from the Puritan books of the late 17th century through the pre-Victorian works of the early 19th. Of all the titles read for the course, it was probably the one I enjoyed least. While I have no doubt that the society depicted is true to life, with its themes of impoverished children being cast out into the world, poor girls being the target of sexual predators many years older than them, and female victims being blamed for the actions of their male victimizers, the entire thing left a sour taste in my mouth. This may indeed have been the world confronted by female servants and workers, setting out in life, but it felt wildly unjust, and even unChristian to me, to attempt to blame these mostly powerless individuals for the oppression they would meet. Consider this passage in which Sherwood blames even a silent woman for a man's attention falling upon her:

"You suffered your mind to be full of this stranger; you looked at him and admired him; and he, no doubt, discovered these, your thoughts, by your looks, although you supposed them hidden by your silence. If he, therefore, treated you with any freedom, it was your own fault; and you have as much reason to blame yourself, as if you had tempted him to do so by speaking boldly to him."

The absurdity of this formulation, however lamentably common it may have been at the time of writing, cannot escape the rational reader of today. Leaving aside the fact that it absolves the male of a large part of the responsibility for his own actions, thereby infantilizing him, it's just a laughable excuse for wrong-doing. If we were to take sex out of the equation, and imagine one man killing another, would we partially exonerate the murderer, because the victim had "looked" at him?

At its heart, this is a book about accepting the essential rottenness of the world, and not asking for anything better, because one will be rewarded in the hereafter. The poor should accept their station in life. Women should accept that they may become the target of predators - and that if they do, it's partially their own fault. All of this is made bearable, according to the author, by Christian faith in God, and in a heavenly reward. Although a fascinating window into a different time, one I am glad to have read - I rarely regret reading a book, even one whose themes offend me, as I always learn something - this is not one I would recommend to the casual reader. Scholars interested in Mrs. Sherwood, or in early 19th-century English children's literature might find it interesting, and it is to them I would recommend it.… (plus d'informations)