Womens History and Womens Literature
A comparison between leading life in the colonial era and in the 21st century is bound to be vastly different with massive alterations in how we do things. In todays world, the running of life has been uncomplicated to a large extent with increasing technological advances. A simple task such as taking a bath is accomplished by simply turning on the shower or bath tub and water is supplied immediately at any temperature convenient for us. This same task would involve numerous steps in the colonial era. One would need to fetch water from a lake or pond or pump it from a well, then carry it to the intended place of bathing, heat the water if necessary, collect wood for the fire and then proceed to bathe. The amount of time consumed by al these steps is saved in todays life. Also, by doing away with those intermediate steps, we save energy for additional work.
One of the biggest challenges in leading my life in the colonial era would be performing all those steps that lead to the final work whether it be bathing, cooking, cleaning or traveling. For each of these tasks, an unusual amount of time has to be spent simply preparing to perform them. In presence of the amenities that we now possess that make life so much simpler, life back then would seem next to impossible. For instance, cooking meat would require hunting, cleaning the meat, building a fire to cook it on, cutting the meat and then cooking it. Hunting and building a fire for cooking are no longer feasible and if I had to be living my life according to the way in which it was led at that time, I would probably stop eating meat.
Indeed, the question of living a life in the colonial era would solely revolve around the issue of survival. Therefore, one would only be concerned with the acquisition of those things that are absolutely imperative for survival. Hence collecting water for washing and drinking, wood for cooking and keeping warm are the basic needs. In addition, one would also have to make their own clothing and tend to animals such as horses as a means of transport. The various modes of recreation that we are able to experience today such as television, computer, etc., would not be there because in the absence of the appliances that we use today, most of the time would be taken up in doing the basic tasks.
For women, life would become centered totally on the domestic aspect such as cleaning, cooking, keeping house and raising children because there would be no room for any other pursuit. The traditional notions of a woman as best suited for domestic work and man as providing for the family would hold and hence the contribution of women to society would be confined entirely to the carrying out of household duties. Women would thus be concerned solely with their duties as the wife, mother and keeper of the home.
One of the biggest challenges in leading my life in the colonial era would be performing all those steps that lead to the final work whether it be bathing, cooking, cleaning or traveling. For each of these tasks, an unusual amount of time has to be spent simply preparing to perform them. In presence of the amenities that we now possess that make life so much simpler, life back then would seem next to impossible. For instance, cooking meat would require hunting, cleaning the meat, building a fire to cook it on, cutting the meat and then cooking it. Hunting and building a fire for cooking are no longer feasible and if I had to be living my life according to the way in which it was led at that time, I would probably stop eating meat.
Indeed, the question of living a life in the colonial era would solely revolve around the issue of survival. Therefore, one would only be concerned with the acquisition of those things that are absolutely imperative for survival. Hence collecting water for washing and drinking, wood for cooking and keeping warm are the basic needs. In addition, one would also have to make their own clothing and tend to animals such as horses as a means of transport. The various modes of recreation that we are able to experience today such as television, computer, etc., would not be there because in the absence of the appliances that we use today, most of the time would be taken up in doing the basic tasks.
For women, life would become centered totally on the domestic aspect such as cleaning, cooking, keeping house and raising children because there would be no room for any other pursuit. The traditional notions of a woman as best suited for domestic work and man as providing for the family would hold and hence the contribution of women to society would be confined entirely to the carrying out of household duties. Women would thus be concerned solely with their duties as the wife, mother and keeper of the home.
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