The Ladies
About a month ago, I read The Ladies, a short story about Mrs. John Adams found on the online speculative fiction magazine, Coyote Wild. Unlike most of the speculative stories on the magazine, this one contains no magic or magical creatures. Instead, it is sort of an alternate history.
I was thinking about the story recently, as for Monday, my World Cultures IV class read excerpts from letters sent between Abigail and John Adams, including the section quoted in the story:
Quincy, Massachusetts, May 7, 1776
. . . I cannot say that I think you are very generous to the ladies; for, whilst you are proclaiming peace and good-will to men, emancipating all nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over wives.
But you must remember that arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken; and, notwithstanding all your wise laws and maxims, we have it in our power, not only to free ourselves, but to subdue our masters, and without violence, throw both your natural and legal authority at our feet . . .
-- Abigail Smith Adams, from a letter to John Adams
The other reason this story comes to mind now should be fairly obvious. Since Abigail wins the American presidency in this story, one cannot help but think of Hillary Clinton, who has come farther than any woman before her in making a bid for the presidency. And while I don't think I'd vote for her, as I don't feel gender should play a role in who you vote for, I do think it's way past time we had a female president (or a non-white one for that matter). No doubt Elizabeth Bear had such thoughts in mind as she wrote this speculative story.
So, let's speculate further. What do you think would have happened if our second president had been Mrs. John Adams instead of Mr. John Adams? If you don't want to or can't answer that question, I'd still like to know what you think of the story or of women and the US presidency (if you're not from the US, feel free to speak more generally).
Oh, and on a side note, Sherwood Smith (
sartorias) has a couple of stories on Coyote Mag that are worth a read. The first is Summer Thunder, a story set in the same world as Crown Duel, the Inda stories, Senrid, etc.. The second is the lovely story And Now Abideth These Three.
I was thinking about the story recently, as for Monday, my World Cultures IV class read excerpts from letters sent between Abigail and John Adams, including the section quoted in the story:
Quincy, Massachusetts, May 7, 1776
. . . I cannot say that I think you are very generous to the ladies; for, whilst you are proclaiming peace and good-will to men, emancipating all nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over wives.
But you must remember that arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken; and, notwithstanding all your wise laws and maxims, we have it in our power, not only to free ourselves, but to subdue our masters, and without violence, throw both your natural and legal authority at our feet . . .
-- Abigail Smith Adams, from a letter to John Adams
The other reason this story comes to mind now should be fairly obvious. Since Abigail wins the American presidency in this story, one cannot help but think of Hillary Clinton, who has come farther than any woman before her in making a bid for the presidency. And while I don't think I'd vote for her, as I don't feel gender should play a role in who you vote for, I do think it's way past time we had a female president (or a non-white one for that matter). No doubt Elizabeth Bear had such thoughts in mind as she wrote this speculative story.
So, let's speculate further. What do you think would have happened if our second president had been Mrs. John Adams instead of Mr. John Adams? If you don't want to or can't answer that question, I'd still like to know what you think of the story or of women and the US presidency (if you're not from the US, feel free to speak more generally).
Oh, and on a side note, Sherwood Smith (
sartorias) has a couple of stories on Coyote Mag that are worth a read. The first is Summer Thunder, a story set in the same world as Crown Duel, the Inda stories, Senrid, etc.. The second is the lovely story And Now Abideth These Three.