Hope chests

[bookwormsarah]

I have been reading a fair amount of anti-feminism on the web on the last few days, and something that has cropped up on a number of occasions is the concept of a hope chest. The argument seems to be that Hope Chests are wonderful things encouraging maidens to prepare for their marriage and start producing things for a blissful life of domesticity

Comments

[morganmuffle]

Hope Chests always make me think of the poem Jo March writes in (I think) Good Wives with the fictional chests in the attic for her and her sisters. Because at that point only Meg is married and Beth is, well *sniffs* they're more collections of their lives and their hopes and dreams over the years, dolls for Amy but more grown up things for Meg.

Fairly frequently I find blogs tend to polarise the issues and if you can read both sides you'll see the slightly more sensible path somewhere in the middle.

[allygatorkin]

My Mum came up with a great idea for part of my xmas present. All this year I am getting one present a month which will go towards 'the house that one day will be mine' (this month was a rolling pin and pastry brush *g*) and most of it will be stored in the loft until I need it. So yes it is a hope chest in one way, but with a modern spin of being a practical way of gathering together things I will need, so that all the expense of a new house doesn't come at once!

I'm also trying to buy things in tandem, if I see anything good.

[bluebellbicycle]

I remember being particularly shocked by Hope Chests (when I first heard of them with that label, rather than a 'bottom drawer' or 'bureau' - actually I think the label is something else in EBD isn't it?) in Big Love but that was because they were being collected by 9 year old girls, for marriage at 13 or whatever.

The idea itself is probably, like so many such things, all about how you interpret it and what *you* put into it. Yours sounds particularly nice! :D

[b_liz]

I had a Bottom Drawer I started as a teenager, having got the idea from books. When I saw some crockery I liked and started buying it a few pieces at a time, and there were various other bits and pieces in there as well. I started using the crockery when I needed some as a student and we still have it (slightly less of it now) in day-to-day use.

I didn't tell anybody I was doing it, but my mum and sisters laughed at me when they found out, which I think was rather mean!