The Life of an Ordinary Woman

The Life of an Ordinary Woman


Modern society portrays the family life in the late 19th century by using the model of the middle-class Victorian family. People are led to believe in a stereotypical idea of how families truly functioned during that certain time period. Due to the ideas given by historians, fiction novelists, movie makers, and others, the late 19th century middle-class family is perceived in a total opposite manner from how Anne Ellis portrays it to be in her novel. People tend to believe that during those times the family functioned through the leadership of the head of the house, which the position was held by the working father. The graceful mother stayed home and the well-mannered children attended school. In the novel, The Life of an Ordinary Woman by Anne Ellis, the actual lives of the families during that time are documented through her personal observations and experiences. The author explains the roles men, women, and children played in the family...