Cady Stanton Critique Essays - Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lecturers

One may find Lois W. Banners biography, Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A Radical for Womens Rights an enjoyable read, as long as the subject and topic interests them. The author, Banner, observes Stanton's role as an activist in the women's rights and suffrage movements, as well as Stanton's personal and professional relationships and successfully ties it all back to her upbringing and why Stanton is considered such a radical of her time period. A reader can appreciate the structured flow of the book since Banner chose to write the biography in chronological order. Because of this, Banner allowed the reader to better understand the events of Stantons life from beginning to the end, as well as historical events. Additionally, Banner also made it easy to follow along by mentioning the activist in her younger years as Cady and for her adult years; Banner would identify her as Cady Stanton. Lastly, Banner was successful in allowing the readers ability to connect to Stanton as a person and how she dealt with parenting and marital issues. Banner illustrates a portrait of Cantons background and how that relates to the activist she became. Banner goes into detail about the era that Stanton was born and raised in and allows the reader to understand how Stanton immediately disagreed with how women were viewed. It is as if Banner, without the credentials, made assumptions about the psychological aspects of who Stanton was. Some may view that Banner in a sense downplayed the origins of a great womens rights activist. Banner also broke down the lines of who Stanton was as a mother and wife and how those roles both hindered and helped to make Stanton, the activist. For example, on page 53, Banner writes: her [Stanton] underlying guilt at the prospect of leaving her children in the hands of others while she pursued a public career. The episode also reveals her [Stanton] scarcely submerged anger at the cultural demand that mothers bear total responsibility for their children. Depending on the reader, one may or may not enjoy how Banner referenced speeches and at many times all through the book, pulled from Stantons autobiography. One may argue that in doing so, Banner is giving the reader a biased opinion of Stanton and not her own. While that might be true, Banner does not conceal when Stanton was hypocritical to certain womens movements. For example, in chapter 3 of the book, Banner writes how Stanton wants to change to formality of womens dress code for the mid 1800s to a more casual dress. Stanton asked other women to continue wearing the dresses despite the criticism. However, once Stanton was pressured by her family and children, she was the first feminine leader to stop wearing the casual dress. For Banner to shed a light to this particular event shows Stanton in a way that she herself may not have done. Although quite brief, this book is a good overview of the life of one of the most important innovators of the women's movement in nineteenth century America. A reader can take away a better perspective of who Stanton was and how Banner portrayed her was an everyday woman with everyday struggles born years ahead of her time. LIT Summer 2015