Miss Watson In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Back in the 19th century, women had specific roles in everyday life and society. They were categorized into countless stereotypes. Every woman had a certain place to be, thoughts to have, words to say, and jobs to do. A woman’s limitations were way greater than what they are today, and there are very vast differences between then and now. However, there are also some things that have stayed the same.
As explained by Kimberly M. Radek in her piece “Women in the Nineteenth Century”, women were most commonly seen as weak, passive, and timid. They were considered completely dependent on males and lived for them in a sense. A woman’s place of belonging was mostly private, while a mans was more public and out in the thriving world. Women were seen
as mostly homemakers and housekeepers, they tended to the house and they were the primary caretakers for the children. They were also school teachers and were often seamstresses.
There are many great examples of this in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
Out of the handful of significant female characters in this book, one that should be paid attention to is Miss Watson. She is very strict when it comes to trying to make Huck act civilized. '"Miss Watson would say, 'Don't put your feet up there, Huckleberry,' and 'Don't scrunch up like that Huckleberry- set up straight..."' This satirized the type of Christian women who were very meticulous with their teachings of manners and religion. Huck himself thinks that "sivilization" is unnecessary, and also finds her lessons exasperating and
tiresome. Aunt Sally is another one of the female characters, and she displays motherly instincts when she is tending to Huck. "And then when I went up to bed she come up with me and fetched her candle, and tucked me in, and mothered me so good I felt mean and like I couldn’t look her in the face.” These were Huck's thoughts while Aunt Sally was tucking him into bed. Huck lied to Aunt Sally when she said that she thought he was Tom and he said that he was. This made Huck feel really ashamed and guilty considering how good she treated him when he had been neglected all of this life. With this, you see a good example of how women usually were very good with their skills in nurturing children in a variety of ways even if it wasn't their own child.
Back in the 1800's, women weren't really seen as clever beings.
They weren't necessarily seen as "stupid", but they were the first ones you would expect to piece things together before anyone else. One female who shot down this stereotype was Mrs. Loftus. When Huck arrives at the shack in Chapter 11 while dressed up as a girl, she lets him in but not without scrutiny. He tells her that "her" name is Sarah Williams and that "she" is from Hookerville. She makes small talk about the current events happening in Huck's town and how everyone thinks that he's dead and people are either suspecting that the murderer is either Huck's father Pap or the Widow Douglass's slave Jim, who had been accompanying Huck on his journey. After this, she gets to be pretty suspicious and once again asks Huck his name to which he replies with "Mary Williams". This obviously increases her suspicions and she asks why his name was different and he tries to cover all of this up my claiming his full name was "Sarah Mary Williams". Following shortly after this Mrs.Loftus tests him in multiple ways. Two of these tests were that she asked him to thread a needle, and also requests Huck to kill a rat by throwing a piece of lead at it and striking it, and the fact that Huck's accuracy in throwing was that of a boys is what really gave things away for her. After this, she confronts him assuming he's a runaway apprentice, but she also adds that she won't turn him
in.
Nowadays, while yes most women are nurturing and have great motherly qualities and also enjoy teaching the newer generations the basics of being a good person in this society, their independence and intelligence is not questioned even remotely as much as it was then. Also, women have made vast improvements when it comes to the workforce. According to Anna Chu and Charles Posner, "While women made up only about one-third of the workforce in 1969, women today make up almost half of all workers in the United States." This is only one of many huge accomplishments for women.
While modern-day women may share some of the same personality traits that women of the past wielded, women have taken large leaps towards equality and have many more freedoms. The progress that has been made is really something to be proud of, but women have always been lovely creatures as it is. Society is just warming up to be able to see these things and acknowledge them.