Abigail Adams - Living a New Female Role

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Regensburg, 7 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Can Abigail Adams truly be regarded as a revolutionary of that time? Did she act in a revolutionary way? Did she even create a new female role during the American Revolution? If so, in what perspectives was this role revolutionary and new? In order to answer these questions and investigate upon her conduct, the letters of Abigail and her husband between 1774 and 1777 will be the focus of this paper; they will be analyzed and interpreted in terms of the new female role. This corpus of letters is taken out of The Book of Abigail and John (1975). Herein the focus lies on Abigail's perspective, on her perception and account of war experiences and on her thoughts and opinions about government and politics. In addition to this, John's letters have to be taken into account as well, as he represents the addressee Abigail is writing to. His letters and the way he addresses her, the topics and his experiences he mentions and the advice he asks from his wife or gives to her, do shed light onto the person of Abigail Adams as well as influenced her.