The Forerunner, Volume 1 (1909-1910) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A small stone city, very old, built upon rock, rock-paved, rock-bound with twenty centuries of walls.
A Ghetto, an age-old Ghetto, crowded into a stony corner of the crowded stony city; its steep and narrow confines not more a boundary than the iron prejudices that built them.
In the Ghetto-life, human life; close-pressed, kept to its elemental forms, with a vitality purchased at nature's awful price-by surviving slow extinction.
This life, denied all larger grouping, finds its sole joy in fierce deep love of family and home. This home a room, a low and narrow room, unwholesome, dark, incredibly filled up, yet overflowing most with love.
Here was peace. Here was Honor wherewith to face the outer Scorn. Here was Safety-the only safety known. Here, most of all was Love, Love, wound and interwound with the blood-tie, deepened by religion, intensified by centuries of relentless pressure, strengthened a thousandfold by the unbroken cruelty of the environment. Love, one with the family; the family one with the home; the home, for generation after generation-one room!
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A miracle! Some daughter of this house, strayed as a child, found by eccentric travellers, taken to England, reared with love and care to strange exotic beauty, marrying a great landowner so lost in passionate devotion that he gave her all he had, and, dying, left her heir to vast estates.
She following, her family inherit the estate, and come to take possession.
They enter the tall pillared gates; they wander up the shaded avenue, a little group, huddled and silent, timid, ill at ease. They mount the wide, white marble-terraced steps, the children crowding close, the mother frightened, the father striving to hold up this new strange pride under his time-swollen burden of humility and fear.
These towering halls, these broad-curved stairways, these lofty chambers, even the great kitchens and their clustering offices, are to this timid group as wide and desolate as deserts or the sea.
They seek a room, a room that shall be small enough and low enough and dark enough; they reach at last one friendly sheltering little room-crowd into it with tumultuous affection, and find a home!
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It is home where the heart is!
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A liberal feminist text. Rather than considering what is appropriate masculine or feminine behaviour, we should investigate what it is to be human.
First published serially in Gilman's magazine the Forerunner in 1909-10, the novel tells the story of Diantha Bell, a young woman who leaves her home and her fiancé to start a housecleaning business. A resourceful heroine, Diantha quickly expands her business into an enterprise that includes a maid service, cooked food delivery service, restaurant, and hotel. By assigning a cash value to women's "invisible" work, providing a means for the well-being and moral uplift of working girls, and releasing middle- and leisure-class women from the burden of conventional domestic chores, Diantha proves to her family and community the benefits of professionalized housekeeping.
It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer. A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicity—but that would be asking too much of fate!
Damian didn't believe in love, but he needed a wife to claim the inheritance his uncle left him. Amelia needed to take revenge on her ex-husband, and what better way to do it than a marriage of convenience with his worst enemy? There were only two rules in their fake marriage: no entanglement or
Five years ago, he upped and left his wife without informing her. He had always felt unworthy. As a result, he decided to go and become a better man. It took him five whole years of daily hard work. When he was satisfied, he returned as a powerful and honorable man. He intended to start a fam
*18+ only. Contains mature themes* Adeline’s world gets flipped upside down when a neighbouring Alpha takes over her pack. He’s ruthless, rumors being said that he even killed his father for the Alpha position, yet Adeline can’t help but drop to her knees whenever he’s nearby. Convinced that Alpha J
Blinded by unrequited love, Dayna's world shattered upon learning of Jon's engagement to another girl. Determined to focus on her happiness, she decided to move on. Returning to the workforce, Dayna witnessed her career soar. Soon, admirers flocked to her. Realizing his mistake, Jon wanted her back
"Don't you feel a bit of regret, or even sadness? You should know you've spewed coffee at Mia, because if one day I exchange places with her and she's still mad at it, she would definitely get back to you and she might even get frantic. Do you understand how terrible a frantic woman can get? Are you
Belinda thought after divorce, they would part ways for good - he could live his life on his own terms, while she could indulge in the rest of hers. However, fate had other plans in store. "My darling, I was wrong. Would you please come back to me?" The man, whom she once loved deeply, lowered his
Chapter 1 No.1
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Chapter 2 AS TO HUMANNESS.
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Chapter 3 P. G.
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Chapter 4 P. G. No.4
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Chapter 5 P. G. No.5
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Chapter 6 P. G. No.6
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Chapter 7 THE MAN-MADE FAMILY.
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Chapter 8 P. G. No.8
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Chapter 9 HEALTH AND BEAUTY.
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Chapter 10 No.10
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Chapter 11 No.11
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Chapter 12 No.12
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Chapter 13 MASCULINE LITERATURE.
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Chapter 14 GAMES AND SPORTS
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Chapter 15 ETHICS AND RELIGION.
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Chapter 16 EDUCATION.
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Chapter 17 SOCIETY AND FASHION
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Chapter 18 LAW AND GOVERNMENT.
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Chapter 19 THE POWER OF THE SCREW.
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Chapter 20 CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.
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Chapter 21 No.21
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Chapter 22 No.22
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Chapter 23 No.23
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Chapter 24 INDUSTRY AND ECONOMICS.
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Chapter 25 A HUMAN WORLD.
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