The Cost of Marriage. Female Selfhood in "Ruth Hall" and "The Story of Avis"

Marriage, Female Labor and Independence in Nineteenth-Century American Fiction

Felix Konermann

• Publisher: GRIN Verlag
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9783389192412
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Seminar paper from the year 2026 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, , course: Marriage and Divorce, language: English, abstract: In nineteenth-century domestic fiction, women are often depicted as the ultimate goal of their lives, the emotional and social destination toward which they should endeavor to progress. Fanny Fern's "Ruth Hall" and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps's "The Story of Avis" resist this narrative model. While both novels portray marriage as the end in itself and the reward for women's virtue, they represent it as one that takes women's work and erodes their independence, threatening their sense of self. In "Ruth Hall", marital life leaves Ruth with few opportunities to support herself, yet the novel promises her a way to reclaim some independence. In "The Story of Avis", marriage kills the voice of the woman's ambition, gradually destroying her artistic talent and freedom that characterize Avis. Linda Grasso points out "Ruth Hall", reallows women's anger at domestic injustice to be made public, challenging an assumption that resisting patriarchal power is somehow "unwomanly" (Grasso). This essay argues that, though both "Ruth Hall" and "The Story of Avis" criticize marriage as a powerful mechanism that restricts women's right to assert control over their lives, "Ruth Hall" imagines her strength through labor and authorship as a way to survive, while "The Story of Avis" presents marriage as far less than the path to female selfhood. Diese wissenschaftliche Arbeit untersucht die Darstellung von Ehe und weiblicher Selbstbestimmung in Fanny Ferns "Ruth Hall" und Elizabeth Stuart Phelps' "The Story of Avis". Beide Romane hinterfragen die traditionelle Vorstellung der Ehe als höchste Form weiblicher Erfüllung und zeigen stattdessen, wie Ehe wirtschaftliche Abhängigkeit, emotionale Belastung und den Verlust persönlicher Freiheit erzeugen kann. Während "Ruth Hall" die Möglichkeit weiblicher Selbstbehauptung durch Arbeit und schriftstellerische Tätigkeit eröffnet, zeichnet "The Story of Avis" ein deutlich pessimistisches Bild der Ehe als Hindernis für weibliche Kreativität und künstlerische Selbstverwirklichung. Die Arbeit argumentiert, dass beide Texte die Ehe nicht nur als private Beziehung, sondern als gesellschaftliche Institution kritisieren, die weibliche Identität, Arbeit und Autonomie nachhaltig einschränkt.