Dissertation

\Being my own heroine\: The marriage of a nineteenth-century Washington belle, Violet Blair

Laas, Virginia Jeans

1993

Overview

Beautiful, intelligent, accustomed to exercising authority, and demanding equality without apology, Violet Blair (1848-1933) was the leading belle of Washington D.C. In 1874 she wed Albert Janin. Her experience offers an opportunity to explore the question of how such a vain and assertive woman managed within that most patriarchal of nineteenth-century institutions--marriage. Violet was no shrinking flower; she set the original terms of their marriage, and Albert, for the most part, obeyed. He, however, was not simply a hen-pecked husband. Understanding precisely how to handle his difficult wife, he managed to live his life much as he wished. Both partners retained their individual identities while maintaining their marital bond. Their fifty-four-year marriage provides ample evidence of the variety and complexity that could exist between two fundamentally conservative people who had worked out their own definition of marriage. Because of the abundance of both his and her letters, in addition to her revealing diaries, Violet and Albert speak for themselves throughout this work. Their own words vividly recreate their thoughts and feelings, bringing us as close as possible to the reality of their lives and strengthening our understanding of their actions and relationship. The years of Violet's life encompass a transitional period for women. Located between the nineteenth-century ideal of domesticity and the twentieth century stereotype of the New Woman, Violet persisted in clinging to many of the older attitudes toward women and their place while at the same time foreshadowing the mind set of the modern woman. This study examines the distribution of power within a marriage and attempts to uncover the meaning of power and control to a particularly strong woman who bowed to most conventions of society but refused to relinquish her own individuality, independence, or authority. It is a story of shifting power and certain struggle, ending in a kind of stasis in which both partners retain their autonomy while dependent on the other.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: American history / Biographies / Womens studies
• ISBN: 9798208262337