Interdisciplinary Connections in Sarah Orne
Jewett's A Country Doctor
Lowell Factory:
Adeline left Oldfields to work at a factory in Lowell, MA. The "Lowell
System" or also referred to as the "Lowell Girls". Some US History
classes are using the following web sites to learn about this part of social
history.
Economic Role of Women, Factory Girls
(from Mr. Pentz).
- Your Norton US History book: pages 266 -
268, 271 - 275, 327 - 330, 349.
- Click on Sarah
Moore's or Erin
Leech's web page for a great powerpoint presentation on the Lowell Factory
System.
- Visit the National Park Homepage for usefully information;
you could also plan a visit: http://www.nps.gov/lowe/millgirls.htm
Historical 19th Century
Female Doctors:
Titian's Presentation
of the Virgin.
Review and reread the first five pages of Chapter 10.
On page 93, Jewett dramatizes Dr. Leslie's mentoring with an allusion to this
famous work of art. The passage reads: "The ministers were both excellent
men; but Dr. Leslie was the only man who looked far ahead or saw much or cared
much for true success. In Titian's great Venetian picture of the Presentation
of the Virgin, while the little maiden goes soberly up the steps of the temple,
in the busy crowd beneath only one man is possessed by the thought that something
wonderful is happening, and lifts his head, forgetting the buyers and sellers
and gossipers, as his eyes follow the sacred sight.
![](../images/presenta.jpg)
The Presentation of the Virgin in
the Temple; 1534-1538; oil on canvas; 345 x 775;
Venezia, Gallerie dell’Accademia.
- This large painting of The Presentation of the Virgin
in the Temple is one of the few works that Titian did for a Scuola Grande,
that is one of Venice’s major confraternities. Mary goes to the Temple
in accordance with Jewish custom, but as she climbs the stairs, she already
shines with the divine light of the new era. The confrontation of Christianity
with Judaism and paganism is symbolically emphasized by the two figures at
the bottom of the canvas. The classic, mutilated torso, represents the inexorable
decline of the pagan world, while the other, the old Jewish woman selling
ritual offerings for the Temple is the image of the persistence yet gradual
exhaustion of the Jewish religion and culture. If the respectful attitudes
of Mary and her parents proclaim the continuity between the Jewish and Christian
worlds, the only continuity of paganism is represented by the architecture
inspired by the words of Titian’s friend, Serlio. The scene includes
the highest officials of the Scuola della Carità.
- Recalling that finding the drama beneath the surface
of ordinary things is an aspect of Realism, how does this scene illuminate
that element of Realism? Also, how does this scene connect to the garden scene
of the first afternoon that Nan spent visiting Dr. Leslie?