Platform: from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman – Flashcards
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Solicitude
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care; concern
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Fastidious
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picky; overly fussy
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Specious
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howy but false; lacking genuineness
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Abrogated
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abolished; repeated
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Cursory
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hasty; superficial
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Vitiate
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impair; weaken; spoil
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Superiatives
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relating to, or being at an extreme degree; of the highest order
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Bugbear
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any source of fear; a recurring problem or annoyance
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Propensity
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a natural inclination or preference
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Insipid
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lacking taste or flavor; lacking qualities that interest
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You cannot fully understand a difficult nonfiction text if you read it in a ______
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Cursory
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What does the word vindication mean in the context of Wollstonecraft's title? Explain how the word's meaning reflects her purpose for writing A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
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Sample answer: In the title, "vindication" means "justification." Wollstonecraft is justifying why women should have equal rights.
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To what does Mary Wollstonecraft compare women's minds? Support your answer, citing details from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
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Sample answer: Wollstonecraft compares women's minds to flowers planted in soil that is too rich, where "strength and usefulness are sacrificed to beauty."
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What societal institutions might be affected by the arguments in Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman? Support your answer, citing details from the selection.
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b, Explanation: The opening paragraph specifically cites the "neglected education" of women, and her conviction that this must improve.
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When A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was first published, it caused great public outcry, not only because of its content but also because of its straightforward, blunt style. In those days, people were not accustomed to women's speaking their minds. Write an essay that defines Wollstonecraft's style. Do you think her style would be considered blunt by today's standards?
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Students may or may not feel that Wollstonecraft's style is blunt by today's standards. Whichever answer they choose, their essays should provide support for their point of view.
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The opposite of genuine is _______.
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Specious
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How does the tone of Wollstonecraft's essay help to convey her views on women's rights? Choose an argument she makes in her essay, and show how she argues her case. Use references from the text in your answer.
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Students' responses will vary. A sample response follows: Wollstonecraft uses strong words and clear, unemotional language to argue that being a parent and homemaker is an honorable profession. It is a profession, she believes, that requires a great deal of intellect and strength of character. Training for this profession should be thorough and the work generously rewarded. Wollstonecraft's claim that upper-class British women of her time are ill-suited for motherhood and household management is supported by persuasive arguments, such as the idea that women who have been treated solely as objects of desire cannot be expected to govern a family or to take care of the babies. The result, she says, is a degradation of women and a decline in the intelligence of the population as a whole. This eventuality occurs because oppressed women, as mothers, become "mere propagators of fools."
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An inclination or tendency to do something is a ________ to do it.
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Propensity
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Most of the best writers are ______ in their choice of words.
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Fastidious
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Wollstonecraft's style in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is direct and blunt. How might this have affected the contemporary audience who read the essay? Do you think the men and women of Wollstonecraft's time were accustomed to this sort of opinion from women? In an essay, examine the style used by Wollstonecraft. Compare and contrast how audiences of today would react to the same type of directness. Support your points, citing examples from the text.
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Students should examine the directness of Wollstonecraft's style in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. People of the time were not accustomed to this sort of bluntness in women writers, and certainly would have reacted strongly. While students may or may not agree that this kind of style would be as direct and blunt by today's standards, they should nonetheless support their opinions with specific examples from Wollstonecraft's essay.
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Which line from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman conveys the essay's main theme?
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"women . . . ought to cherish a nobler ambition, and by their abilities and virtues exact respect . . ."
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Wollstonecraft's purpose in writing A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was to
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persuade readers to accept her point of view.
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In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft felt that women's weakness was
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artificial.
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In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft compares women's minds to
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flowers planted in soil that is too rich.
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For Wollstonecraft the first task of any human being, male or female, is to —
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build his or her own character
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According to Wollstonecraft, people who are only the objects of pity and condescending love will eventually become objects of —
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contempt
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In the introduction to A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, the author prepares the reader for the rest of the essay by —
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presenting her arguments in brief form
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In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, according to Wollstonecraft, mistaken notions of female excellence lead women to
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behave like children.
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Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman to
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criticize society's view of women.
