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The Education of Henry Adams · Theme
The Role of Women
How The Education of Henry Adams develops The Role of Women.
Women appear as both civilizing influences and enigmatic forces, from the domestic virtues of Bostonian mothers to the symbolic power of the Virgin in medieval culture, yet Adams often finds them peripheral to the male-dominated worlds of politics and intellect.
Where it surfaces
- Rome (1859–1860)
Adams credits his sister Mrs. Kuhn with superior moral sense and influence, leading him to conclude that no woman ever drove him wrong.
- XXX: Vis Inertiae (1903)
Central theme: Adams examines the American woman's failure to create a new society, her liberation through industrialization, and the inertia of sex as a fundamental force in history.