Manners, Wealth and Status in Rebecca Rushs Novel Kelroy :: Rebecca Rush Kelroy Essays

Manners, Wealth and Status in Rebecca Rushs Novel Kelroy A fable of manners this is how the novel Kelroy is described by Kathryn Derounian in her article deep in thought(p) in the Crowd Rebecca Rushs Kelroy (1812). Throughout the novel, characters such as Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Manley, Mr. Kelroy, and especially the Gurnet family, demonstrate how people are treated differently regarding their wealth, status and mannerisms. Kelroy shows us these relationships and how oneness is viewed solely on the way in which they present themselves. Culture, at the clipping Kelroy was written, was much different than culture today. well-nigh women in the early ordinal century served an ornamental function rather than a domestic function. Most of the women in Kelroy were the ornamental type. The men in the eighteenth century married, non for someone to cook and clean for them, but to have someone attractive and proper to attend social gatherings with. Rush shows some of this culture when she describes Lucy and Emily at a gathering hosted by Mrs. Hammond The two sisters were dressed exactly akin in white satin and silver. Their fans, gloves and shoes were also white and the delicacy of their complexions, contrasted with the sincere elegance of their uniform, and heightened by the glow of youthful animation, rendered them lovely beyond description. (Rush 15) This shows the richness of appearance in this time period. It was typical for wealthy women to dress so elegantly at parties or other social events. This description of attire also shows, to some extent, the practice Mrs. Hammond used in the exaggerated reveal of her daughters. Not only did the young ladies need to dress elegantly to detect a wealthy husband, they also had to have appropriate manners. Mrs. Hammond, after the destruction of her husband, devoted her life to educating her daughters in how they are to properly conduct themselves. Her think for thi s was a typical one to make others believe they were an established family of wealth. Mr. Marneys story is a bit different although his goal was similar.