The Lamplighter

Society’s depiction of young girls has changed dramatically. In this posting, we will compare and contrast the struggles of Gerty’s poor miserable life in Maria S. Cummings The Lamplighter and the life of the yoga loving Anna in Amy Pholer’s video series. Each girl live very different lifestyles yet still struggle with the same types of things.

Gerty struggles with a lot of serious problems. The “mother” figure in her life despises her, she is the ugliest girl anybody has ever seen, and she has no education or it seems, no purpose. “As it was, however, the poor little thing was told, a dozen times a day, that she was the worst-looking child in the world, and, what was more, the worst behaved. No one loved her, and she loves no one; no one treated her kindly; no one tried to make her happy, or cared whether she were so. She was but eight years old, and all alone in the world” (80). Aunt Nan never let Gerty do anything in the house nor did she ever go to school. She had no special skills. It was not uncommon for girls to have no education in the time of this novel but having no knowledge of anything was below society’s standards. Woman usually took care of all the housekeeping, including daughters. Gerty struggles to find use in her life. This compares to the Girl Time video with Anna who also is expected to be useful and be active. She goes to 3rd grade and loves the balance of the difficulty. Like Gerty, the expectation is that girls should be smart and be useful in life. The theme of the show is that “Smart girls have more fun” so there is obviously pressure on the girls like Ana to be the smartest and best girl she can be. This is very similar to Gerty’s struggle to also be useful and not just get in the way. Both girls need to be smarter and more useful to be accepted in life.

Being a civilized little girl who never shows fault or anger is a common expectation in both of these girls’s world. Gerty shows her anger through tantrums and vulgar language. Because of her temper, everyone looks down upon her, “But he had been well brought up by his gentle mother, was conscious that Gerty was exhibiting a very hot temper, and began to understand what made everybody think her so bad” (118). It is the same way in the video where it is good to be balanced and have everything under control. Ana does not have as bad of a temper as Gerty but there are still expectations on her to be self-controlled. Ana does yoga to balance herself out. If not a polite little girl who stays under control, then society will look down upon you.
One of the main differences between the societies is that today, girls are just supposed to have fun, while in The Lamplighter, that is not the case. Girls like Gerty are supposed to help around the house and be well rounded individuals. Girls in today’s society have to be strong individuals who have equal rights and supposed to have as much fun as possible through being successful. If Gerty were to come on Amy Pholer’s show, she would be clueless. When asked about having balance and about school, she would have neither of them. She probably would not even be allowed on the show because she is so ugly and today’s society focuses greatly on appearance and looks.

These eight year old girls grew up in different generations but they still struggled with the same types of issues. Trying to fit in and become part of society is the most common theme between the both. They both have to become normal, civilized citizens.