Exercise in historical imagination

Drawing on our reading of the book Civilization without Sexes, write a 2 pp (500-600 wd) paper in which you try to put yourself inside the mind of one of the following characters:

imagine that you have been a French soldier at the front from 1914 to 1918. The war is over, and you return home to the young woman you married just before the war started. She seems very different to you. Write a letter to someone you feel you can confide in—your best buddy from the war, your priest, your brother—in which you try to describe the change in your wife and the impact it is having on you.

imagine that you were a young French woman, just married before the war. Your husband was at the front from 1914 to 1918, and you have had to support yourself during this time. Now your husband has returned from the front. You were delighted that he came home safe and sound, but now married life is turning out to be unexpectedly difficult. Write a letter to someone you feel you can confide in—your mother, your sister, your best friend—in which you try to describe how you have changed during the war and why this is having an impact on your marriage.

imagine that you are a young woman graduating from lycée (equivalent of high school) in the middle of the 1920s. A nice young man you know has proposed to you. If you marry him, he expects you to stay home and raise a family. Write a letter of someone you can confide in—your sister, your best friend—explaining how you are thinking about the choices facing you.

Papers due in class Wed., Mar. 6.

Reminder: no class Fri., Mar. 8