Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark · Chapter
Letter IV explained
Wollstonecraft reflects on the effects of the long Swedish winter on the people, observing their industriousness in spinning and weaving.
What happens
Wollstonecraft reflects on the effects of the long Swedish winter on the people, observing their industriousness in spinning and weaving. She criticizes the ignorance of mothers in child-rearing, which she blames for the sickly appearance of children, and contrasts the behavior of Swedish country girls with those in England and America, attributing promiscuity to idleness rather than climate. She praises the frankness and tenderness of the peasantry but admits that their narrow minds would leave her own mind languishing for more cultivated society.
Themes in this chapter
Social Critique and Class
Wollstonecraft critiques the ignorance of mothers and the lack of chastity among lower-class women, while also praising the peasantry's sincerity over the artificial manners of the middle class.
Gender and Women's Condition
She examines women's roles in child-rearing, their vanity in dress, and the effects of idleness on their health and morals, highlighting the deficiencies in Swedish women's education and care.
Characters to notice
- Mary Wollstonecraft
The narrator and observer, reflecting on Swedish society, child-rearing, and the peasantry.
Key passages
“A mistaken tenderness, however, for their children, makes them even in summer load them with flannels, and having a sort of natural antipathy to cold water, the squalid appearance of the poor babes, not to speak of the noxious smell which flannel and rugs retain, seems a reply to a question I had often asked—Why I did not see more children in the villages I passed through?”
Out of misguided affection, mothers bundle their children in flannels even in summer and avoid washing them, leading to dirty, smelly infants—explaining why so few children are seen in the villages.
Wollstonecraft criticizes Swedish child-rearing practices for harming children's health and appearance.
“The sympathy and frankness of heart conspicuous in the peasantry produces even a simple gracefulness of deportment which has frequently struck me as very picturesque; I have often also been touched by their extreme desire to oblige me, when I could not explain my wants, and by their earnest manner of expressing that desire.”
The peasants' genuine kindness and openness create a charming simplicity in their behavior, and their eagerness to help me despite language barriers deeply moves me.
Wollstonecraft admires the peasantry's natural warmth and sincerity.