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Cargando... The History of Little Goody Two Shoespor Oliver Goldsmith
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. This is the story that popularized the phrase "goody two-shoes", and it is one of those horrible morality tales for children where virtue is rewarded -- especially the kind of female virtue that is demure, long-suffering and harder-working, and that serves as childhood indoctrination. The kind of made-up, unrealistic, ideologically pure story that intensely Christian people or blinkered political pundits would hold up as evidence that their ideology is right. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
In the first of these two books an orphan girl grows up to become a wise and virtuous schoolmistress and the second offers a series of loosely connected tales set within the framework of a visit to the fair and including "Puss in Boots" and "Dick Whittington." No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)823.6Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Later 18th century 1745-1800Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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First published by John Newbery in 1765, The History of Little Goody Two Shoes; Otherwise Called Mrs. Margery Two-Shoes was a ground-breaking work, in the history of Anglophone children's literature, and although many contemporary readers might find it overly didactic, it actually had considerably more levity and entertainment value than the children's books - many of them produced by the Puritans, and other religious figures - that preceded it. It is not the source of the term "little goody two shoes," which we today understand to be a person who is nauseatingly rule-driven and "good," but it certainly popularized it. What's fascinating about this, is that the word "goody" is actually an abbreviated form of the English honorific "Goodwife," which was used to address women of a social status lower than "mistress" (i.e.: the mistress of a house), and didn't have the same connotation of overwhelming and obnoxious virtue that it currently does. Perhaps when the original meaning of "Goody" was lost, people assumed it meant "good," and came to think that "little goody two shoes" had a mocking ring to it.
However that may be, the story here was engaging, and had many fascinating elements. The author begins with a discussion of land leasing and its injustice, which opens a window into the social issues of the day. The educational methods used by Margery were also interesting, and the focus on humane treatment of animals eye-opening. This latter is a theme one sees often in 18th-century children's literature. Sir William's comments on the stupidity of witchcraft accusations - "a Woman must be very poor, very old, and live in a Neighborhood, where the People are very stupid, before she can possibly pass for a Witch" - were both apt and entertaining. Finally, the social rise of Margery is of note - she starts out as the orphaned daughter of a poor farmer, and winds up a wealthy, titled lady - as the 18th century sees the very beginning of the breakdown of the nobility as the primary authority in England. The authorship of this book is contested - like all of Newbery's books, it was published anonymously, although some attribute it to Oliver Goldsmith - but whoever created it certainly did something different! Recommended to all readers with an interest in 18th-century English children's books, or in the titles published by John Newbery. ( )