Sampson is made up not only to be a man but the protector of female virtue and defender from natives. I almost feel that under all of the "we all know ladies won’t act like this" is actually a disguised Feminine rights work.
I mean there is even the short seduction story of Fatima - who was taught in the ways of ladies but was seduced. This biography is also a "cross-dressed" autobiography/ captivity narrative/ seduction tale/ republican Mother story.
I mean what doesn’t Sampson do? Except sleep with men! She even dates and gets married! She is like Superman-I mean woman.
The note by the 1816 editor, John Vinton, cracked me up! "the editor is of the opinion that Deborah Sampson was worthy of an abler biographer than she found in the original complier, and that her adventures, which were certainly very remarkable, were worthy of being related in far better style."
No kidding, Mann stunk at writing but I think she worked with him-- instead of an actual writer--(he wrote death and confession notices) because she knew he would work to present her in a positive light. I mean he wasn’t well know as an author and did not have a "career" to consider.
Until next time, put your pants on one leg at a time like Deborah.
~Blake
Wait a second - Deborah Sampson, disguised as a male solider, marries a woman? Oh man, you have got to give us details! This is like a Jerry Springer special, you know, when he brings a married man out who doesn't realize he married a transvestite. Did the woman she married know Sampson was really a woman?
ReplyDeleteSo, here’s the dirt on the Sampson marrying a woman. In 2004, Sampson’s new (and better) biographer, Alfred Young in, determined that the stories after the discovery of Sampson’s sex, her fighting Indians, marrying a woman and courting a rich maiden are all the products of Mann’s imagination.
ReplyDeleteYoung said, Sampson most likely told him the girls thought she was a cute man and Mann elaborated from there.
However, in The Female Review, Sampson saves an English virgin from Indians, by basically claiming her for her own and marrying her in an Indian marriage ceremony. She then says that the marriage does not count because it was not a Christian wedding.
She also courts a wealthy maid through letters. The woman heard about her heroic deeds and wants to marry her. Sampson meets the woman and spends the day with her as a man because the woman’s love is genuine and she has grown to love the woman. She finally confesses she is a man after she sees the woman is distressed that this “man” does not want to marry her. They depart as friends.
I have to admit, I'm kind of jealous because your text is waaaaaaay crazier than mine. Sampson's life, both real and imagined by Mann, is very soap opera-esque.
ReplyDelete