Kirsti Clapsadle

Essay #2

Are there any main stylistic differences you see between the writings of these women and those of the male travel writers we have read in the last two weeks? If so, to what do you attribute that? All writers have their own style, but if we look closely, we will notice an even bigger difference between the male and female writers of history. Both male and female writers stick to their gender roles for the most part, so we can see differences in the writing this way, and we also see differences in the points of view on danger. Mary Kingsley and Isabella Bird both exemplify these differences in comparison with the many male travel writings, such as Marco Polo. Looking at the gender roles of the writers, we can see both similarities and differences, though mostly they are differences. One similarity we see is within the references to the sceneries. There is a view of scenery that is described from the point of view of the male, even as Isabella Bird is the writer. She uses the same type of language to describe the trees that a man would use about a woman. Such descriptions include lean and curve, beauty, and luxurious, as well as for simplicity and grace (40, 41 Bird). All these words are words one would use to reference a woman, just as Allain De Botton does in The Art of Travel. Nature was at her most benevolent (18 De Botton). This reference is slightly different, because we may use benevolent to describe anyone/anything, but Allain De Botton chooses to describe nature as a female, which is a rather common occurrence. We see by De Bottons description where the previous references by Bird originate. Descriptions of scenery often use words that refer to beauty and abundance likely because of the idea that nature is a woman; it submits to man like woman should in a patriarchal society. Women have described scenery in the eye of

Kirsti Clapsadle

Essay #2

man because it is engrained in them to do so by society and the assumption that nature is female and should be described as so. There are also differences between the male and female writers travel literatures. For example, the clear gender roles that are set are also carried through during the journeys of both the men and women travel writers. Isabella Bird, in fear of being seen as too manly, she is defensive of her femininity. She rides side saddle even in the dangers of doing so on the rough terrain and mountains and when she finally does decide to ride astride for safety, she is quite defensive: It was only my strong desire to see the volcano which made me consent to a mode of riding against which I have so strong a prejudice, but the result of the experiment is that I shall visit Kilauea thus or not at all (43 Bird). She states that she is very against the way of riding to ensure her readers of her femininity. This take on gender roles is reinforced by the sarcasm of Mary Kingsley when speaking of her adventures. So regardless of danger, I grasped the helm, and sent our gallant craft flying before the breeze down the bosom of the great wild river (thats the proper way to put it, but in the interest of science it may be translated into crawling towards the middle) (343 Kingsley). If she were a man, she would have left the parenthesized half of that sentence out and taken credit for the adventurous acts, but because she is female, she doesnt take herself quite as seriously, and likely knows that if she had taken herself more seriously in this quest she would likely be criticized for being masculine. This is completely opposite the male description of their adventures. In speaking about his ship even, Marco Polo writes with pride and deep detail: They are provided with a good helm. They have four masts, with as many sails, and some of them have two masts, which can be set up and lowered again, as may be found necessary (59 Polo). He speaks to the functionality and quality of the boat for more than two

Kirsti Clapsadle

Essay #2

pages. We can see quite obviously between these sources that female travel writers often are less serious, whereas male travel writers want to be taken seriously. If we know what to look for, we can clearly distinguish between literatures written by males and females. While there are similarities, the differences between the styles of writing such as the gender roles the writers take, and the different points of view on danger, make the genders of the writers quite obvious for historical travel writers.