Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s essay Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History, is an excellent example of analytical social history, that is aimed to educate other historians, women, and others interested in social history (the history of groups that might not have participated in mainstream life), the intersectionality of women’s history, and pop-culture. Ulrich’s essay uses several rhetorical devices to create a convincing argument for the existence of collaborative history and the importance of social history, within more entrenched historical norms. Particularly, she uses different styles of narration, first focusing on her own personal life, then more typical historical examples, and finishes with a synthesis of her own personal story of historicization
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This part of her essay is tonally different, as she is no longer directly addressing her personal life and historical experience. Rather, she moves the narration to a meta-analysis of the role of history, and better known historical figures, Rosa Parks and Mae West. Both Parks and West existed within their own cultural phenomena, Parks’ history in entrenched within the Civil Rights Movement, where she, unexpectedly established her rights to equality, acting as the catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement (661, paragraph 12). West’s history is entrenched in the history of Hollywood and female entertainers in the 20th century, where she became an icon due to her status as a sex symbol and a misbehaving woman (660, paragraph 9). While they do not comply with traditional gender roles, their actions were “the unexpected”, and thus interesting enough for mainstream history (660, paragraph 11). Both establish the narrative that they are women “doing the unexpected”, which falls in line with the criteria that traditional history demands. This aspect of logical argumentation allows for Ulrich to display the spectrum of female representation in history, outside of her own personal narrative. This focus on the historiography of women, is important for Ulrich to establish, as it generalizes her claims to all of women’s
This part of her essay is tonally different, as she is no longer directly addressing her personal life and historical experience. Rather, she moves the narration to a meta-analysis of the role of history, and better known historical figures, Rosa Parks and Mae West. Both Parks and West existed within their own cultural phenomena, Parks’ history in entrenched within the Civil Rights Movement, where she, unexpectedly established her rights to equality, acting as the catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement (661, paragraph 12). West’s history is entrenched in the history of Hollywood and female entertainers in the 20th century, where she became an icon due to her status as a sex symbol and a misbehaving woman (660, paragraph 9). While they do not comply with traditional gender roles, their actions were “the unexpected”, and thus interesting enough for mainstream history (660, paragraph 11). Both establish the narrative that they are women “doing the unexpected”, which falls in line with the criteria that traditional history demands. This aspect of logical argumentation allows for Ulrich to display the spectrum of female representation in history, outside of her own personal narrative. This focus on the historiography of women, is important for Ulrich to establish, as it generalizes her claims to all of women’s