“A Blessing to Our Declining Years:” Feminine Response to Filial Duty in the New Republic

Abstract

This article examines the ties that bound adult daughters to their aged parents in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Despite the increasingly domestic nature of woman's sphere during this period, women frequently acknowledged ambivalence towards some aspects of filial responsibility. Adult daughters considered such duty as both appropriate and deserved, yet sometimes found the burdens of parental care overwhelming. Aged mothers, while believing that daughters were well-suited to the task, often regretted the demands placed upon younger women. Resulting anxiety could manifest itself in both generations. Clearly, the contemporary dilemma involving the peculiarly feminine nature of filial duty has long roots. Now, as then, the growing bonds between different generations of women offer both explanation and hope for future resolution to the problems accompanying filial duty.