| Chapter 1: | The Early Years |
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There are, interestingly, two narratives included in the memoir where Maria ceases for a short time to be the heroine, but nevertheless that display her controlled and effective use of narrative devices in one, and her capacity of transforming a traditional fairy tale into an uplifting romantic story in the other. This romantic tale celebrates the ideal of femininity as it was perceived in the nineteenth century, which must not be taken as contradicting the beliefs on the education of women expressed earlier by the author of the memoir. Rather, her message appears to be that intellectual practices do not suit all women, but only a chosen few, such as herself.
What she terms her ‘little romance’ begins with a description of the heroine, Miss Whiteford. Although this is narrated in the manner of a fairy tale, there are some deviations from traditional narratives, since the heroine, no matter how hard the narrator tries to disguise the fact, is neither beautiful, nor slender, nor endowed with long, blond hair.
Maria manages her expressions with skill by minimising the woman’s negative features and by placing immediately next to each defect a positive observation that counterbalances it. She appears to be aware of the conventions of fairy tales and romances, because she tries to bring her heroine as close to the ideal as possible. So if her protagonist was overweight, she was also graceful; if she was plain, she wore a pleasant expression; and if she was practically bald, her few remaining tresses were becoming.