EDRG 3344 T/R: Narrative

This is my first revision of my Narrative. It is a day in the life of a Victorian Woman. This was written for Seniors in High School.

My mornings start at 7 am. I awake to the bells that toll on the hour in the town square. This particular morning the floor is ice cold and I light a candle so that I can start breakfast for my husband and 3 children. The floor creaks as I make my way down the stairs to the Kitchen. I light more candles in the kitchen and get the fireplace in the kitchen going and start the stove to cook breakfast. We are unfortunately to poor to afford a kitchen servant or a servant of any kind. We are lucky enough, however, that I and my children do not have to work in those harsh textile mills like so many families here do. My name is Charlotte Bronson and I am a middle class woman living in a suburb of the City of London.

My husband Charles and I first moved here 4 years ago when he received a promotion that moved us from the small town we grew up in to Rural London. We have 3 children Edward, Mary and Matthew. Edward is 10 years old, and Mary and Matthew are 6. They are the dearest things to my heart other than my husband. Edward and Matthew favor their father and Mary favors my looks. They are very handsome children.
After breakfast is cooked, if my children and husband have not awakened, I go to their rooms and wake them. With the mention of breakfast they are quickly out of bed and head to the table. This morning we have toast with butter and jam and some sausage. After breakfast is finished and dishes washed it is time for school for my children. They are homeschooled; this is one of the many tasks that mothers are supposed to aspire to. This is one of the disciplines of the idea of Separate Spheres.

After their lessons are completed they go to play for a while outside with other children on the neighborhood. I clean the house while they are outside and they soon return for lunch. One of the ladies who live near call around 2 pm and we sit and chat about the latest gossip of the neighborhood and have tea and cakes, that I had baked earlier on in the day.

Around 6pm my husband will return from his work and I will have dinner made for him and the children, Mary assists me. This evening we make some bread and fish with small potatoes. Mary helps me mix the batter for the bread and rolls it into a large ball to bake in the oven. I boil the potatoes and cook the fish with some oil. The process of making dinner takes about 2 hours and I start it about an hour before my husband is set to return home from work. I plate the dinner as Mary sets out the plates and cups for everyone and we all join in the dining room for dinner. The children talk to their father about their day and what they learned, I ask my husband about his day at work and talk to him about what he would like for dinner tomorrow night so that the children and I can go to the market tomorrow for the food necessary to prepare dinner.

After dinner has been finished the children are sent to wash and get into bed. I read them a bed-time story, kiss them and put out their candle. After the children are in bed my husband and I sit in our small sitting room and he drinks a glass of whiskey before we head upstairs to bed. Thus is the day in the life of a Victorian Woman from the middle class.