Ambivalence Towards the Traditional Victorian Model of Femininity in Rosa Nouchette Carey’s Rue with a Difference
Ambivalence Towards the Traditional Victorian Model of Femininity in Rosa Nouchette Carey’s Rue with a Difference

Summary/Abstract: Like other novels by Rosa Nouchette Carey, Rue with a Difference focuses on female experience as revealed through women‟s concerns surrounding their various family roles. Itdeals with marriage and maternity at a time when such domestic-related issues wereobsolete and when the pervasive ideology of domesticity gave way to late Victorianideologies. The novel‟s adherence to traditional domestic ideals was one of the reasons whyit was considered outdated and doomed to oblivion for the most part of the twentiethcentury. Attempting to reassess Rue with a Difference from a more neutral perspectiveafforded by the passage of time, the present article is designed to prove that the novel doesnot fully approve the domestic ideology, displaying instead an ambivalent attitude towardsit and its model of femininity. By comparing the representations of feminine family roles inRue with a Difference with the non-fictional accounts of the models of womanhoodpromoted by the contrasting ideologies of Victorian culture, the paper will show that theangelic ideal is both supported and subverted within the same fictional text through themixture of traditional and non-traditional features defining the main female characters.

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