A Review of Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England 1650-1750 Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, is a Harvard University Professor, who’s studies of the history of the early women in the American colonies won her the Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize. In Ulrich’s 1980 work entitled Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England 1650-1750, she studies the life and roles of women in New England. Ulrich lays out her work in three different sections, each named after a Biblical woman who was said to represent female traits that women of New England exhibited. Women of the day were expected to occupy certain roles in their daily lives and Ulrich goes into great detail on each role and how the women were able to accomplish them. …show more content…
Ulrich tells the tale of housewives such as Hannah Graton who’s shop next to her home “was a retail store, offering door locks, nails, hammers, gimlets, and other hardware.” Women like Hannah, were there ones who made sure that the cows were milked each day and that the household was properly cleaned and maintained. In the role of Deputy Husbands, Ulrich says that while the wife’s role in the household was inferior to that of her husband, she could stand in for him and make decisions when he was not available. This would include making economic decisions as long as they did not disadvantage the household and her husband approved of them. As a friendly neighbor, the women of New England would act as guards for their fellow neighbors to look out for any cases of abuse against the women and children of the family. Also they would trade with their neighbors for much needed