"A Tale of Two Cousins"
Purpose of this exercise/
assignment instructions:
One of the
skills shared by all successful college students is the ability to extract
meaning from a variety of sources. This
requires creativity and analytical thinking.
We are going to practice those skills today by writing a brief comparison
of the lives of two cousins using their death certificates as a starting point. Edith Doran and Margaret Allen died four
years apart but their experiences leading up to the production of their death
certificates were very different. Please
write an essay comparing their lives with as much detail as you can support
with the available evidence. It is impossible to do this assignment
incorrectly but it is very
possible to do it incompletely.
Please be sure to provide evidence for any claims you make in the essay. There is enough information in the two death
certificates to write a fairly rich and detailed story but I encourage you to
use clues in those documents to lead you to other sources.
Secondary purpose:
Help me to
understand how I can best tailor other experiences in the course to suit our
needs.
How long does it have to be?
You should
use as many words as you need to tell the story. (not a single word more)
When is it due?
Please
post to our class blog when it is done.
We are using some class time to work on them so I would like to have
them by our next class meeting. This
will allow me to offer you feedback well in advance of you starting work on our persuasive writing/research.
There once lived two cousins named Margaret Catherine Allen and Edith Mary Doran. Life was different for them from how we live today. Growing up in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s was not a ball in the park for most folks. This was the time of World Wars 1 and 2 and The Great Depression.
ReplyDeleteIn short, life was hard.
Edith was the oldest of the two, 24 years older to be exact, but that didn’t stop her from being the immature one of the two. Margaret was married to George Allen and Edith couldn’t have been more jealous. Edith wasn’t fortunate enough to find a husband and during that time, if you didn’t have a husband, you didn’t have much else. She kept her catty remarks to herself most days, because back in those days people weren’t very replaceable. Family was important and help was hard to come by.
The two cousins both live in providence about a nine-minute drive from one another. However, if you didn’t own a car it would be about an hour walk. This made it difficult to see each other on a regular basis, fuel was to be spent cautiously. When they did get together they shared recipes and house cleaning tips over a beverage. Since they both spent their days at home, they shared many of the same day to day tasks and hobbies. Even though Margaret was much younger there wasn’t much variety in lifestyles between the ages, everyone was just trying to survive.
Sometime in 1936 or 1937 Edith was diagnosed with breast cancer. To treat this, she had a Mastectomy performed on January 25th 1937. This was during the time of The Great Depression and materials were scarce. Unfortunately, recovery wasn’t easy for Edith. Her body wasn’t strong enough to prevent the cancer from returning. On November 21st, 1939 at 6:50am Margaret lost her only female cousin and friend.
This was devastating to Margaret because, little did Edith know, Edith was Margaret’s outlet. The stress of being a housewife during the Great depression was overwhelming and Edith helped her out more than she knew. Margaret grew depressed and stressed out. There was never enough money and never enough food and the only person she saw everyday was her husband and he was not a sight for sore eyes. He was a hard worker, trying to find work where ever he could, but most times he wasn’t lucky and not even his wife could wipe that frown off his face.
Therefore, Margaret felt alone most of the time and stressed out trying to make her husband happy, while keeping food on the table and maintaining a clean house.
Four years later, Margaret Died on Halloween at Rhode Island Hospital. She had a cerebral hemorrhage and died of Heart disease. Her Husband was in shock, she was only 38 and he couldn’t understand what could have caused this. It was then he realized he hadn’t paid much attention to his wife over the years. He loved her so much that he worked hard every day to bring home enough money for them to survive. Unfortunately, his ego got in the way of him expressing his feelings to her and she never learned of how much he cared. He wondered to himself if this could have saved her. Was it his fault she was stressed out and depressed or was this just the circle of life. Either or, he knew he regretted letting his ego get the best of him, but there was nothing her could do now, she was gone.
This was a very interesting read! I am looking forward to tonight's revelation and the discussion of how people came to their conclusions.
DeleteThere were two cousins named Edith Mary Doran and Margaret Catherine Allen who both lived during the Great Depression. Both of their lives were difficult, but they also lived different lives.
ReplyDeleteEdith was born in North Attleboro, MA on March 30th, 1881. She never found a husband during her life, but it wasn’t that she wanted one either. She very was independent and on her own. She spent her life at home, but was very close with her cousin.
On the other hand, Margaret was born in Providence, RI on July 11, 1905. She had been born of her mother, Margaret who never knew where she came from or where she was born. Her mother had added on to her name by adding Francis in front of Margaret. She gave the name Margaret to her daughter. Margaret had been married to George Allen. She was a stay at home housewife, while her husband was out for work all day. Family was important to Margaret.
They both lived in Providence and they both visited each other frequently. Although Edith never had a husband, she would always be up to something. Margaret and her always went out and did things while her husband was at work.
One day in 1937 Edith had gone in to the hospital for a physical exam. She had been told devastating news she had breast cancer. In January, she had a mastectomy as an attempt to rid of the cancer. Unfortunately, the cancer had returned after two long fighting years and she passed away on November 21, 1939.
Margaret was devastated that her cousin had died. She couldn’t believe that such good people die from horrible diseases.
Margaret had a sudden illness which led her into the hospital for 2 days and she then died on October 31, 1943 as a result. She had died from a cerebral hemorrhage and heart disease that she never knew about. Her husband was then left devastated with his only love and person in his life. He never found anyone else to love.
Edith Mary Doran and Margaret Catherine Doran were cousin's, even though there was a 24 year difference in age the two were very close. Edith would watch Margaret while her father was away at work. Margarets mother diedwhile giving birth to her second child, leaving the two alone to fend for themselves. It was a tough time to survive during the Depression, food,supplies and other means were hard to come by. People worked hard but didnt get far.Margaret married young to a shopkeeper named George Allen, togehter they had five children. George worked long hard days and usually came home tired and miserable, he would often be short tempered with Margaret and the children. Edith hated George but was supportive of her cousin and the decision she made. Edith would always take the trip to see them, either by walking or buggy if she had the money to. During one of the long trips Edith became very tired and passed out, she was taken to the hospital where it was discovered she had breast cancer. Although the cancer was removed it would later return. Edith decided to live life to the fullest and rented her house to a young woman who many in town thought was her secret lover. She was off to travel the world, leaving young Margaret on her own to deal with her husband and children, the stress was great on her. When Edith was too sick to continue to travel she headed back home to be cared for by the young woman renting her house. On November 20,1939 Edith passed away peacefully at home, her brother Joseph found her but everyone knew it was actually the young woman who notified the family of her passing. Margaret was devastated that her dear cousin was gone. She became depressed and angry, which lead to dire consequences on her health. Margaret passed away on October 31,1943 just four years after Ediths death. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage and complications due to heart disease after spending two days in RIH. Town people wondered if the rumors of her cousins secret lover had anything to do with the stress put on Margaret causing her early death.
ReplyDeleteThis is the 3rd time posting my story, not sure what happened to the other two🤔
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