J.R.R. Tolkiens' Warrior Woman: Éowyn - Part 6 - Men's Reactions to Women Serving as Soldiers

Previously in my series analyzing Éowyn in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings in light of historical counterparts, I discussed the experiences of women soldiers.  Click [HERE] for that post.  In this part, I will share a few examples of how men reacted to women fighting on a battlefield.

Victorian women went to great lengths to disguise themselves in order to serve in the military, an endeavor that was off limits to them.  They cut their hair short in order to assume a male appearance   They enlisted under male names.  And they imitated male mannerisms as well as engaged in masculine interests in order to fit in with their male comrades.   Yet, despite the care some of these women put into developing and maintaining their disguise, many nevertheless fell victims to the poor fortunes of war — along with other means — which exposed their true identities.  Men privy to this revelation always exhibited some sort of reaction, which varied   Some were sympathetic.  Some were complimentary.  Yet others did not hesitate to voice their opposition to women stepping outside their traditional gender roles and serving on the battlefield.

Finding Frances: My Quest to Discover the True Frances Hook

It's hard to believe my book has been out for a year now.  And as with anyone who completes a major project, I came to realize regrets.  There was even a sense of helplessness.  I can't tell you how many times I and others read over my manuscript....only to miss a typo on the first page of Chapter 1.  We missed it......every....single....time during the editing process.  I thought we had caught everything, but of course when I took that nice, crisp, sweet-smelling brand new book out of the box for the very first time and opened it, there it was.  Indeed, I happened to open right to it, and there was that glaring typo, staring back at me with its mocking grin.  &*#%$#!!!!!

As for regrets, perhaps that is too strong of a word.  It's more like a desire to offer more detail and insight into my research process, whether in the main text itself or in the notes section.  I did indeed cite every account I shared.  They are in parenthetical form because I had to condense down my citations from over 500 to 250 in order to have hyperlinked notes in the ebook format.  But they are all there  And if a reader has a question, the individual can simply follow my sources.  However, upon further reflection, I wish I would have offered a more detailed explanation as to how I arrived at some of my conclusions.  One involved the discovery of Frances Hook's true identity, Elizabeth Quinn.

A Monument to a Civil War Woman Soldier?

There aren't many monuments to women soldiers in our country.  There's a statue of Deborah Sampson that stands outside the public library in Sharon, Massachusetts.

https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-98-an-infantryman-named-robert/