DISABILITY THINK TANK

Amanda Kowalski

           Today when a woman is single and older, the jokes seem to center on becoming a cat lady. Although to be honest there does not seem to be much shame in enjoying being alone and loving animals but for some reason this joke is common for ladies who seem “past their prime” as if it is an insult. Although looking at Tobias Smollett’s “The Expedition of Humphry Clinker” the correlation between women who are “past their prime” does not stick with the lonely companion jokes but instead allude to the feline within the women themselves.

           The idea that women are only valuable if they are young enough and desirable enough to procreate, and once that age has past they are no longer worthy of human companionship and thus should seek that companionship in cats. This cat lady is usually shown as a woman who no longer cares about their appearance, she has lost all the aspects of aesthetic beauty and more importantly can no longer fulfill her role in the natural order. In Smollett’s “The Expedition of Humphry Clinker” this is not shown in a woman who wishes to lock themselves at home with cats for companions but instead in describing the women as “catlike”. Smollett has Matthew Bramble describe this “Mrs. Tabitha Bramble is a maiden of forty-five. In her person, she is tall, raw-boned, aukward, flat-chested, and stooping; her complexion is sallow and freckled; her eyes are not grey, but greenish, like those of a cat, and generally inflamed…” (60). This shows how there is nothing left of her that could recommend her to the opposite sex, she is too old for procreation, she has no aesthetic beauty left, and she is catlike.

           An interesting idea is that a woman of a certain age which loses any appeal for companionship even beyond that of sexual relationships and this leads to the loss of her identity of human being.  Matthew Bramble exclaims early on in Smolett’s texts that “I an’t married to Tabby, thank Heaven!”, this shows that even her family sees her as less than worthy for camaraderie (13). Perhaps another nod the connection between women of a certain age and cats is also seen in the character’s name as well, the nickname of Tabitha is Tabby, which also is used as a name for a certain kind of cat that is striped, the coloration mimics the stripes of silk taffeta. This connection to the feline is again a way to distance Tabitha from a worthy human companion.

           The modern jokes of cat ladies and the connections in “The Expedition of Humphry Clinker” to catlike characteristics but allude to this lack of human worth in older women. Although to be sure it is not always an insult to be considered catlike, the sexuality of Catwoman for instance goes against this stereotype. The idea of losing the human identity does showcase how Smollett uses these connections to mold Tabitha’s identity. It is in this connection to felines that shows Tabitha’s personality in such a way that frames a larger picture of how age is seen in women which is harsher than that of men, because Smollett shows Matthew Bramble in many aspects but always human. Women are considered old at a much younger age than men as well as how they become more animal like in their characters.  Cat ladies have always been around, even when the cat lady has a dog as a companion.

Smollett, Tobias. The Expedition of Humphry Clinker. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009.

Meagan Harris

        Tobias Smollett’s novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, age is seen in many different ways according to what the age is of the individuals in question.

             Women who were not able to have children because of advancement in years, she was seen as a dried up old hag and of not being of marriage material because reproduction was out of the question. In Humphry Clinker, one such woman advanced in age is Tabitha, a relative to the main character Mr. Bramble, who is described in animalistic features because of her name Tabitha being shortened to Tabby, “[a] fantastical animal […] sometimes so intolerable […] the devil incarnate come to torment,” signifying a cat more like a cougar, on the prowl for a mate and being fierce to find one during her hunt (Smollett, 12). She is on the search because it has been difficult for her to get married due to being of the senior quality of women and is determined to not let the stereotype of being non marriage material to not interfere with her finding a mate.

             Men were seen as to age gracefully due to the notion that he gets riper with age. In eighteenth century Europe, marriage was only seen as a way to procreate. Males do not lose the ability to produce children in advanced years, so because an old geezer can have children at the ripe old age of let’s say 60, which was pretty old in eighteenth century Europe, this fact makes him seen as still being able to mate therefore still adhering to the rules of what is considered marriage material. In the eyes of women and his peers, he is still seen as eye candy even though he may be knocking on death’s door step.

             In the conclusion of the novel, Tabitha, our female senior cougar, does succeed in finding an also senior male cougar named Mr. Lismahago, to thus get married and live happily ever after. 

              After the successful marriage of our two cougars, the glass ceiling of the stereotypical thinking of eighteenth century Europe on the accounts of marriage only being for procreation, the readers are left with the knowledge of the ceiling being broken in the form of a marriage that is solely done for companionship values. Women advanced in age can therefore get married because they still have grace and beauty that will be noticed by their mate, which is the case of Tabitha and Lismahago. Marriage is now viewed in coming in many different forms and the form that should take place is in the eyes of its beholder.

Works Cited

Smollett, Tobias. The Expedition of Humphry Clinker. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966.

Alright, it’s a joke…but do you get it? You probably laughed without knowing exactly why–today, most of us have a pretty loose idea of what gout actually is. We often understand it to be linked to the gluttonous intake of rich food and alcohol. According to RxWiki, “gout was once called the ‘disease of kings’ because some people assumed that it was related to the types of food and drink that only the wealthy could buy.” The belief still exists today, grounded in historical understanding and beliefs. 

The eighteenth century is one of the eras linked to the concerns of understanding and dealing with gout. In Tobias Smollett’s  1771 novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, we follow patriarch Matthew Bramble and his family’s expedition towards order and health. Bramble professes to suffer from gout, and in a letter to his doctor he explains that the attacks result from external happenstances rather than internal influences: “A ridiculous incident that happened yesterday to my niece Liddy, has disordered me in such a manner, that I expect to be laid up with another fit of the gout” (5). For Bramble, his niece’s actions are to blame for yet another burst of gout, unlike society’s belief that an excess of food and drink are the underlying cause. 

The difference may explain the statement that, according to Porter and Rosseau’s Gout: The Patrician Malady, “gout was the great enabler, and illness implied creativity about all” (94). Gout, often linked with wealthier (and therefore more educated) gentlemen, could certainly be seen as a boost to creativity.

Matthew Bramble’s journey to order results in his final letter admitting that perhaps if he had spent less time composing long creative drafts and more time actively engaged in activities such as hunting in the fresh air outside he might have prevented or better suffered his gout. As Bramble reduces the amount of time devotes to creative pursuits, he becomes healthier overall. 

-Nicole Rothenay

@jasonsfarr

Work Cited

Smollet, Tobias. The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, 1966.

Porter, Roy and and G.S. Rousseau. Gout: The Patrician Malady. Yale University Press.

When it comes to the way that gout was involved in the book, it also shows what gout can cause. Gout was known to only be a man’s disease. Gout is known to cause a burning pain, usually on the big toe that can cause pains in the joints. Many of the men who did not get it treated can cause death if it was left untreated.

In this image, you can see how the man is in pain due to having gout. You have his lover holding his hand while he is in pain, but if you look in the back you can kind of see a man who looks like him, and this can mean that his time is coming for him to die. While in the second picture you can see a man that has gout who is visited by a demon stabbing the man with gout. The reason that gout is seen as an evil and sinful thing due to only men getting. In both cases, you can see that both men were wealthy and had a high name, but what also shows is that both of them got the same disease and can die from it due to not having a cure for gout. Many of the people believed that it was only a man’s disease, but it can also happen to women. It happened to many unwealthy people also got gout, but there was a famous women who got gout-like symptoms.

Georgina Cavendish was the duchess of Devonshire, who at the age of forthy-eight, died to abscess on her liver. This can also be a disease close to gout due to it causing many pains in the person’s body. The duchess was seizing almost everyday, and was also given treatments that were thought to help her. She had all of her hair shaved and had a lot of blisters on her body. This could be seen as a very painful way of dying as gout was as well. Both of these diseases similar in many ways caused a lot of pain and both were both known to cause puse. They both cause redness of body parts and even some could cause blisters, and if they were both left untreated then it would lead to a painful death.

-Gia Cavazos

In The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, the characters embark on the journey to Bath where Matthew Bramble hopes to find health. The waters of Bath are believed to have healing properties making this a popular destination for the wealthy. The epistles that make up this novel detail the events surrounding this journey. Through his letters to Dr. Lewis, Matthew Bramble reveals his resentment for the very place he seeks out as remedy for his gout. Bath becomes less of a destination for wellness, but a representation of the very life Bramble wishes to leave behind. Bramble follows the orders of Dr. Lewis and sets forth to Bath. Upon his arrival, he describes how Bath has changed for the worse. Overcrowding, poverty, and uncleanliness have destroyed the perfect picture of health, “I find nothing but disappointment at Bath” (Smollett 34). The place that was once an oasis for health has become the opposite to Bramble. 

One of the major themes of the letters is disorder and chaos. Bath symbolizes the characteristics of disorder in chaos to Bramble. It represents the life of overindulgence and excess that he has lived until that point. Needless to say, Bramble doesn’t find health at Bath, but the opposite, “But, I believe you will not deny, that this place, which Nature and Providence seem to have intended as a resource from distemper and disquiet is become the very center of racket and dissipation” (Smollett 34). However, he does find a valuable life lesson on his journey there. The disillusioned penman discovers that the life he was living was the culprit for his poor health. He destroyed his own health just like man destroyed Bath. To regain his health Bramble seeks out the tranquility of the country. Here he will live a more organic and natural life and the stresses of the city he left behind will be no more, “Shall I state the difference between my town grievances, and my country comforts” (Smollett 118). As he settles in the country and writes his final letter to Dr. Lewis, he vows never to return to Bath and/or his old ways of living. He trades in writing long letters for a more active lifestyle. This final event represents the order and tranquility that have been reintroduced to his life, “That this scheme of life may be prosecuted the more effectually” (Smollett 351).

-Gloria Rojas

The eighteenth century was not kind to women by any means and was kind to aging women even less. The imbrication of femininity and aging is somehow insoluble, and, as Aileen Douglas asserts, “the threat [of women] can be neutralized in two ways: sex and death” (Douglas 174). Through a series of epistles, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker depicts women as disordered beings that require marriage in order to be organized and neatly fit into society.

Matthew Bramble’s sister, Tabitha, “has left no stone unturned to avoid the reproachful epithet of old maid” and is denigrated for this desire for a husband throughout the text. She is animalized consistently as “a cat,” and even in her relationships with other older men, she is the “carrion” to his “hound” (Smollett 60). Although women throughout the novel are expected to repair the disarray they cause through marriage, Tabitha’s “reputation was a little singed” from flirting and acting upon her desire for a husband (Smollett 60). Tabitha’s paradox is one that will never allow her to be anyone other than a “disorderly creature[] who ruin[s] estates and endanger[s] health” while expecting her always to organize her disarray (Douglas 176).

“That wild-cat…Tabby” is consistently dehumanized for her “natural austerity” while her brother, Matthew, is free from critiques against his brusque personality (Smollett 14, 60). Although Matthew Bramble is also aging, gouty, and temperamental, he is perceived as strong-willed enough to deal with the “domestic plague” that is Tabitha (Smollett 61). She is compared to an ulcerous facial skin disease when Jery asks Matthew how he tolerates her, even though Jery questions Matthew’s own “disposition” toward handling a woman such as Tabitha (Smollett 61).

It is only at the end of the novel that Tabitha’s disarray is reconciled through her marriage to Lismahago. Matthew, Baynard, Tabitha, Lismahago “make the best of [their] way to Brambleton hall” and Matthew “enjoy[s] the exquisite pleasure” of their company only when Tabitha has a partner (Smollett 351). Matthew is also at ease with “nothing further to do” now that Lydia Melford and Winifred Jenkins are married as well and this further indicates the messiness of unmarried women who are regulated by men throughout the novel (350).

Tobias Smollett consistently writes women in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker as unregulated and requiring a male figure in order to clean up the messes they make socially. It is only through men that women are able to neatly fit into society, but aging women are distinct from this diagnosis. Women like Tabitha in the novel are not allowed to desire companionship, leaving the only alternative to be, as Douglas asserts, “death.” (174). Tabitha is prescribed a life without a husband because of her age, and therefore must perpetually be labeled as a disorderly character who causes Matthew’s condition to worsen. Though Tabitha defies the expectations of her age and marries Lismahago, it is an act done in defiance of censure and reinforces the patriarchal values of maleness regulating femininity.

-Anna Talarantas 

@jasonsfarr

Works Cited

Smollet, Tobias. The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, 1966.

In the Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollet, women are portrayed as objects that need to be “managed” and “contained” for there to be any order for the men in their life. Douglas describes the linguistic acts that exemplify women as “living marks of disorder” throughout the novel (Douglas 171). Each of the female characters are describes through the male lens. Bramble describes his family, who are his financial responsibility as being plagued with the “perpetual source of vexation” (Smollet 5).

Bramble is financially responsible for two women; one who is past the marrying age and another who is at the marrying age. Tabitha, his sister who is a homely woman who is reaching the age of being labeled an “old maid”, is constantly on the look out for the opportunity to find a husband leaving “no stone unturned to avoid the reproachful epithet of old maid” (Smollet 60). Matthew Bramble and his nephew J. Melford’s attitude towards Tabitha Bramble and Lydia Melford lace the novel with misogynistic objectification. Douglas describes this reoccurring theme in 18th century literature as women being contained by marriage as “neutralizing the female threat in two ways: sex and death” (Douglas 174).

During a class discussion we drew connection to other 18th century literature that parallels itself with the neutralization of the female threat by finishing the novel with a marriage or death for the female character. Smollet creates neat pairings for Tabitha and Lydia in order for them to be neutralized. Tabitha finds her pairing with a maimed Naval Lieutenant Lismahago. J. Melford mocks their union as a “fatal knot” and a “comedy”(Smollet 347). Bramble describes the union as Tabitha being “taken off [his] hands” and as “happily paired as any two draught animals in the kingdom” dehumanizing the pair. (Smollet 350).  Rather than being overjoyed at his sister finding love, he views her as an object that is no longer his responsibility. Smollett marries off Tabitha in a way of neutralizing her and exiting her from the novel’s story line.

Lydia, Brambles niece is describes by the protagonist as “deficient in spirit, and so susceptible- and so tender forsooth!” she “reads romances”, the inclusion of the last quote is necessary for insight on Smollett’s point of view for female characters (Smollet 12). Her extreme sensibility makes causes her fits of violent sickness, which is another hindrance for her caretaker Bramble. When she briefly discusses her future pairing, Wilson Dennison, and describes him as ravaging her heart. She discusses her love and excitement for Wilson with extreme sensibility in the same way her aunt Tabitha, however the men in their life describe these unions as a campaign for them to be taken off of their hands.

Smollett’s deliberate disconnection between the male and female characters gendered view of matrimony gives insight into 18th century societal demands upon women. Women were objectified as financial burdens to the men responsible to them and in order for “order” in their lives they need to become married or die for them to be someone else’s responsibility.

Desiree Garcia 

Per the Merriam Webster Dictionary, ageism is defined as “prejudice or discrimination against a particular age-group and especially the elderly”. Ageism is a major issue and form of discrimination these days, so much so that one’s age is now considered to be a protected class. Ageism surprisingly isn’t a new issue, however. It is evident throughout 18th century literature, with Tobias Smollett’s “The Expedition of Humphry Clinker”. In the novel, gendered ageism is a predominant issue as Tabitha is treated poorly due to her status as “old maid”, also known as being past the age of being able to wed or reproduce. For example, Smollett details Tabitha’s age whereas the audience is unaware of her brother Bramble’s age, only that he is an older man. For example, “In all likelihood, her natural austerity has been soured by disappointment in love; for her long celibacy is by no means owing to her dislike of matrimony: on the contrary, she has left no stone unturned to avoid the reproachful epithet of old maid” (30).

On the other token, this is not much of an issue to be focused on. Basically, men did not have an expiration label slapped on them much like women had. Tabitha’s appearance was also constantly scrutinized and ridiculed. Her looks and old age were deemed responsible for the reason she could not be married whereas Bramble who, of course, suffered from Gout was not looked at any differently or considered to be unmarriable, despite Gout being an unsightly disease. Along with her physical appearance, Tabitha also had no voice: a trait also looked at as being unfortunate. This is ironic however, considering that Bramble was a severe hypochondriac and due to this was viewed as being sensible but not sensible in the sense that Tabitha was—in love and affection. In the novel, overall, aged men and women fell on opposite ends of the spectrum. Aged men had it the absolute best. The genteel could still be useful and even work as an authority figures. They could retire, were respected, and their appearance was focused on little to none. The fact of their age just held no significant importance. On the flip side, aged women were looked at as having lost love due to their age and appearance, which was huge. There were gender inequalities in property ownership and poor relief, and extreme sexism in general.

Despite these forms of discrimination being incredibly unfortunate, they are more than relevant in today’s society. Ageism is a hurtful stereotype that affects many. With this day and age being so centered on everything technological and its younger generations being so tech-savvy, many elderly people are feeling left out. This is due to the often poor, unfair treatment that many employers show them both knowingly and unknowingly. If an older individual doesn’t know how to operate the multiple devices or machinery that are relevant these days, they are practically deemed both worthless and useless. Perhaps in the future, ageism will become simply a negative, thing of the past.

Chase West

The Pool of Bethusda and The City of Bath 

It is no secret that The City of Bath was known as a healing center for those who had severe and chronic illnesses, but it was also a place of popularity and tourism. I can’t help but compare Bath to the biblical story of the pool of Bethusda, both places being well known for all their healing glory. With these pools being associated with healing and also being the center of all attraction in the towns, one would expect them to be easily accessible.

The Pool of Bethusda was a place where many disabled people gathered and when the waters were stirred (supposedly by an angel), whomever was the first to hop into the water would be healed. In Bath, as long as you bathed in the water or drank the delicious sulfur water, you would be on track to be healed. Many people could be attempting to heal at the same time in Bath as opposed to Bethusda where one person gets immediately healed at random. Chronically ill and disabled people were nearly always traveling to the centers for healing, but they ended up facing a few obstacles on the path.

From looking at the above picture of The Pool of Bethusda and then reading Smollett’s description when talking about The Square, “the avenues to it are mean, dirty, dangerous, and indirect” (34). The idea that one can conceive of the areas surrounding the healing centers is that they are quite the opposite of accessible. Why would the built structures around these hubs of healing be so difficult the maneuver?

To answer this question, one must think of who was building the structures. Probably people who were able bodied and were not conscious of the difficulties that arose from the structures. Another (maybe far fetched) reasoning I thought was maybe the idea was that if you really wanted to be healed, you would overcome the obstacles in order to get to the place of healing.  

@jasonsfarr

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man with a good fortune will be in need of a good wife, so long as that wife is no older than twenty-five.

In literature, the traditional image of a romantic plot involves a man with a young woman. He courts her, and the two of them have a grand and sweeping romance that ends with them running off in the sunset together. However, the love between two people doesn’t always have to be between a man with a young woman, and in the twenty-first century more romance stories that feature a same sex couple have been produced and written. As a culture however, there seems to be one remaining taboo when it comes to romance stories: the older woman on the prowl and looking for a man.

Luckily the eighteenth-century writer Tobias Smollett has you covered when it comes to older women going on the prowl, one of the central characters in the epistolary novel is going husband hunting. Unfortunately, Tabitha’s characterization in the novel isn’t the most progressive.

From the very beginning of the novel, she is not exactly portrayed as the sharpest tool in the shed. She corresponds with the housekeeper of her home, Brambleton Hall, and from the very beginning Smollett seems to want to make fun of her. “When this cums to hand, be sure to pack in the trunk make that stands in my closet, to be sent me in the Bristol waggon without loss of time, the following articles, viz. my rose collard neglejay, with green ribbons, my yellow damask…”(Smollett 6). Her frequent misspellings are not only very apparent, but they also make it seem like her attempts to find a man will end in vain. And this isn’t the only incident in the novel where Tabitha is portrayed as dumb. Her own brother even portrays her as such as she goes through Britain.

Perhaps her characterization stems from the long-standing idea that women need to get married as early as possible. The longer she waits, the more likely it is for the woman not to produce any children. And sadly, in this time, women were expected to have and raise children as a way to prove their worth. Tabitha waiting so long to find a man as a spinster could be seen as a silly move. It also may be the fact that she is so proactive in trying to find a man, rather than have a man come to her. Men are traditionally supposed to be the dominant ones. And while an older man can live and be single with no repercussion, women were expected to be married. Hypocrisy was everywhere when it came to courtship and gender roles.

Tabitha can be seen as a preamble to the cougar archetype, and her courting of the men was a portrayal that hadn’t been seen before in this time period. We can look at this novel and perhaps study it, but thankfully today we can hopefully understand that older women can be desired. Not every older woman seeking a man is a Tabitha.

@jasonsfarr

As we read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, a romantic novel involving a severely disabled man and his caregiver Louisa Clark who hand in hand with his family, attempt to dissuade Will from dying through assisted suicide. Will chooses assisted suicide to relieve himself of the chronic pains that accompany his quadriplegia due to a motorcycle accident.

In class, a discussion arose regarding crop futurity, ableist ideology and women’s rights and how they come into play with assisted suicide. 

This article touches on the grey area of opinions when it comes to assisted suicide. The author notes America’s confusion on “liberty”. He draws parallels on the right of women to abort, however, we draw the line on people wanting to end their life with dignity. 

Who has total rights of their body? And where do we draw the line?