{"id":3400,"date":"2023-10-27T18:50:39","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T23:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/?p=3400"},"modified":"2023-10-27T18:50:39","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T23:50:39","slug":"mapping-the-road-to-love-in-the-19th-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/2023\/10\/27\/mapping-the-road-to-love-in-the-19th-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapping the Road to Love in the 19th Century"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If there was a guide to work your way into someone\u2019s heart, would you use it? It is time to delete your Tinder profile and forget about the person you met at the bar last week because with this antique allegory of love you can find yourself on the roadmap into anyone\u2019s heart. Set in the 19th century, this map helps describe the United States, a newly developing nation in which travelers continue to expand westward in the interest of exploration. At the same time, it tells us about people who are not only interested in the exploration of land but also in emotional realms as well, such as marriage. The societal expectations in partnership were that women served as caretakers and that men were providers. To illustrate such ideals, a woman crafted a satirical map to lay out the stereotypical heart of a woman which happened to include traits such as fickle and vane. This map contrasts a later released map which encloses the inner unemotional workings of a man. The disparity between the two maps illustrating the heart of a woman and a man serves as a looking glass into societal and romantic expectations during the 19th century through the use of tactical word choice, coloring incorporation, and opposing illustrations.<\/p>\n

The societal expectations of womanhood in the 19th century reflect not only the women themselves but also the societies they cultivated. During a time of change characterized by urbanization, communication, and mechanization the expectations and roles of women began to shift as well, undermining previously conceived notions about what it meant to be a woman. Even so, many women continually felt the oppressive forces of male-dominated industries but found ways to make light of the situation. Such as a certain satirical map created by an author who identifies as a woman and which can now be used to illuminate gender role stereotypes present during a time when the roles of women were beginning to change. The Map of a Woman\u2019s Heart<\/em> laid out women\u2019s moral character and interior lives on a piece of parchment ready for men to conquer. It describes how women were expected to feel in relationships and about love and marriage. A woman\u2019s heart is depicted as an \u201copen country\u201d with terrain that is dangerous and should not be traveled on by the weak of heart. Located in the bottom right corner, a woman\u2019s desirable traits such as love, hope, and enthusiasm are illustrated as impossible to reach as they are separated by mountains. Colored yellow, these positive traits are easily distinguishable in comparison to the undesirable qualities that make up the vast majority of a woman\u2019s heart. Furthermore, a woman\u2019s positive qualities are enclosed by the \u201cEgo Mountains<\/em>\u201d which insinuates that a woman cannot possess such traits without being perceived as egotistical. With these characteristics of the map, women are portrayed as egotistical, fickle, and vane. The mapmaker\u2019s choice of color is used to isolate a woman\u2019s desirable traits while casting a sense of disgust because said traits are embellished with egotistical undertones.<\/p>\n

The author\u2019s word choice paints an ugly picture on the heart of a woman, by devaluing the power in femininity and making reference to women as easy to conquer as a territory on a map. Moreover, the map is a representation of what men have assumed a woman\u2019s heart is supposed to look like and the author is simply depicting those feelings in an easily readable guide. The domestic nature of this map lies in the idea that it is possible for a woman\u2019s heart to be mapped and that women are worth no more than a piece of land on a map. As expansion was at the forefront of people’s minds, the mapmaker chose to cater to the societal boom in colonization by insinuating that a woman\u2019s heart could be conquered as well. The rhetorical satire of this piece can be inferred because maps are not considered factual and a woman\u2019s heart does not solely comprise of the attributes the author chose to include. If anything, the map pokes fun at the idea that women were expected to have such undesirable qualities. Similar to a cartographic depiction, which was a tool used by a frontiersman to chart their exploration, The Map of a Woman\u2019s Heart<\/em> can not be considered factual because it is influenced by the bias of its author and should be read with caution. Equating the love of a woman to something that can be charted on paper diminishes its true value and undermines the idea that women are worth more than their marital qualities. Yet this map makes up only one half of a picture, which together paints a pessimistic picture of love\u2026<\/p>\n

In contrast to the susceptible yet undesirable traits of a woman\u2019s heart is The Map of a Man’s Heart.<\/em> Illustrated around the same time, the less welcoming heart of a man is enclosed by a wall that guards an emotionless and materialistic excuse of a human. The majority of the map attributes men as having an abundance of power and knowledge yet a lack of matrimonial appeal. For example, men are attributed with a \u201cLove of Eating, Better Judgement<\/em>, and Love of Money<\/em>,\u201d along with an impenetrable \u201cCitadel of Self-love<\/em>,\u201d all of which can be interpreted as undesirable qualities in partnership. According to this map, the only penetrable section of a man\u2019s heart is \u201cThe Land of Romance<\/em>\u201d. The satirical nature of this map lies in the man\u2019s unfortified area which can only be communicated with a woman\u2019s good sense, temper, and fortune. Men were commonly viewed as being heartless so it is natural that the depiction of their heart is guarded by a wall and can only be penetrated if a woman is wealthy or has materialistic value. It is clear from this map that during the 19th century, men were solely focused on making money and power. The importance of highlighting this once again speaks to the societal expectations of men at the time as being the head of the household. A man\u2019s priority was to continue his bloodline and provide for his family by finding the strongest and most valuable partner to help him carry out said \u2018duty\u2019. Similar to the map, The Map of a Woman’s Heart<\/em>, the heart of a man is illustrated as being conquerable despite the apparent difficulty. This map gives a gloomy outlook on the success of finding a suitable partner due to the unappealing characteristics attributed to a man\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

These two rather disheartening maps for ambitious suitors at the time tell a story on their merit as well as in conjunction with one another. As depicted, a woman\u2019s heart is concerned with the vanity of life, prioritizing having the most luxurious wardrobe and posh attitude while men are more focused on earning power and dominating the economy. It can be inferred that although each gender fantasizes about conquering the other, neither gender can see eye to eye or heart to heart on the other\u2019s ideals. A man will never understand the complexities of a woman\u2019s heart and vice versa. The hearts of men and women during this era were viewed similarly to the newly developing nation whose land was waiting to be conquered. The author specifically chose the device to map the heart because it is something the readers at the time could understand. Unfortunately for prospective lovers in the 19th century, they will continue to face the difficulty of mastering his or her own heart and are now tasked with conquering the heart of others as well. So ask yourself. Do you think you are ready to conquer the roadmap to love?<\/p>\n

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Atlas: The Digital Atlas Project<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.digitalatlasproject.net\/about<\/p>\n

The Digital Atlas Project <\/strong>grew out of our desire, as teachers, for students to have up-to-date maps and data at their fingertips whenever they need it, where ever they may be: in class, at the learning commons or library, at home or studying at a friend’s house. It now serves as a great guide for anyone to access really interesting maps that are free!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Blog: Map Room Blog<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/<\/p>\n

The Map Room<\/strong>\u00a0is a blog about maps that\u00a0covers everything from antique map collecting to the latest in geospatial technology.<\/p>\n

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Works Cited:<\/p>\n

Formichella, J. (2021, February 12). The map of a woman’s heart. Recollections Blog. https:\/\/recollections.biz\/blog\/the-map-of-a-womans-heart\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Buehler, M. (n.d.). Map of the fortified country of man\u2019s heart. Boston Rare Maps. https:\/\/bostonraremaps.com\/inventory\/kellogg-fortified-country-of-mans-heart-1846\/<\/p>\n

Popova, M. (2022, May 6). A Map of Woman\u2019s Heart: satirical illustrated cartography of Victorian gender stereotypes. The Marginalian. https:\/\/www.themarginalian.org\/2011\/09\/30\/map-of-womans-heart\/<\/p>\n

The Way To A Woman\u2019s Heart: 19th Century Print Attempted To Map Female Emotion. (2017, December 7). HuffPost. https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/map-womans-heart_n_1093421<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Women In Nineteenth-Century America<\/i>. (2018, March 13). Social Welfare History Project. https:\/\/socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu\/woman-suffrage\/women-in-nineteenth-century-america-2\/#:~:text=American%20women%2C%20if%20we%20accept,nurtured%20children%20and%20sheltered%20husbands.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If there was a guide to work your way into someone\u2019s heart, would you use it? It is time to delete your Tinder profile and forget about the person you met at the bar last week because with this antique … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6254,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21024],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maps-of-the-week"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3400"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3404,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3400\/revisions\/3404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}