Shirley - Vol. 1 Ch. 6 - An Afternoon With Nelly And Me

[MangaDex]

 

[erana1]

"Little sir"'s mother has a very clear case of postpartum depression

 

[manabi]

"Little sir"'s mother has a very clear case of postpartum depression

I think it's one of two things, either 1. Seeing her son's face reminds her of her deceased husband, so she can't bear to see him or 2. She's not his mother, the son's illegitimate, but she's still doing the minimum to keep up appearances for his sake anyway.

 

[erana1]

First thing IS something that would happen. Postpartum depression is bad already, but if you combine it with bereavement, end result is getting grief instead of pleasure at seeing the kid's face.
Second thing... you know that this is NOT how pregnacy works, right? Nor how Victorian society worked. If the dead husband had an affair and an illegitimate son, he would not be raised at the wife's house. It COULD be that you had a slip of tongue keyboard and wanted to say write "he was not his father" (in which case it would make sense). And yes, it would also cause grief.

 

[manabi]

First thing IS something that would happen. Postpartum depression is bad already, but if you combine it with bereavement, end result is getting grief instead of pleasure at seeing the kid's face.
Second thing... you know that this is NOT how pregnacy works, right? Nor how Victorian society worked. If the dead husband had an affair and an illegitimate son, he would not be raised at the wife's house. It COULD be that you had a slip of tongue keyboard and wanted to say write "he was not his father" (in which case it would make sense). And yes, it would also cause grief.

Uhh no, I said exactly what I meant, that the son is the father's child but not the mother's. You are sadly misinformed if you think that illegitimate children weren't raised as legitimate ones in Victorian society and should take a few more history courses at the college level before spouting bullshit you know nothing about it. It happened a lot, although it was only covered up to keep everyone's honor openly intact, even if everyone secretly knew the truth, if the father was someone of higher rank in society. (The mother, on the other hand, probably ended up being treated like shit even in those cases. And an illegitimate child due to the mother's infidelities would almost never be covered up.) Other times it wasn't and everyone involved were treated like shit and stigmatized.

If the charade started before the father died, then it being continued by the mother is commendable, as she's doing it to give the boy a chance at a decent life. She could have told everyone the truth, kicked him out on the streets and let him suffer instead with no one important thinking less of her for it. That fits with the facts in the chapter.

You're also hanging on desperately to your postpartum depression theory, it doesn't necessarily apply with 1. It could be both, but I'm not suggesting it is, I'm suggesting the whole problem in case 1 is that he reminds me her of her dead husband alone.

And finally, you didn't want me to respond to your bullshit did you? If you had you'd have done a reply so I knew someone replied to me.

 

[erana1]

I'd say I'm more informed of Victirian society that you are, and that you read way, waaay too much into stuff - including taking ofence at someone not quoting the post inmediately preceding one's own (which is standard practice since likely before you were born) as some kind of perceived insult. Because of that, I'm not bothering answering to your post's theories, because you are obviously ready to turn it into an internet argument, and I'm too old to engage in them anymore. Have a good day, and welcome to my blocklist.

 

[manabi]

I'd say I'm more informed of Victirian society that you are, and that you read way, waaay too much into stuff - including taking ofence at someone not quoting the post inmediately preceding one's own (which is standard practice since likely before you were born) as some kind of perceived insult. Because of that, I'm not bothering answering to your post's theories, because you are obviously ready to turn it into an internet argument, and I'm too old to engage in them anymore. Have a good day, and welcome to my blocklist.

Yeah, cause mature people reply without replying hoping they won't be seen, then pretend it's

standard practice since likely before you were born

Man all those people using Usenet back in the 1980s and 1990s would be really surprised to hear that, along with all the people using forums in the 1990s until today. (Even AOL and CompuServe users would be.) Hell, I sure am. Who knew everyone was doing it wrong since the very beginning? Clearly you joined the Internet after the September that never ended, unlike me.

Thanks for proving how much you know about history: zilch. Also thanks for proving you're not an older person, otherwise you'd know how people have handled replying since literally 1980 when Usenet was established. You're making shit up as you go along to protect your fragile ego, and most likely lying about blocking me in the hope I won't call you on it. By the way, I'm even a member of Phi Alpha Theta, the International History Honor Society, so you really picked the wrong person to argue history with.