Acting Proper: Lucy Buck’s Ambivalence towards Southern Gender Standards

This paper examines Lucy Rebecca Buck’s dialectic understandings of southern gender ideals during the Civil War. While Lucy publically upheld the gender standards, her private diary writing revealed her ambiguity and even resistance to the unrealistic ideals. This study of Lucy’s diary is important because it demonstrates the need for further study on the complexities of young Confederate women’s reactions to the social upheaval during the Civil War.

 

Nellie and Lucy Buck Courtesy of the Warren Heritage Society, Front Royal, Virginia
Nellie and Lucy Buck
Courtesy of the Warren Heritage Society, Front Royal, Virginia

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