Calvin wants to help Elizabeth at Hastings, but she wants people to value her work without his assistance. He insists, because “life isn’t fair,” while she feels that accepting favors is cheating (p. 26). What’s your opinion of this interchange? Should she have accepted his help? What would you have done?
Calvin’s personal knowledge of the unfairness of life shaped his need to make things easier for Elizabeth. Her self-reliance made it impossible for her to accept his help. Their disastrous childhoods so clearly shaped their ability to give and take, even from someone who was truly loved and trusted. I don’t possess Elizabeth’s intellectual gifts and would have needed all the help I could get.
I can see why she wouldn’t want his help - she wanted her research to be independent and didn’t want people to think she wasn’t smart enough to succeed on her own. But I do think she should have acknowledged that the deck was stacked against her and accepted at least a little bit of his help. I’m pretty sure I would have!
She didn’t want to be view has a woman who sleeps her way to the top.people would be thinking that’s how she got where she is.
I wouldn’t want people to think that about me either.
I think to stay professionally independent, Elizabeth did need to keep from accepting Calvin’s help.
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I could see both points of view. Elizabeth was so logical and often felt behavior should be the way logic leads but unfortunately a lot of behavior isn’t logical and people often ignore ethics. Elizabeth had to live with her conscience and probably wouldn’t be fulfilled if she accepted unearned favors.Elizabeth seemed so naive but I agreed with her choice. She payed the price for her choice- I was glad to see her having a really bright future at the conclusion of the novel.
I can also understand both view points on this. Elizabeth wanted to be respected on her on. However, I feel that in both time periods of when the book was set and today, you should take advantage of anything that will set you ahead.
This is an interesting encounter. There are multiple ways to interpret the situation. First, “ life isn’t fair” has so many different interpretations which depend on the stater and the hearer. I understand why Elizabeth might feel like she is cheating. She was not recognized as a real person. If Calvin was talking to a man in the same situation it may not have been considered cheating because the work was considered man’s work. In my opinion although Calvin probably intended to be helpful, I completely agree with Elizabeth’s response. That’s how I would have felt. I would have reacted in a similar fashion as Elizabeth.