Essay Example on Jane: A Life of Love and Loss

Lepore is a professor at Harvard University and a historian in America and a writer in New York. Lepore describes Jane as a woman he is genuinely in love with and admires. Jane had his brother called Franklin, whom he loved and was the closest person to her. Jane was just an ordinary woman, married at a tender age of seventeen years by Mecom. She had twelve children, where some died. She cared for them and also for her great-grandchildren when her granddaughter died. She lived a life of great tribulation and had a different position about religion from her brother. Jane tells more about inequality in the 18th century and forms of inequality that persists in the present day. She also shows compassion and generosity.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Jill tells a luminous story of the life of Franklin's sister. On her "Book of Ages" Jane wrote the dates of birth and death of her family members. Lepore tries to draw attention to what is missing from the story of Jane. There are no records of how Jane felt on her youth age stage. Lepore describes a woman in the flesh form. He does not give hints on how the woman felt or might have felt. Like all other women in the world, Jane lived a confinement life, figuratively and literally. As described more than her life, Jane lived laboured in the house she was born in for more than half of his life. She was pregnant thirteen times in twenty years. Franklin wrote a letter to his sister on her twenty-first birthday, warning her about men. Lepore opinion about the message is that the letter is custom and coyness in the eighteen-century. Jane got married to Edward Mecom later after receiving the letter. She bore children where nine survived, and others died out of tuberculosis. Her husband is termed as a trail of failure. She also wrote a letter to his brother's wife telling her the town gossip and requesting for advice about her sons way forward. Lepore suggests Jane losses made her question on her beliefs and made her have an interest in government. Lepore sees Jane as a unique woman because of her ordinariness and her intelligence.

Jill Lepore, as one of the history professor, uses both primary and secondary sources. She uses primary sources, where she quotes some words from the Book of Ages. An example, Jane franklin's sorrows rolled like sea waves. She left behind the following remains as gifts. Books, needles, archives, letter opinions and political in a silent story of a silent sorry (267). Historians use these primary sources to quote what is written or orally said and show the evidence of what they are saying. Lepore opinion on the life of Jane franklin shows that she has quoted some of the primary sources such as reciting the words from the book. Also, she uses the letter Benjamin wrote to her sister on her twenty-first birthday in 1727.

Jane also replied to the letter of his brother by first apologizing to him of her poor writing skills. The use of primary sources helped Jill to emphasize on life and opinions of jane franklin. Secondary sources are too used to make a summary of the book of ages. Lepore has read researches about America and political aspects. She has looked at the analyses made and interprets about the book. This has helped him understand the text from the perspective of others opinion and later make up a summary of her own.

History shows that on 22 April 1722, it shows the frustration of 16 years old, Benjamin franklin in his attempts along a long thwarted. He attempted to write a letter to his brother. He began his second letter with a sharp statement on writing biographies "Histories of Lives are seldom entertaining unless they contain something either admirable or exemplar." Lepore's work was not only to excavate occurring events of Jane's biography but also to look at the life as an intellectual and how she lived a life full of examples no matter what she was undergoing through.

The book of ages epistolary narrates events of Jane and his brother Benjamin. Their relationship since they are young up to their death age. Jane describes his life history and the problems she faces. After Benjamin ran away from home, at the age of 21, he writes a letter to his 14-year-old sister. Benjamin and Jane kept communicating through messages for a life span of 63 years. According to Lepore defines these letters as a precious thing for Jane's thoughts. Jane struggled through the life of poverty and strained in her roles as a wife and a mother. She gave birth to 12 children whom she took off together with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren until she died at the age of 83 in 1794. Jane struggled to support his family financially and buried her children, who passed away. Also, she was stressed by her son's mental illness.

It was not a happy life for an uneducated woman in the 18th century of having a husband who cannot find work. The letters were written before 1758 no longer survive. Jane had kept a handmade book which she gave the title of "Book of Ages." The album contained the recordings of birth dates of her children and death dates. Lepore, such archival silence and insurmountable obscurity of Jane's life and her voice was dispiriting. Lepore describes the life of Jane as a history from her birth to her death. The historical events that she had recorded on her book of ages. The letters that they were communicating through with her brother. Historically there were no printers to print the work of Jane. This is a story of the 18th century. According to Lepore, the book is based on decades corresponding the life Ben and Jane shared. Ben franklin wrote her autobiography while Jane wrote her book: "book of ages" which serves her life history.

According to Lepore view of history and novel, she says that a book is referred to be historical if it contains events that create a story. Historical events are real, or they hold the history of a particular country. In the past novelists were referred to be the historians since they wrote on the events that happened in their lives and the country at large. Example of history is the book of Jane Franklin, where she narrated her life history and the problems that she faced. However, historians and novelists share a lot like sisters who share clothes. The novel emerged in the 18th century, where stories are written. Literally, among the history of the ancient contained art, epics, romances and chronicles. Historians writing about the present can be wary. Sometimes modern history can have other ideas. The tale relates to the recent events that were happening centuries back. Novelist borrows a lot from the account. Novels may include creative events which are not real and did not occur.

Writing history work-related requires a fully skilled writer. The writer has to use some literal styles for him to have a well and professional book review. Example of Lepore's book review on the book of age, we see that she has used professional skills in writing the review. First, he uses a well-planned plot to the story. She summarizes where Jane and Benjamin were born, how they were raised. She also summarizes how ben ran away from home and left his family. His sister's marriage and the events that happen. Lastly, she shows how Jane died and where she was buried. That gives her credit of a good writer.

Another style that makes Lepore a good historian is how she has described her character in her review. Jill, from the beginning, describes Jane as a caring and loving woman by saying that he is in love with the woman's character. We see that shows up Jane's character by showing their relationship as brother and sister. Also, we know that he describes Jane events when she gets married to Edward. She gives birth to twelve children, where some die. Being a poor mother does not neglect her duties of raising her children. She extends a caring heart and the role of a good wife in raising her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Describing all these characters gives credit to Lepore for being a good historian.

She is also a good storyteller. This is one of the styles that give credit to Lepore. A historian should be able to narrate the events according to flow from the original work. Historians are required to be aware of the activities, whether from the primary source or secondary source. Lepore has fulfilled this by using both primary and secondary sources. She has quoted words from the original book of age example like using a letter.

Conclusion

In conclusion, historical events contain both primary and secondary sources. All these sources are essential since primary sources dealing with the historically based analysis of activities associated with what is being studied. Secondary sources are known to be texts researches and articles related to the work of history. It can work done by another person about the exact account. Lepore uses employs both secondary and primary sources which have been significant to her work.

Work cited

Lepore, Jill. "Book of Ages: The Life and Opinion of Jane Franklin." Pp 134-368