Written in first-person point of view by Jane Addams in 1916, “The Devil Baby at Hull-House” concerns the rumor that was going around in the 1900s that there was a Devil Baby at the Hull-House. Addams defines different myths about the origins of the Devil Baby. All these different tales have one similarity, that the baby was a consequence of the husband’s harsh dominance over his wife. The poor mother, not knowing what to do with the cursed baby, took him to the Hull-House. Due to the fast-spreading rumors, people of all origins came to the Hull-House seeking the fabled Devil Baby, but Addams denied that such baby exists at the Hull-House. With Addams’s rejection, incredulous visitors, especially women, couldn’t hide their disappointments. Masked by a story of the Devil Baby, Jane Addams tries to reveal the lives of powerless women under man's control in the 1900s. Unsurprisingly, Jane Addams was a leader in women’s suffrage and rights. Addams indicates although unreal, the Devil Baby was a light of hope to the housewives and they dragged their husbands to Hull-house in search of such baby to give a lesson to the selfish husbands to treat their wives better. Addams also suggests that this story might have originated from women’s hopes of their men to treat them equally and not as an inferior being. The author uses rhetorical device known as allegory to emphasize her point. Disguised by this myth about a Devil Baby, the author indicates women's weakness and how the Devil Baby is perhaps present in every household as a consequence of the father’s ignorance of his family. In contrast to the father, the mother gives unconditional love for her children no matter their defects.
The author was successful in making women seem like victims, but she made it too extreme and made her purpose controversial to men. Also, because written by a woman when most men disagreed to grant equal rights to women, Addams’s essay might not have gained much recognition among the community. If written by a male author, this essay would have gained much more credibility.  |
| Gender Inequality This image shows the gender inequality that Addams tried to reveal in her "The Devil Baby at Hull-House". She wanted to stress the dominance of men over women. http://tribune.com.pk/story/557630/gender-equality-society-not-ready-to-accept-women-in-politics/ |
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