Henry Adams, Virgin and the Dy
Henry Adams, Virgin and the DyThe Education of the Henry Adams reviews Adams�s and the United States�s education and growth during the 19th century. Adams was an old man who had Puritan beliefs about sex and religion. In this autobiography, Adams voices his skepticism about man�s newfound power to control the direction of history, in particular, the exploding world of science and technology, where all certainties of the future have vanished (anb.org, 1).
Adams grew up in the United Stated where he was a Puritan. Puritans believed that sex (women especially) was just a form of fertility and reproduction; otherwise �sex was a sin� (Adams, 384). �American art, like the American language and American education, was as far as possible sexless� (Adams, 385). The only sculptures and paintings of women that Adams viewed with understanding were those like the Virgin Mary, who was always seen as non-sexual. For example, �America was ashamed of her�have strewn fig-leaves so profusely all over her� (Adams, 384). However, during this time of the technology revolution, women were beginning to be viewed differently, especially in Europe. Women were viewed as beautiful and mortal beings. People such as Rodin were representing women in paintings and sculptures sexually. Sex was becoming something more than just a means of...
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