21 Stoic Fortitude with Edith Nesbit - Philosophy and Literature - Female Empowerment - Bluestocking Society - Women's intellectual history.
The Female Stoic | Literature and Philosophy for Bluestockings.
Welcome to the Female Stoic podcast.My name is Stephanie Poppins and I am an advocate for literary empowerment.That means, I believe the examples set by the literary masters can broaden life perspective, create increased self-awareness, and empower us to overcome the obstacles we encounter here in the 21st century.
0:39
By listening and referring what we hear to Stoic philosophy, we can foster a strong sense of self and navigate the world more effectively.This podcast takes the form of both discussions and meditations, and if you like what you hear, you might consider looking me up on my socials where I post empowering videos every day.
1:13
Or you may like my classic audiobooks and original stories available on my website, newworldbooks.uk.Happy listening.
1:45
OK, welcome to the Female Stoic podcast and today's episode is entitled Stoic Fortitude with Edith Nesbitt.Now if you've listened to my tracks, The Railway Children, you will know that Edith Nesbitt wrote in the early 20th century and this was a story about, well it had three main protagonists, the Waterbury children, and it depicts their life having relocated to Yorkshire from London.
2:35
So we're looking at the portrayal of fortitude in the novel The Railway Children and educationally speaking, we're making a cross curricular connection, which means we are connecting it with Stoic philosophy.And as I have said to you before, in this podcast, we make an original connection between two different ideas.
3:03
And that is the purpose of this podcast, to look beyond the subject matter and to connect it with other things that we might be interested in and so relate to in our lives in the 21st century.
3:20
So fortitude, as we know, is the courage to continue through pain and adversity.And this of course, links to the Stoic courage and what was the need for fortitude in the Railway children.If you haven't heard the story again, I say look out for my audio book or listen to the tracks.
3:43
So it was originally serialized in London in a magazine during nineteen O 6 and it had three main protagonists, Roberta, Peter and Phyllis, all children.And it is their powerful and honest perspective that drives the narrative in this book.
4:04
So their happy life is upended when their father is wrongly imprisoned, forcing them to move to a house near a railway in Yorkshire.This was the age of the steam engine.So there's a certain charm in that.
4:22
And within this novel there is a direct contrast made between their former life in London, quite a wealthy existence, and this new impoverished existence in Yorkshire.
4:39
And of course you have the juxtaposition between the town or the city in the country as well, and the beautiful imagery and symbolism of the train, the steam train that travels from the previous life through the new life back to the previous life again.
5:03
So there's a connection there and there's always a link to the old life, which is one of the core threads through the story really.And that's why it's entitled The Railway Children, because the railway is the thing that is holding it all together.
5:26
So Edith Nesbit was a socialist predominantly.She was a member of the Fabian Society, a society still running today, which seeks A fairer distribution of wealth and power, which is achieved through a mix of social ownership and private enterprise.
5:48
So the core tenets of that society were the promotion of the equality of power, wealth and opportunity, emphasising social progress and the importance of strong public institutions.
6:06
Why is this relevant?Well, part of the theme running through the Railway Children is this idea of social connection, social injustice and the distance and the separation between the working classes and the middle and upper classes.
6:32
And of course what's happened is these three children have been taken out, metaphorically speaking, of one class and dumped into another.And I have to make peace with that.So courage, fortitude when faced with change and that's the ultimate change in a child's life, leaving a secure environment and being placed into another environment without a significant member of what they know to be stability, their father.
7:12
So the narrative is centering on the water breeze.Strength and Unity got three children who have to learn to be self-sufficient.Now their mother's poor, their father has been imprisoned.So they are struggling through together and we hear in depth about what they go through, and in the background their mother is demonstrating a quiet fortitude herself.
7:45
The beauty of this book is that it celebrates the role of children, their significance, their agency in effecting change.And we come to see that what actually happens is they make friends with people who they formerly would not have had access to, let alone made friends with.
8:09
And one of those people is Perks, the station Master, who is quite far removed from them, socially speaking, but they come to respect him, and he comes in turn to respect them.And they have various challenges.
8:27
We see them as active participants when saving a train that's headed for disaster, They help a Russian refugee.Again, this mention of social injustice, this nod to the Fabian Society cause, and they urge the investigation into the wrongful incarceration of their father.
8:51
And they do this amidst adversity.So they are challenged and they are still seeking the truth the right way, the right thing to do.So through the confusion and obviously the painful acceptance of what's happened, the change from wealth to poverty, the change from respectability to an unjustifiable fall from grace, metaphorically speaking, and the change in their mother as she battles with the reality of it all, they still manage to triumph.
9:32
And of course, all the while they're growing up.We've got one boy and two girls, each with different personalities, each in a different birth order, so they have different perspectives on it all.Bobby is the eldest with a deep connection to her mother's plight.
9:50
Peter is the new man of the house, so he's trying his best to be everything he feels a young man should be.And there's Phyllis, who represents the spirited innocence of youth.So the children are complementing each other, but they're contradicting each other too.
10:07
So they also have those inner, that infighting, those inner battles.But when push comes to shove, they club together and rise Victoria's.And that's the beauty of this story, Peter says to Phyllis.
10:24
Everything has an end, and you get to it if you only keep all on.While they are walking through a seemingly endless tunnel, the symbolism there is a dark tunnel.They are at their worst, a place in which they're scared.
10:44
It's the unknown.There's no light.They're in the middle of the tunnel.And yet there's this depiction of perseverance, courage, and we need to keep going during difficult times.
11:04
They're awfully brave, you know?Said Doctor Forrest.Think of Bobby walking alone in the tunnel with that poor chap.It's an odd thing.The softer and more easily hurt a woman is, the better she can screw herself up to do what has to be done.
11:22
So in the story, there's a young boy who's a runner who gets caught.He has an accident, he hurts his ankle, he gets caught in the tunnel and he can't move.And they know the train's coming and Bobby is left alone to care for him.
11:40
She's the eldest child and a girl, and this moment is celebrating the deep well of strength that her, a seemingly soft, gentle girl, can have.
11:59
So Nesbit here is championing the individual's independence, capability, and a girl's independence and capability regardless of societal constraints, regardless of adversity.
12:17
And Mother and Bobby, this Roberta, have this strength, capability and intelligence which connects them.She's the eldest child and there's an understanding there.
12:33
She knows from early on that something's wrong.They don't know what's happened to their father.They think he's gone away and she keeps the secret.Again, fortitude in the face of adversity.
12:50
And as we know, because we've all been children, children are capable of amazing things.And Nesbit here is using them to champion that cause.So she's suggesting courage isn't always dramatic, and often it's a steady resolve, the quiet resolve that's not receiving applause, but the commitment to do what's right nevertheless.
13:26
In parts of the book there are descriptions of how the children are dressed.Their clothes are made from old curtains, things that are found in the house.They don't have access to the luxury they had before.
13:45
There's no applause every time they achieve something and they spend inordinate amounts of time on their own with no parental figure or guidance.But as the post war saying goes, they make do and mend.
14:06
They use their old clothes, at one point they tear into them because they need to warn the train that it's going.There's going to be a crash if the train doesn't stop.So they are committed to doing what's right despite the adversity.
14:28
And let's relate this to Stoic philosophy.Well, we hardly need to point out the obvious, but we'll go a little deeper.So a quote by Marcus Aurelius in Meditations encapsulates this perfectly.This is a fundamental truth of life itself.
14:46
Everything is born from change, and this sees it's a passage through and a change from childhood to young adulthood.
15:05
And it's that point that's depicted in this story that is one of the biggest changes a human can go through.And Nesbit's chosen that in order to depict this fortitude.
15:27
Change is the fundamental natural force driving all existence, he says.With the universe constantly altering and renewing itself, current realities are seeds for future ones.
15:43
So it is up to us to find peace by accepting impermanence rather than resisting it.Resisting change leads to suffering.Transformation allows for adaptation and growth.In order to maintain inner peace, we must embrace change, and that's the point here.
16:07
As we know when we're on the threshold, 11/12/13 into teenage years and adulthood is on the horizon, we have no choice.It's going to happen regardless, and what these protagonists have been placed into is not just that change, but change of location, change of circumstances, loss of a parent, being present in their lives for a significant time and coming to terms with that.
16:44
This is fortitude, and if we look at Marcus Aurelius and consider how he embraced change, he worked through plague, he worked through famine.He focused on his duties as an emperor, and he viewed these immense challenges as external events that, while devastating, could not impact his moral duty.
17:15
Unlike the others who fled the cities to avoid infection, he remained in Rome.He toured the empire to manage the crisis personally.He summoned the era's most brilliant minds to tackle the disease.He sought the recruitment of soldiers from unusual sources, even gladiators and slaves, in order to address manpower shortages caused by the plague.
17:42
So he was adaptable and he remained courageous and committed and focused all the while maintaining law and order.And this is what we're talking about here, that steadfast focus.
18:00
And when we go to our journal exercise in a minute, we will see that we are being called to focus ourselves and consider what we have heard and relate it to our experience.Before we do that, I'm going to mention Zeno of Citium, who was the founder of Stoicism.
18:23
He taught in Athens for about 300 BCA, wealthy merchant and he lost everything in a shipwreck.So he was trading with an expensive fabric, dyed fabric, and that was quite rare.And according to ancient biographers, after his ship holding the valuable cargo of purple dye sank, he was stranded in Athens penniless.
18:50
And he is quoted as saying, I made a prosperous voyage when I suffered shipwreck because this shipwreck led him to a bookshop where he discovered philosophy, ultimately changing the course of his life and history.
19:08
Fortune, he said, bids me to be a less encumbered philosopher, which suggests that he felt released from the burdens of wealth and free to pursue a life of the mind.He's reframed that, as we've seen in previous episodes.
19:25
When we look at, for example, Anne of Green Gables, when we look at Pollyanna, we can see this reframing, and that's what he's doing here.But the core of that, the core tenet of that, is fortitude and courage.
19:49
Because in order to reframe something, you've got to be courageous enough to do so.And part of how we maintain that fortitude.Is by, as I say every week, tapping into this dichotomy of control, this central tenet of stoicism, distinguishing between what we can control and what we can't.
20:16
And of course, he could not control a shipwreck.The children in the in the story, the Railway Children could not control their relocation, the unjustifiable incarceration of their father, the fact they were now poor.
20:40
And what Stoicism teaches us is virtue is the only good.External things, wealth, reputation are considered indifference.They're preferable, but they're not essential for a good life.
20:56
And the Railway Children show shows us perfectly well that no matter which social standing we happen to be part of or represent, we can still lead a good, honourable, virtuous life.
21:17
Stoicism teaches us only virtue, wisdom, courage, justice and temperance is of value.It's the only thing that cannot be taken away by external forces.
21:36
And from this we understand we must align our will with the natural order of the universe and accept what fate brings.Because that's external.So there has to be an acceptance there.Railing against something that's unchangeable, that we have no power over is only going to disturb our winner peace.
22:01
And of course, this ties in perfectly with the plight of Roberta, Peter and Phyllis.So there's not an absence of fear in the story.They're scared, but they are acting in spite of that.
22:21
They make reasoned choices as to what to do in order to get the job done.There is suffering, there is pain, there's challenge, and they have to make tough decisions.And sometimes they fall, but they get up again and they carry on.
22:41
They persevere with integrity and that internal resilience helps them stay focused and act according to principle, not impulse.So at times Peter is impulsive, which is a little bit of stereotype in being the boy, but he learns his lesson.
23:07
He is guided by an elder, if you like, and someone from an older man and he comes to understand that he has to be a little bit less impulsive and a little bit kinder towards his sisters.
23:29
So let's go on to the journal task of the day.We as you know, every week we get hold of our journal and we consider how this can be related to our lives.And the task today is this right challenge that has forced change for you, a time when you were forced into change.
24:00
And as you know, if you do not have your journal with you during the live, you can always get hold of it and listen to the recording again wherever you hear podcasts.So we're going to write down something that forced change for us a moment in our lives.
24:19
And then we're going to be very honest with how we dealt with it.We're going to make an objective account of our process, be it chaotic at the time or focused.We're not here to judge ourselves.
24:37
And last week I spoke to you about bias and how damaging it can be not to be objective.And this is what you are called in to do this week is make an objective account.So step back and see rationally what happened.
24:56
Make no judgement about it, but just note down how you dealt with it at the time.Maybe it was chaotic, maybe you were very reactive to the situation and maybe everything went to pieces.
25:16
And underneath this, I want you then to reflect on what happened.Reflect on your reaction, if there was indeed much of A reaction at the time or maybe afterwards, and then set three bullet points for how you could deal with the situation more effectively in the future.
25:39
And that's what we're seeking to do with our journals.We are seeking self reflection.And as we know, it's significant part of Stoicism to be able to reflect, modify and consider our past actions.
26:01
So to conclude today, the Railway Children we've been speaking about, which embodies Stoicism through quiet, endurance, resilience and focus on duty despite the children being very upset about their father's unjust imprisonment and their development.
26:28
From frightened entitle children to ones that find purpose in helping others, embracing the simple joys and maintaining hope, demonstrating an inner strength amongst a beautiful backdrop that is Yorkshire.
26:50
And of course, this is the classic portrayal of Victorian era fortitude.So in essence, their journey is showcasing these stoic virtues.And every book we read together, you listen to when you hear my tracks or my audiobooks, has one of these things running through it.
27:19
It is our opportunity to learn.It is literary empowerment.And my thought for the day is this.It doesn't make sense to level down, to retreat when you've unlocked your achievements.
27:39
So in life you come to a crossroads a few times, you unlock the achievement and you move forwards.Why would then you then choose to level down, go back through the doors and close them?
27:58
These moments of change are our portal to the next level.We have unlocked the next level and we move forwards.And if we remember, our commitment to our virtue should outlast our convenience because focus is the most valuable asset we possess.
28:28
They are my thoughts for the day.It's been great to have you here.And I shall see you again same time next week.Bye.Hey, Stephanie here.
28:48
Thank you for listening to the Female Stoic Podcast.It is an honour and I just want to say I really appreciate you being here.It's amazing the power of women in literature and the stoic messages they have to share.
29:05
Please, if you can, return the favour by spreading their words and sharing this podcast far and wide so more of us can benefit from their wisdom.And don't forget to leave a review if you like what you've heard, see you next time.