Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
Yes. I think people who say "that's just how it was" and nothing else are giving it a free pass. Why shouldn't I?
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I'm not sure what else one can do. Authors' attitudes, like those of everybody else, are a product of the society in which they lived, and so naturally their books are going to be a mirror of those attitudes. Who was it who said "The past is a foreign country - they do things differently there" (or something similar)? I don't think it's reasonable to criticise a work for reflecting the attitudes of the author's society. As readers, who have to accept that books written a century ago aren't going to reflect the social attitudes of the 21st century.