I watched the movie and I just think it is weird that the Cuthbert's live together at an old age. What were the customs at the time?
2006-12-08 09:32:44 · 7 answers · asked by djzlyric 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
At the time it was considered perfectly appropriate for an unmarried or widowed woman to "housekeep" for any unmarried brothers; in fact, it was considered their duty - just as it was considered the duty of any male siblings to provide a home for any unmarried sisters. I think that's nice, not stange!
If it seems odd to you, try thinking about it from an elderly person's point of view. Even in modern times, if elderly siblings are either unmarried or widowed, they often choose to live together to help take care of each other as their health fails. It makes far more sense than them being lonely and struggling to cope on their own in two seperate houses.
2006-12-08 09:43:53 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It was very common for a bachelor or widower to have his spinster sister living with him. It still is. In my small town I know of three or four couples like that. Some never married. Others married and divorced, but what I see the most of these days is he's lost his wife and she's lost her husband and it's a heck of a lot easier to make their limited income stretch if they share a house.
2006-12-08 09:45:06 · answer #2 · answered by loryntoo 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
in victorian times and earlier,unmarried siblings would remain in the family home for life,male or female.when their parents died,the unmarried sisters,brothers or mixed siblings would inherit the house and live together untill they were married ,or untill they died.unmarried people didnt go around buying houses back then,maybe because it was a social norm to stay home,and "support ur parents in their old age" if u werent married,or maybe there just wasnt a lot of money to build/buy new houses for just one person.my great aunt never married,and lived in the house she grew up in all her life,which she inherited when my gr8-grandparents died.when her sisters were widowed,they all spent about 6 months out of the year at my gr8 aunts house,for companionship,and it worked out very well.
2006-12-08 09:45:14 · answer #3 · answered by Lyn K 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That would have been completely normal, especially if they both had never married. This was back in the turn of the century when men and women still had distinct, separate roles. It would have been a matter of course, especially with all the extra chores and work there was to do back then.
2006-12-08 09:38:41 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Still happens. I know an old man who's caring for his old sister who has completely lost her mind. It's touching, really. Neither ever married. They've been good friends for years and now he's helping her through the last stage. I know them well enough to say there's nothing weird going on (and I don't think there ever has been).
2006-12-08 09:47:27 · answer #5 · answered by boots&hank 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, and it still is. Especially at that time an unmarried or widowed woman had few resources of her own. She would need to rely upon the kindness of relatives for a place to live.
2006-12-08 09:42:53 · answer #6 · answered by Robin D 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
for never-married siblings of that time, it was not that unusual. I've even met aging siblings, a brother and 2 sisters, from BC who do (did) that in our own time (well, 10 years ago, anyway.... funny, I met them on Prince Edward Island, not long after visiting Green Gables!)
2006-12-08 09:37:01 · answer #7 · answered by kent_shakespear 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋