Fanny Fern's "Critics"

Fanny Fern knew that being a female writer in the 1850s was difficult and “Critics” makes that clear. She ridicules what male critics would write about her writing because she knows that they criticized her out of spite: “I never knew an editor to […] write a scathing criticism on a book, because the authoress had declined contributing to his paper.” The sarcasm is palpable throughout, not just this line, but the entire piece. She asks rhetorical questions in the second paragraph about how a man reacts when a female writer is successful, asking if a man would have poor reactions to a woman’s success. Her sarcastic answer to her rhetorical questions shows her feelings on the subject: “No – no – bless your simple soul; a man never stoops to a meanness. There never was a criticism yet, born of envy, or malice, or repulsed love, or disappointed ambition.” It’s clear that she is angry at the men who ridicule her writing because of personal distress.