174. MARGARET E. KNIGHT: It is only following out nature
Margaret Knight (1833-1914) was an American inventor. From a young age, Knight had a gift for engineering and mechanics, and loved to build gadgets. Her first important invention came when she was working in a factory and witnessed a fellow worker get injured. She devised a safety stop-motion mechanism that would prevent it from happening again. Knight was 12 years old at the time.
She created her most famous invention while working in a paper bag factory in 1868. Instead of having to be glued together by hand, Knight invented a machine that could automatically make flat-bottomed paper bags, the kind still-used today. Knight built a wooden prototype of the device and took it to a machine shop in Boston to be cast in iron. In the shop, a guy named Charles Annan saw Knight’s machine being built, stole her idea and patented the device himself. Knight took Annan to court and the patent office rightly awarded her ownership. Knight is known as the most-famous female inventor of the 19th century and went on to hold 87 patents in her name.
The full quote:
“It is only following out nature. As a child, I never cared for things that girls usually do; dolls never possessed any charms for me. I couldn’t see the sense of cuddling bits of porcelain with senseless faces; the only things I wanted were a jack-knife, a gimlet, and pieces of wood. My friends were horrified. I was called a tomboy, but that made little impression on me. I sighed sometimes, because I was not like other girls, but wisely concluded that I couldn’t help it, and sought further consolation from my tools. I was always making things for my brothers. I was famous for my kites; and my sleds were the envy and admiration of all the boys in town. I’m not surprised at what I’ve done. I’m only sorry I couldn’t have had as good a chance as a boy, and have been put to my trade regularly.”
Read the previous Rising Phoenix comics:
Part 1: Ask Yourself
Part 2: Life is not easy
Part 3: Legacy
The quote was sourced from two books, Feminine Ingenuity and More Than a Muckraker.
As a tomboy myself, thanks for making this !
Seems like every other comic these days is about some girl rising against the odds. I mean I still love them, but they’re starting to feel kinda repetitive, tbh.
Jenn, there are still a lot of places in this world where girls need to be helped and supported in order for them to succeed in whatever trade or profession they choose. I know, my daughter was one of very few when studying for her degree as a robotics engineer. She almost switched to studying law because of bullying from her friends. I have nothing against lawyers (well, just a little) but my wife and I knew that wasn’t what she really loved, so we helped her overcome the friends-induced stress and shoot for what she really wanted. It worked and she is as happy as she can be. And she got married to a mechatronics engineer and have two little robots, I mean, kids, who are as geeky as the rest of the family!
Beautiful comment Marco. Congrats to your daughter
Huge fan of ZP, here, too. But yes, as of late it does seem like a large portion of comics are about women triumphing over the odds – which doesn’t bother me in the slightest, either.
I think this is a creative response to all the vitriol Gavin has received over a perceived bias for white males (see the comments in comic 152, for example).
Sadly, when his hard work began to attract the viewership his talent richly deserves, he also became a target for certain people who felt it was their right to dictate/complain/cajole him into including more of “these” types of people, and fewer of “those” types of people instead of leaving him free to produce the art they profess to love.
I like that you chose a wrestling theme, considering Beat the Champ is coming out very soon!
Is the first frame a typo?
“It is only following OUR nature?” Looks a bit funky but I like the comic!
I wondered about “follow out” too but in the parlance of the day, it means something like “completing” or “fulfill,” etc. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/follow+out
I believe you may be correct, Steven. While Scott has a point, in that either term technically works, The Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 44, Number 6758, 29 November 1872*, quotes her as using “our” instead of “out.” But it’s one of a very few sources. Given its age, it seems likely to be a more definitive source, but newspapers don’t get everything right either. But at least one old source quoted her as saying “our,” right or wrong.
* – http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18721129.2.24&e=——-en–20–1–txt-txIN——
Yes, I think when people say “I don’t know what to do in life” they’re not connected to their Nature. Or have not Developed it. Which one is it you think Gav?
Good Stuff, As Usual!
Wow, this one hit me right in the heart. That’s exactly how I felt growing up, and still do sometimes.
Couldn’t help but notice, the Rising Phoenix doesn’t have any outline of breasts in this comic (compared to her previous three comics). Intentional, hinting tomboy-ish-ness?
This comment, though. Really.
As a woman working in the STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) world, I really wish you had made this cartoon keeping it in the Science Engineering domain. The things I have experienced, ridicule comments from my professors, weird alienating behaviors from colleagues etc. – but the thing that has always kept me going is my love for my field. And women keep experiencing this everyday – they even receive threats it seems to shine in this field – and a cartoon depiction of this quote keeping it in the Science domain would have really really brought a huge positive impact on the women in this field – and the men too.
I had never heard of Margaret Knight – after reading your cartoon depiction I read your next note and got to know she was from this field. I might not have read it (the text note), many people might not read it. I feel sad for a direct opportunity to fulfill a craving need in the world today, lost.
Yes, ultimately domains are not important. Be it wrestling or be it science, it is about doing what our nature calls us to do – but still, feeling sad about a brilliant opportunity lost – specially since you illustrate so well.
You illustrated a lady who goes to countries and paints. That was very nice. Often you illustrate the arts and these off-beat worlds such as wrestling etc. – but science seems to be quite missing in your gamut. I hope it shall find place – not just with Richard Feynman depictions – but ones such as these. For that is what makes the softwares work, which you use. 🙂
And it is a wonderful wonderful world.
From a fan of your work. Just a clarification: I love art too. Turning to painting nourishes me. So I know how crucial art is for our world. 🙂
And I loved that cartoon of that burly fellow who loves to dance as a depiction of Ken Robinson’s words.
I agree – the comic is very cute for Rising Phoenix, of course, and I do like her, but I can’t help thinking that you could have made a much better comic for this particular quote had you stuck to its original idea. Maybe you could have made a girl-inventor character as a friend for your boy genius? 🙂
Vani, please read these two comics and think about your sense of entitlement.
https://zenpencils.com/comic/50-neil-gaiman-make-good-art/
https://zenpencils.com/comic/144-the-artist-troll-war-1-hatred-breeds-hatred/
Jack, I think Vani’s comment fell squarely into the realm of constructive criticism. It wasn’t mean or ill-intentioned, and it certainly wasn’t hateful. She’s simply suggesting that perhaps these illustrations didn’t best serve the quote.
I agree with Vani,
As a HUGE fan of ZEN Pencils, I think this quote would have been better served sticking closer to the original idea, of a woman struggling in the male realm of science. But keep it up Gav! Nobody hits a home run every time at bat, and you’ve already hit many!
I think this has been raised before. Pro wrestling is fake – one can’t “win” a championship. It has to be scripted, so the idea of someone training to win a pro wrestling match doesn’t make any sense. Likewise, I doubt you would ever see a pro wrestler coaching kids in real wrestling – the two have almost nothing in common.
As a wrestler, this comic makes me pretty happy! As a wrestler, I cringe at some of the inaccuracies of the comic- pro-wrestling as a spectator show and wrestling as a sport are very, very different things, and you conflate them just a bit too much here. Wrestling as a sport is so very brutal- you don’t get anything like crowds, there’s weight-cutting, and terrible heartbreaking losses. I usually love your comments, but I do hope you know the difference.
Hi Chanel,
I see your point here, but there are wrestlers out there who indeed are very good at both real-sport wrestling and WWF-entertainment wrestling. I know one name: ‘Kurt Angle’, and I’m pretty sure there are more wrestlers with similar career path like him.
As elaborated on Wikipedia: “(Kurt) Angle competed in amateur wrestling in high school and college. In college at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, he won numerous accolades, including being a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I champion. After graduating, he won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1995 World Wrestling Championships. Angle then competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where he won a gold medal in heavyweight freestyle wrestling. He is one of only four people to complete a Grand Slam in amateur wrestling (junior nationals, NCAAs, World Championships and the Olympics). In 2006, he was named the single greatest shoot wrestler and one of the top 15 college wrestlers of all time by USA Wrestling.
Angle made his first appearance at a professional wrestling event in 1996, with his in-ring debut following in 1998. He had previously turned down an offer to join the WWF, but signed a multi-year contract with the company that year, and participated in his first televised storyline in March 1999. After months of unaired matches, Angle made his official debut that November and
received his first major push in the company in February 2000, when he held the European Championship and the Intercontinental Championship simultaneously. Four months later he won the King of the Ring tournament, and not long after, began pursuing the WWF Championship, which he won in October; this capped off a rookie year which is considered by many as the greatest in professional wrestling history. Throughout his tenure in the company, Angle was a six-time world champion (a four-time WWF/E champion, a one-time World Heavyweight Champion, and a one-time WCW Champion), and he also held the WCW United States Championship, intercontinental Championship, European Championship, Hardcore Championship, and WWE Tag Team Championship once each. He is the tenth Triple Crown Champion, and the fifth Grand Slam Champion….”
So, I don’t think Gavin’s comic here that Rising Phoenix, a pro wrestler who ends up coaching real-sport wrestling as way too far-fetched. 😀
Great that it encourages women to take up activities or careers that are not “lady-like” but why are girls who like dolls being ridiculed in this comic? Being on the other side of conventional doesn’t automatically make one a liberal. If we are now moving towards a mindset which does not shame little boys for wanting to play with dolls, does it mean the girls who do are just “cuddling bits of porcelain with senseless faces?”
Hi Shikha, I don’t think that was the intent of that line. I think all Margaret through that line/Gav through the comic tried to say was that it’s alright for a girl to not like toys that are “meant” for girls. It’s alright if she thinks that they are nothing more than cuddling bits of porcelain with senseless faces, and that playing with dolls doesn’t particularly fascinate her. And it can be applied to boys as well, right? For instance, if a little boy doesn’t like sports, it’s okay. If he finds it mindlessly competitive (this is not to say any sport is simply mindlessly competitive, of course there’s more to it than that) and prefers going to a ballet class, it’s all cool. Perhaps the line is more of a reaction against what she was expected to do, how she was expected to behave, how she was perhaps accused of deviating from what is considered socially acceptable. Back in her time, the social norms would have been far more stringent. And that could make a person who has slightly different interests defensive/disparaging towards what is considered normal, no?
much needed inspiration
Awesome, as all your comics! Thanks for that! 🙂
Awesome as always. I saw recently where a girl junior high age was playing on a pop warner football team in utah the boys could not stop here. She will put the NFL on it’s ear
Fantastic! Can’t believe that almost all of those wrestling guys are dead though.
It’s crazy how much we’re pushed into certain directions just based on gender roles. It begins before we’re even born! What’s the first/second question anyone asks after they find out that a couple is having a baby? “Is it a boy or a girl?!?!?”
I suppose it would have been too difficult to illustrate an inventor, but I would have liked to see Knight’s sleds (and the line around the block to get one). Also her successful attack on the guy who stole her patent. And some of the giant 19th Century machines she invented. Steampunk, anyone?
Wrestling, not so much – she didn’t do any wrestling. What she did is much more important!
Thank you so much for this one, I can’t tell you how much it resonates with me as I was exactly that little girl (though more with martial arts and sports than wrestling).
I really wanted to practice any kind of martial art, but my father deemed it not for girls, so while I got to do sports I never really excelled at one in particular. Then, at the age of 27 I began training in Kung Fu for the first time and have never been happier. I do it mostly to keep in shape and to focus my mind these days, but I always wonder if I had been allowed to start at age 8 or so when I really wanted to, if I could have been a champion like Rising Phoenix.
Guess we’ll never know.
Thanks, Gavin, for the comic and the bio of Margaret Knight. I’m so glad she won her patent back!
I have a daughter who is currently 17 months old, and I already observe a strong mechanical aptitude in her. I want her to be able to look after herself in this world, and not worry about needing “A Man” to “Take Care Of The House/Cars/Appliances”. I’m not a rich man, and can’t give her the world, but what I can give her is the ability to be independent. As long as she wants to learn, I support her. But I’ll fight willful ignorance tooth and nail, the idea that she shouldn’t know something, because of the way her genitals are configured.
I love this! Great comic!
You still suck
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Love this comic, girls fighting for they freedom .
“I’m only sorry I couldn’t have had as good a chance as a boy, and have been put to my trade regularly”
That cause I can support, that’s what feminism was all about about 100 years ago: equal OPPORTUNITIES.
I noticed that lately this comic tends to be all about “empowered women”, and I think it’s more than OK, I mean, other web comics have steered towards mainstream whiny feminism, looking for the sympathy of feminists and white knights.
But Gav took the time to dig out quotes by truly awesome women, old school feminists who demand equal treatment and are not shy about showing that they can kick asses too.
That is very different from the idiotic discourse of “there are not enough women engineers” uttered by some nimwits who coursed “womyn’s studies” themselves.
She wanted a change, so she became the change.
I only hope this doesn’t spiral down to another “sinfest”, If I ever see a quote by Jessica Valenti or Anita Sarkeesian I wouldn’t be back here ever.
I can’t find anything in Anita Sarkeesian’s work (I don’t know much about Jessica Valenti) which is not about equal opportunities. The way women (and men) are portrayed especially video games is very limiting. This influences the ideas of what one can become.
I applaud Gav for making comics which counteract such limiting ways of thinking and hope he will go one using the best quotes he finds – whether everyone agrees or not.
First i am watching all the comic style your life experience and it’s amazing and i was thinking that this is over very interesting topic shared here. thank you for that..
First i am watching all the comic style your life experience and it’s amazing and i was thinking that this is over very interesting topic shared here. thank you for that..
First i am watching all the comic style your life experience and it’s amazing and i was thinking that this is over very interesting topic shared here. thank you for that…,.,.
Moral of the Story: EAT SLEEP SUPLEX REPEAT
I like this post yours. Good 🙂
So she wasn’t a professional wrestler? damn. 🙂
Thanks, Gavin, for the comic and the bio of Margaret Knight. I’m so glad she won her patent back!
As I have never heard of Margaret Knight before, this entire work is like discovering something wonderful. Cuddling bits of porcelain is not what all girls are cut out for. I personally detested it. I always lacked a mentor for the kind of person I am, and now, thanks to you, I found her.
Also, I read the comments above, and I am impressed with the kind of objections people come up with. “Why so many women ?” and “Are you saying girls who cuddle porcelain are to be ridiculed?” Wow. They missed the entire point. I don’t care how many white males or women you put in your cartoons, you’re doing a great job, and it makes me atleast very happy.
Also, would you mind letting me know if I could buy the poster of this particular cartoon ? It’s hit a special note with me.
OBEY, Andrea the giant, great comic 😉
– however repetitive the ‘girl wins against the odds’ theme might seem, it is nothing to the repetitious stereotypical concepts and themes that are forced at the brains of girls from the moment they can intake the brainwashing the media and advertising industries force upon them.
So true. We should respect our own uniqueness and develop our strengths. The way you depicted was awesome
Whoa, wait, is the saga of the Rising Phoenix over?
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Thanks for article.
Great work.
A mazing comic
thank you
There is a God-shaped vacuum in every heart.
It is not my sentence that I polish, but my thought. I pause until the drop of light that I need is formed and falls from my pen.
He who takes medicine and neglects to diet wastes the skill of his doctors.
drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol.
Thank you Gavin for your “MARGARET E. KNIGHT: It is only following out nature” comic post
http://vuelosdelalma.blogspot.com/2013/11/kampung-inggris-pare-kediri.html
If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. Jim Rohn
Girl power!
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This kind of reminded me about that new tv series in Fox, legion. His childhood days and all. The first two caricatures are similar to his childhood. Thanks for sharing the picture.
Nice comics. In my childhood i had read this in newspapers.