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I need to talk to helpful people about one of my essay questions, as it is very ambiguously worded and I am failing to pin it down into an appropriate form. Anyone want to volunteer for an IM chat on the topic? The question, incidentally, is "'Many people do fancy that, in dealing with women, we are dealing with very explosive materials' (Helen Taylor). Why would this statement be made in the mid-nineteenth century?" I can find at least three interpretations, and the most obvious one isn't easily answered in relation to literature and journalism.