Transcendentalism and The Gothic

At the heart of transcendentalism lies the idea that God infuses all things in the universe with some degree of divinity. It places a great importance on the connection between the individual and the world around him. Therefore it is common for works from this period to involve some sort of quest for fellowship.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "My Kinsman, Major Molineux," Robin, a boy of 18 years, visits a foreign land to search for his uncle. He asks several strangers for any clues about the location of his kinsman and his quest takes a very long time. At its end the country boy has grown "weary of a town life" and asks to be shown to the ferry so that he may return home. So Hawthorne's character is an example of one who goes off to a strange land to find something, but quickly longs to return to his place of comfort.

Henry David Thoreau gives a very different account of a quest in Walden. He tells the story of how he lived in the woods for an extended time--2 years, 2 months, and 2 days--in order to commune with nature. His morning ritual here involves bathing in the pond; this activity represents a type of spiritual purification. By separating himself from the duties of society, he is able to appreciate the things God created and to achieve a higher level of spirituality. However, Thoreau eventually leaves the woods because he feels that he has other lives to lead.

There are also a few Gothic works from this week's assignment which critique the stereotype of outer beauty. Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" tells the story of Georgiana, a beautiful woman whose countenance is rendered "hideous" by a birthmark. The spot is considered a flaw and becomes a symbol of her "liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death"--foreshadowing to the end of the story. Her lover, Aylmer, begins to be troubled by this mark and desires to remove it from Georgiana. However, he is careless with the procedure and his crazed passion to rid the spot at all costs leads to the loss of his love. The lesson here seems to be to look beyond outward beauty and to see the part that truly counts--the inside.

Edgar Allan Poe comments on stereotypical beauty in "The Fall of the House of Usher." The story cites the poem "The Haunted Palace," which compares a house to a woman. Certain stanzas address specific body parts. For example, the house is said to have "two luminous windows" which stand to represent eyes. There are also golden banners which float on the roof (hair) and a ruby door with shiny pearl border (mouth and teeth). This poem's inclusion also serves the purpose of personifying the house as a vampire and fortifies the Gothic elements of the story.

Next week class is cancelled due to Mardi Gras break, so there will be no post until the week of February 12. In the meantime I will be reading Herman Melville's The Confidence Man. Until then, take care.

Puritans and the Age of Reason

I am still waiting for the textbook to arrive, but my professor posted links to the material on his website so here is the review of my first assignment. Hope you enjoy.

The poems we read by Anne Bradstreet have a very personal subject matter; they often focus on her family and her religion. She addresses her own writing in "The Author to Her Book" and dedicated a peom to her "Dear and Loving Husband." Another of her poems gives an account of how she felt after the burning of her house. She considered the event to be an act of God rather than a horrible tragedy and maintained a positive attitude. Bradstreet states that her hope and treasure lies outside of the material world.

Edward Taylor's "Meditation 96" also has religion as its base. At the end of the poem he says that he, like Bradstreet, desires to "lodge" in the love of the Lord. Taylor also wrote about the rewards of attending church--the experience is compared to riding in a coach which brings one closer to Heaven. Johnathan Edwards also placed a great importance on church attendance and warns of straying from God in his long and graphic speech "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

Benjamin Franklin wrote about the Indians in North America and how they were considered savages by the white men. When they entered a white village they were surrounded and stared at as though they were some other species, mysterious and not to be trusted. His account illustrates other ways in which the natives were treated as subordinates and thus takes racism as it's primary theme.

Another author from this section who wrote about racism is Phyllis Wheatley. "On being brought from AFRICA to AMERICA" contains the idea that "Their [black people's] colour is a diabolic die." But it is an interesting piece in that Wheatley's account of slavery is not the negative one many people might expect. Rather, it is quite a pleasant one. Her owners were like family to her and taught her how to read. Wheatley's story is a rare exception in that she was not subjected to the rigorous labor that most other slaves during her time suffered. She also writes a few lines about religion and gives thanks to God for delivering her from her "Pagan land."

In summary, because many of the works from this week's reading were written by Puritans, the majority of them center on religion and faith in God. However, there are other themes as well: Bradstreet's love for her family and Franklin and Wheatley's accounts of racism. These works seem to represent the major issues from the time period during which they were produced. Freedom of religion was a hot topic as the Puritans/Separatists founded the colonies and racism was introduced along with the unfamiliar people in the new world.

Update on the book situation

I visited the bookstore Friday to see if our textbook had come in, but the company shipped the Norton Anthology of ENGLISH Literature and our course calls for the Norton Anthology of AMERICAN Literature. Our professor and the bookstore are currently working with the company to get the correct ones shipped, but in the meantime I will be unable to read any assignments. Hopefully they will come in soon!

Introduction

This entry will serve as a test, as well as in introduction to this blog. I will make weekly posts here which will consist of an analysis of works by representative American authors. I plan to compare and contrast works (according to style, theme, and subject matter) with others--both from the same period as well as with those from other periods. I will use this blog as a place for me to write and share my thoughts on the texts; it will also serve as a tool to help me prepare for the final exam.

While my primary hope for this site is to receive feedback from my instructor, if other readers have an opinion that differs from my own on any given text, I welcome comments.

I am currently waiting for my school's bookstore to receive the textbooks for this class, so I will make another post as soon as the material for my first assignment becomes accessible to me. Until then take care!