This week's readings explore the themes of realism and naturalism. Works that fall under realism are characterized by aspects of everyday life. Their concerns are of marriage, work, family, human interaction, and other things having to do with society. Naturalism, on the other hand, deals with things outside of the social sphere. It is more concerned with the environment and animals.
"A White Heron" by Sarah Orne Jewett tells the story of a girl named Sylvia who discovers a beautiful white bird (a symbol of innocence) and develops a great deal of admiration for it. She chooses fellowship with the bird over communion with other human beings. A hunter asks her to take him to the heron and she refuses--disclosing its location would mean giving its life away. She does not want the bird's song to be hushed and its "pretty feathers stained and wet with blood." Sylvia is able to connect with nature and appreciate its beauty, while the hunter desires to take away its life and turn it into a trophy for his wall. Therefore Sylvia stands to represent a naturalistic view while the hunter manifests a more realistic one. However, the story itself does not take a naturalistic tone; if it emphasized naturalism where the law of man does not govern wild animals, the bird would have bitten off Sylvia's head and fed it to the nest.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Race and Gender Discrimination
This week's reading includes work by Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Fanny Fern. All of these authors wrote about oppression--some about race and others about gender. I found these pieces to be very powerful and filled with emotion. It is incredible to me that they could present such strong feelings in the form of words on a page.
Jefferson wrote about the tension between Indians and white men in "Notes on the State of Virginia." A chief named Logan fed hungry whites and clothed naked ones until an Indian stole from them. The outraged whites slaughtered Logan's entire family. Logan says, "There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature," and "Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one." These two lines convey the pain wrought by one side punishing the innocent in order to get revenge for a trivial act that shoud have been negotiated.
Frederick Douglass criticized America for claiming to be the land of the free and argued that it is hypocritical. Slavery should not exist in such a place, yet he is reminded of its reality every Fourth of July as he watches people around him celebrate their freedom--a luxury he does not participate in. He claims that a black person is a man and that men are entitled to liberty. He also states that light is not strong enough to make his point, but rather he needs fire to reveal the injustice he faces on a daily basis. This burning passion is one of the things that makes him such a powerful voice of literature during this period.
Sojourner Truth spoke up for women's rights in a speech she delivered at a convention. She stated the following: "I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man." Her point is that her physical worth equals that of a man, therefore she should not be treted as an inferior. She further argues that Jesus comes from God who created Him and woman who bore him, giving women a divine importance.
Fanny Fern (an alias) responded to male criticism on ladies' books. A man once said that no topic other than courtship and marriage should be expected from a feminine novel. Fern retorts that this is a theme existant in men's novels also and that the speaker knows as much about reviewing a woman's book as she does about navigating a ship. With her bold exposure of the weaknesses of men, Fern is famous for breaking the stereotype that females are only capable of being soft-spoken and gentle writers.
The conflict between whites and black, men and women has improved dramatically over the last few decades in our country's history, but my struggle as a student lives on! The midterm for this class is tomorrow so I am off to study. Until next week!
Jefferson wrote about the tension between Indians and white men in "Notes on the State of Virginia." A chief named Logan fed hungry whites and clothed naked ones until an Indian stole from them. The outraged whites slaughtered Logan's entire family. Logan says, "There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature," and "Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one." These two lines convey the pain wrought by one side punishing the innocent in order to get revenge for a trivial act that shoud have been negotiated.
Frederick Douglass criticized America for claiming to be the land of the free and argued that it is hypocritical. Slavery should not exist in such a place, yet he is reminded of its reality every Fourth of July as he watches people around him celebrate their freedom--a luxury he does not participate in. He claims that a black person is a man and that men are entitled to liberty. He also states that light is not strong enough to make his point, but rather he needs fire to reveal the injustice he faces on a daily basis. This burning passion is one of the things that makes him such a powerful voice of literature during this period.
Sojourner Truth spoke up for women's rights in a speech she delivered at a convention. She stated the following: "I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man." Her point is that her physical worth equals that of a man, therefore she should not be treted as an inferior. She further argues that Jesus comes from God who created Him and woman who bore him, giving women a divine importance.
Fanny Fern (an alias) responded to male criticism on ladies' books. A man once said that no topic other than courtship and marriage should be expected from a feminine novel. Fern retorts that this is a theme existant in men's novels also and that the speaker knows as much about reviewing a woman's book as she does about navigating a ship. With her bold exposure of the weaknesses of men, Fern is famous for breaking the stereotype that females are only capable of being soft-spoken and gentle writers.
The conflict between whites and black, men and women has improved dramatically over the last few decades in our country's history, but my struggle as a student lives on! The midterm for this class is tomorrow so I am off to study. Until next week!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Melville- The Confidence Man
Mardi Gras break has come and gone so it's time to get serious once again. This week the class is discussing Herman Melville's The Confidence Man. We will have a class discussion, exam, and essay in addition to this blog.
The book begins with an image of a sign above a barbershop on a boat. It reads, "No Trust," which basically means that the barber does not accept credit and wants payment immediately following his services. This is logical since the reason for his work is to provide for his family; by allowing a customer to leave without paying, he runs the risk of not being compensated for his work and being unable to support his family.
Subsequent chapters involve other characters who are rigid in their beliefs but are pursuaded to be more trusting. An example is Pitch, a man who has 15 years' experience with 35 slaves. He despises them because they steal, give him an attitude, require food, and hesitate to get out of bed in the morning. Pitch desires to find a machine that will do work for him, as none of these concerns exist with machines. However, after a lengthy conversation with a philosopher, he comes to realize that boys are like corn--both require cultivation and will not become great if neglected. He eventually decides to purchase another boy as an "experiment."
Other accounts of characters (including a medicine man and an herb doctor) agreeing to be more trusting occur before the end of the book, where the barber is revisited. A persistent customer badgers him about removing the sign outside his shop while he receives a shave. He finally succeeds in convincing the barber to trust people. This trust in fellow mankind--this notion that there is virtue in all men--seems to be both a common theme as well as a moral of Melville's book. It therefore stands as a sort of conduct manual for how we should live our own lives. However, the book may also be read as a satirical account of placing too must trust in people. Different characters speak in each chapter, but there is always one who convinces another to take on his own position on a certain topic. It can be argued that these characters are all the same--the devil taking on different forms to manipulate people. At one point the text says that a butterfly is a caterpillar in a "gaudy cloak" of wings which disguise his true wormy form. The book's subtitle, "His Masquerade," also supports this idea of deception.
So there are several different ways to analyze this novel, but in any case it is very different from other novels of its time.
The book begins with an image of a sign above a barbershop on a boat. It reads, "No Trust," which basically means that the barber does not accept credit and wants payment immediately following his services. This is logical since the reason for his work is to provide for his family; by allowing a customer to leave without paying, he runs the risk of not being compensated for his work and being unable to support his family.
Subsequent chapters involve other characters who are rigid in their beliefs but are pursuaded to be more trusting. An example is Pitch, a man who has 15 years' experience with 35 slaves. He despises them because they steal, give him an attitude, require food, and hesitate to get out of bed in the morning. Pitch desires to find a machine that will do work for him, as none of these concerns exist with machines. However, after a lengthy conversation with a philosopher, he comes to realize that boys are like corn--both require cultivation and will not become great if neglected. He eventually decides to purchase another boy as an "experiment."
Other accounts of characters (including a medicine man and an herb doctor) agreeing to be more trusting occur before the end of the book, where the barber is revisited. A persistent customer badgers him about removing the sign outside his shop while he receives a shave. He finally succeeds in convincing the barber to trust people. This trust in fellow mankind--this notion that there is virtue in all men--seems to be both a common theme as well as a moral of Melville's book. It therefore stands as a sort of conduct manual for how we should live our own lives. However, the book may also be read as a satirical account of placing too must trust in people. Different characters speak in each chapter, but there is always one who convinces another to take on his own position on a certain topic. It can be argued that these characters are all the same--the devil taking on different forms to manipulate people. At one point the text says that a butterfly is a caterpillar in a "gaudy cloak" of wings which disguise his true wormy form. The book's subtitle, "His Masquerade," also supports this idea of deception.
So there are several different ways to analyze this novel, but in any case it is very different from other novels of its time.
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