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.
Monday, January 28, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, January 21, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
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!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
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!
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
