Moran: the final countdown

Five things that I did not know about America

1. That the Puritan colonists believed in predestination.
2. That America was born out of a mix of the opposing forces of Puritanism and the Enlightenment.
3. That Americans had a history of viewing nature with awe.
4. That many feminists were at the head of the abolitionist movement.
5. That many Americans have a history of celebrating the individual.


Five things that I did not know about American literature

1. That the idea of the ‘self made man’, which would become a model for the American dream, originated with Ben Franklin.
2. That authors such as Washington Irving and James Cooper wrote intending to create ‘American Literature’.
3. That Nathaniel Hawthorne was the descendant of a judge at the Salem witch trials.
4. That the gothic writing style often commented on the theme of slavery, especially Poe.
5. That many themes of American writers discuss the balance of man’s place in society with his connection to nature.


I think the biggest surprise I encountered this year was how much American Literature differed from the rest of the world. I assumed that there were some differences between writers in America and the rest of Europe but I thought that they all followed the movement and styles of the time. I think that the differences can be attributed to our origins. The majority of the American colonies were started by the Puritans who brought over their deeply religious views, while in contrast, the United States was a child of the enlightenment and the two binary opposites have created a unique culture with a unique style of literature.

Girau, Literature and America in all its glory

Five things learned about America

- The first American settlers, The Puritans, left because of religious persecution from Europe, and believed in Divine Intervention- the idea that God ruled all. The idea of predestination was understood that good people go to heaven to show God’s mercy. This idea led them to determine that people were either saved or condemned.

- The early writers as well as painters of America emphasize as well as understood nature as an essential part of human life. We view nature now more from a scenic view point of tranquility and peace i.e. pictures of trees, grass, flowers. Because we are not anywhere as dependent on nature as we once were, when America was first founded.

- America experienced The Enlightenment Era which was understood as men having the tools to understand the universe that led to changes in science, the social contract, and human’s altogether.

- Great Awakening led to the idea that repentance and a good life can earn salvation for the damned or the idea that you can determine your own destiny..- John Edwards, Calvinists

- Anne Hutchinson, a great American preacher, was convicted as heretic for maintaining that it was a blessing not a curse to be a woman. The interpretation of the Bible as literal was an essential to the Puritan lifestyle. So, women were viewed as temptresses because of Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. She was excommunicated for expressing her thoughts of the recent theological sermons.

American Literature

- American Literature has many different aliases.

- Edgar Allen Poe while being a brilliant writer makes me want to jump off a bridge.

- I now consider myself a Transcendentalist, because I trust my inner self like Alcott, Thoreau, and Emerson

- Puritans were incredibly obtuse. The Salem deaths due to the conviction by the possessed girls, in my opinion, were a load of crap and I would love nothing more than to slap those girls.

- The story of “The Birthmark” exemplifies in my life that perfection is unobtainable and that flaws is what makes a person unique.

Williams, Whitman and Dickinson

The two great American poets, Whitman and Dickinson couldn't have lived more disparate lives: one a lifelong recluse, too shy to come downstairs and say "hello"; the other a traveler over all of the United States, gregarious and curious. While these different lifestyles certainly contribute to major differences in their poetry, a certain American identity still ties the two together.

The first chant of Whitman's "Song of Myself" celebrates, well, himself. He sings forth his individual self so that he may feel the connection with all other things and people around him. He asserts " My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air, / Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same." Whitman feels intimately and eternally connected to not only all living people but to all living things as well. The conceit of the grass, pervasive of the whole poem and introduced in this first chant, represents the unity connecting all beings. Emily Dickinson, on the other hand, uses a metaphor from nature to ridicule people in "I'm Nobody! Who Are You?", an interesting reversal of Whitman's style. Dickinson expresses the urge to remain hidden to the world, a fierce claim laid on her individuality. She is resolutely "Nobody" and wishes to remain that way, rather than become the frog who tells its name "the livelong June--/ To an admiring Bog!" While Whitman wishes to expose himself in order to achieve unity with the universe, Dickinson wants only to remain an anonymous individual. However, both poets have just that in common: a celebration of individuality.

HENRY, LITERATURE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD?!

In the past semester, we have read the works of many authors and I have enjoyed most of them. However, now I understand that America could use some tending to, yet it does have it good points and great authors. This semester I have learned that America is, greedy, selfish, strong, unpredictable, and a great place to live. A few things that I have learned about American literature is that: being able to express oneself is extremely healthy and important, darkness is not always a bad thing, God and love are extremely important, disobedience is a good thing if in means bad things will change, and that women are extremely important to mankind (regardless of the fact that they give life). Theses ten thing have improved my view on America. These writings have allowed me to understand that I hold a big piece of America even though I am a black woman; all I have to do is claim what is mine. I have also come to terms with the fact that America is not perfect, and it is going to take reform after reform to make it better. Plus perfection is over rated and boring, unless your name is JESUS then its fine. Another way this course has changed my perception on America is that now I know that and am sure about this, people back then had it rough! So I see this country was built on fear and strength, and Whites and Blacks contributed a lot. Even though early blacks had it much harder in the worst way and for that reason I learned that America is also greedy, selfish, and hypocritical at times. I will never understand how early Americans claimed to see God in everything, yet condoned slavery. All and all America needs a lot of work, and writing is the first step to assure that attention. That is if anyone reads it.

Rogers, 10 things

1. Anne Hutchinson’s secret radicalism/feminism
Anne Hutchinson’s plight shows that feminism was circulating even in early America and this changed my perspective that every woman regarded herself as property in the early days
2. Early American Communism
I was unaware that early American society was so socialist in nature- the entire community banded together and not just in prayer.
3. Myths as they sustain American identity
I have never recognized the prevalence of myths in American culture- they are woven into the fabric of our history
4. Slavery a bane for not only slaves but also slaveholders
I never before looked on the slave-owners as being pitiable, but have come to understand that when you enslave someone else your own soul in turn becomes enslaved and you lose your humanity when you deny someone else’s right to freedom.
5. Return to Puritan evangelicalism in the 1830s
I see progression as moving away from evangelical religious ideas. The second great awakening snuck up on me and it’s interesting to see that progressive thought wasn’t as rampant as I believed.

1. Jeremiads vs. American exceptionalism
Authors were producing Jeremiads by the handful but there was still an innate belief in American Exceptionalism and how we know the best way of doing things and are not subject to universal standards.
2. Tragedy in the common man- John Proctor, “The Crucible”
It was interesting to see the perpetuation of tragedy as seen in the common man, for example John Proctor is manipulated by one young girl.
3. Poe’s life in death and death in life (Masque of the red death)
I was somewhat aware of Poe’s preoccupation with death, as everyone is, however after reading Masque of the Red Death the alternate perspective of death in life was made clear.
4. Herman Melville’s anti- Romanticism
I never thought of Melville as an “Anti -Romantic”, but the innately hostile landscape (world as hell), the inhospitable and untenable human communities make it clear that that is exactly what he is
5. Narrative vs. Incidents
I would never have previously been able to distinguish between a Frederick Douglas’ and Harriet Jacobs’ works but now I understand the idea of a proactive voice vs. a passive one.

Martin-Klumpp, 10 Things I Didn't Know About You, America.

10 Things I Didn’t Know About You, America.

American History
1. Puritanism has a very long lasting influence in America.
2. America is built on the idea that there is no past, only an ever-growing future.
3. There is a constant push and pull between the covenant of grace and the covenant of works, i.e. an independent spirit and an obligation to the community.
4. America is a world filled with natural depravity and a natural innocence.
5. America, the land of the free, is built upon the subjugation of non-white-males (e.g. slavery and women even in the North).

Literature
6. American literature is very paradoxical, often contradicting itself as a result of the beliefs it was founded upon which began with Puritanism.
7. Amercian literature can be very dark, filled with an aura of gloom and mystery.
8. Wilderness and nature are two important themes found in many American works, but they take on very different ideas.
9. American authors are often hypocrites. Thank you, Franklin and Emerson, etc.
10. Alcott is awesome.

This course has changed my view on American literature. I didn’t really know or read any American literature before this class, other than several years ago in high school and I really didn't care for it then. I now understand the paradoxes that contribute to the development of the country and literature and have a new appreciation for what contributed to American lit. The influence of Puritanism is still present today, which is something that I didn't really thing still existed. However, many American works attempt to deny the past of the nation, and yet contain the same themes found in the works before them. All in all, America is one confusing place.

Tahir, America!

I learned many things this stimulating semester, but these can be condensed into ten of the most enlightening. Concerning American literature, I learned that Hawthorne is actually a great author. In high school, I despised this man, and abhorred The Scarlett Letter so much so that I did not read it through till the end, and passed that test on my own wits. But his short stories were my favorite of the whole semester! Interesting to see how my outlook on Hawthorne has changed so drastically. I also learned that Alcott wrote under a pseudonym, and that the name she used was a man's. I didn't think that women had to fear rejection by the public in her time, but I suppose they still did so since she employed the use of a pseudonym. I learned that the Gothic movement, if it can be called that, arose in response to the replacement of the Enlightenment's rational, orderly world-view with the shaky and suspicious universe that came into being during the late eighteenth century. I also learned that Thoreau's mother did his laundry every weekend when he lived in supposed seclusion at Walden, and that apparently this was normal for men of this time period. That is suprising. Have men always been babied? Perhaps the most important thing I learned was that guilt is something that is completely different from remorse, and how to differentiate between the two feelings. Both of these feelings produce different types of works of literature.
One of the things I learned about America was how big of an impact the Puritans actually made on our nation, and how the repercussions of their way of thinking can even be seen today. I didn't think they were so important to our nation's history, besides signing the Mayflower Compact. I learned that Benjamin Franklin was perhaps our country's first "rational man," and that his method of viewing the world has shaped our identity as well. To my shock, Walt Whitman was arrested for homosexual tendencies in New Orleans, one of the most homosexual cities in the world; I suppose people couldn't flaunt their sexuality as openly back then as they do now. That is strange to me since I've always thought New Orleans was a racy, liberal city. I learned that the early American people feared nature and viewed it as dark, and that gradually this changed to a love of the wild that can be seen in later works by Thoreau and Whitman. I learned that Moby Dick is one of the best books ever and that we all should read it one day.
How has my perspective changed? I used to sort of believe that American literature wasn't up to par with, say, European literature, but this is most definitely not the case. That was a foolish, half-formed notion in my mind that I'm glad has faded away. I suppose I appreciate America more. For though some of the Puritan way of thinking is still seen in our conscious today, we have still changed so much from their era. We will constantly keep on changing and forming new identities, which I find reassuring, since the way we are viewing the world right now is causing nothing but problems for everyone.

Horton: Semester in America

Before I started this class, I thought I had a fairly good overview of American literature. Between my high school classes and a voracious appetite for books, I covered most of the major authors and periods. But of course, there's always more to learn and more to learn about the things I've already learned.

About America

1. Americans' ideals of capitalism owe a lot to Puritan predestination.

2. Americans have a long history of arguing over ostensibly ridiculous things, like whether or not spectral evidence should be allowed in a courtroom. But for us, it's always life and death, or at least we think so.

3. Our Founding Fathers had moral blind spots, just like anyone else.

4. I still can't imagine what allowed my ancestors (Southern cattle and cotton farmers) to justify building their way of life on the backs of slaves.

5. America is not free from the impulse to romanticize the lives of famous people.

About American Lit

1. The Puritan mindset was much more complicated than commonly represented.

2. History by itself is usually boring and complicated, much like real life. So when fictionalizing the Salem Witch Trials, Arthur Miller had to add a whole new conflict to simplify things.

3. Benjamin Franklin was not the simple, hardworking inventor I learned about in history class.

4. I still don't really like Melville, but now I appreciate what he was trying to accomplish with his particular style of writing.

5. Everyone, especially Southerners, should read a first-hand account of slavery. It complicated my relationship with my heritage all over again.

In short, I read a lot of stuff that I hadn't read before, and learned new things about the stuff I'd already read. Mostly, I learned (again...) that Americans have always had a great desire to fix their lives and everyone else's, which gave some perspective to my views of American political life.

Williams, What I Learned

5 THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT AMERICA:
1. Puritanism was the root of Americans' mania for litigation.
2. Puritanism was the root of Americans' obsession with sex.
3. The Puritans' sense of religious mission was the foundation of an American "exceptionalism" that has lasted to this day.
4. Benjamin Franklin was a phony.
5. Slavery was a source of guilt among all Americans before and during the abolitionist movement, whether they acknowledged it or not.

5 THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT AMERICAN LITERATURE:

1. American literature often involves the struggle between constructing/identifying with a certain past and looking forward to living an "American" future.
2. The myth of the "self-made man" was begun by Benjamin Franklin and has become a staple characteristic of the American literary hero since then.
3. Americans, despite the surety with which they pursued the extermination of the Native American people, were conflicted about the natives of this land. James Fenimore Cooper could not decide between the superior, "civilized" American society and the wild romanticism of the lone savage, exemplified by the Indian. This struggle between community and individualism is prominent throughout American literature.
4. Slavery and all its moral implications played a larger role in the American literary imagination than I had assumed. Edgar Allan Poe and Herman Melville were concerned with it, and even up to today it plays a certain part in American literature. William Faulkner's entire body of work has been called an apology for slavery.
5. American literature is more deeply tied to American history than I could have imagined.

ALL IN ALL:

This course reignited my interest in American literature. After coming to college two years ago with an especial affinity for twentieth-century American fiction, my interest in American literature altogether quickly fizzled out as my knowledge of and exposure to literary theory and technique grew. I grew much more inclined to pursue international fiction, particularly of Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. I was tired of what I saw as an American obsession with "finding one's self" and a proclivity for what I learned this semester to call "exceptionalism." The actions of the previous political administration did not contribute significantly to any desire for identification with anything American, either. In short, I was "SO over American literature".

However, I learned this year that there is a history to these common themes of American literature. The conflict between past and present, the struggle to forge a completely new identity, the guilt and the obsessions with sex, were all present as far back as the first settlers. American literature has become interesting to me after learning to see it as the product of the psychological traumas that lie beneath the shiny veneer of "the American dream." In fact, my urge to dismiss American literature and stake out a claim in new territories of words is analogous to the "dismissal of the past/construction of a new identity" conflict of James Fenimore Cooper and Walt Whitman. This class showed me that, as it turns out, I'm still pretty American after all.

Bertrand, America

Five things I learned about America:
1. America moral system is still based on Puritanical values
2. Benjamin Franklin was a playboy
3. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams did not agree upon the issues of God nor morals
4. Abigail Adams was the first feminists
5. During the era of slavery, The North would sell escaped slaves back to the plantation owners

Five things I learned about American Literature
1. The Adventure Narrative is a writing technique unique to America
2. The character Natty Bumppo is depicted in all of Cooper's pentalogy
3. Romanticism is a writing technique that is not just unique Europe, but it also occurred in American Literature
4. There are American fairy tales
5.There was a stage of hopelessness in America and American Literature reflected this.

In the early years of my education, I was taught that America was the only country in the world that was founded on hope and free opportunity for all. I have learned that out "founding fathers" had no intention of making that possible for everyone. It was their intention to create a country that was dog eat dog. It was not equal opportunity for all, it was only equal opportunity for white men; as Abigail Adams states in her letters to her husband. Also, I learned that Thomas Jefferson was promoting to John Adams that The Declaration of Independence should have a specific clause that made Christianity the religion of the country, while John Adams was pushing for no religion at all. These facts blur the nonexistent ideals that many people believe that America was founded on. This country is in constant flux. This is a country that attracts people from all places with many different beliefs. Each person that comes here tries to be heard because of the ideals that America projects and America is constantly attempting to accommodate all of these beliefs. This is why America is in constant flux. In response to this flux, Americans try to find a common need and want of the country in the natural world itself. This response is depicted it Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" and in some of Emily Dickinson's poems. This is a unique response to immense diversity. Although the response to diversity in the present day is usually fear, with the factual history that our country posses, there is still hope that we can revert back to the teachings of Whitman and Thoreau. There is still hope that we can eventually see the commonality in the human race through the attributes natural world.

Rihner, America Unvealed

5 Things I learned about America:
1. During the Mexican American War, part of the poll tax was used to fund the war.
2. American exceptionalism-the American idea of standards that are created in America to judge the rest of the world.
3. The puritan idea that the devil lives in the wilderness, which is ultimately a fear of the dark, the mysterious, or the unknown.
4. The Over Soul (I still may not fully understand this), the collective soul, perhaps God, consists of nature also. Human souls are the shadow of the over soul.
5. Ben Franklin as the self made man, acting upon rationalism and sneaking his writings into the local publications.

5 Things I learned about American Literature:
1. Edgar Allen Poe was an alcoholic.
2. Innocence becomes corrupted by maturity, by knowledge (Major Molineaux).
3.The different ideals of Emerson and Thoreau. Thoreau seemed to act upon his transcendental writings much more than Emerson. However, Thoreau only spent one night in jail.
4. Rake-a seductive man that lures in tons of women.
5. The Enlightenment and religious struggles in Charles Brockden Brown's Wieland

How these things changed my mind.
Well, here we go. The way that Puritan ideals, fears, and etc. shaped both American Literature and the American man. Before, I may have blamed the American obsession with the perfect lawn on pure masculinity issues or the two world wars, however, I now know that it is the puritans to blame.

My perception of Poe has changed. Though not by too much.

Through Wieland, I learned how Shaggy was able to throw his voice in a Scooby-Doo episode from my childhood. The answer is biloquism, the ability to impersonate the voice of any living being and send that voice to different nearby locations.

A rake is more than just a garden tool.

Following the rules is not always the best plan of action. Sometimes, like Ben Franklin, we have to act for ourselves, practically. I was previously aware of this mindset, yet it is inspiring to know that Mr. Franklin followed, or perhaps initiated, it.

Christopherson, Yes, America is Cultured!

Although I am still not convinced that America is as cultured as say, France (mais bien sur), this class has enabled me to articulately argue with people that yes, America does have culture and history running through its veins. I really always had faith that America was more than just a land of uncivilized hooligans who wanted to escape persecution. However this class has allowed me to base that on facts. Consider all the great works of literature we have studied in this course. I particulary enjoyed the works of American Romanticism by Cooper, Emerson, Thoreau, Irving, and Alcott. Exploring each of these magnificent works by brilliants Americans has truly enlightened me as to the talent and background of American writers and how the writings impacted people of their time and continue to influence American thought today. The paintings we studied also, like I mentioned in class reminded me of French Impressionism, yet had a uniquely American feel to them. Instead of conjuring images of pastels and flowers the paintings we studied had a woodsy rough feel to them, which essentially is how I have come to think of American Literature. It is the real deal. American writers and painters do not gloss over life in America, they portray it how it was; how life is. A struggle. The grittiness of life is portrayed in everything we have studied yet our studies have also brought me a to unique conclusion. That America really is a land of prosperity and hope. I have not felt as though anything we have studied (except maybe Poe) left me with a feeling of dissappointment in America and it's people. If anything I have learned that America and its citizens are people who live life the best they can and persevere through tough times. Sadly that is probably more than the French can say, they just like to start drama. P.S. There is one other thing I learned in this class that does not highlight Americans so well. The Puritans were crazy and the Salem Witch Trials were absolute ludicrous. Before I may have seen some justifiable reason for this insanity to take hold, but now I see that for as much as the Puritans preached the gospel they were really overzealous, powerhungry individuals concerned mainly with their own good.

Christopher Bowers - 10 Thing

1. The American literary tradition began with a much stronger break from its western predecessors than I previously thought.

Okay, I hear you - sounds like a pretty stiff way to start this bit. But really, this is pretty important, and not really obvious. I think I had considered the American literary as a sort of natural growth out of British tradition that later incorporated more diverse narratives. It hadnt struck me that the fact that the place was largely settled by radical separatists might create a kind of psycho-literary break that would really necessitate a whole new tradition. Seems pretty obvious now, but hey. College.

2. Maybe because of the nation's largely puritan foundation, the development of the American voice required a negotiation with old and new ways of thinking religion, spirituality, and mysticism.

It's everywhere, even when it isn't.

3. America's greatest contributions and most difficult conflicts have pivoted on the notion, or the setting, of the frontier.

From the colonists' fear of the "savages" doing all kinds of things like "lurking" in the forest, the dark scary forest, to the romantic invention that was the western frontier, the American literary has consistently sparked along the edges of the space we inhabit, either geographically or imaginatively.

4. Melville was a colonialist-imperialist.

Not really. However, even though Melville wrote critically of the colonial exploitation of the South Pacific, a histo-critical approach to this (or any) text has a lot to teach us. Reading Typee, I discovered that the discourse in which a writer is placed will have an unavoidable effect on his or her creative process, shaping the possible forms a text, or a thought, can take shape.


5. Even things I read in high-school are worth revisiting, and can teach us a lot.

A text is never dead. The more we bring to a work, the more we take away from it. The process of contextualizing the things we looked at in this class, of trying to fit them into a constellation we can call the American Literary, has had a formative effect on what and how the texts make meaning.

Sugrue: things I learnt about America

I learned that though the fabric of the United States was woven by predominantly white males, there is a real depth to American Literature. I learned that because a racist, totalizing, system has been the prevailing one driving our country towards modernization, a large minority has come to embody that ideal. Just look to immigration laws, gay marriage laws, abortion laws, for evidence...Yet this blog is not a totally pessimistic one. While the State, the muscle, of the United States has always delivered a select white protestant community towards preeminence, literature and art are the undercurrents that account for the sweeping liberal changes of the 1960's and 70's, ones which though founded in the Nation, came to effect the State as well. This class has taught me that there is a resin, a salt of the earth, of the American spirit which exists. I have been reinvigorated by the works of Whitman, Emerson, and Thoreau; inclusive edicts which created the ethos, the zietgiest, of American Individualism. Though this individualism may have fallen prey to, and been contorted by, the quagmire of post-modernism, a look back to art, American art nonetheless, is a certainly refreshing answer to many of our modern problems.

Le Sage, 5 things I lurned

Hawthorne's "unpardonable sin," the violation of the human heart, shows an American resistance or temper. There are lines that we find it difficult to cross, even in literature.


With the above mentioned lesson, an American 'resistance or temper' must stretch literature. Any kind of caution used while writing makes literature an extension of real-life ideals, principles, and rules, which seems true in today's works as well.


The mask(s) of Ben Franklin concentrate the idea of an author's voice, that no matter how honest, a writer is always adopting some kind of a persona, depicting themselves in a certain, intentional light. A 1st person non-fiction piece, with this in mind, does not stray far from a fictional narrator.



Wieland's focus on an ambiguous God puts our own zealots into perspective.



The gothic works we discussed did make me appreciate the angst I love to hate in contemporary pieces.



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• Focusing on religion, I've gotten a nice understanding of the arch faith in America has traced. While I am not religious, the development from Puritan ideals to the humanist, compassionate sense of God found in later writers rounds a sense of history.
  



• The Wilderness was spoken of so much in the first month of class. A contemporary thought of it... Much like religion, the transformation from the Devil's residence to something Americans seem to idealize is compelling. I like camping.
  



• When we discussed Ben Franklin and the Self-Made-Man the first thing to analyze was whether the same principles and virtues hold today. Am I a self-made-man? etc. Will I be? etc. If migrating through society to a desired position, creating something out of nothing, was Franklin's pinnacle, have we changed since then? America still defines its 'Dream' as rising to an occasion, ladder, hierarchy from whatever origin.
  


• What about our City On A Hill? According to some, hurricane Katrina was a wrathful God's judgement on a sinful city (men in dresses deserve to drown?), and should this idea be held against the Puritan goal of a true place for the Second Coming, where is America now? We have zealots, but the desire for one seems to have changed. In this I see an America striving for individual salvation, which brings me to



• Individuality and personal sovereignty, discussed particularly with Thoreau and Emerson, seems to have continued in much the same vein. Refusal to pay taxes seems less common nowadays, but the same sense of personal freedom has developed, even grown in scope.

Wood/10 Things I Learned

About America:

1. It was better to be a slave in the North than to be a slave in the South.

2. Plantations in the olden days were joint stock companies.

3. In the Salem Witch trials, women could accuse other women based on almost no information at all (in terms of being a witch) and even if they just didn't like the other woman.

4. Martin Luther King, Jr. was inspired by Henry David Thoreau for ultimately achieving social change.

5. The United States was founded upon Protestant values, but now, it has become very controversial because of the separation of church and state.

About American Literature:

1. Emily Dickinson - very sad little woman who lived in her own world, and her poetry reflected that lack of human contact.

2. Feminist literature obviously taught women to be proactive in taking the right steps to make a difference for women. What I didn't know was that some women, like Margaret Fuller in "The Great Lawsuit", tended to be so strong-minded about women's independence from men that she suggested to women that marriage is not a good thing. If all women were to take this literary piece to heart, every woman would be isolated and lonely.

3. In literature that contained slavery, stories would be told of real-life situations where the slave-owner's wife would be jealous of and sometimes beat to death any woman her husband expressed a liking for.

4. Ralph Waldo Emerson - teaches his readers that with politics, there is always information that is withheld by the government. He tells his readers that no matter the situation, go with your gut instinct.

5. White gifts vs. red gifts from Cooper's, "The Last of the Mohicans", indicated that "white gifts" (associated with Caucasians) was the term used to specify purity in certain white individuals. "Red gifts" was used to label Indians as subservient to Whites and usualyl related to savagery, nature and warfare.

Learning these new things has changed my view on American literature, but not so much on America. Yes, learning certain things about your country can be certainly be baffling at times. However, I think it is the writers of America who made a significant impact on history - their own views and feelings towards certain circumstances reflected the same of those who were impacted by certain events, such as the Salem Witch trials, slavery, etc., and put them in a format where years and years later, curious readers got to have the insider's view to what those effected by something were really feeling (not just what history books put into fact sheets).

Tregre, 5 Things I Learned About America and 5 Things I Learned About American Literature and HOW I WASN'T TAUGHT CRAP IN HIGH SCHOOL!

I will be the first to admit that American Masterworks has truly gave me new insightful views on America and its literature.

AMERICA
1.Predestination: When one was born, they were already condemned to hell or saved in heaven.One should live their life good in case they were to be saved in heaven. I thought it utterly depression and fearful that one cannot save themselves and that they were already predetermined. What is the point of being a good person if I was already going to hell? That is why people established their class. If they lived an honorable and noticeable life, then everyone in the community would believe that they were already saved. You were damned if you did and damned if you didn't.
2.Salem Witch Trials: I learned just how really frustrating these trials were. It was cool how Hawthorne changed a letter in his name so as not to associate with a family member who was a judge in these trials. But I did not truly realize how bandwagon these trials actually were. Annoying! If one wanted to cover their butts they would accuse another of witchcraft and all the young girls would fake symptoms. Also, the fact that people quit lying to save themselves. They would rather die and be with God than lie and say that they were a witch to save their physical being. How brave and inspiring. It makes me wonder what my choice would be. These trials truly were horrible because it was based on a bunch of bologna.
3.Spectral Evidence: I had no clue what this was. It is bogus to condemn people to death based on visions. That is equivalent of me saying that I had a vision that McCay was killing her husband and she was sentenced to death because her husband happened to stub his toe after that. Let's get real. This evidence had no scientific or reliability at all. Absurd!
4. Slavery:It was so interesting to read different opinions on slavery. It was better to be a slave in the North than the South of course, but one can never learn enough about the truth of this horrific time. I had no clue that some authors supported slaver (Poe). He supported the hierarchy and people actually believed that black people were physically inferior. One person even said that its the masters who are enslaved and not the slaves. The master is doomed to his own enslavement of slaves. Interesting. Never thought of it that way.
5. Self-examination: It was neat to see how self-examination came to be, especially through Ben Franklin. One can use basically use his list as a to do list to live up to one's potential. It is an easy 1-2-3. He included God to lure readers in, however, it really had nothing to do with God but one's self. These virtues enabled a person to basically be God-like material. The virtues can be more clearly viewed at this link 1-2-3 people!

LITERATURE
1.Dickinson:Was a recluse and wrote mainly about death. The only poem I really read about her was "Hope is the Thing with Feathers" so when I read more, I had no clue how depressing she was. I mean, who wants to think about death all the time. It was nice to get an overview of her themes in poems instead of assuming all of them were light and airy.
2.Whitman: SEX! Whitman had numerous sexual symbols in his poems. He viewed it as the single, most powerful thing two people can share and Whitman wanted to share that. Others critics of course misinterpreted it and were astonished that sex was mentioned in poems in the 1800s.
3.Poe:He supported slavery. He believed in the hierarchy and was SO depressing. He tried to immortalize himself in his writings an struggled against time. Time killed in his pieces. Death is in each person and he identified and remorse was preceded by an action while guilt is preceded by innocence or an action. It was nice to finally get a background on this standout writer and get his opinions on actual life.
4.Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: People were scared sh*tless of God. When people were God fearing and scared into obeying him. If they did not they would burn and be tortured in hell. This was based on the old testament but God was not the all forgiving God, but a vengeful, wrathful God. Interesting to see what kept people in line.
5. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience kicked a$$. I agree with disobeying laws that are unjust. More people need to be brave and stand up. He spent a night in jail for what he believed in. He did not support what he did not believe in (including those wretched taxes). It created change and the government and law systems are many times corrupt and not right. How inspiring to read about a person back then with these brave, different views. I would be scared not to conform, yes, I would have been a coward in that sense. I mean look at the Salem Witch trials, people are looney at times. However, this piece has helped me develop a more sense of where my opinions stand on politics. It made me more confident and inspired.

HOW THESE THINGS HAVE CHANGED MY VIEWS:
This class has given me not only a lesson on American Literature, but on history. I have learned more in this class than I ever did in my history classes. It all connected and made sense. I remember more since it relates to novels I like to read and explain why many authors wrote the way that they did. I was able to actually understand the stories FINALLY with the historical background on which they were written. I am a more solid person with how society has evolved now and cannot wait to read more on these authors and actually understand all the CRAP I WAS NOT TAUGHT IN HIGH SCHOOL! Thank you McCay, I can actually have intellectual opinions now since I understand the writings and why they were written and critiqued. I did not realize how much history has impacted this.

Bertrand, Whitman and Dickinson

In Emily Dickinson's "Hope is a Thing with Feathers" and Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself: Meditation Two", there is a similarity in their thoughts on life. They both use the natural world to come to realizations about their lives. In Whitman's meditation two, he alludes perfumes in a home to the variety of people there are in the world. He comes to the conclusion that through the diversity of the natural world, one can also see the diversity of human beings. He then makes the allusion that although human beings are all different and equally beautiful, they breath the same "distilled air" that nature emanates. In Dickinson's poem, she uses nature to illustrate the presence of hope in the world. Through the depiction of a sparrow she illustrates how hope exists even in the darkest of places. Most of Dickinson's poems are commentaries on death an focuses on the loss that exists in human life. For Dickinson, the image of nature represents the existence of hope. This is an overriding theme in most of her poetry; humans are depicted with death, while the natural world is used to allude love and life.

Despite these similarities of their views on the natural world, they are opposite when on their views as people and society. Dickinson's sees strife, turmoil, and death in human society. Whitman views it as a house full of many good smelling perfumes. Dickinson views people as subject to the hardships they imposes upon each other. While Whitman views it people as full of the potential; humans are the reflection of the diversity of the natural world.

Despite their difference in views of society and of the human race in general, they believe in the potential of the human race, which can be viewed in nature.

nature vs. seclusion: moran

A reoccurring theme in both Walt Whitman's poems and Emily Dickinson's is a celebration of the self. While both place great influence on the individual, they do so in very different ways. In class, we have already discussed that Emily Dickinson lived much as an observer of life, by sealing herself away from it. This is apparent in her poem, 'The Soul Selects her own Society'. In the poem it gives the imagery of the soul isolating itself from the rest of society, content to be stand by itself. Once the individual has “shut the door”, they are free to create the world around themselves, just as an “emperor” would.

Walt Whitman also displays a distaste for society, acknowledging its darker sides, but maintains that there is a universal brotherhood between people, “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you”. But this connection we share as people is through our own individual connection to nature and the joys of being oneself cannot be over looked. As Walt Whitman wrote in the second chant, “I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it...It is for my mouth forever, I am in love with it...I am mad for it to be in contact with me.” But these joys come not from seal oneself away, but from going out into the world, nature in particular.

HENRY, WHITMAN AND DICKENSON; LIVE YOUR LIVE!!

Since I was much younger, I was always fond of writing and self expression. But I never knew how sad self expression could be until I read Poe and Dickinson! This is why I’m glad we read Whitman, because he seems to be a much more non self-loathing writer. In comparing Whitman’s “Song of Myself” to Dickenson’s “I’m Nobody! Who are you?,” I found that although Dickenson seems to be very in touch with nature, Whitman is definitely in touch with people and self. Emily Dickenson’s poem “I’m Nobody! Who are you?,” I can honestly see and feel what she is talking about. This poem is relating to nature as though it is human society, and the hierarchy of it all. As she expresses in the line, “How dreary-to be-Somebody! How public-like a frog…,” I believe that she is looking down on society and wants no part of it. She thinks that it is a miserable experience and would much rather stay confined to her room. I actually think of Thoreau’s idea of non-conformity. Yet, I also see that she is completely out of touch with people and the way life is supposed to be experienced. As opposed to Whitman’s stanza three of “Song of Myself,” he seems to be in touch with self and people. Whitman celebrates self and enjoys nature in regards to self and others. In lines one through seven of the stanza, I believe that this is on time that he connects people to himself through nature. In doing so, this shows that he knows that self is developed through nature and we should appreciate it. I love the line that says,”...hoping to cease not till death,” to me this refers to the idea of living live to the fullest, regardless of the trials one may experience in doing so. I can relate to both Whitman and Dickenson and appreciate their work. But because I’m not as anti-social as Dickenson, Whitman’s poem sticks with me. I’m able to have a better understanding of what he is talking about. I just wish Dickenson would have gotten out more, maybe then she would have a wider range of experiences to write about.

Tahir, The Self

For being two fundamentally different poets, both Whitman and Dickenson emphasize the importance of the self. Whitman is an effulgent poet, radiating brightness and heartfelt praise about the universe in general, and is much more effusive than Dickenson in terms of how he views the world at large. Though Dickenson is sentimental in her own way, she displays her feelings in a more subdued manner, and an overwhelming sense of melancholy pervades her work that is not apparent in Whitman. Whereas Whitman believes that everything and everyone is connected, Dickenson views herself as separate and isolated from society as a whole. This can be seen from a few lines from her poem, “I Felt a Funeral in my Brain.” “As all the Heavens were a Bell,/ And Being, but an Ear,/ And I, and Silence, some strange Race/ Wrecked, solitary, here-“ Despite their differing viewpoints in how they see themselves, both poets believe that one should never compromise who one is; the self is seen as the part of one’s soul that should be inherently implacable, firm in its resolutions and beliefs and a foundation that should never falter. From Chant 20 of Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” one can see how sincere he is about this belief: “I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or to be understood,/ I see that the elementary laws never apologize…/ I exist as I am, that is enough,/ If no other in the world be aware I sit content…/One world is aware and by far the largest to me, and that is myself…/I laugh at what you call dissolution,/And I know the amplitude of time.” Dickenson echoes a similar fortitiude in her poem, “The Soul Selects her own Society.” “…Then-shuts the Door-/To her divine Majority-/Present no more-/Unmoved-she notes the Chariots-pausing-/At her low Gate-/Unmoved- an Emperor be kneeling/ Upon her Mat-/I’ve known her-from an ample nation-/Choose One-/Then-close the valves of her attention-/Like Stone-“Dickenson is speaking of how the soul is unique, and that it seeks that quality in others whose souls are akin to its own. The soul does not bow down to others who wish to grasp at her and perhaps attempt to alter her, even if they are as powerful as emperors; one must cling to one’s own identity and personal selfhood. It is interesting that though Whitman believes in a shared personhood and a connection with the universe, and that Dickenson at times almost seems to view herself as a separate entity looking from the outside in, both intensely advocate the ineffable beauty of the self.

Sugrue: Dickinson and Whitman

The vestiges of Whitman's Song of Myself, can be found in contemporary works such as Allen Ginsberg's epic, Howl, and in Sometimes a Great Notion, by Ken Kesey. Though, pessimist that I am, I presumed Whitman's creation of our Nation would reflect our current xenophobic, anti-intellectual one, I found that it didn't. Disappointing, right? Whitman presents an inclusive edict, one which is as brawling and wild as the country it describes. He calls out to, and praises even, those with "slow stepping feet", whose words are "simple as grass". While he may not be including the racial others of the time in his Nation, he at least shows compassion for the economic and social others who minorities would inevitably, by default, become. His work is repetitive, even being described as a chant. This contrasts starkly with the method of expression used by Emily Dickinson. Whereas Whitman's effect can be described as being positively extroverted, Dickinson's is the opposite. While speaking in subtle, simple, terms, Dickinson explores questions about death, the past, and identity. Whitman, on the other hand, positively tackles these issues, making an almost authoritarian pronunciation about them. Dickinson inverts the complexities of nature whereas Whitman expounds them, throwing them into an accusatory light. For example, Whitman strives to answer the perpetual question about life after death citing the law of Thermodynamics. While Whitman paint's a picture of a Nation, of which, perhaps Dickinson is a part, Dickinson identifies the place of an individual within a society of perceived individuals.

Le Sage, Dickinson and Whitman

While Whitman’s 3rd chant revels in individuality, calling it a “breed of life,” Dickinson’s “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” cautions: “Are you-Nobody- too?/ Then there’s a pair of us?/ Don’t tell! they’d advertise- you know!” The harsher tone of Dickinson does differ from Whitman’s soft writing, but the idea of uniqueness is equally exalted (“How dreary-to be-Somebody!”).

“Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul,” writes Whitman, keeping with the above mentioned exaltation, emphasizing beauty of not only his individuality but that of theirs. Here lies the biggest difference, as Dickinson focuses on “…how dreary it is-to be-somebody.” Concentrating on the dullness of conformity (a somewhat Thoreau-ish idea), a negative tone of Dickinson doesn’t give the best impression of humanity. The darkness mixed with a child’s voice in “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” is odd and contrasts to the lucidity and sweetness of Whitman’s work.

Martin-Klumpp, Dickinson/Whitman

Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” is very lonely and isolated compared to Whitman’s sixth chant, where he speaks about grass having a universalizing and regenerative feature. In Dickinson’s poem, the speaker is the only human left in the carriage besides the otherworldly Death and Immortality; the speaker only watches children playing from afar. Whereas in Whitman’s sixth chant, the “young and old men” and “women and children” he describes are “alive and well somewhere,” as if they are a collected group.

These authors’ approaches toward death, however, are somewhat similar. For instance, Whitman states, “All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses / And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.” In these lines, Whitman presents an optimistic and regenerative approach to death. Dickinson also views death as somewhat optimistic, although the poem’s imagery is less pleasant than Whitman’s. Dickinson’s Death is described as kind and civil, which is a comforting feature as compared to the typical view of death as being menacing. Additionally, the carriage is headed “toward Eternity,” which suggests Whitman’s view that “all goes onward and outward, nothing collapses.” As mentioned earlier, the carriage had passed children playing, which also reiterates that life goes on and nothing collapses just because Death stops for an individual.

Rihner, Whitmand and Dickinson

In Dickinson's "hope is the thing with feathers," we see a connection with nature that we can also find in Walt Whitman's 39th chant in "Leaves of Grass." Both poets write about their character's with a beautiful mystique and bind to the natural world. Whitman's character is a nomad, a traveler that is not bound by any home or societal duties. "Wherever he goes men and women accept and desire him, They desire he should like them, touch them, speak to them, stay with them." This character, this "savage" is much like Dickinson's generous bird of "hope." Dickinson's bird is not so much of a nomad (it probably has a nest somewhere), yet it is a free being of the wild that is loved by world, just like Whitman's traveler. "I've heard it in the chillest land, And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me." As poets, Whitman and Dickinson seem to write with similar attitudes of mystique and inquiry. They write about their characters attributes without precisely stating the character's person. They both write about free beings, about natural life, as the hope and beauty of the world. The bird is free and hopeful, and the stranger is free and joyful.

Tregre, Sex, Death, Dickinson and Whitman, in the 1800s?!

Both of these poets, Dickinson and Whitman, were controversial poets. Both of them had themes of sexuality or death in their poems. Each poem of Dickinson is full of death. Her poems are about dying, being buried, funerals, etc. She explores the beyond fact. In "I Heard a Fly Buzz" while she is dying, instead of basking in the white light, she is paying attention to God's lowest creation making an irritating buzzing noise. This is not a clean, pure animal, but an insignificant insect. In "I Felt a Funeral" by Dickinson, she describes a funeral perfectly. She talks about the mourners and being buried. They are completely morbid and gothic. In Whitman's poem he discusses sex. In his time (1800s) one did not explicitly write about sex like Whitman did. In "Leaves of Grass," Whitman definitely drove the theme of sex home. While others misunderstood it, Whitman viewed sex as spiritual. It is the single most intimate, greatest act one could share with another. Whitman even wrote "the body, he teaches, is beautiful. Sex is also beautiful. . . . Sex will not be put aside; it is a great ordination of the universe. He works the muscle of the male and the teeming fibre of the female throughout his writings, as wholesome realities, impure only by deliberate intention and effort." Whitman wanted to communicate this through his poems and not to be seen as that secret, dirty act that many critics understood it to be.
Both these poets wrote about uncommon themes making them surpass the other poets in their times. They were honest and deep and nonconformists which made them surpass centuries of decay.

Wood, Dickinson/Whitman

Emily Dickinson’s, “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” is an interesting poem that reflects Dickinson’s typical use of dashes to stress emphasis. For the most part, Dickinson was a very reserved and quiet person, and she really kept to herself. In this poem, I think she is celebrating the fact that she is kind of a loner, and she is seeking out others who are similar to her in that way. This poem reveals Dickinson’s attitude toward people in that I think she pities those who do not keep to themselves (as she does) because people like herself are few and far between. Dickinson almost seems child-like in this poem because of the way she uses punctuation – it sounds a lot like the way a child would speak. Nature to her is brought up through the frog, and I had a difficult time connecting this imagery to anything. I think that since Dickinson lived in her mind instead of the real world had a huge effect on her poetry. I believe that her living completely separated from the real world caused her to come up with imagery that only made sense to her and leaves the rest of us puzzled while reading it.

Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is based around people in nature. In each verse, there is a reference to children and/or things in nature such as the symbolic association with grass. Grass is something that connects all of us at one point or another – it grows almost everywhere and we’ve all stepped through it a time or two. It is one of the most connecting factors in people and nature. I really enjoyed this poem because it shines a more positive light on life than Dickinson ever does.

Christopherson, Be Still and Listen

Whitman's "Song of Myself" is entirely about being still and listening to what one is truly yet subconciously meditating on, and hearing what one really is saying to oneself. Yet I chose to focus in on Chant 5 because I think it focuses extremely close on this theory of being fully aware of one's "senses". I've compared it with Emily Dickinson's "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" because this poem also places much importance on senses and on being still in order to connect with oneself. In the 3rd line of Whitman's chant 5 he repeats the word treading, which we will see Dickinson also repeat. This implies to me the practice of meditation, like "treading" on one's thoughts. He is suggesting meditation since when one meditates one sort of mulls over their thoughts. They listen to their innerself and repeat thoughts to themselves. Meditation allows people to center the mind and soul. Whitman focused on this sort of self silence and "listening". In her poem, Dickinson does two things that suggest quiet self focus. First she repeats the words treading and beating which is a subtle hint at meditation. When someone meditates they repeat a word over and over to themselves to focus and quiet their mind. She also uses words that suggest stillness and quietness like silence, soul, solitary. Dickinson in her poem suggests giving the soul consideration, to focus on something and silence your mind. Most of the time we are so busy and wrapped up in life that we forget to listen to what our body, mind, and soul is really trying to communicate to us. Whitman and Dickinson both poetically push for people to be still and allow theirs souls to examine themselves.

Rogers, Whitman + Dickinson blog

I chose to discuss and compare Emily Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death" with Walt Whitman's short chant number nine that begins "The Big doors of the country barn stand open and ready...". To get right down to it, Whitmans' poetry is like a shout of joy where Dickinsons' is like a slow, over-punctuated thought. Her poetry is far more enigmatic then Whitmans', whose writing style is usually very clear and completely unpretentious. The two pieces are Life V. Death at their essence but they share a common theme of regeneration and renewal and Time V. Timelessness. Dickinson mentions children (the future) playing in a schoolyard and a field of grain (renewal of the harvest). Whitmans' entire chant is about working at the harvest. Dickinsons' relationship with people seems always to be that of an observer or a passerby; she is never interacting with them. In the poem it is only herself and death in the carriage; it is always only herself looking on and observing. She seems to be alone with death because she is the only one sensitive enough to recognize his presence everywhere, all the time. Whitman, on the other hand is unabashed in his abject love for humans; he embraces his relationship with his fellow man as something integral. He helps at the harvest, which shows us that he is not setting himself apart from other men, whereas Dickinson certainly sets herself up to be different and apart. Their relationship with nature is also very different. In Whitmans' chant it is easy to hear the undiluted happiness of the poet and he very clearly shows us his joy in his desperately descriptive writing style. While nature is certainly present in Dickinsons' poem, it is not the main focus and she is not "in" it as Whitman is. She merely rides past the grain fields, observes the sun and the dew: I can't picture Dickinson rolling "...head over heels...and 'tangling her hair full of wisps'. I prefer the lesson and the message Whitman is conveying because the deeper meaning is made obvious and you can simply enjoy the images conjured instead of being forced to constantly find that deeper meaning.

HENRY, FULLER AND ALCOTT!!

Within the past week, we have read Margaret Fullers’ “The Great Lawsuit” and Louisa May Alcott’s “Behind the Mask”, and I have understood what it was like growing up as a non-conventional woman in a time when men “ruled.” Fuller, an advocate for women’s rights at a time when women had no rights is a very influential woman! I enjoyed “The Great Lawsuit”, I think that maybe she was trying to teach women to value themselves and to fight for individuality. In order for men to see women as valuable, a woman must be able to separate from the man and stand on her own. In doing so, one must free herself form the dependent lifestyle that she may have (but this is easier said than done). How in the world can a woman, in that age, take care of themselves without a man? But I believe that Fullers’ point in the essay was simply to advice. Advising, in such a way that a parent advices a child, sort of like the essay Benjamin Franklin wrote to his son on the way in which to have a successful life. Although Alcott had a very interesting plot with the crafty and evil women involved, I believe Fuller is the better writer. I felt like she enlightened the reader more. Self dependence is very important, now more than ever and her writing helped me to better realize that. The only thing I was confused about was the way she in continues to make the women the submitter. Although I’m sure that was just her way of incorporating the day of age she was in.

Girau, The picture says it all

Ralph Emerson’s “Self Reliance”, is exactly the title. The main concept is relying on the self. Use your own talents instead of relying on others. Emerson focuses on independence versus interdependence and how relying on ourselves instead of the government is key. Thoreau in “Civil Disobedience” turns away from the idea of trained soldiers (more like lapdogs of the government). Soldiers are used as mere tools of destruction, but yet we commend them for breaking our own laws? Murder is a crime punishable by life in prison or even capital punishment and soldiers evade that everyday. Soldiers have no independence due to the guidelines they follow put in place by the government and the concept of “kill or be killed”. But, as Thoreau illustrates, with his tax evasion ploy, we have the will within ourselves to say no I don’t want to follow the law and for good reason. We do not have to also become the government’s lapdogs. Let freedom reign!

Girau, Loss and Deception

Herman Melville illustrates most of his stories with the theme of the loss of innocence. For example, in “The Encantadas”, sketch 8, the story of Norfolk Isle is a tragic one. The death of the brother and husband before Hunilla’s eyes is the evidence of the loss of innocence. She watches them drown as “vanishing shapes” in the water after they went out on a simple fishing trip to celebrate obtaining the tortoise oils. Another example of loss of innocence is in “Benito Cerano”. Throughout the story Delano is depicted as a naïve, but kindhearted man. He questions some actions done by Cerano’s men, but brushes it off similarly like Cerano. In this story, it is not exactly a loss of innocence, but a realization of naiveness. Once Delano gets into his boat and Cerano jumps in after him, the truth comes out about the mutiny. Babo is put on trial and Delano understands that him questioning his surroundings was justified, because there was something strange about the situation he encountered i.e. the realization of naiveness.

McCay Dickinson, Whitman Blog.

Choose a poem by Emily D and a chant from Whitman's Song of Myself, and compare the two poets' attitudes towards people, nature, and poetry. This blog will be due on Monday evening. Please get it done by that time, so I can read them all before the exam period begins.

Fuhrer: Fuller or Alcott? Who was the bigger ball breaker?

To answer this question one must first consider what the definition of the word feminist truly means. As my dictionary informs me it is this: “ A person who supports feminism.” (Thank you Webster for once again proving yourself valuable in absolutely nothing but collecting dust) So then I decided to look up feminism and this is what I got:

“The advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social and economic equality to men”

Therefore if one goes by this definition of what a “feminist” is then it seems Margret Fuller who wrote “The great Law suit” wins out over Louis May Alcott and her novella “Behind the Mask”.

You would be mistaken however in believing that I as a reader favored Fuller’s essay on the equalities of genders over that of Alcott’s work, in fact I do not. I enjoyed the refreshing change of a female anti-hero figure that doesn’t have to pay for her less than virtuous actions and it pains me to write it but in the end Alcott’s main character Jean is bad.

Not a bad woman, not a bad man and definitely not a bad character but just plain bad. Her road to success rests on the misery of all those around her and as unsympathetic as they may be, society (as does Feminism) dictates the equal treatment of all those who reside within its constraint, no matter how loathsome they are.

Neither should it matter that Jean belongs to that gender that for the good part of forever have been relegated to the status of wife/ mother/sex toy. Her actions would seem down right sociopathic if she was a man so why should she get special treatment because she is a woman? Doesn’t that completely undermine the very point of feminism? Not to mention enforce the stereotype that a woman can only hope to achieve anything if she is a. beautiful and b. smart enough to land herself a man.

So, say what you will about Margret Fuller’s essay. Its long and yes slightly boring but her desire for equality and harmony between the genders doesn’t call for one gender trying to dominate over the other. She just wants people (regardless of their gender) to be content and proud of what they are but not at the expense of their counterpart. Is that so bad?