Cadet Angelo Kirchon
ERH 206WX
COL Ball
Reflective Essay
4 December 2014
Help Received: ______________
Reflective Essay
During the course of the semester many great authors and poets in American
history were covered and they ranged from Nathanial Hawthorne to Emily Dickinson to
Jack Kerouac. All of the author’s works provided an insight into the period of history
during which they wrote and why their messages became so relevant. During the course
of the semester many artifacts were created while studying these authors. The artifacts
presented in my e-portfolio help to show how I grew as a writer and a scholar. This
growth was because of the way I connected the culture to the message of the work being
studied especially when dealing with Nathanial Hawthorne’s short stories and the puritan
culture.
The first set of literature read was Nathanial Hawthorne’s shorts stories. It is very
clear that the culture Hawthorne and his ancestors grew up in had a profound effect on his
writings. In my readings and research, I came to understand the culture Nathanial
Hawthorne wrote about in his stories. He wrote in a time of religious and social change.
Hawthorne reflected and wrote enormously about the Puritans of the past.
In my research paper artifact, I introduced the cultural effects of the Puritan era on
Hawthorne. “In Young Goodman Brown, there is one specific event where themes of sin
and punishment can be traced back to Hawthorne’s ancestors. This event occurs when
Goodman Brown is speaking to the man in the woods who is a symbol for the devil. The
man says, I have been as well acquitted with your family as with ever a one among the
Puritans. I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker women”
(Research Paper). This passage from my analytic research paper shows the way in which
Hawthorne tried to depict the culture of the Puritans and how they were secretly affected
by sin and the devil. This speaks volumes to the negative depiction of the Puritan culture
Hawthorne had in many of his works.
In my response paper artifact, I talk about how Mr. Hooper was a symbol of
Puritan beliefs. “It is a common belief that the evil is being used to represent the secret
sin of the whole congregation. The Puritan community as a whole believed that sin could
not touch them. They believed that if they played the superficial role of a good and
faithful Puritan, that they remained predestined to go to heaven, even if they had an
innermost sense of evil. Mr. Hooper wanted to show, that regardless of what the Puritans
believed, they could not escape sin.” (Response Paper) This except from the response
paper shows my ability to understand more of the culture of the Puritans through
Hawthorne’s message.
Through reading and doing “very extensive research” said COL Ball; the puritan
culture became easy to understand. Politics and religion were not a problem for Puritans
in the New World. Their religious, social, and political life was in a collective and cooperative unity. It was all part of their communal life and their society was centered on
their Christian 'meeting places'. For the Puritans in the English colonies the issue of
separation of church and state was not an issue. They were a fairly egalitarian group of
people and they were living together in the wilderness. Each of them had their Bibles and
their own personal responsibility and authority under God. Their religious policies
involved but were not limited to atonement, total natural depravity, unconditional
election, and predestination. All of these stated beliefs and ways of the Puritan culture
were learned through the study of Hawthorne’s short stories this semester.
Another time period in American culture that I came to understand was the beat
generation. I came to understand this through the study of On the Road by Jack Kerouac.
On the Road was a series of events that depicted how the beat generation lived their lives.
It had many messages and meaning but the imagery and stories helped me capture the
essence of what the culture of the beat generation was. I learned that the central elements
of beat culture included experimentation with drugs; alternative forms of sexuality; an
interest in Eastern religion; a rejection of materialism; and the idealizing of exuberant,
unexpurgated means of expression and being. This understanding came from the
reflection and reading of On the Road by Jack Kerouac.
The last artifact that helps show my understanding of cultural importance is the
virtual scrapbook. This artifact deals with the importance of the Narrative of Frederick
Douglass. “Without his narrative and the recognition it brought Douglass, it is very
possible that the impact Douglass had on the civil war and Abraham Lincoln would never
have been possible. The Emancipation Proclamation may not have happened when it did.
Also, the advancement of black soldiers may not have happened as well. The perception
that Abraham Lincoln actually cared for the black community during this time of distress
may not have happened. The civil war may have turned out differently. (Scrapbook)”
This quote from the narrative of the scrapbook helps show how I learned the cultural
importance and impact a work of literature can have.
Another extremely important thing that I learned from taking this Civilizations
and Cultures class was how to properly conduct extensive literary research. I learned how
to properly summarize and explain what research I completed and how to cite the sources
as I mention them. I learned that my literature review should present a synthesis of
previous research and talk about the foundation for understanding my research and
appreciating its value. This process of doing proper research and presenting it in a
thoughtful way was a major concept I learned this semester taking American Literary
Traditions.
Understanding the culture and time period a literary work was written in is a key
component to understating the meaning of a work. Culture is an important part of
understanding anything is the world and its history. Why science was conducted, why
certain types of music were popular, and why certain types of literary works became
popular and were written. Taking this Civilizations and Cultures class really helped me
understand this. The purpose of the class was to understand certain literary work and how
they related to the time period in American culture they were written in. I came to an
understanding, especially on Hawthorne and the Puritan culture during the semester.
Everyone should definitely take this type of class because it helps further your
intellectual ability and critical thinking skills. This is large part of becoming a successful
scholar.