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Take Home Final
Part I
Villages of Ether is found within one of Emily Dickinson’s unnamed poems written in the
1860’s. It refers to the light, airy feeling which the speaker of the poem gets when listening to
music. This is one way in which the speaker is uplifted by the arts.
Faction is found in James Madison’s Federalist 10 written in 1788. It refers to differing interests
(political parties) formed by people with different agendas. Madison unlike most earlier
thinkers, felt that since these factions will balance each other out and can thus be tolerated.
Deidrich Knickerbocker is found in Washington Irving’s 1819 story “Rip Van Winkle.”
Knickerbocker is the persona which Irving adopts in telling a number of his tales (though it is not
strictly a pseudonym). The use of the character legitimizes these stories to a certain degree, since
Knickerbocker is created as an old Dutch gentleman who collected such stories as “Rip Van
Winkle”
In pace requiescat! comes from Edgar Allan Poe’s 1846 story “The Cask of Amontillado”. The
phrase means roughly “may he rest in peace” and is the last line of the story. The phrase likely
refers both to the death of Fortunado and to the difficulty which Montressor may have had (in the
years since he murdered Fortunado) in living with what he did.
Michigan is found within Caroline Kirkland’s 1839 account of Western life entitled “A New
Home: Who’ll Follow?. Michigan is the territory to which Kirkland has moved, and is the
background to the incidents of life on the frontier which she recounts. As the title of her work
suggests, the stories were written partly to attract settles while at the same time functioning as a
sort of critique of life in the west.
New Birth of Freedom is found within Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address of 1863. The
phrase refers to the new freedom (including the abolition of slavery) which shall come about as a
result of the Civil War. He uses this phrase as part of a larger message that those who have died
in the war did not die in vain, but were fighting for something great which shall be achieved as a
result of their efforts.
Cherokee Nation is found in the Cherokee Memorials of the Cherokee Council and Cherokee
Citizens written in 1819. This phrase is found in both memorials and refers to the whole of the
Cherokee people which are being hurt by U.S. governmental policies. The use of the phrase
nation is intended to demonstrate that the Cherokee’s are a people with a government and a
culture just like European America, and that they should be treated as such.
Mistress Hibbons is found within Nathanial Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter published in
1850. Mistress Hibbins is the sister of the governor who tries to tempt Hester Prynne to come to
the forest to participate in Devil worship. Her refusal demonstrates that her sin is not really
representative of any underlying ‘evil’ nature, but was the result of circumstance.
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Sophia Auld is found within Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
published in 1845. Sophia Auld is the wife of Douglass’ owner who starts to teach the him to
read before being told that she cannot. Teaching slaves to read was both illegal and considered
harmful, since it was viewed as making them restless and unhappy.
Poll-tax is found within Henry David Thoreau’s 1849 essay “Resistance to Civil Government.”
Refusal to pay the poll-tax was what caused Thoreau to be thrown into jail. His refusal was
based on his opposition to the Mexican War and demonstrates the trancendental notion that one
shouldn’t do things one opposes on principle simply to conform.
Part II
1.
This passage from Bartleby is reflective of much of the overall theme of bleakness which
Melville creates throughout the story. His use of imagery with regard to the wall is the first step
in creating an overall bleak picture. He describes the wall as both “lofty” and “black” thus
creating an imposing and dark image. He further describes the wall as being covered in
“everlasting shade”, adding to this bleakness. His use of such terms as “unobstructed” as well as
the way in which he states that the wall is clearly visible to his “near-sighted visitors” since it is
“pushed up” to the building indicates how omnipresent this wall is. Melville’s use of the term
“lurking” demonstrates the creepy feelings which such a wall would create in the viewer. The
coming together of the description of the wall itself and the description of its extreme proximity
function together to bring home an overall feeling of exactly how present (and pressing) this
bleakness is for whoever must view it. The fact that Mevlille’s character of Bartleby must work
day after day staring at this wall (and that he often times simply stares without working) works
both as a partial explanation of Bartleby’s growing detachment, while at the same time function
as a sort of metaphor for the new economic world which is driving Bartleby to dismay.
2.
This passage from Emerson is reflective of many of his prevailing themes as well as the
style which he often made use of in conveying those themes. His style is straightforward, terse,
and declarative. At certain points he uses long sentences constructed of short modifying phrases
(such as “at twilight”) in order to convey the seen and the feelings he wishes to associate with his
imagery. These feelings are laid out in such phrases as “perfect exhilaration.” Emerson also
uses very short sentences and metaphors in order to convey his message. Sentences such as “I
am nothing” and “I see all,” are juxtaposed in order to show diametric oppositions coming
together in Emerson’s becoming one with the universe. This oneness is one of the major themes
of Emerson’s trancendental writings, as he sought a state where one could escape the confines of
the constructed world and get back to a more natural state. In this more natural state people
would become a part of God, as the “universal being” (a term used by Emerson in part to convey
his conception of God as more a force than a person) would “circulate” through them. In such a
situation, “all mean egotism” would vanish, and the person could be “uplifted into infinite
space,” achieving a trancendental tranquility and complete unobstructed vision of the world (as
“a transparent eye-ball”) that was Emerson’s dream.
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4.
Harriet Jacobs in this passage appeals to Northern middle class white women to try to
understand her going against the ideal of feminine virtue by taking on a white lover of her
chosing. She starts by presenting an image of the Northern white women “whose purity has been
sheltered from childhood” and who is protected by law and enabled to choose who they will
marry. The contrasts this with her life as a “poor desolate slave girl” who wishes to act like them
but, because of the institution of slavery, cannot. In so doing her appeals for compassion go
much further into an all out attack (in terms which Northern white women can understand) of
slavery. Her dichotomizing of the opportunities and permitted virtues between slavery and
freedom are used to show how she did not have the oppurtunity to behave in the same way that
white northern women were expected to (and expected others to as well). She thus presents
slavery as an institution which is evil because it takes away women’s virtue and purity. She adds
a biblical flavor to her argument by using such words as “blighted” and “sheltered” to present the
idea (only slightly beneath the surface) that while Northern women are protected by God, female
slaves are made to suffer. Thus she argues in the ideaogramattical language of her audience that
slavery must be abolished while asking for personal compassion (and increased credibility) at the
same time.
5.
Harriet Beecher Stowe also uses terms familiar to ante-bellum northern women in her
anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She uses both religious imagery and appeals to
prevailing notions of family in order to advance her arguments. In the midst of her story she
interjects references to the “soul immortal” that Jesus died for, and how that soul can be bought,
sold, or traded in the same was as “groceries or dry goods.” She thus presents the idea that
slaves are as much the creation of God as whites are, and that the way in which blacks are
enslaved and treated simply to suit “the fancy” of slave owners, is an example of man attempting
to go against God’s wishes. This passage also contains anti-slavery appeals based upon the idea
of importance of the family. Stowe makes mention of how family members are torn apart “to
suit the convenience of the purchaser.” Her use of quotation here is quite effective, as she
contrasts the idea of family with the whim of slaveholder, by quoting directly (one is meant to
assume) from a handbill advertising a slave auction. She presents here arguments (and her
attempts to create moral outrage in her readers) all under the auspices of describing a slave
auction, an event which created such moral outrage amongst Northerners that it was actually
outlawed in Washington D.C. by the Compromise of 1850 (alongside major territorial
determinations). The imagery and allusion used by Stowe in this passage are indicative of the
way she used her story to argue strongly against slavery on (ante-bellum Northern) moral
grounds.
6.
Walt Whitman in this excerpt from “Song of Myself” celebrates the greatness of
humanity by a frequent use of the word God. The word “God” is repeated 4 times in these four
lines, yet not in order to revere him or make arguments on his behalf. Whitman states that he
sees God in the faces of others and of himself, presenting a picture of men and women as being
created in the image of God, yet at the same time having his power. Indeed, his lines convey
more of the image and idea of people as gods, then of God as displayed in people. At the same
time that these lines are an extollation of humanity, they are also a trancendental picture of God
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as represented in nature (and in society). He states that God is in “each hour” and “each
moment” of the day and that he finds signs of God “dropped in the street” all the time. The
message here is not that God is omnipotent but simply that the world is his creation, beautiful
and wonderful in and of itself. This idea combines elements of God as divine watchmaker and of
God as trancendental oversoul who can be most clearly seen through nature. However, in the
context of Whitman as a city dweller (as well as by the idea that God’s letters are dropped in the
urban “street”) the nature which God created is not Emersonian nature of undisturbed forest, by
culture and society built by man. In this way Whitman’s lines about the presence of godly power
in men takes on new meaning, since it is men who have built society and it is as much (if not
more) man’s (as God’s) letters found in the street.
Part III.
3. America
In contemporary society, the term America (and its derivatives) is used to describe a
number of things, including the continent, government, and people of the United States.
However, the meanings of this word have been far from static in the years since the continent
was first explored and colonized. The different ways in which the term America (as well as its
derivative American) were used in the period up to the end of the Civil War can shed much light
on European American (and Native American) understandings of the North American continent
and their place within it. In addition to looking at the way in which the word is used, the
frequency of its use over time can also say much about how ‘Americans’ understood the
physical, political, and cultural makeup of the North American continent.
One of the most striking facts about the use of the term America in the early 17th century
is in the infrequency of its use. The term does not appear in the writings of many of the Puritan
founders and is absent in John Smith’s writings about the New World as well. One of the few
places in which the term does appear is in Roger Williams discussion of the native languages of
America. His use of the term in this fashion demonstrates how, at this time, the use of the term
America was most often reserved for discussion of Native Americans. “America” was the
uncivilized, unconquered wilderness, peopled by “Americans” who were savage heathens. In
contrast ‘civilized’ places such as Virginia (named for the Virgin Queen Elizabeth) and New
England were peopled by Englishmen and other Europeans. This understanding of what
“America” was extended late into the century and only changed very slowly. Cotton Mather
uses the term to refer at least as much to the wilderness of the continent as he does to those parts
which had been settled by Europeans. However, this understanding of the word would change in
the century to come, as European settlement skyrocketed and the alien “America” was slowly but
surely conquered and peopled by the new European “Americans.”
Over the course of the 18th century America went from being a term used to describe the
‘otherness’ of the continent and its people, to one embraced as a sign of the distinctiveness of the
Europeans who lived there. The increasing use of the term (and especially its new use to refer as
an umbrella to all the land occupied by Europeans) over the course of the century (and especially
in the years after the Revolution) betray these changes in peoples understandings of the word.
When Benjamin Franklin created his “American Philosophical Society” in the first half of the
18th century, he was not creating an organization of Indians. What he was building was an
organization meant to represent “America” as a distinctive place with incredible minds of its
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very own. Significant changes in ‘American’ understandings of themselves in relation to Europe
underly the use of the term in this manner. Even before the Revolution European Americans had
begun to see themselves as culturally distinct from their Old World cousins. In drawing out this
distinction these new “Americans” co-opted their own earlier understandings of the word in
order to better demonstrate their distinctiveness. At the same time that the term America was
being used to define a group of people in opposition to another, the term “American” was
coming to have its own meanings with regard to what those people really were. The Frenchman
Crevecoeur, who lived for a time in the colonies, wrote a series of ‘Letters from an American
Farmer.” In one of them he asked the question of what it was to be an American, and cited the
coming together of various ethnic groups and religions, and especially the peaceful co-existence
of these groups due to their liberalism and tolerance, as distinctive factors. For Crevecoeur (and
for many people during and after this period) an American was defined as much (if not more) by
his distinctive traits than by the simple fact that he as not a European.
The terms America and American were used remarkably frequently in the years during
and after the Revolution, just as the terms themselves were beginning to take on the meanings we
associate with them today. Thomas Jefferson in the “Declaration of Independence” uses the term
United States of America for the first time. The use of America in this way demonstrates how
the areas populated by Europeans who now sought their independence, were viewed by
themselves as being “of America” rather than of Europe. The new government was to be
representative of these various American states who were now drawing closer together and
beginning to consider themselves a single entity. Moreover, in the years to come the terms
America and American would become understood to mean white America and American even
by the Native Americans. In the Cherokee Memorials, the Cherokee government and people
(while arguing for their own freedoms and rights as an independent group) looked at themselves
not as Americans but as people of America. Combined with their mentioning of the American
president as the “White Father” this understanding seems to indicate that, by the early years of
the 19th century, the unmodified term American was understood by all to mean white American,
while the concept of America was no longer wilderness (or the frontier as it was then called) but
the settled areas under the control of the American government. The transformation of the term
was thus complete, as the Americans had become “Native Americans” or “American Indians”
while Englishmen and their fellow Europeans had become “Americans.”
The shifting understandings of the terms America and American (as well as the
increasing frequency of the use of the term American up to the early part of the 19th century)
help to show some of the cultural transformations that took place on the road to the formation of
America as we think of it today. From a rarely used word, used to mean Native Americans and a
frightful wilderness, the term became one used frequently in celebration of the cultural
distinctiveness of the new Americans who had fought and won their freedom from Europe. In
the years to come these Americans would further refine their own definitions of self (such as
Whitman did in Leaves of Grass) and begin to define their own institutions and practices (such as
the American Slavery which Lincoln refers to in his Second Inaugural). In each case the way in
which the people of this continent used and understood these words can be looked at as a
window for their own conceptions of themselves and their place in the world, and as a way of
viewing the changing cultures of North America as displayed through American Literature up to
1865.