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Annie Newberry
Literature Capstone
December 7, 2011
Dr. Erin VanLaningham
Dr. Susan Stone
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Index
Preface…………………………………………………………….. ……….. 3
Capstone Essay #1 ‘“Young Goodman Brown’: The Significance and Symbolism
of Names and Characters” …………………………………………………..5
Capstone Essay #2 “A Structural Analysis of Feminine Sexuality versus
Domesticity in ‘Daphne with her Thighs in Bark’”………………………...13
Reflective Essay…………………………………………………………….21
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Preface
When contemplating which of my Literature papers to include in my final capstone
portfolio, I tried to choose papers that would reflect the culmination of my experiences as an
English Literature major at Loras College. Knowing that the process of compiling a final
capstone portfolio would take me the better part of the first semester of my senior year, I also
decided to choose two papers I had written, if not with ease, certainly with great enjoyment, so
that, during the revision process, I would have the opportunity to reacquaint myself with the
significance of the works on which I had written.
The first of these papers, “Young Goodman Brown: The Significance and Symbolism of
Names and Characters” was written for Dr. Susan Stone. Her seminar-like class focused solely
on the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. The class was immersed in not only the majority of
Hawthorne’s short stories and novels, but also in the culture and history of Hawthorne’s time. I
was assigned the task of giving an analytical presentation of the short story, “Young Goodman
Brown” to the class and, later, of writing an analytical paper on it. Having already been exposed
to this story several times throughout my career as a student, I determined that dissecting its
contents would prove to be a cinch. I did not count on the immense amount of symbolism found
in the story and the various ways of interpreting the many symbols. After carefully re-reading the
story, I decided to concentrate on the names of characters in my paper.
In the story, names go beyond simply giving a character an identity; they work to further
Hawthorne’s themes of faith, doubt, and social and religious hypocrisy. These themes,
emphasized by characters’ names and presented within the context of Puritan New England, help
the reader better understand not only Hawthorne’s own time period and experiences, but also the
universal experience of humanity as a whole.
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The second essay I chose to revise, although vastly different from the first, still shares
certain thematic similarities with “Young Goodman Brown”. I wrote it as a response to a prompt
from Dr. Auge in Literary Criticism. This essay, a textual analysis of Eavan Boland’s poem,
“Daphne with her Thighs in Bark,” focuses on the role of feminine sexuality in comparison to
that of feminine domesticity. It examines how the structure of the poem, as much as the word
choice, demonstrates and furthers the disparity between the narrator’s two choices. In my essay, I
present the argument that women are not limited to the two options the speaker offers, but that
there is a third choice available. This essay required me to familiarize myself with the mythology
the poem alluded to, as well as to acquaint myself with the author’s background and how it
contributed to the meaning of the poem.
Through a close reading of both the short story and the poem, I have demonstrated my
ability to comprehend and analyze various works of literature. I have established my proficiency
as a critical thinker who is familiar with literary terms and movements, and who knows how to
make connections between a text and its social and historical context. By integrating the
aforementioned qualities in the following two capstone papers, I have proven my capabilities as
a skilled English Literature major.
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Capstone Essay #1
“Young Goodman Brown”: The Significance and Symbolism of Names and Characters
One of the most quoted lines from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is the simple query of
Juliet, “What’s in a name?” A name is much more than a title for a person or place. A name is
what gives a person a unique identity and shapes who that person is becoming. In literature,
names are often allusions to historical places and people or to other famous literary characters.
They can symbolize or refer to certain aspects or attributes of the person or place the characters
are named after. They can help to further the overall theme of the story. Names can even
determine the fate of a character. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale, “Young Goodman Brown,” a
good deal of meaning is found in the names of characters and places; Hawthorne uses the names
of characters in his story as symbols not only to express the theme of hypocrisy and its effects on
individuals and society, but also to explore the role doubt plays for humanity; especially in the
time of the Puritans.
Before the story even begins, Hawthorne makes it clear that names play an important role
in this tale by having the name of the main character serve as the title of the story. By doing this,
he lets his readers know that the name of the protagonist is intrinsically tied to the plot. The
name, Young Goodman Brown, carries with it many implications. It is automatically assumed
that this character is young, as the prefix to his name suggests. The critic Thomas E. Connolly
however, in his rebuttal to Robert Cochran’s critique, “How Young Goodman Brown became
Old Badman Brown,” makes the claim that “he [Goodman Brown] is young at the beginning of
the story, but old at the end”. (153) The adjective, “young,” in association with Goodman Brown,
has several connotations; the overlying one being that Goodman Brown is, in fact, a young man.
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Young men, particularly in Puritanical New England, are generally inexperienced in the ways of
the world. Saying that Goodman Brown is “young” is Hawthorne’s way of implying that
Goodman Brown is inexperienced and unlearned. The reader could take this to mean that he is
venturing into the forest in hopes of gaining certain knowledge or experience. What he finds in
the forest makes him question the previous knowledge he has been taught and the social
experience he has had. This questioning is significant because, as a Puritan, he has been taught
never to question, but rather to always blindly accept whatever he is told. Another association
with the word “young” is innocence. Goodman Brown’s innocence is tainted because of his tryst
in the forest, making him no longer young and innocent at the end of the story, but old and weary
of the ways of the world with which he has become so familiar. The critic, Hyatt Waggoner
supports this view of an old, world-worn Goodman Brown when he claims, “…the protagonist of
“Young Goodman Brown” is unable to understand or accept the evil revealed to him in the forest
of the soul, loses faith in the reality of the good, and lives the rest of his long life in gloomy
alienation” (55).
The next part of the title character’s name, Goodman, was a common title given to
respectable men of an upright standing in the age of the Puritans. It has deeper meaning in this
story, however. As well as being a common title many Puritans used to refer to one another, the
title, “Goodman” implies that the person bearing the title is a “good man”: someone who is an
upstanding citizen. Young Goodman Brown defies this expectation when he ventures into the
forest for a midnight rendezvous. The title is ironic because the others he encounters along his
path in the forest defy their respective titles of “Goodman” and “Goody” as well. The people he
has always referred to as “good men”, such as Goody Cloyse, his catechism teacher, are proving
to be just the opposite.
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The protagonist’s surname, Brown, also contains a deeper meaning. Brown is a common
last name that many people have. In this way, Hawthorne is attempting to convey the
universality of his message. Goodman Brown is a portrayal of the common man. He represents
everyman. Because Goodman Brown is a representation of everyman, he is Hawthorne’s way of
saying that every person goes through a crisis of faith in his or her lifetime. Every person
questions the faith of others and is disappointed when he or she finds out that people they esteem
have not always been faithful to their belief system. Brown is also the color that represents the
brown trees in the woods through which Goodman Brown journeys. It is the color of the woods
where Goodman Brown is attempting to hide himself from the critical gaze of society.
The character of Faith most obviously represents the Christian idea of faith. Goodman
Brown’s wife, Faith is the most complex and intricate part of the story. Faith is so much more
than simply the protagonist’s wife. Faith is both a character and an abstract concept. Leo B. Levy
says of Faith, in his article, “The Problem of Faith in ‘Young Goodman Brown” that “She [Faith]
is both an allegorical idea and the means by which the idea is inverted” (116). The duality of
Faith’s meaning in the story, whether she is a character or a concept, is a paradox Hawthorne
draws upon to transmit his message of the dual nature of humanity and the hypocrisy of not
revealing one’s true identity except in secret. As a character, Faith spans both the good and evil
aspects of Hawthorne’s story. Faith’s double nature prompts critics to compare her to another of
Hawthorne’s protagonists from his story “Rappaccinni’s Daughter”, Beatrice Rappaccini,
because she is “both pure and poisonous, saint and sinner.”(Levy 116)
Through Faith, Hawthorne breaks the antiquated “angel in the household” ideal so many
of his contemporaries held. As the woman of the house, Faith would have been expected to
uphold the religious standards of the family even more so than Goodman Brown. At first, Faith
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is seen as a “blessed angel on earth” (Hawthorne 65) and to Goodman Brown, a way to enter
heaven if he will only “cling to her skirts” (65) or in other words, follow her as an example of
piety. Faith soon completely contradicts this view by venturing into the woods to make a pact
with the devil. The very fact that Hawthorne presents Faith out of her domestic territory and in
the woods of concealment is a drastic, contentious statement in Hawthorne’s time. That Faith is
in the woods to make a pact with the devil is even more shocking and controversial. This
completely turns the idea of Faith as “an angel in the household” upside down. Instead of being a
pious woman, leading her household to God, as her name suggests, Faith is the exact opposite. In
this way, Faith is the greatest hypocrite of all. Faith defies all expectations that the reader and,
most importantly, Goodman Brown have for her.
Throughout the tale, Goodman Brown continues to have optimism and find hope in the
fact that all mankind is not lost. Even when he encounters several other men and women he
thought to be holy in the forest convening with the devil, he does not let their hypocrisy shake
his faith. He persists in his belief that mankind is redeemable and that one’s faith can save him.
He believes that faith is something he can leave at home, in her sanctuary, while he gallivants
through the forest and that faith will be waiting to embrace him once again when he returns
home. Little does he know that faith is not something that can simply be set aside for awhile until
one desires to return to it. Faith does not patiently wait for Goodman Brown to return home to
her, but instead follows him into the forest, haunting him, in a way. Through Faith’s betrayal of
her expected role, Goodman Brown comes to the realization that when faith is abandoned, it is
not easily recovered. Discovering that Faith has left the household to meet with the devil is the
last straw for Goodman Brown. Now that Faith has been exposed to the devil, Goodman Brown
exclaims, “My Faith is gone!”(Hawthorne 71). In this simple declaration, Goodman Brown is
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denouncing his previous faith in the good of humanity. Yet, several pages later, Goodman Brown
is seen giving Faith one last chance to triumph and prove the potency of her name. He implores
Faith to “look up to heaven and resist the wicked one”(74). Levy calls this “last cry for
Faith…the most poignant moment of the story, expressing his [Brown’s] need to assimilate the
experiences through which he has passed, and even his capacity to do so”(126). Hawthorne
leaves it ambiguous whether or not Faith actually did what Goodman Brown implored. What
Hawthorne does let the reader know however, is that Goodman Brown is never again able to
trust in his Faith/faith. The way he sees it, Faith has betrayed him in his hour of need and he is
never able to forget this. Even to his dying day he woke in the middle of the night and “shrank
away from the bosom of faith”(Hawthorne 75). He views faith as the concept that initiated his
demise. The blatant hypocrisy of Faith was too much for him to bear. The critic Leo B. Levy
defends Faith however, by saying, “He [Hawthorne] is not suggesting that Faith as an abstraction
is susceptible to the human frailties of Everyman but somehow transcends them...”(121). Levy is
making the point that because she represents an abstract concept, Faith is not susceptible to sin in
the same way as the rest of the characters. Her implied betrayal is not valid in the same way it
would be if she were not a dualistic, allegorical character. He says, “If, awaking at midnight,
Goodman Brown shrinks from the bosom of Faith, it is because he has taken the full measure of
her duplicity”(126). Another critic, Robert Cochran, also defends Faith with a different
standpoint, saying that Faith did not desert Goodman Brown, Brown simply refused to call upon
Faith for assistance. Cochran states, “Faith survives Brown to symbolize the very general
religious belief that Faith is always available to the man capable of embracing her”(153).
Goodman Brown simply declines to acknowledge this constant availability.
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In many of his stories, Hawthorne uses the names of actual, historical people as the
names of characters. He does this to infuse his stories with some sense of authenticity. He lets his
readers believe that there is a possibility that his account of the story actually has historical merit.
The characters whose names are historically significant in this story are those of the townspeople
Goodman Brown encounters in the woods. The names Hawthorne used for the characters of
Goody Cloyse, Goody Cory, and Deacon Gookin are all names of actual people who resided in
historic Salem in the early 1600s. Goody Cloyse, in real life, was accused as a witch and was
tried by Hawthorne’s great-grandfather in 1692. In the story, Goody Cloyse is one of the people
Goodman Brown is horrified and alarmed to see in the woods because he had always viewed her
as a pious woman. In fact, she had even taught Goodman Brown his catechism, as a child. Goody
Corey, whom Goody Cloyse refers to as an “unhanged witch” in the story, was hanged as a witch
in 1692. Deacon Gookin was a “colonial magistrate and superintendent of the Christian Indians”
who lived between the years 1612 and 1687 (Hawthorne 68). In the story, Deacon Gookin was
the leader of Goodman Brown’s church services, so Goodman Brown is especially appalled to
witness Deacon Gookin consorting with the devil. Deacon Gookin’s name also alludes to the
literal title of “good kin”. Because Deacon Gookin’s name presents him as not only a leader, but
also someone who is supposedly related to Goodman Brown, his betrayal is keenly felt.
Although all three of the aforementioned characters are largely fictional, Hawthorne also utilized
his knowledge of Puritan history in order to create more authentic characters he could bring to
life in his own way.
Names of fictional characters in many of Hawthorne’s works have multiple, dualistic
meanings. Often, Hawthorne’s characters require some research to discover the true symbolism
behind their names. Each of the names that appear in “Young Goodman Brown”, when examined
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critically, represents a certain aspect of morality. In some way, shape, or form the characters’
names hold them to a standard that they all fail to meet. By their very names they are expected to
be pious and moral, however each of them drastically fails at this task. By exposing each of the
characters’ sinfulness in spite of their names, and the effect this sinfulness has on the other
characters, especially the character of Goodman Brown, Hawthorne demonstrates the effect
hypocrisy has on individuals and on mankind in general. As an author who understands the
complexities of the Puritan time-period, Hawthorne successfully relates the intricacies of the
Puritan lifestyle to the issues apparent in his readers’ lives. His message of the harms of
hypocrisy is an issue that transcends time and is relevant to every culture.
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MLA Works Cited
Cochran, Robert W. “How Young Goodman Brown Became Old Badman Brown:
Reply.” College English 24 (Nov. 1962) 153-154. JSTOR. National Council of Teachers
of English
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tales Ed. McIntosh,
James. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1987. 65-75.
Levy, Leo B. “The Problem of Faith in ‘Young Goodman Brown.’” Modern Critical Views:
Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ed. Bloom, Harold. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.
115-126.
Waggoner, Hyatt H. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” Six American Novelists of the Nineteenth Century.
Ed. Foster, Richard. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1960. 50-72.
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Capstone Essay #2
“A Structural Analysis of Feminine Sexuality versus Domesticity in
‘Daphne with her Thighs in Bark’”
Eavan Boland’s poem, “Daphne with her Thighs in Bark” proclaims the regret of a
woman after foregoing a life of passion. The poem’s speaker adopts the persona of a modern
version of the nymph Daphne, from Greek mythology, who speaks to contemporary women,
warning them of the entrapment of domesticity. Although it can be said that this poem is
Boland’s way of advocating sexual liberation over domesticity, there is a third option available
to women that Boland does not blatantly proclaim, but nonetheless promotes through the
language of the poem. This option, the idea that sexual liberation and domesticity are not
opposing ideals but can be compatible, is supported not only by a close textual reading, but also
by literary critics as well as Eavan Boland’s own philosophy and other works. Every aspect of
the poem deliberately contributes to its overall theme that the choice between sexual freedom
and domesticity is unnecessary. This intentional form and style contributing to meaning begins in
the title and is consistent throughout the entirety of the poem, following through even until the
last word.
In the title, “Daphne with her Thighs in Bark,” Eavan Boland sets up the premise of the
poem. She alludes to the myth of Daphne, letting her readers know whom the poem will address.
In Greek mythology, the nymph Daphne, after being shot with an arrow that makes her abhor the
god Apollo, is hotly pursued by him. In order to escape his amorous attempts to catch her, she
transforms herself into a laurel tree. Apollo then reverently collects her leaves and makes a
wreath out of them, to honor her. In the title of her poem, Boland describes Daphne as having her
thighs surrounded by bark, the exterior part of a tree which protects it from the outside world. By
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describing Daphne as such, she is suggesting that Daphne’s thighs are protected so that no
outside force can enter her. She will not yield to any exterior power.
The speaker lets the reader know her intent right away in the very first stanza when she
says, “I have written this/so that/in the next myth/my sister will be wiser.”(Boland 1-4) Here she
binds herself to all women when she refers to them as “sister”. The word “sister” implies that all
women are closely linked and that they must watch out for one another so that others do not
make the same mistakes. This reinforces Helene Cixous’ idea of “woman for women”. (Cixous
312) By voicing her experience, the speaker is able to successfully convey it so that other
women, in turn, can benefit. Through this stanza, the speaker implies that Daphne’s choice to
flee Apollo was not a wise one. The speaker strives to make this known to the women she is
speaking to so they do not follow Daphne’s example.
The structure of the poem leads the reader to draw certain conclusions about the speaker.
For example, there are three lines which are found separate from the other stanzas. Each of these
lines points to the speaker who is using herself as an example to other women. She is continually
bringing the reader back to herself, prompting women to view her mistake as a lesson as to what
they should avoid. “Look at me,” she implores the reader, in an attempt to assign some sort of
redemptive quality to her mistake. (9) If she can successfully deter women from the entrapment
of domesticity, her mistake will somehow be worth it.
The speaker then goes on to tell the reader of the tasks her everyday life entails. In the
midst of the list of mundane chores she provides, the speaker expresses her regret at the lost
opportunity for passion through the alliteration found in each of the lines. The repetition of the
hard ‘c’ in this stanza emphasizes the bitterness the speaker feels towards the life she let pass by
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her. The fact that the word “wood” is used twice in the same stanza to describe two very
different things parallels the drastic difference between the choice the speaker made and the life
she could have led. The first use of the word “wood” describes the material of the furniture the
speaker is polishing in her domestic life, while the second time the word is used; it describes the
wooded forest which surrounds Daphne when she flees Apollo.
In the next few stanzas, the speaker explains her experience fleeing her pursuer in a
flashback. She describes the man chasing her as “pan-thighed, satyr-faced”, terms that refer to
mythological creatures fixated on physical pleasure (19-20). The speaker’s solution to escaping
her passionate suitor is depicted in the ninth stanza. At first it may seem as if the speaker is about
to give in to the insistent pursuer. She describes how she “silvered and quivered” (22-23). These
words sound almost as if the speaker is waiting in anticipation for a passionate outburst. The
enjambment in the next line further leads the reader to believe that the speaker might actually be
giving in to her desires when she says, “I shook out”. (23) “Shaking out” usually refers to
loosening up, forgetting fears and inhibitions in favor of enjoyment. This is quickly disproved
however when the reader examines the next line which finishes her statement, “my foil of quick
leaves” (24). By using the word “foil”, the speaker encourages the reader to see her
transformation as more than a disguise, but as a trick she uses to evade Apollo. Eventually, she
realizes that it is not Apollo she is fooling, but herself. Here, the speaker proves herself to be a
modern version of Daphne. She has transformed herself into a rough, unwavering object, planted
firmly in the ground, unwilling to be uprooted by any force of nature. She has opted for stability
over passion.
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In the original myth of Daphne, the god Apollo, Daphne’s pursuer, gathers laurel
branches from the transformed Daphne and honors her by fashioning them into a crown that he
wears. Unlike the mythological Apollo however, the man in pursuit of the speaker does not
linger and honor her virtues after he is rejected, but moves on with his life. The speaker
immediately regrets her course of action, claiming “What a fool I was!”(26)
The next stanza elaborates on why the speaker believes herself to be a fool. She compares
the entrapment of domesticity to being trapped in tree-form forever. She uses imagery which
conveys the desperation of being confined to a certain space and routine day after day. She refers
to her domestic tasks in a way that imitates the earthy, drab tone of a tree, such as working
amidst the kitchen’s “branching alloys” or setting out “saucers on the pine table” (29-31). It is
the choice to become a hardened woman, concerned only with duties, that makes the speaker feel
trapped in her own life.
In the next few stanzas, the speaker ceases focusing on her own regret and returns to
addressing all modern women. After presenting her own choice as clearly erroneous, she
instructs them to avoid making the same mistake as she has by following their passions. She is
almost demanding in the way she speaks to her woman audience. “Rut with him”, she insists,
then goes on to explain why this is beneficial (34). The next line, “His rough heat will keep you
warm and” leads up to what the reader would reasonably think to be another reason advocating
passionate behavior, however the speaker returns the focus to herself by simply claiming “you
will be better off than me” (35-36). This abrupt return of focus to the speaker combined with the
harsh ‘t’ sounds throughout the stanza remind the reader of the bitterness and subjectivity of the
speaker.
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Although the initial interpretation of the poem as a promotion of passion over rationality
is valid, it can easily be disproved when the poem is read as having an untrustworthy speaker. In
the first interpretation, the speaker offers only two options to her audience. She says that women
can either become hardened and unyielding to their passions in favor of a life of dull domesticity
or they can become liberated by giving in to their instincts and passions, living a life of no
regrets. These two options the speaker presents are false because she presents them in a way that
convinces women that they are the only options available to them. She presents the second
choice as if giving in to one’s desires is the only possible way a woman can truly be safe from
the snare of domesticity. In reality, women have many more options than the ones offered in the
poem. The fact that many of Boland’s other works profess the exact opposite of what the speaker
promotes is a major clue that the poem’s speaker is unreliable. This suspicion of a misleading
speaker is confirmed when Boland’s personal life and philosophy are examined. In her collection
of essays entitled, “Object Lessons: The Life of the Woman and the Poet in our Time,” Boland
says that “…in order to write the Irish poem, I would have to alter… the powerful relations
between subject and object which were established there.” (Boland 184) Here, Boland refers to
the objectification of Irish womanhood as merely a patriotic symbol used in (primarily male)
Irish poetry. Irish women need no longer be controlled by male poets but should be free to
determine their own lives. This cannot happen if women are constantly letting men define them.
In Cixous’ words, “Beware…of the signifier that would take you back to the authority of a
signified.” (319) Only woman can define her own significance.
In addition to the existence of multiple options being available for modern women, the
speaker misrepresents the options she does give her audience. Although her intention is to
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protect her feminine sisters, she may be inadvertently harming them by failing to present a
complete picture. The speaker is an extremely subjective party. She is jaded by her own
experiences and believes that the result of the choice she made is the same for every woman who
makes the choice to inhibit her desires. She believes that, in order to avoid domestic servitude,
women must give in to their passions and be with a man. If they do not do this, she claims they
will become fixated on their missed opportunity. They will be “unable to keep [their] eyes off/the
chestnut tree/ just the way/ it thrusts and hardens.”(40-44) This line, laden with sexual imagery,
is the speaker’s way of saying that the only way for a woman to feel fulfilled is through a man.
Cixous says of this phallocentric idea of female fixation on male anatomy that women’s “libido
is cosmic,” meaning that a woman’s sexuality is not focused on what body parts she lacks (as the
poem’s speaker would have readers believe), but rather is all-encompassing. (Cixous 317)
This idea of a woman being incomplete without a man is a false statement, as Boland
herself attests. Many of Boland’s other poetry is written as a warning against giving in to a
male’s power. If a woman chooses to disregard her initial desires, it does not mean that she will
automatically fall victim to the entrapment of domesticity, constantly dwelling on what she has
missed. Woman must learn to view herself as no longer the object of man’s manipulation, but as
the subject of her own life; able to determine her own fate, without the harmful projections and
expectations man places on her. (Boland 135)
The speaker claims that “the opposite of passion/is not virtue/but routine.” (6-8) She
does not however, take into consideration that a combination of both passion and routine could
somehow work together. They are not entirely incompatible. A woman is not completely
passionless if she decides not to let her desires drive her all the time. By disregarding desires
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once in a while, women can avoid the almost animalistic approach toward passions the speaker
condones when she describes intercourse with such terms as “rut”, which implies no emotional
connection, only two people giving in to instinct. By maintaining control over her passions,
woman can, in turn, have control over her entire life. The absence of passion does not necessarily
lead to the entrapment of domesticity, just as the presence of passion does not automatically lead
to complete liberation. Women must recognize that their choices are not limited to these two
extremes and that they have the power to overcome societal pressure to choose one of the two
options the poem offers.
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Works Cited
Boland, Eavan. New Collected Poems. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2009.
Print.
---. Object Lessons: The Life of the Woman and the Poet in our Time. New York:
W.W. Norton and Company, 1995. Print.
Cixous, Helene. “The Laugh of the Medusa.” English Department. Florida: Florida State
University Press, 1986. Web. 5 Nov. 2011.
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Reflective Essay
“What are you majoring in?” This is the question I am repeatedly asked at family
gatherings over the years by well-meaning relatives. Inevitably, when my response is, “English
Literature,” I am met with raised eyebrows and all-around looks of skepticism. I already know
that the next question will be, “So…what are you going to do with a degree like that?” In other
words, “Why Literature? What can Literature do for you?”
It continuously amazes me what little credit literature is given in today’s world. I did not
major in English Literature to become wealthy or esteemed, but to further understand and
explore the human experience. Literature allows the one who studies it to peek into history and
so gain insight about how we, as a human race, respond to the world around us. History has been
shaped by those inspired by the thoughts and ideas of writers.
I believe my capstone collection reflects my ability to make connections between the
tangible and the abstract. Through the two essays I have included, I demonstrate my knowledge
of various nuances of literature, including symbolism, imagery, allegory, character, and poetic
structure. I also establish how a piece of literature can have dual meanings and how these
meanings are better revealed through examination of the social and historical context of the
author and works.
During the revision process, I found myself discovering aspects of my chosen poem and
story that I had overlooked when I first wrote about them. This was particularly true of my essay
on Boland’s “Daphne with Her Thighs in Bark”. I had to reexamine the significance of each
individual word. I realized that Boland includes every word with a specific intention. Throughout
my reevaluation of the poem, I was reminded that I originally took two different approaches to
reveal the poem’s meaning. In revising the paper, I decided to research the second interpretation
more so that I would have more support for this initial meaning.
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I believe my strengths as an English Literature major are composed mainly of the ability
to recognize well-written literature and to analyze the images, symbols, and characters within it
in the context of its historical and social background. While I think the paper which best
illustrates these strength is my analysis of “Young Goodman Brown”, I most enjoyed analyzing
“Daphne with her Thighs in Bark” because it is so rife with material. I am proudest of my
“Young Goodman Brown” essay because I think it is more in-depth and truly emphasizes the
strengths of my writing ability.
My experience as a Loras College English major has allowed me to cultivate those skills
which I most admire and find most desirable; the successful, in-depth analysis of a particular
work of literature, and the ability to relate that work of literature to some central aspect of the
universal human experience through writing. This capacity to express important themes and
ideas through the medium of writing is a skill that I plan to continue to perfect and use for the
rest of my life.