Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Syllabus Update

Students--
In order to get us back on track, I am efficiently combining two weeks worth of reading into one. For Tuesday, April 7th, please read:

Stone, Metamora
Irving, "Phillip of Pokanoket"
Emerson, "Self-Reliance" (1163-1180)
Thoreau, Walden, chapters 2,6,8

--The Stone and Irving readings can be found on our blackboard page under "course documents."

Best,
nm

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Scheduling Update

Sorry again about canceling class last night (though I'm sure not too many of you minded). In order to get back on track, I propose this: Our midterm will still be next Tuesday, March 24st. We will move Weiland to March 31st. I will try to come up with an inventive to combine the Native American readings with Emerson and Thoreau (both of which will have to be cut back a great deal). But I will work it out.

I hope this is clear and I will see you all next week.

Best,
nm

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Class Update!

I'm sorry to put this to the last minute, but I have to cancel tonight's class. I've come down with the flu and am running down by the minute. I know this throws us off of our schedule. Check back on the blog in the next couple of days and I will post how we will handle getting back on track. And please e-mail or call any students you know who might not get this. Thanks so much.


Neil

Monday, March 16, 2009

Weiland By: Brown

The very beginning of this novel struck me as very peculiar. The first example we see of this is the narrators discussion of the first threat Carwin relayed to him. On page three in the second paragraph the narrator begins discussing this threat " He confesses that this has been hos second attempt." The paragraph goes on with an array of questions concerning this first threat and comparing it with the second. "The death was the scope of his thoughts; now an injury unspeakably more dreadful." Nothing however gives us any clue as to why any threat exists to begin with. Was it because he was "pursuing his father's manuscript" or something else unknown to the reader, or Carwin for that manner.

Not only is nothing straight forward, all of our beginning thoughts left unanswered, but the narrator seems to have constant debate in his own mind as to what is really going on. " The possibility that his return was prompted by intentions consistent with my safety found no place in my mind (pg.10)." This makes it seem as though fear is not even crossing his moing, all of a sudden with in the same paragraph there is a dramatic shift. Suddenly he has an impulse "It was an impulse of which I was scarcely conscious that made me fasten the lock and draw the bolts of my chamber door (pg.10)" All of a sudden his fear over took him. This idea that Carwin may be returning caused such an impulse, but what gave him this idea of return so suddenly. The narrator seems to be very confused as to why he is in this situation to begin with.

-Meghan Farrell

Saturday, March 7, 2009

J. Hector St. John De Crèvecoeur

“Ubi panis ibi patria” (598) -Where there is bread, there is one’s fatherland. According to J. Hector St. John De Crèvecoeur this should be the “motto of all emigrants” (598). In “Letter III, What is an American,” St.John De Crèvecoeur defines an American as a “new man, who acts upon principles” (599) and must therefore “entertain new ideas, and form new opinions” (599). To St.John De Crèvecoeur, the ideal American is one who is a combination of many “different nations,” (598) many religious backgrounds and is able to live peacefully with each other. This letter promotes a feeling of American nationalism where a good citizen may be characterized by qualities such as proper work ethics and individual responsibilities. To St.John De Crèvecoeur the farmer is an example of a person who represents an ideal American. America is portrayed as a safe haven where the oppressed from Europe are able to pursue their own self-interest as independent land owners while enjoying religious freedom. America is described as a sort of utopian project, in which its people’s interests are continually fostered. It is portrayed as “every person’s country” (604); a land of vast and endless opportunities to suit anyone’s needs.

In “LetterXII. Distresses of a Frontier Man,” St.John De Crèvecoeur’s vision moves from praising the possibilities of American life to the threatened destructions of those possibilities due to the violence of the revolution. There is a change in tone from his earlier optimism to one of hopelessness and despair. He mentions the effects of slavery and the revolution as causes of the divisions within the new society. He writes “I am conscious that I was happy before this unfortunate revolution” (204). It is evident that he denounces slavery (Letter IX) and may have opposed the revolution. This letter leaves the reader with an image of American social conditions and the American Dream as slowly disintegrating.

At times St. John De Crèvecoeur’s writing reads like a travel narrative filled with adventure and suspense. I found it interesting that he gives us vivid descriptions of nature on its own (Letter X.) or sometimes in relation to man (Letter IX.). He seemed very much into his environment but maybe that was because he was a farmer and saw the coexistence of nature with man as imperative to human survival.

-Vedi Ramdhanie

Friday, March 6, 2009

Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano

This piece reads very easily, as opposed to the other material we have read, which was sometimes hard to understand and took a lot of effort and concentration. The author writes as if he was speaking, and uses certain techniques which I found interesting. For instance, he would write something like, “and then something terrible happened!” (not verbatim) but that would make you want to continue reading to find out what happened. Also sometimes he would be very passionate in his memoir: “O ye nominal Christians! Might not an African ask you—Learned you this from your God, who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you”? How different from Mary Rowlandson, who just kind of relayed the events as they happened. But the difference is that Mary had her faith in God to support her, while Equiano does not much mention God, not that you can blame him.

The author goes back and forth during the story from happiness (before he was kidnapped), to despair (when he was kidnapped), to unspeakable joy when he finds his sister, to unspeakable anguish when they are separated; then he finds a kind of peace when he is bought by some nice people, then despair again when he is sold. He is thrilled to make a friend, then devastated when the friend dies; and this goes on and on. I am surprised he didn’t have a heart attack!

Some images in the memoir really affected me. One was his description of the slave woman with a muzzle on. It brought to mind “Silence of the Lambs.” But the difference is, this was not a Hollywood movie; this was reality at that time. I wonder what Equiano saw in her eyes. What was she thinking? Another difficult part to read was when he and a poor old man have their bags of fruit stolen by whites. “The poor old man wringing his hands, cried bitterly for his loss.” Equiano felt so bad for this man that he ended up sharing his own fruit with him. As bad as things were for Equiano, he never gave up, and finally got his freedom. Talk about an indomitable spirit!

Mindy Pigue

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Washington Irving- Rip Van Winkle STASIS

Rex De Asis

“Rip Van Winkle” is a folktale which Washington Irving had learned about during his twenty year stay in Europe. The actual tale was found in the papers of Diedrich Knickerbocker who was an old gentleman of New York.

This folktale introduces us to Rip Van Winkle, a man who is good natured but careless to his obligations to his own societal status and family. Rip “unconsciously scrambles” (955) to the highest part of the Kaatskill (Catskill) Mountains and falls asleep for twenty years. As this popular tale continues, Rip finds himself waking to a world different from the one he had remembered. Although this story is completely unrealistic, it illustrates how the American Revolution had changed a small village but did not change Rip.

Rip Van Winkle represents the resistance to societal change. While his twenty year sleep is obviously impossible, it represents a stasis in character. This stasis keeps Rips character frozen and unchanged, thus giving the reader an insight to two time periods instead of one. Irving uses this tale to illustrate the village during England’s rule and contrasts it to a timeframe following the American Revolution. By keeping Rip the same, and without any alteration, we are drawn to focus more on Rips new surroundings instead of reexamining his familiar disposition.

Rip clearly see’s the changes in the village as it is has went from being rural to more urban. “The very village was altered; it was larger and more populous” (961) Additionally, Rip finds changes in politics but fails to assimilate and understand it. He was oblivious to being either Federalist or Democratic. "matters of which he could not understand: war-congress." (962)

Ultimately Rip, rejoins his daughter and continues his life with liberation that the American Revolution had brought. There is a contrasting parallel created between Rip and the village who had both faced change after the war. The village had completely changed, however, Rip seems to have stayed the same carrying over his familiar solitary and laid back characteristics. It is true he had now joined with his daughter but in the end he is happy to be liberated from “the yoke of matrimony” (his nagging wife) and “the tyranny of Dame Van Winkle” (964)

Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790

Benjamin Franklin was a polymath. In addition to his world-renowned experiments with electricity, he was almost America's first diplomat and was responsible for France's aiding the new country in its rebellion against Great Britain. He was the American heroic figure of the eighteenth century, even if his critics didn't think so.

Who else would spend over forty years after his retirement devoted to representing the colonies, serving on committee or as a delegate, as well as many other obligations that he took on? If only politicians today would go so far to better our country, our reputation in the world would be secure.

Poor Richard's Almanac was extremely popular at the time because the encouragement it gave to ordinary people was important and truly needed at that difficult time. He stressed that one must work hard to achieve success. Franklin encouraged people to be frugal, to save their earnings and to be careful of even the smallest needless expenses. I especially enjoyed reading that he decided to wear his old coat a little longer instead of buying a new one and encouraged others to do the same in the name of frugality.

It is ironic that due to the great economic crisis that exists today worldwide, we are receiving similar advice to be frugal from financial advisers. However, no one can take Benjamin Franklin's place. He was able to make these points clear to all his readers in a direct and simple manner. His message was all the more effective because it was transmitted through aphorisms that were commonly known and easily understood.

Eva Rosengarten