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Файл:History of the USA Literature. Study aid
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And the feller studied a minute, and then says, kinder sad like, “Well, I'm only
a stranger here, and I ain't got no frog; but if I had a frog, I'd bet you.”
And then Smiley says, “That's all right — that's all right — if you'll hold my
box a minute, I'll go and get you a frog.” And so the feller took the box, and put up
his forty dollars along with Smiley's and set down to wait.
So he set there a good while thinking and thinking to hisself, and then he got
the frog out and prized his mouth open and took a teaspoon and filled him full of
quail shot — filled him pretty near up to his chin — and set him on the floor. Smiley
he went to the swamp and slopped around in the mud for a long time, and finally he
ketched a frog, and fetched him in, and give him to this feller, and says:
“Now, if you're ready, set him alongside of Dan'l, with his fore-paws just even
with Dan'l and I'll give the word.” Then he says, “one — two — three — jump!” and
him and the feller touched up the frogs from behind, and the new frog hopped off, but
Dan'l give a heave, and hysted up his shoulders — so — like a French-man, but it
wan't no use — he couldn't budge; he was planted as solid as an anvil, and he couldn't
no more stir than if he was anchored out. Smiley was a good deal surprised, and he
was disgusted too, but he didn't have no idea what the matter was, of course.
The feller took the money and started away; and when he was going out at the
door, he sorter jerked his thumb over his shoulders — this way — at Dan'l, and says
again, very deliberate, “Well, I don't see no p'ints about that frog that's any better'n
any other frog.”
Smiley he stood scratching his head and looking down at Dan'l a long time, and
at last he says, “I do wonder what in the nation that frog throw'd off for — I wonder
if there ain't something the matter with him — he 'pears to look might baggy,
somehow.” And he ketched Dan'l by the nap of the neck, and lifted him up and says,
“Why, blame my cats, if he don't weigh five pound!” and turned him upside down,
and he belched out a double handful of shot. And then he see how it was, and he was
the maddest man — he set the frog down and took out after that feller, but he never
ketched him.
Wheeler heard his name called from the front yard, and got up to see what was
wanted.] And turning to me as he moved away, he said: “Just set where you are,
stranger, and rest easy — I ain't going to be gone a second.”
But, by your leave, I did not think that a continuation of the history of the
enterprising vagabond Jim Smiley would be likely to afford me much information
concerning the Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, and so I started away.
At the door I met the sociable Wheeler returning, and he buttonholed me and
recommenced:
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Well, thish-yer Smiley had a yaller one-eyed cow that didn't have no tail, only
jest a short stump like a bannanner, and —”
“Oh! hang Smiley and his afflicted cow!” I muttered, good-naturedly, and
bidding the old gentleman good-day, I departed. [22]
Issues to think over
1. Search the text for ungrammatical examples, common phonetic features of
colloquial speech and graphons that convey peculiar individual manner of speaking
and pronouncing words. Find examples of colloquial vocabulary. What effect do they
produce in the story? What image of the story-teller do they create?
2. Pay attention to similes, as in the example “like a doughnut”. Find more
similes in the text. What’s there role in the story-telling?
3. Comment on the grammatical structure: “I've seen him set Dan'l Webster
down here on this floor.” Identify the type of the construction, groups of verbs it is
used with, the form of the infinitive that follows. What is the value of the
construction for this particular story?
4. Comment on the following cases of metaphor:
1) and quicker'n you could wink, he'd spring straight up, and snake a fly off'n
the counter there;
2) and he couldn't no more stir than if he was anchored out.
5. Are there exaggerations in the story? What’s their function?
6. Are there examples of personification? What effect do they produce?
7. Pick out words that describe the amazing gymnastic exercises the frog could
perform.
8. Look for epithets (adjectives and adverbs), e.g. and looked at it careful;
Smiley says, easy and careless. Why are they important for the story?
9. Find the words that prove that Smiley was proud of his frog and even
boastful.
10. Is good-natured, garrulous old Simon Wheeler a good story-teller? Prove
your point of view.
Satire:
Twain is satirizing several aspects of American life, but especially the country
bumpkins who tend to speak at length about subjects that are close to them but are
really unimportant and nonsensical.
Narration:
‒ “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” uses the framework of
a story within a story, with the search for the Reverend Smiley being the least
important part of the story.
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‒ The main narrator, Simon Wheeler, uses a serious, deadpan and understated
style that gives the tale an overall humorous effect. As Wheeler weaves his story, the
story gets more ridiculous and ironic — pay particular attention to the description of
Smiley's attempts at teaching the frog.
Unique Elements in Twain's Story:
‒ This story was not original with Mark Twain. He had heard it told many
times in mining camps and other places he visited prior to his writing it.
‒ Note Twain's use of extremely long descriptive sentences when relating
Wheeler's story and how Twain slows it down through his use of linguistics, bad
grammar, and heavy dialect.
‒ The broad humor in the actual telling of the story. The story is layered so
that there is not just one or two anecdotes told, but various parts throughout the whole
are funny.
‒ Twain depicts the humorous personal characteristics of both frontier
characters, Simon Wheeler, and Jim Smiley.
11.8. BRET HARTE.
THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP
By THERE was commotion in Roaring Camp. It could not have been a fight,
for in 1805 that was not novel enough to have called together the entire settlement.
The whole camp was collected before a rude cabin on the outer edge of the learing.
Conversation was carried on in a low tone, but the name of a woman was frequently
repeated. It was a name familiar enough in the camp, — “Cherokee Sal.”
Perhaps the less said of her the better. But at that time she was the only woman
in Roaring Camp, and was just then lying in sore extremity, when she most needed
the ministration of her own sex. Deaths were by no means uncommon in Roaring
Camp, but a birth was a new thing. People had been dismissed from the camp
effectively, finally, and with no possibility of return; but this was the first time that
anybody had been introduced ab initio. Hence the excitement.
“You go in there, Stumpy,” said a prominent citizen known as “Kentuck,”
addressing one of the loungers. “Go in there, and see what you kin do. You’ve had
experience in them things.” The crowd approved the choice, and Stumpy was wise
enough to bow to the majority. The door closed on the extempore surgeon and
midwife, and Roaring Camp sat down outside, smoked its pipe, and awaited the issue.
The assemblage numbered about a hundred men. One or two of these were actual
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fugitives from justice, some were criminal, and all were reckless. In the midst of an
excited discussion an exclamation came from those nearest the door, and the camp
stopped to listen. Above the swaying and moaning of the pines, the swift rush of the
river, and the crackling of the fire, rose a sharp, querulous cry, — a cry unlike
anything heard before in the camp. The pines stopped moaning, the river ceased to
rush, and the fire to crackle. It seemed as if Nature had stopped to listen too.
The camp rose to its feet as one man! It was proposed to explode a barrel of
gunpowder, but, in consideration of the situation of the mother, only a few revolvers
were discharged; for, whether owing to the rude surgery of the camp, or some other
reason, Cherokee Sal was sinking fast. Within an hour she had climbed, as it were,
that rugged road that led to the stars, and so passed out of Roaring Camp, its sin and
shame forever. I do not think that the announcement disturbed them much, except in
speculation as to the fate of the child. “Can he live now?” was asked of Stumpy. The
answer was doubtful. The only other being of Cherokee Sal’s sex and maternal
condition in the settlement was an ass. There was some conjecture as to fitness, but
the experiment was tried, and it was apparently successful.
When these details were completed, which exhausted another hour, the door
was opened, and the anxious crowd of men who had already formed themselves into
a queue, entered in single file. Beside the low bunk or shelf, on which the figure of
the mother was starkly outlined below the blankets stood a pine table. On this a
candle-box was placed, and within it, swathed in staring red flannel, lay the last
arrival at Roaring Camp. Beside the candle-box was placed a hat. “Gentlemen,” said
Stumpy, — “Gentlemen will please pass in at the front door, round the table, and out
at the back door. Them as wishes to contribute anything toward the orphan will find a
hat handy.” The first man entered with his hat on; he uncovered, however, as he
looked about him, and so, unconsciously, set an example to the next. The
contributions were as characteristic: A silver tobacco-box; a navy revolver, silver
mounted; a very beautifully embroidered lady’s handkerchief (from Oakhurst the
gambler); a diamond breastpin; a diamond ring; a Bible (contributor not detected); a
silver teaspoon (the initials, regret to say, were not the giver’s); a Bank of England
note for £5; and about $200 in loose gold and silver coin. During these proceedings
Stumpy maintained a silence as impassive as the dead on his left. Only one incident
occurred to break the monotony of the curious procession. As Kentuck bent over the
candle-box half curiously, the child turned, and, in a spasm of pain, caught at his
groping finger, and held it fast for a moment. Kentuck looked foolish and
embarrassed. Something like a blush tried to assert itself in his weather-beaten cheek.
“The d — d little cuss!” he said, as he extricated his finger, with, perhaps, more
tenderness and care than he might have been deemed capable of showing. He held
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that finger a little apart from its fellows as he went out, and examined it curiously.
The examination provoked the same original remark in regard to the child. In fact, he
seemed to enjoy repeating it… [9]
Issues to think over
1. Which words show the conditions in which the men lived in Roaring Camp?
2. Pay attention to the irregular ungrammatical colloquial speech of the
characters. How does it characterize them? Who were the people in Roaring Camp as
mentioned by the author?
3. Comment on the following cases of metonymy:
1. “The door closed on the extempore surgeon and midwife, and Roaring
Camp sat down outside, smoked its pipe, and awaited the issue.”
2. “In the midst of an excited discussion an exclamation came from those
nearest the door, and the camp stopped to listen.”
3. “The camp rose to its feet as one man!” What are the implications? Find
another case of metonymy in the story.
4. What is the role of foreign words in the story (but this was the first time that
anybody had been introduced ab initio; the door closed on the extempore surgeon
and midwife; the assemblage numbered about a hundred men)?
5. Can you find euphemisms in the story? What is their function?
6. What stylistic devices are used to describe the very moment of childbirth:
‘Above the swaying and moaning of the pines, the swift rush of the river, and the
crackling of the fire, rose a sharp, querulous cry, — a cry unlike anything heard
before in the camp. The pines stopped moaning, the river ceased to rush, and the fire
to crackle. It seemed as if Nature had stopped to listen too.’ What atmosphere do they
create?
7. How do the contributions (the contributions were as characteristic: a silver
tobacco-box; a navy revolver, silver mounted; a very beautifully embroidered lady’s
handkerchief (from Oakhurst the gambler); a diamond breastpin; a diamond ring; a
Bible (contributor not detected); a silver teaspoon (the initials, regret to say, were
not the giver’s); a Bank of England note for £5; and about $200 in loose gold and
silver coin) characterize the men of Roaring Camp?
8. Why did Kentuck “look foolish and embarrassed” when “something like a
blush tried to assert itself in his weather-beaten cheek”? What kind of change did the
birth of the child bring about on Roaring Camp? Did they like this change?
9. What is the attitude of the author to the inhabitants of Roaring Camp? Pick
out words from the passage that convey it.
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11.9. HENRY JAMES.
THE TURN OF THE SCREW (EXTRACT)
I can say now neither what determined nor what guided me, but I went straight
along the lobby, holding my candle high, till I came within sight of the tall window
that presided over the great turn of the staircase. At this point I precipitately found
myself aware of three things. They were practically simultaneous, yet they had
flashes of succession. My candle, under a bold flourish, went out, and I perceived, by
the uncovered window, that the yielding dusk of earliest morning rendered it
unnecessary. Without it, the next instant, I saw that there was someone on the stair. I
speak of sequences, but I required no lapse of seconds to stiffen myself for a third
encounter with Quint. The apparition had reached the landing halfway up and was
therefore on the spot nearest the window, where at sight of me, it stopped short and
fixed me exactly as it had fixed me from the tower and from the garden. He knew me
as well as I knew him; and so, in the cold, faint twilight, with a glimmer in the high
glass and another on the polish of the oak stair below, we faced each other in our
common intensity. He was absolutely, on this occasion, a living, detestable,
dangerous presence. But that was not the wonder of wonders; I reserve this
distinction for quite another circumstance: the circumstance that dread had
unmistakably quitted me and that there was nothing in me there that didn't meet and
measure him.
I had plenty of anguish after that extraordinary moment, but I had, thank God,
no terror. And he knew I had not — I found myself at the end of an instant
magnificently aware of this. I felt, in a fierce rigor of confidence, that if I stood my
ground a minute I should cease — for the time, at least — to have him to reckon
with; and during the minute, accordingly, the thing was as human and hideous as a
real interview: hideous just because it WAS human, as human as to have met alone, in
the small hours, in a sleeping house, some enemy, some adventurer, some criminal. It
was the dead silence of our long gaze at such close quarters that gave the whole
horror, huge as it was, its only note of the unnatural. If I had met a murderer in such a
place and at such an hour, we still at least would have spoken. Something would have
passed, in life, between us; if nothing had passed, one of us would have moved. The
moment was so prolonged that it would have taken but little more to make me doubt
if even I were in life. I can't express what followed it save by saying that the silence
itself — which was indeed in a manner an attestation of my strength — became the
element into which I saw the figure disappear; in which I definitely saw it turn as I
might have seen the low wretch to which it had once belonged turn on receipt of an
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order, and pass, with my eyes on the villainous back that no hunch could have more
disfigured, straight down the staircase and into the darkness in which the next bend
was lost. [39]
Issues to think over
Unites States’ writer Henry James became a British subject shortly before his
death. He is, perhaps, the first writer to be equally claimed in both Europe and
America.
Themes: In his novels, James contrasts the puritan, idealistic and often naïve
views of Americans and the sophisticated, tolerant but frequently corrupt attitudes of
Europeans. Although these novels recognize the traditions, courtesies and cultural
richness of Europe, they also exalt America for its innocence and idealism.
His style is very complex, based on intricate syntax. It has won much
admiration on a technical level. Other critics find his writing unnecessarily difficult to
follow. His style mirrored the refined nature of the human consciousness. His
analysis of character is subtle and intricate.
One of his most finely drawn creations is Isabel Archer, the rich, Europe-based
American heroine of the novel entitled The Portrait of a Lady (1881). The novel is
narrated from the limited point of view: the world is seen through the eyes of Isabel,
who is a sensitive and intelligent observer. The story follows her search for selfidentity and her growth to self-understanding and maturity. Isabel falls victim to an
unscrupulous husband.
Of his many short stories, the enigmatic English ghost story The Turn of the
screw (1898) has given rise to many interpretations. It is a mystical psychological
story. The limited point of view technique also heightens the suspense here. It is an
ambiguous story of the occult, which leaves the reader guessing.
The young narrator takes on a job as governess in a country house. She has to
look after two children, Miles and Flora. Mrs. Grose is the housekeeper. The new
governess sees apparitions of the two dead servants: Peter Quint and the previous
governess Miss Jessel.
The setting of the story is a haunted country house. In the first text, the action
takes place at dawn. The choice of such a setting and time creates enigmatic,
mysterious, tense atmosphere. The governess feels a strange presence in the dark
house and approaches the staircase that is only illuminated on the landing near the
window. The woman suddenly becomes aware of three things: 1) there is an
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apparition, 2) it is the spirit of the dead servant Peter Quint that she had already seen
twice before; 3) she is not afraid of him.
The narrator is sure she can overcome the ghost because she can read his mind.
(“I had no terror. And he knew I had not.”)
Their long silence seems unnatural to the woman: The silence is prolonged,
and they gaze at each other from a short distance. The moment made the woman
doubt if she herself was alive. The moment seems unnatural because if it were a
burglar or a criminal, they would have said something to each other. They both would
have undertaken some actions or would have moved away.
On this occasion the ghost seems human and hideous. It is also referred to with
such words and phrases as: apparition, low wretch, a living detestable dangerous
presence. The use of these phrases shows that the narrator feels superior to the ghost,
she feels she can order him because of her higher social status: she is a governess and
he was a valet when he was alive. The ghost of Quint follows the order (“It leaves as
if on receipt of an order”) which gives the governess a sense of victory and
satisfaction. She has won her confrontation with the ghost.
As for the ghost’s description, we don’t know any objective physical detail
about him. We don’t know what he looks like: he is described in terms of the reaction
he provokes in the narrator.
The story is the first person narration and the reader is plunged into the world
of the woman who lives in a strange house but she is not a coward. She wants to
investigate the strange things that are happening around her. The whole story is
presented in terms of the narrator, through her “limited point of view”. That’s why
Henry James is called a forerunner of the stream of consciousness technique.
In the second extract the governess encounters the other apparition, Miss
Jessel. But it appears the narrator is the only person who sees it. Neither Mrs. Grose
nor Flora sees the ghost. The narrator seeks for support from Mrs. Grose but she fails.
It becomes obvious that the housekeeper is not able to see the apparition and she
doesn’t believe the narrator. Mrs. Grose comforts Flora reassuring her that poor Miss
Jessel is dead and buried. Flora becomes estranged from the governess, she
disapproves of the hysterics, watches her with reproach, she is frightened and wants
to be taken away from her.
Feeling her own situation crumble, the governess becomes confused, nervous,
unbalanced and even hysterical. Her movements are described with such verbs as “to
grasp”, “to seize”, “to thrust”, “to insist”, “to point”, which give a sense of urgency
and tension. Even her attitude to Flora whom she admired and loved changes: Flora’s
beauty has vanished, “her dreadful little face” has “turned common and almost ugly”.
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Even at the end of the story, the author doesn’t give the answer whether the
children and the governess actually see the ghosts or whether they are simply the
creation of the governess’s neurotic mind.
In the first hypothesis, the governess is seen as a savior who tries to protect the
children from evil spirits; in the second hypothesis, she is a deeply disturbed
individual who exercises a harmful and ultimately fatal (in the case of Miles)
influence on the children.
The ambiguity of the story is created through the use of a limited point of view:
the governess’s account of events is inevitably subjective — the reader never sees the
character and events of the story as they really are, but only as they appear to her. It is
up to each individual reader to decide whether or not he can trust what the governess
is saying, whether to think of her as a reliable or unreliable narrator.
11.10. JOHN STEINBECK.
GRAPES OF WRATH (EXTRACT)
Chapter 25
(…)
All California quickens with produce, and the fruit grows heavy, and the limbs
bend gradually under the fruit so that little crutches must be placed under them to
support the weight.
Behind the fruitfulness are men of understanding and knowledge, and skill,
men who experiment with seed, endlessly developing the techniques for greater crops
of plants whose roots will resist the million enemies of the earth: the molds, the
insects, the rusts, the blights. These men work carefully and endlessly to perfect the
seed, the roots. And there are the men of chemistry who spray the trees against pests,
who sulphur the grapes, who cut out disease and rots, mildews and sicknesses.
Doctors of preventive medicine, men at the borders who look for fruit flies, for
Japanese beetle, men who quarantine the sick trees and root them out and burn them,
men of knowledge. The men who graft the young trees, the little vines, are the
cleverest of all, for theirs is a surgeon's job, as tender and delicate; and these men
must have surgeons' hands and surgeons' hearts to slit the bark, to place the grafts, to
bind the wounds and cover them from the air. These are great men.
The year is heavy with produce. And the men are proud, for of their knowledge
they can make the year heavy. They have transformed the world with their
knowledge. The short, lean wheat has been made big and productive. Little sour
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apples have grown large and sweet, and that old grape that grew among the trees and
fed the birds its tiny fruit has mothered a thousand varieties, red and black, green and
pale pink, purple and yellow; and each variety with its own flavor. The men who
work in the experimental farms have made new fruits: nectarines and forty kinds of
plums, walnuts with paper shells. And always they work, selecting, grafting,
changing, driving themselves, driving the earth to produce.
And first the cherries ripen. Cent and a half a pound. Hell, we can't pick 'em for
that. Black cherries and red cherries, full and sweet, and the birds eat half of each
cherry and the yellowjackets buzz into the holes the birds made. And on the ground
the seeds drop and dry with black shreds hanging from them.
The purple prunes soften and sweeten. My God, we can't pick them and dry
and sulphur them. We can't pay wages, no matter what wages. And the purple prunes
carpet the ground. And first the skins wrinkle a little and swarms of flies come to
feast, and the valley is filled with the odor of sweet decay. The meat turns dark and
the crop shrivels on the ground.
Then the grapes — we can't make good wine. People can't buy good wine. Rip
the grapes from the vines, good grapes, rotten grapes, wasp-stung grapes. Press
stems, press dirt and rot.
But there's mildew and formic acid in the vats. Add sulphur and tannic acid.
The smell from the ferment is not the rich odor of wine, but the smell of decay
and chemicals.
Oh, well. It has alcohol in it, anyway. They can get drunk.
The little farmers watched debt creep up on them like the tide. They sprayed
the trees and sold no crop, they pruned and grafted and could not pick the crop. And
the men of knowledge have worked, have considered, and the fruit is rotting on the
ground, and the decaying mash in the wine vat is poisoning the air. And taste the
wine — no grape flavor at all, just sulphur and tannic acid and alcohol.
This little orchard will be a part of a great holding next year, for the debt will
have choked the owner.
This vineyard will belong to the bank. Only the great owners can survive, for
they own the canneries, too. And four pears peeled and cut in half, cooked and
canned, still cost fifteen cents. And the canned pears do not spoil. They will last for
years.
The decay spreads over the State, and the sweet smell is a great sorrow on the
land. Men who can graft the trees and make the seed fertile and big can find no way
to let the hungry people eat their produce. Men who have created new fruits in the
world cannot create a system whereby their fruits may be eaten. And the failure hangs
over the State like a great sorrow.
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