05.12.12

Classics of American Literature

Lecture 50-54

Topics for Further Consideration: (lecture 52)

1. Explain whether you regard the "New England-ness" of Frost's poetry as a weakness or a strength.

Frost chose a New England setting in attempt to be true to the peculiarities of the region. Frost's early work is described as the Puritan ethic turned astonishingly lyrical and enabled to say out loud the sources of its own delight in the world. Though his work is principally associated with the life and landscape of New England, and though he was a poet of traditional verse forms and metrics who remained steadfastly aloof from the poetic movements and fashions of his time, Frost is anything but a merely regional or minor poet. The author of searching and often dark meditations on universal themes, he is a quintessentially modern poet in his adherence to language as it is actually spoken, in the psychological complexity of his portraits, and in the degree to which his work is infused with layers of ambiguity and irony. What Frost achieved in his poetry was much more complex than a mere imitation of the New England farmer idiom. He wanted to restore to literature the "sentence sounds that underlie the words," the "vocal gesture" that enhances meaning. That is, he felt the poet's ear must be sensitive to the voice in order to capture with the written word the significance of sound in the spoken word. Frost's use of New England dialect is only one aspect of his often discussed regionalism. Within New England, his particular focus was on New Hampshire, which he called "one of the two best states in the Union". Frost representation at his best was when he "dared to write in the natural speech of New England; in natural spoken speech, which is very different from the 'natural' speech of the newspapers."

2. Summarize Frost's vision of the nature and significance of labor.

Frost has so often written about the rural landscape and wildlife that one can hardly avoid thinking of him as a nature poet. Frost's nature poetry is so excellent and so characteristic that it must be given a prominent place in any account of his art. In our attempt to understand this aspect of Frost, the idea of pastoral proves useful. Not that the nature poems are to be considered as pastorals in any strict sense -- obviously the two kinds of poetry differ. In pastorals the subject is a special society, or, more generally, a way of life and nature is merely the setting within which we see this. The pastoralist does not write about nature; he uses nature as his scene, and it is important only in that it defines the swain's point of view. Nevertheless, Frost's nature poetry is closely related to his pastoralism. One might demonstrate the connection by pointing out how many poems combine both genres. Thus Frost sees in nature a symbol of man's relation to the world. Though he writes about a forest or a wildflower, his real subject is humanity. The remoteness of nature reveals the tragedy of man's isolation and his weakness in the face of vast, impersonal forces. But nature also serves to glorify man by showing the superiority of the human consciousness to brute matter. In this respect, nature becomes a means of portraying the heroic. There is a fundamental ambiguity of feeling in Frost's view of nature. It is to be feared as man's cruel taskmaster, scorned as insensible, brutish, unthinking matter; yet it is to be loved, not because it has any secret sympathy for man.

Topics for Further Consideration: (lecture 54)

1. Discuss Eliot’s view of the relationship between "the tradition and the individual talent."

"Tradition and Individual Talent" is the essay of lasting significance in the history of modern criticism. The essay brought into being two principal aspects of Eliot's critical domain – tradition and impersonality in art and poetry, that rated over the realm of criticism. The essay also brings forth Eliot's views on the inter–relation between traditional and individual talent. The essay brought into being the new approach with poets of everlasting significance and it also provided the parameters for the assessment of the genius and the shortcomings of the masters but contributed to the history of English Literature. The idea of tradition with all its magnificence has a meaning beyond the conventional sense of term. It begins with a historical sense and goes on acquiring new dimensions along political and cultural dimension, and this creates a system of axes for the assessment of the worth and genius of a poet. The idea of Eliot's theory of tradition is based on the inevitable phenomenon of the continuity of the values during the process called civilization. Eliot beings with a description that makes tradition a term of abuse and develops to a metaphor of unquestionable authenticity. 'Seldom perhaps', he says, 'does the word appear except in a phrase of censure'. Every new participation in the tradition results into restructuring of the same tradition with different emphasis. It is constantly growing and changing and becoming different from what it has been earlier. The past directs the present and is modified by the present. This is an apt revelation of the traditional capabilities of a poet. The past helps us understand the present and the present throws light on the past. The new work of art is judged by the standards set by the past. It is in the light of the past alone that an individual talent can be. This is the way Eliot subtly reconciles the tradition and the individual talent.

2. Explain the significance of the "fragment" in The Waste Land: A Collection of Critical Essays.

“The Waste Land” represents Eliot’s attempt to transcend the limitations of traditional poetic technique and instead write with the dominating twentieth-century ideas of relativity, randomness, and uncertainty in mind, perhaps his intent is to depict a world not only barren of traditional epistemology but also of Christian morality and religious certainty. With this interpretation in mind, Eliot’s world consequently offers an alternative morality that is neither bound by allegiance to a particular god nor rewarded by good faith; in this sense, the waste land is a world beyond good and evil. The oratorical tone of voice persists throughout the poem and confirms our impression of a liturgical framework. This is in keeping with the ritual/mythical basis of The Waste Land. The 'priest' occupies a prophet-like position between the occult and the audience. A striking feature in the poem is the element of riddle, which is termed sibylline fragment. The characters in the poem neither interact with one another nor understand their placing in the poem; much like Eliot’s call for the reader to transcend the poetic limitations of time and place, so too does understanding the poem’s integration of past, present, and future require a perspective not limited to the characters in the poem. Understanding “The Waste Land” consequently necessitates a nonlinear conceptualization of time, an ability to simultaneously parse the meaning of seemingly disordered historical and literary allusions.

American Passages Unit 8

Comprehension Questions

1. What political and social problems faced the American South in the period after the Civil War known as Reconstruction?

Reconstruction is the period immediately following the Civil War during which the United States sought to rebuild the South physically, politically, socially, and economically. The South faced many social and political problems during the Revolution. One of these problems was created by the Radicals new plan itself. Actually, the fact that slaves were freed due to the ratification of the 13 Amendment caused many southern whites to discourage the reconstruction that the North had planned. Some of these problems included land distribution, military location in the south, and the prevention of black intimidation. Another problem in the South during Reconstruction was racism. Instead of the ideal (black equality), emancipation would lead to increasing violence and racism in the South. Other problems they had included; land distribution, military location (for the south), and the prevention of black intimidation.

2. What is the “plantation myth”? How do the featured southern regionalist writers challenge and transform ideas about life in the American South?

Literature has always been entwined with popular history, and much of the literature written about the Civil War served to perpetuate popular sentiments, such as the plantation myth, complete with its cavalier planters and slaves faithful to the old "masses". The plantation system describes the past of only some Southerners. “While the African-American experience was the plantation experience, the white experience was not”. Part of the plantation myth is the image of a South untouched by the industrial revolution. In the plantation myth, Southern society is defined by a clash between blacks and whites. The black and white dichotomy hides historic diversity”. Many Native American tribes populated the Southeast, and there was considerable mixing of the Native American and slave populations. Even within the slave community there was significant diversity. “Many slaves came from the Caribbean,” Noblit says. “There is more diversity in the African-American population than normally admitted.” Idealizations of the Old South’s plantation culture contributed to the development of a “moonlight and magnolias” myth that other writers at the turn of the century would perpetuate and later authors would spend decades trying to debunk.

3. What is dialect? How did post–Civil War writers represent vernacular speech?

A dialect is a regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety differing from the standard literary language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries dialect was not common in American Literature. Writers who attempted to accurately capture American dialect and slang often failed to make it believable. The use of dialect in American literature comes from using a combination of realism and regionalism. Realism is an inclination toward literal truth and pragmatism and regionalism is the use of regional characteristics, as of locale, custom, or speech, in literature or art. Regionalism includes local language, which is often expressed by using dialect. Three examples of accurately capturing regionalism are: Bret Harte's "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" (1869), Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1884-1885), and William Dean Howells "A Hazard of New Fortunes" (1890).

Context Questions

1. What role does the Mississippi River play in Mark Twain’s depiction of Huck and Jim’s journey southward in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? What are the implications of the fact that they continue to drift further and further south over the course of their adventure? How do Twain’s depictions of the culture of the border state of Missouri compare to Chopin’s representations of life in the Deep South in Louisiana?

Throughout the story, the Mississippi River plays an important symbolic figure, and significance to the story's plot. For Huck and Jim, the river is a place for freedom and adventure. Mark Twain uses the Mississippi River to symbolize freedom, adventure, and comfort. For Jim, the river represents freedom and poverty. Huck agrees to help Jim by following along on his journey to Cairo. Jim depends on the Mississippi River and believes it will lead him to his finding of his family. Thus, the Mississippi River symbolizes freedom. Huck feels relaxed on the Mississippi River with Jim. He is free, and no one can control him except for himself. Huck is so relaxed and just enjoys the free living. The river lets him be whoever he wants to be. For Huck, the river is like home. He feels most comfortable and free on the Mississippi River and does whatever he desires. Huck enjoys nature, and wildlife and loves being away from civilization. His escape to the Mississippi is a way to show his hatred toward society. The Mississippi River is important in the novel because it plays a very big role. The Mississippi River represents many things. To the main characters, Huck and Jim, it symbolizes freedom and adventure. They wanted to break away from society; therefore they escaped to the Mississippi River where it is peaceful, and calm.

2. What is the difference between Chopin’s portrait of mixed-race people in “Désirée’s Baby” and Chesnutt’s representations of mixed-race people in Cincinnati in “The Wife of His Youth”? What different attitudes and assumptions about race do these writers bring to their texts?

Kate Chopin brought attention to the racial issues that existed during the times of slavery through her short story “Désirée’s Baby” which introduces the two main characters in the story, Désirée and Armand, and creates many symbolisms, ironies, and themes seen throughout the story. "Désirée's Baby" depicts the family drama that ensues when an apparently mixed-race child is born to parents who presumed themselves to be white. The first major symbolism seen continuously throughout the story is that of light and dark. This story obviously identifies racial issues. These themes reach deep into the reader’s mind and really makes the reader think about the many issues of race in society today as well as the racial issues of the past.

"The Wife of His Youth” tells how a leader of one of the Blue Vein Societies triumphs over his class and color prejudices by acknowledging after decades of separation his dark-skinned plantation wife. It examines social problems that resisted the kinds of individual ethical solutions on which Chesnutt's northern-based stories turn. Chesnutt adopted a variety of means in The Wife of His Youth to compel his readers to consider contemporary racial realities in the clarifying light of his brand of social realism. Some critics, such as William Dean Howells, praised the author of The Wife of His Youth as a literary realist of the first order. Others were troubled by Chesnutt's concentration on such cheerless topics as segregation, mob violence, and miscegenation. Late twentieth-century critics have proved more hospitable to Chesnutt's color line fiction in general and more appreciative of the prototypical examples of it published in The Wife of His Youth.

3. How does Twain’s characterization of African Americans compare to Chesnutt’s characterization of African Americans? How do both authors challenge and participate in racial stereotypes? How did their depictions of African American speech and culture influence later African American writers?

Twain uses scathing wit when employing “nigger” at times, in order to hold society’s narrow-minded folly on display through satire and irony. His characters make use of the word to describe African Americans as if they were not human; “nigger” unconditionally divided the blacks and the whites, separating them by race as if separating them by species. Twain’s ostensibly stereotypical characterization of Jim actually works to his advantage, in that while a reader may at first pass the character off as formulaic and trite, continued reading exposes the depth behind “Mrs. Watson’s Nigger.” Chesnutt's writings about slavery and mulattos living on the “color line” convey implicit denunciations of the institution. At times overtly didactic, these stories are Chesnutt's attempts to humanize African American literary characters. However, the adverse reaction to his fiction virtually ended his literary career. While literary critics recognize the dual influence of romanticism and realism in regionalism and local color fiction, many differ to varying degrees in their definitions and distinctions of the literary forms. Some critics consider local color fiction to be a subset of regionalism; others use the two terms interchangeably. To the extent that a distinction can be made, commentators contend that regionalism incorporates the broader concept of sectional differences, while local color fiction emphasizes the charm and idiosyncrasies of local characters and customs.

Exploratory Questions

1. Why did the accurate representation of dialect play such an important role in regional realism? How did these writers’ innovations in the creation of realistic-sounding dialogue affect later American literature?

Many regionalist writers became accomplished at transcribing the authentic rhythms and idioms of local dialect in their efforts to make their characters' dialogue mimic the way people really talked. Literalized, phonetic spellings forced readers to pronounce words as speakers of a regional dialect would pronounce them. The video for Unit 8 focuses on three influential practitioners of regional realism in the South: Mark Twain, Charles W. Chesnutt, and Kate Chopin. Twain used realism and regional dialect in his masterpiece, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, to challenge readers to come to new conclusions about the role of race and class in America. His complex portrait of race relations in the 1840s continues to inspire controversy. Charles W. Chesnutt adopted the regional realist style to explore the contradictions of life on the "color line" between black and white society and to challenge racial stereotypes. Kate Chopin depicted the exotic culture of Creole and Cajun Louisiana, offering a controversial exploration of the constraints placed on women's individuality and sexuality in the process. All of these writers were committed to providing realistic representations of their local cultures and to constructing complicated, believable characters who faced complex moral dilemmas about the nature of their American identities.

2. What made Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Chopin’s The Awakening such controversial novels, both in their own time and in ours? How did their representations of southern culture unsettle assumptions and cause discomfort in their readers? How does their work continue to challenge readers?

Not only is this book, one of the most controversial novels of all time, but it is true American ideals and flaws. First, the use of satire throughout the book gives different parts of action irony. Satire is a literary work in which vices, follies, stupidities, abuses, etc. are held up to ridicule and contempt. Twain uses satire through the story to poke fun at the society in which he grew up. Satire is useful because it makes the readers truly think about what Twain has said, and at the same time, the irony of it is based on truth and can be used to force the readers to think about society today. Last, Mark Twain's personal beliefs and struggles are shown throughout the book. True authors use aspects of their own self-characters to create great works that readers admire. Throughout his life, he struggled with moral issues, religion, and he fought against the formation that his society had made him into. Religion was a major aspect of life that Twain expresses in his text. Greatness is defined as much above the ordinary or average, expert, skillful, excellent, splendid, and fine. All of these words cannot truly describe the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. As "great" as the book is, no other piece of literature is or will be more American than this novel. Twain was like a puppet master, using his characters to not only entertain, but to get a message across. He was a master of literature, because it still lives on. People enjoy it, it is discussed, good or bad, and it still influences our modern world. The book is alive as ever and will continue to be. Its characters and events will continue to thrive. Teachers continue to hand students this book and make them write essays about the characters, the satire, and whatnot. There is no proper way to dissect this novel, and there is no bottom to the hole that readers and critics create as they delve into the meaning of the book. The fact that the book is still living, after Twain's death over 100 years ago, speaks for itself.

3. Ernest Hemingway claimed that all subsequent American literature derived from Huckleberry Finn. What did Hemingway mean by this claim? Why did he see Twain’s novel as so foundational to American identity and to American literary traditions?

All modern American literature," according to Ernest Hemingway, "comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. I believe this and I think the subversion in the novel is established when Mark Twain begins to question the acceptable morality of society. Twain uses humor and effective writing to make Huckleberry Finn a subversive novel about society in the 19th century. In fact, throughout the novel Twain makes violence a humorous issue and does not act upon it as a serious issue. This goes with the whole theme of the novel that there is no moral. This goes with the whole theme of the novel that there is no moral. The way Huck has been raised, he has no clue that what Tom's gang wants to do is ludacrist, and should be totally unacceptable. Twain uses this conversation also to show the beginning of questioning throughout the novel. Mark Twain clearly has written a subversive novel in Huckleberry Finn. In the society that Huck and Jim lived in blacks were inferior to the whites, but that is not the way Twain portrays them in this novel. The fact that killing people is humorous is another way that Twain shows subversion in the novel. He is trying to prove that sometimes what is accepted is not always the correct way. This causes Twain's novel to be portrayed as a very subversive novel. After all, Mark Twain has put together a very interesting and entertaining, but subversive novel named Huckleb.

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