The All-American Boy

This week we read Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and for the first time, we are reading about a character that we have all grown up knowing. But the biggest difference between hearing about Tom Sawyer as children and reading about him as adults is that we can appreciate what his character means so much more. As has been said in the class, we are nostalgic for childhood as it is happening to us and it seems that the further we move away for it, the harder we try to hold on. And for the first time we are seeing an author fully embracing childhood and the fond memories we all share, within the text, as opposed to lightly dusting around the subject. So, with all of this being said, I am going to focus on the theme of boyhood in the context of the country and the city.

Although it is never stated in the novel that Tom lives in the country, we can infer it from the text when Tom is stealing the jam (p.314), going swimming (p. 317), and whitewashing fences (p. 324). I have strong doubts that a young boy living in a big city would be whitewashing a fence. We discussed in class about whether or not we thought Tom was a good kid or malicious and I still stick with my belief that Tom is an all American, good little boy. When I picture what it would be like to raise a son or to have a brother, he would be a carbon copy of Tom Sawyer; always running away and tricking his friends into doing his work for him. The image that Twain paints for use is both believable and magical. Not only is Tom getting into all sorts of trouble and going on great adventures, but there is not much adult supervision going on, aside from Aunt Polly’s so called punishments. Then there is the scene when Tom goes down to the river after Aunt Polly scolds him for breaking the sugar bowl, when Sid was the real culprit and he is contemplating drowning himself to get back at her. “A log raft in the river invited him, and he seated himself on its outer edge and contemplated the dreary vastness of the stream, wishing, the while, that he could only be drowned, all at once and unconsciously, without undergoing the uncomfortable routine devised by nature” (p.338). I can distinctly remember as a child being so mad at my parents that I would plan out how I was going to run away from home to really get them back and make them feel sorry for being so mean to me. All children get upset with their parents or care taker and what is so funny about this scene is that each and every one of us has at some point in our youth felt the same way. Tom of course then remembers the flower in his chest pocket from his new lady love and completely abandons all prior notions, which is so typical of a child. All of Tom’s actions can be chalked up to his life in the country, where there are no rules and children are able to live a free existence.

At the complete polar end of the spectrum, we saw Ragged Dick living in a big city and shining shoes to make a living. I do not dislike Dick, but believing that he is a fun, lighthearted character is much harder to believe. He is a child living in an adult world, where as Tom is able to live in a child’s world. Dick asks the lady at the apple stand about her taxes and I bet that if someone had talked to Tom about taxes he would have looked at them like they had two heads. Children are not supposed to know and understand the way the adult world works, which is unfortunate for Dick, but makes us love Tom so much more because he fully embodies what it means to have a childhood. Then there is the argument about how good Dick is because he does not cheat or steal and yet he is a homeless child in a large city. It is hard to wrap my mind around the possibility that he could still be a child and yet have no child like qualities.

In summary, I think that what we all enjoy about reading Tom Sawyer is that we recognize a little piece of ourselves in him. Whether it be sneaking away from school to go swimming, tricking others into doing our chores, or dancing around to impress the object of our affection, we can enjoy Tom for who he is and what he represents because he brings back such fond memories of being a kid.

And for your viewing pleasure (and to further express my point), here is a link to the preview of Disney's Tom and Huck http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C-xXZyX2zU&feature=related

For Purple Mountain Majesties (or Black would work just fine)

The image of a mother trying to protect her baby from most certain death is an age old story. We have seen it in The Bible with Mary and Jesus, Harry Potter, and Uncle Tom’s Cabin. These are all stories we are familiar with, but in The Yares of the Black Mountains, I believe that a mother trying to protect her baby from death is used as a symbolic representation of the times.
As we discussed in class, Davis wrote The Yares of the Black Mountains a few years following the civil war and not surprisingly the country was still in a shambles. This is also the first time that we have seen a novel stepping away from the big city atmosphere and going back to the heart of America. So, with all of this being said, I would like to address Davis’ use of baby Charley to represent a sick nation and mother Denby as our heroine/lady liberty.
We know that the mother is heading south because she is hopeful a change of scenery will catapult her baby to recovery; ‘“I doubt very much whether the cloud-effects will be as good as in the White Mountains. The sky is too warm.” This was said thoughtfully. “He has one stomach-tooth almost through. The balsam-air will be such a tonic! We’ll go up if it is on foot, won’t we Charley?” And she buried her face in the roll of blanket’ (p.240). Here is this woman, a former New Yorker who is traveling with her sick baby to the south to find healing. I do not know why I did not see it sooner, but Davis’ symbolism is awfully blatant.
Finally, I found it interesting that the Yare men decided to abstain from the civil war fighting. “They were the only men anigh hyar that stood out fur the Union from first to last. They couldn’t turn agen the old flag, you see, Mistress Denby.” “They should have gone into the Federal army and helped to free the slaves,” cried the widow with rising color, for she had been a violent abolitionist in her day. “Waal, we never put much vally on the blacks, that’s the truth. We couldn’t argy or jedge whether slavery war wholesomest or not. It was out of our sight. My lads, bein’ known as extraordinar’ strong men an’ powerful bear-fighters, hed two or three offers to join Kirk’s Loyal Rangers in Tennessee. But they couldn’t shed the blood of their old neighbors” (p.260). They did not want to turn their backs on the country, but at the same time did not want to kill their neighbors. I’m not sure if I have ever seen or heard of such a scenario as people being neutral during the civil war, but it certainly does make Davis’ case to use baby Charley as a symbol of a healing nation more plausible. What a better place to nurse a sick country back to health than in one that is Confederate and Union neutral.

All is not as it seems..... or is it?

For the first time, I am completely at a loss as to how to approach the prompt, so I will do the best that I can to adequately answer the question. The second part we read of A Whisper in the Dark reminded me very much of Jane Eyre and The Wide Sargasso Sea, which is the prequel to Jane Eyre and follows Mrs. Rochester through her life and explains why she ends up crazy and locked in her husbands attic.

Based off that statement, Sybil finding out that her crazy mother was the one pacing the floor above her room was not in the least bit surprising to me (p. 243). I initially thought, maybe it could be Guy, but I knew instantly Sybil’s mother was the one being held captive after she heard her uncle’s voice, ”But if the steps had been silent in that room, voices had not, for I heard a continuous murmur at one time: the tones of a one voice were abrupt and broken, the other low, yet resonant, and that I felt assured, belonged to my uncle” (p.242). So with her deranged mother and herself being put into this insane asylum with three of the creepiest caretakers a person could possibly conjure up, I really do not consider Sybil to be an unreliable narrator. The girl was throw into an insane asylum by her uncle so that he could take possession of her property. Dr.Karnac drugged her so that she would be easy to transport and would not put up a fuss (p. 238). I agree that Louisa May Alcott, who is best known for Little Women, has made a novel with the concept that things are “not what they seem”, which is not her forte necessarily, but I do not think she is trying to discredit our narrator by throwing her in the looney bin.

As far as changing our previous ideas about mother/daughter relationships, the relationship between Sybil and her mother is a complete 180 degree turn from the traditional relationship we have seen in characters like Mrs. Montgomery and Ellen. At seventeen years old, Sybil has never seen her mother and it seems that she has not ever had an interest in knowing much about her mother until she sees a picture of her when she goes to live with her uncle. “I looked again, and saw a face delicate yet spirited, with dark eyes, a passionate mouth, and a head crowned with hair as plenteous and golden as my own; but the whole seemed dimmed by age, the ivory was stained, the glass cracked, and a faded ribbon fastened it. My eyes filled as I looked, and a strong desire seized me to know what had defaced this little picture of the mother whom I never knew” (p. 227). This is not the traditional mother/daughter relationship that we have seen in the past, where the daughter either has a relationship with her mother or she at least knows of her mother. It was almost as if Sybil did not really even care to know who here mother was and Alcott turned the scene of her meeting her mother for the first time, which should have been heart-warming even though her mother was dead, into a frightening encounter. “I was inured to fear now, and unwholesome craving for new terrors seemed to have grown by what it fed on: an irresistible desire led me close, nerved me to lift the cover and look below—a single glance—then with a cry as panic-stricken as that which rent the silence of the night, I fled away, for the face I saw was a pale image of my own” (p. 243). It’s almost as if Alcott is saying that as you get older, you do not need your mother like you did as a child. Therefore, relationship between mothers and daughters is not as crucial in an older character. So with all of this being said, I do believe Alcott has changed our perspective on mother/daughter relationships, but I do not feel she is trying to change what we think of the narrator because she was committed.

What's in a name?

In the previous texts we have read this semester, the characters and plot have been heavily influenced by religion as well as religious overtones. With Southworth’s “The Hidden Hand”, the imagery of God is surprisingly lacking for a novel that was published four years after “The Wide, Wide World” which had strong Christian themes. Now there has been some speculation that the title of the book has to do with Capitola’s mother’s right hand being covered during child birth (p.167) or Capitola’s distinct birthmark of a crimson hand on her palm (p.173), but I believe that the title “The Hidden Hand” is an indicator that the hand of God is hidden through out the text.
To validate my point, I’d like to address a couple of passages in the text that really stuck out because they were easy to over look while reading. The first instance of religion being introduced into the novel was when Old Hurricane said, “For she is but a bit of a poor, friendless, motherless, fatherless child, lost and wandering in your great Babylon! No more hard words to her, sir-or by the everlasting-” (p.179). We know Babylon to possibly be one of the first major cities in the world, located along the Euphrates River. It is also talked about in the Bible. When I think of Babylon, what comes to mind is a massive city very much like the city Capitola lived in while she was struggling to live life as a girl in boy’s clothing. A city caught between new advances in technology with a large population of individuals fighting day-to-day to survive. There is also the comment about “No more hard words to her, sir-or by the everlasting-”. Everlasting God maybe? Who knows, but it is awfully suspicious that Southworth selected that word in particular.

Lastly, after Herbert delivers the letter that Marah Rocke and her son will not be living with Major Warfield, Southworth paints this image of a woman who was completely full of hope and abruptly had her optimism ripped out from under her, to which she follows with “Now, indeed, this poor modern Hagar looked up and smiled at the oddity of her Ishmael’s far-reaching thought” (p. 215). The characters she is referring to, Hagar and Ishmael, are two biblical characters that can be found in Genesis. Due to their old age, Sarah and Abraham were unable to have a child and so Sarah, being a desperate woman, asked her husband Abraham to sleep with their servant Hagar so that they might have a child. To everyone’s surprise (not really), Hagar did bare a son whom she named Ishmael. But after the birth of Ishmael, Sarah discovered that she was in fact pregnant herself (Karma much?). Out of anger, Sarah drove Hagar and her son Ishmael out into the desert. This biblical example seems to make since in the context because Marah and her son Traverse disappeared in the night, away from Major Warfield and he later goes on to essentially banish them from Hurricane Hall. The biblical story of Hagar and Ishmael ends well though because Ishmael and his family become very prosperous which is a pretty good indicator that Traverse and his mother will go on to become very wealthy and build a home for orphans and widows (p.215).

Girl Power: Now v. Then

After reading Cummin’s The Lamplighter and watching Amy Poehler’s interview, it is quite evident that not much has changed in the way little girls struggle from day to day to try and find equilibrium in their life. For this weeks reading, we are paralleling Gerty, an 8 year old orphan girl growing up in the nineteenth century with Anna, a 3rd grader who is most likely growing up in a structured, suburban home in the early twenty-first century.

Women and girls are able to freely express themselves now a-days because it is socially acceptable, whereas in the early nineteenth century, women were strongly discouraged from outward bodily expression of emotion. So, yes the depiction of girls is the same (striving to find balance in an often stressful world), but Gerty has a much different approach at how she handles frustration as opposed to Anna who is able to express her feelings without restraint. We see Gerty’s burst of anger on two separate occasions, first when Gerty sees Nan Grant for the first time since she threw her out onto the street, “Gerty turned, saw that he was going, then, quick as lightning, stooped, and picking up a stone from the sidewalk, flung it at the window” (p.56) and then again when the bigger girls on the school playground made fun of Uncle True, “Gerty was furious. Her eyes glistened, she doubled her little fist, and without hesitation came down in battle upon the crowd” (p.68). While Gerty is trying to find a sense of balance in her life by seeking God, she is still not able to express her emotions so any time that she experiences intense anger or sadness, her reaction is often very extravagant.

I will say that there is not much difference between now and then with young girls trying to channel their emotions to find a sense of balance, but the largest difference that I saw between Anna and Gerty was that Anna had a healthy outlet to release any tension that she might be feeling (yoga), while Gerty was supposed to be filling the traditional woman’s role (cooking, cleaning, housework, etc) and had no way to easily vent her feelings.

What would Gerty have to say if she was talking with Amy Poehler? I do not think her answers would be that much different from Anna’s. Gerty might like a more physical form of releasing her frustration like tae bo or kickboxing though. She would probably also talk about her journey to find God or maybe even talk about how she prays. Gerty is sort of a spit fire, so you are not ever really sure what you are going to get out of her. And I definitely think that she would pick the rainbow, since she is so fond of stars.

Stowe's real didactic purpose

Although Uncle Tom’s Cabin has been classified as a children’s novel, one would hardly refer to it as a comforting bedtime story. Up until this point, we have read stories that largely center around a child or child-like character, but Stowe’s use of the child in her novel is not under any circumstances done to bring life and happiness to her story, it is done to ravish the heart of her reader.

Nineteenth century literature was always aimed at some sort of didactic purpose, like religion, but Stowe’s underlying didactic purpose for writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin is not the evils of slavery, but the devastation that it caused by separating families. There are two very specific examples from the text where mothers risk life and limb to protect their child from being taken away and sold to another master.

First off, we see Eliza who is running away from her home and master after she hears that her son will be sold in the morning. “If it were your Harry, mother, or your Willie, that were going to be torn from you by a brutal trader, tomorrow morning—if you had seen the man, and heard that the papers were signed and delivered, and you had only from twelve o’clock till morning to make good your escape,--how fast could you walk? How many miles could you make in those few brief hours, with the darling at your bosom, -- the little sleepy head on your shoulder, -- the small, soft arms trustingly holding on to your neck?” (p. 105). Many enslaved women were separated from their children and husbands never knowing if they might see them again or if they were able to survive, but some were lucky enough to be kept with their loved ones. Any mother who thought she might lose her baby would do everything within her power to keep her child safe. It is just heartbreaking to even fathom that Eliza could have had her child taken away from her, but also too that her battle to save her child might be on going. Safety in the moment is not a guarantee for the future.

Secondly, the reader is briefly introduced to Lucy, a slave girl who Mr. Haley purchases during his journey with Tom on the river. She comes aboard with her ten month old son, optimistic that she will be reunited with her husband in Louisville as promised by her former master. Little to the reader’s surprise, Mr. Haley informs her that she will not be reunited with her husband. Automatically, you can only wonder what will become of Lucy’s baby since Mr. Haley has no problem cutting her off from her husband. To no avail, Mr. Haley sells Lucy’s son to a man he meets on board right as he was getting off the boat in Louisville. The reader’s heart is just absolutely breaking as we see Lucy scouring the crowd of civilians for her husband while some stranger comes along and takes her baby without her knowing. “But the woman did not scream. The shot had passed too straight and direct through the heart, for cry or tear. Dizzily she sat down. Her slack hands fell lifeless by her side. Her eyes looked straight forward, but she saw nothing. All the noise and hum of the boat, the groaning of the machinery, mingled dreamily to her bewildered ear; and the poor, dumb-stricken heart had neither cry nor tear to show for its utter misery.” (p.208-209). Stowe paints a devastating portrait of what a woman goes through after the loss of a child. Although her tiny son is still alive, it is almost as if Mr. Haley had killed him on the spot. There is no emotion, just lifelessness and heartbreak. To add even more pain to the story, Lucy ends up throwing herself overboard, the weight and heartache of losing a husband and a son just too much to bare.

Although Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a children’s novel, it’s hard and gritty message is far from sweet and angelic.

The image of the parent in children's literature

In Warner’s The Wide, Wide World, we are introduced to little Ellen Montgomery who has led a seemingly privileged life until she is told that due to her mother’s gradually failing health, she will have to travel to live with her Aunt Fortune while her mother and father journey to Europe to seek medical care. Though the story is largely centered around Ellen and her struggle accepting that she will be separated from her mother, Warner does a sufficient job getting her reader to understand the roles that parents played during the late 1800’s. The first major parental role that we see is naturally Mrs. Montgomery, Ellen’s mother. The reader gets the sense that Warner wants them to see mothers as kind, compassionate, and strong God-fearing women. During one of their many conversations about God and religion, Mrs. Montgomery says to Ellen, “you know the way to make him so, Ellen. He is willing; it only rests with you. Oh, my child, my child! If losing your mother might be the means of finding you that better Friend, I should be quite willing, and glad, to go—for ever.” (p.15) Mrs. Montgomery’s passion for the Lord is quite evident through out the book and leaves no doubt that religion was just as important as eating and sleeping. As stated earlier, mothers were also portrayed as being kind and even selfless. On their last shopping trip together, the pair venture into a jewelry store where Mrs. Montgomery exhibits a painful and yet endearing final act of love for her daughter; “Mrs. Montgomery drew a ring from her finger, and after a little chaffering, parted with it to the owner of the store for eighty dollars, being counted out, and she left the store. ‘Mamma,” said Ellen in a low voice, “wasn’t that grandmamma’s ring, which I thought you loved so much?’ ‘Yes, I did love it, Ellen, but I love you better.’” (p.21) What an incredible sacrifice Mrs. Montgomery made for her daughter so that she might have a few nice things to remember her by. The second parental role that we see is of course Ellen’s father, Captain Montgomery. Although he is absent for almost the whole section that we read, the reader can easily infer that fathers were to be respected and were lacking in compassion and empathy. There were several occasions when Mrs. Montgomery wanted to discuss a particular matter with her husband, but chose not to bother him so as not to upset him. A perfect example of this was when Mrs. Montgomery wanted to take Ellen shopping for a few items that she could have on her journey and the amount of funds that he had given her were not sufficient to cover what she wanted to give to Ellen, Mrs. Montgomery instead chose to keep the request for additional money to herself (p.21). Lastly, the way in which Captain Montgomery went about alerting Ellen to her date and time of departure was almost gut retching. Besides lacking in compassion and empathy, he was also completely blind to the emotional stress that he was causing his submissive and very ill wife. I can not even fathom a father not allowing his wife to console her daughter one last time before they would be separated forever (p.50-54). Lastly, the very small but crucial role of the older gentleman from the fabric store was also an important parental role. He was in fact a fatherly figure, but more so a God-sent heavenly father figure, as opposed to her earthly father Captain Montgomery. As the two returned to the fabric store there is a paragraph that stated, “Her hand was fast in his, and her tongue ran very freely, for her heart was completely opened to him. He seemed as pleased to listen as she was to talk; and by little and little Ellen told him all her history—the troubles that had come upon her in consequence of her mother’s illness, and her intended journey and prospects” (p.44). I saw this passage as Ellen beginning to have faith in God because she had no inhibitions as she told this stranger all about her life and troubles. This gentleman stranger also does a fine job of counter balancing the lack of fathering that Captain Montgomery does by simply listening to and protecting Ellen.

The text does a very good job of differentiating the roles of mother and father. Warner wants us to understand that mothers are these warm creatures that have a devout faith in God and teach their children right from wrong as they lead by example. Mothers are also respectful of their husbands and do everything in their power to not displease them. The image of the father is the classic bread winner, head of the household. But in Warner’s portrayal, Captain Montgomery is completely lacking in emotion and is even cheerful in parts where the women are depressed (p.50). It is a harsh image, but exact in the way that fathers behaved during the nineteenth century.

I believe that Ellen perceives her parents in very different lights. It is clear that she has an unwavering love for her mother, which can also be compared to the unwavering love that Mrs. Montgomery has for God. It is almost as if Ellen views her mother as equal in stature to the Lord. I believe that Ellen expects her mother to be nurturing and to protect her from all the world’s evils. On the other end of the spectrum, it seems that Ellen expects very little from her father. It appears that she knows that her father is the head of the household and she does the best that she can to be respectful of him, but it also seems that she really could careless about him being around.