Roceli Petriercci O.

Lim Survey of American Lit take home quiz

1.

Compare the writing styles of Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman. Choose 2-3 sentences from each work as reported in class and analyze these as examples of each writers philosophy and why these were novel or new expressions at the time. The writing style of Emerson is tight, impenetrable, and delivered with force in his pronouncements in Self Reliance. He called his own writing style electric, charged with meaning that could bring people into action. America in its nascent years as an independent nation was still searching for identity. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all menthat is genius. Emerson opens his essay with this strong thought which he further elaborates, saying that the greatness of men like Plato and Milton was brought on from how they spoke of their own thoughts. He urges for self trust and believing in ones own capabilities, that ones individuality is the work of God; recognizing and acting upon this individuality is using what God has given. Emerson also criticizes hypocrisy in the large societies and dead institutions in how they lure people in with malice and vanity [wearing] the coat of philanthropy. Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. He says this because he intends to show his fellow Americans that they are fully capable of not only surviving, but also truly living, by relying on ones own skills, convictions, and values. Thoreaus Walden appeals for simplicity, simplicity, yet Thoreaus language and style is not so simple. He uses extended metaphors, allegory, oxymoron, and many other devices that make up his detailed and highly descriptive style. "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to leave alone. This is one paradoxical statement that introduced to America Thoreaus own philosophy of life based on simplicity; he pities men who have inherited farms and houses because they are compelled to labor for money from these and laying up treasures which moth and rust will corrupt and thieves break through and steal. While civilization sought to acquire wealth, Thoreau saw life as an exploration of the mind and the world. By changing the way we thought of our lives and what we deem necessary, we can rid ourselves of anxiety and unnecessary worries. For the improvements of ages have had but little influence on the essential laws of man's existence: as our skeletons, probably, are not to be distinguished from those of our ancestors. Thoreau is saying that the progress of civilization does not change or increase what is necessary for our survival, a thought that is relevant to this era of increasing materialism. Whitman uses a direct and clear style in his preface to Leaves of Grass, a style that successfully delivers his point and intention, and which he advises a poet to utilize; the faintest indication is the indication of the best, and then becomes the clearest indication. He clamors for the same clarity and simplicity when he states, who troubles himself about his ornaments or fluency is lost. Whitman counts the success of a poem on how it connects person to person, not on how elaborately the poem is written. He also encourages a poets experimentation with form and content. If [the poet] breathes into anything that was before thought small it dilates with the grandeur and life of the universe. He urges the poet to take small things and make them large. This was an innovative view on poetry at the time, a rejection of European forms (a notable influence of Emerson). He also states: Love the earth and sun and animals. . . stand up for the stupid and crazy. . . reexamine all you have been told at school, or church or in any book. . . dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem. Being in touch with nature and ones own soul are the only requisites of a poet, a Romantic notion that also pervades Emersons and Thoreaus works.

2.

Outline the four main events of The Purloined Letter. Discuss how this classic detective story attempted to achieve a psychoanalytic study of the subconscious [stolen letter]; process of psychoanalysis [Dupins investigation of the stolen letter]; and nature of language or signifier [unknown content of letter]. The purloining of the letter from a certain personage. Monsieur Gs thorough search for the letter. Monsieur G consults Dupin. Dupin investigates the case and obtains the letter.

The major characters in the story are the insightful Dupin, who contrasts with the unreflective (and pigheaded policeman) Monsieur G, and the Minister D, whose moves and motivations are logically calculated by Dupin by taking into consideration the character of the Minister. Through distinctive characterizations, symbolism, an exploration of the human mind, and control in the narrative, the story revolves around the mystery of the stolen letter, the contents of which was never revealed. We can say that this mysterious letter symbolizes the murky, unknowable subconscious, and our knowledge of it is, so to speak, stolen from us, its contents filtered from us by the conscious mind (according to Freudian

Roceli Petriercci O. Lim Survey of American Lit take home quiz

psychology). Monsieur G may also symbolize this conscious mind, albeit a very narrow one which did not consider characteristic principles of men except of his own kind. The story asserts that this narrowmindedness was the failure of Monsieur G against an intellectual like the Minister D. Monsieur G (possibly blinded by the large reward) saw no importance in knowing of the criminals motives. Furthermore, he dismisses any notion that the Minister D might be of significant intellect when he presumes that the Minister is a fool because he is a poet. The nature of language is symbolized by the unknown contents of the letter. The nature of language is the nature of human thought and human action, two things which Monsieur G never considered in his search for the letter in Minister Ds residence. Perhaps the contents of the letter remain unknown to represent Monsieur Gs ignorance of human thought and action. Confined in his own way of thinking and distracted by the large rewards, he labors under false impressions and fails. 3. Discuss allegory and symbolism as devices in Hawthornes Rappaccinis Daughter and in Melvilles Moby Dick. How are the two similar or different in their treatments of reality/fact to develop the themes of each work. Support your answer with quotations from each work. In Rappaccinis Daughter, there is an abundance of allegorical references to the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve, as well as symbols like the poisonous flowers and the garden itself. The symbols give much room for different interpretations. Doctor Rappaccini is likened to a god who created the poisonous garden. Beatrice is Eve who lures Giovanni into sharing her corruption, although with love on her mind and not malicious intent. Accordingly, Giovanni is Adam, and may also be a symbol of all of mankind, capable of both being good and bad. Professor Baglioni, some critics say, is an ineffectual Christ who promised to cure Beatrice of the poison in her body, only to have her die because he felt threatened that she might take over his academic chair. The tragic ending juxtaposed with these symbols and images of the Garden of Eden brings us back to the Genesis creation story, of how nature was first created, and the notion that the abuse of nature with technology (like how Rappaccini created his own garden of artificial, poisonous flowers) will lead to downfall. In describing Rappaccinis garden, Hawthorne wrote, an appearance of artificialness, indicating that there had been such commixture, and, as it were, adultery of various vegetable species, that the production was no longer of God's making, but the monstrous offspring of man's depraved fancy, glowing with only an evil mockery of beauty. The story has an almost divine quality owing to the symbolism, making the story less than realistic yet conveying a message about reality all the same. Moby Dick, also a Romantic novel, sheds light on the exploitative whaling industry, which is one of the many themes of the novel. Moby Dick symbolizes God or Nature, mysterious and unknowable, and the object of Captain Ahabs revenge; how may unlettered Ishmael hope to read the awful Chaldee of the Sperm Whales brow? I put that brow before you. Read it if you can. Ishmael is saying how difficult it is to understand Moby Dick, yet the Pequod keeps in pursuit of the whale while the Captain believes with all his heart that he can conquer it. In the end, Captain Ahab, consumed by hatred and revenge against Moby Dick, dies by his own harpoon rope. Except for Ishmael, everyone dies on the coffin-like Pequod, described to be painted black and adorned with whale teeth and bones. Like Hawthornes story, the message here is that death is the consequence for the abuse of nature. The two stories are also similar in the characters of Rappaccini and Captain Ahab who are both consumed by dark forces (an inhumane love for science and revenge, respectively). Both stories are essentially the same in their Romantic themes. Their difference lies in how the stories are told due to their distinct settings. Moby Dick, set on a whaling ship in the middle of the ocean, is a realistic depiction of the whaling industry. 4. Discuss the significance of Daisy Miller in American literature despite Henry Jamess preference for creating characters belonging to the refined class far from America and far from the ordinary lives of average Americans. Comment on his choice of subject and setting as strategies to enable social and psychological concerns in Daisy Miller. European society is the environment in which James grew up as an upper-class American expatriate himself. This was what he knew and what he wrote about. His choice of subject and setting enabled him to analyze cross-cultural differences between the Old World and the New World, when many wealthy Americans were making grand tours around Europe after the American Civil War. He banked on the inevitability of culture clash. He also portrayed Americans who have been enculturated with the Old World values and how they tend to be more observant of the social rules than the Europeans themselves, becoming hypocrites and forgetting American values. Mrs. Costello is one such character. Representative of the American spirit is Daisy, the contrast to Mrs. Costello and the American expat community. Both

Roceli Petriercci O. Lim Survey of American Lit take home quiz

characters are portrayed consistently throughout the story and stay in-character when placed in various situations; Mrs. Costello (and her peers) does not feel sympathy for Daisy and Daisy likewise never listens to their advice. James characters are defined by the world in which they live and the social requirements of their society. While it is not so close to being an all-American story, the vivid portrayal of American characters in a vastly different setting showed the brilliance of James psychological realism. 5. Compare the choice of subject and setting of Henry James in Daisy Miller and of Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Writing in different times, just the same, explain which story is more real and/or romantic and, all-American. Quote passages from the authors works to support your answer. In terms of setting, characters, style, and subject matter, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is more real and all-American. We said there warnt no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft dont. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft. Aside from the language, the American spirit and American values are shown and captured by Hucks character. His sense of adventure, morality, and his youthful and curious nature are all characteristics of the American and America itself. Other characters such as Widow Douglas, the Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords, are commentaries on certain American social classes at the time, and are particularly the kinds of people Huck avoids. I tramped out in a hurry for the crick, and crowded through the willows, red-hot to jump out of that awful country. In Daisy Miller, however, the setting is far away from America and the characters act and behave accordingly to the customs of the Old World. Yet Daisy does not act accordingly, and this is where the novellas conflict begins. She had brought with her to Europe the purely American custom of flirting, which led to her death. "I'm a fearful, frightful flirt! Did you ever hear of a nice girl that was not?" Although the story portrays Daisy as fresh, young, and earnest (characteristics of America), it seems to say that these American traits have no place in the centuries-old world of wise and civilized Europe. They ceased to invite her; and they intimated that they desired to express to observant Europeans the great truth that, though Miss Daisy Miller was a young American lady, her behavior was not representativewas regarded by her compatriots as abnormal. The depiction of Daisy and her familys ignorance (and her brothers rudeness and pride) came off as criticisms to the American nature. In contrast to Hucks growth and development as a character embodying American values, Daisys fate was brought on by the more negative American traits.