Week #7

Henry James: Henry James’s piece Daisy Miller: A Study chronicles class and how class effects different issues. In the short story, the main character Winterbourne is the complete opposite of Daisy – he is the stereotypical cold European male; he’s proper and uptight, and most importantly, he is socially proper. Daisy is warm and bubbly and fun to be around, but she is not socially proper like Winterbourne; she is not really presentably in society. She dies in the end because of a sort of ‘hubris’ – she is socially reckless and isn’t concerned with the consequences of her actions. Daisy does not do what the other Americans do, aka “do as the Romans do”, she makes her own rules and that inevitably causes her downfall.

Sarah Orne Jewett: Jewett’s work represents the idea of Regionalism because her story A White Huron takes place in New England where she herself resided. The story A White Huron represents Jewett’s ideas of feminism, writing about a girl who is coming of age in New England. Jewett explores the ideas of childhood by writing about the loss of innocence – the main character loses her innocence when she gets sort of a crush on a male character. The story is an “anti-initiation” story – it takes a different path than would be expected.

Jack London: Jack London’s piece To Build a Fire has two different versions, which is important because each of the versions represents different things. London can write and influence his audience in different ways by writing different versions of his pieces.

Week #6 - Race and Gender in Antebellum America

Thomas Jefferson

David Walker

William Lloyd Garrison

Angelina Grimke

Sojourner Truth

Martin R. Delany

Margaret Fuller

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Fanny Fern

Harriet Jacobs

Frederick Douglass

Elizabeth Drew Stoddard

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Week 5 Thoughts:

Herman Melville's Confidence Man


Honestly, I have never read a harder novel. As I moved (glacially) slow through the book, I just kept thinking to myself that if this had been an 'Accelerated Reader' book in school, it would had to have been a 20+ age level and about 56 points or something. If I've figured this novel out at least a little, I'll consider myself successful. The other Melville short stories I've read, such as Bartleby the Scrivener, were easier to figure out than this one.

I have to say, though, that it was quite intriguing, all in all. There is a large group on a Mississippi steamboat, and they are introduced Canterbury-style, with each member getting at least a part of the novel to tell their personal story or present their personalities. All of these characters are tested by a mysterious passenger who has snuck aboard, questioning their confidence. The questioning of confidence often includes handing over money, or, in certain cases, receiving it.

According to the notes, this changeling man is, in fact, Satan. However, this novel isn't dark; it's more of a satire, seen most importantly in when the novel is set - April Fools Day. Apparently the novel was even released on April Fools Day. Therefore, while this novel seems really deep, Melville obviously meant for it to be a more playful novel than I thought it was. Funny, Herman.

I enjoyed certain parts and characters of the novels, and disliked others. Sometimes it was confusing to figure out which person was the victim of the Confidence Man and who the Confidence Man actually was. And sometimes the Confidence Man stayed in the same form for multiple chapters, as when he was the herb-doctor (yes?).

All in all, I found this novel an interesting character study, and an intense teacher of the time period. The footnotes were, at times, interesting and at other times a big pain and a waste of time. Also, many of the religious references were completely lost on me, which made it quite difficult to understand the first chapters of the novel, because they were so littered with biblical allusions.

I wouldn't recommend this novel, but I feel like a bigger person for reading it.