American Realism * The predominant literary movement of the latter half of the nineteenth century was. The concern of Realism was faithfully depicting subject matter or representing life accurately in literature. * The most important vehicle for Realistic literature was, particularly the novel. * Realisms was partially a reaction against Romanticism and the corresponding extremes of Transcendentalism, idealism, and sentimentality. * Realistic literature was concerned with the immediate and material rather than the remote and the spiritual. It also was expressed in simple, clear, direct, and objective. * One form of realistic literature was local writing, sketches and short stories portraying the life of a particular geographical location. This type of writing is rich in picturesque detail reflecting the scenery, quaint custom, and dialect of a region. * America's first local color writers were also the best humorists. The of local color writing is still popular today. * Characteristics of the time period - Followed Romanticism - Great growth in scientific knowledge and of great material progress - Great authority- rather than religion - Darwin's Origin of Species was published in 1859. - Evolution became popular. * Definitions of reality - Puritans: the supernatural - Romantics: feeling and - Realists: reality limited to the physical world of the and the psychological workings of the mind * Characteristics of realistic literature - Authorial detachment - Patient observation instead of flashes of insight - Stress on detailed, verified as opposed to guesses and dreams - Materialistic interpretation of life instead of idealistic - Emphasis on the and familiar rather than the remote and strange - Importance of everyday life, the temporary in contrast to the rich traditions of the past - Characters were commonplace even subnormal rather than exalted and exceptional - Growth in the importance of over verse + The became the characteristic form of literary expression. - More hopeless pessimism than the Romantic Age * Most important Realistic novelist- Mark * Naturalism- view of life which emphasizes a detached scientific and photographic which includes everything and selects nothing - The naturalists write about extreme situations, usually the most ugly, sordid, and unpleasant. --- They portray an external force such as fate bearing down upon men. - A man tells the universe that he exists; the universe says it doesn't care (cosmic ). - Does mean writing about nature - Emphasis on detailed observation and documentation - Influenced by and Marxism - Deterministic and pessimistic 1 of 26
- Man is viewed as having no free, a creature determined by his heredity and environment (trap of social circumstances). - Pessimistic, materialistic, deterministic - Stresses man's kinship with - The higher ethical nature of man is either denied or ignored. Man is portrayed usually in the basest of lights (man as an animal). - Naturalistic authors include Hamlin Garland, Ambrose Bierce, Stephen Crane, and Jack (White Fang). * What is unbiblical about Naturalism? Bret Harte 1836-1902 One big vice in a man is apt to keep out of a great many smaller ones. About the Author * Bret Harte was the first prose writer after the Civil War to gain popularity with his famous stories of the. * He has been called the "American Dickens" and was a local color writer of his day. * Considered by some to be the father of the short story - He created "human interest" stories that still appeal to the sentimental side of man's nature. * Unfortunately, in some works he portrays sinful people more admirably than others and thereby reveals his lack of a positive influence. * Since he wrote stories like those the public demanded he never developed as a writer, but he did the local color movement in the United States. Summary of "The Boom in the Calaveras Clarion" The temporary editor of the Calaveras Clarion newspaper is working on an editorial when a man with a shotgun arrives to see him. The visitor, Mr. Dimmidge, purchases a full-column advertisement portraying his wife as a runaway. He also places a small personal advertisement, as a trap for the man who he thinks ran away with his wife. When the advertisement appears the next day, it causes a sensation, making the Calaveras Clarion famous nationwide. The paper is instantly more popular, and 2 of 26
advertising revenues increase. Six weeks later, the editor is working late at night at the newspaper office when a mysterious woman comes in to see him. She identifies herself as Mrs. Dimmidge, states that she left her husband because of his mistreatment of her, and asks to place an advertisement herself. She also places a small personal ad of her own, and insists that the editor keep her visit a secret. The editor places Mrs. Dimmidge's ad the next day, but everyone believes it is just a publicity stunt by the editor. Embarrassed, the editor is glad to leave Calaveras the following week for a new job in San Francisco. While en route, he meets Mr. and Mrs. Dimmidge, who have been reconciled. They explain that the ads allowed them to overcome their differences, and that Mr. Dimmidge's personal ad revealed that he truly loved his wife. About the story * This story is set in the same county as Mark 's hilarious story "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Because Harte had been a newspaper man in California, the realistic setting of a newspaper office during gold rush days would have been a familiar one for him to use. - Calaveras County is an county about one hundred miles inland from San Francisco. * The following are examples of : Mr. Dimmidge appears to be a tough character on a violent mission. In reality neither the man nor the mission is violent. Even his harsh ultimatum to his wife is not what it appears to be. He says, for instance, that he absolutely will not take her back after weeks. But when he is asked if he wants the advertisement to run for four weeks, he responds, "Mebbe, lad" (354), a hint of his true feelings and purpose and even of the outcome of the story. * It is that the wood carving that accompanies the original ad is of a Black woman fugitive slave, and Mrs. Dimmidge later describes her flight in terms of the other slaves running away. Furthermore, the second woodcut is a representation of a muscular arm "wielding a large hammer." This reveals Mrs. Dimmidge's opinion of her husband as an inconsiderate man who considers her. * Notice the difference between the language the Dimmidges use and that of the newspaper ads. * What is the twist at the end of the story? * What showed that the Dimmidges truly loved each other? 3 of 26
Ambrose Bierce 1842-1914 Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret. Love: A temporary insanity curable by marriage. Fork: An instrument used chiefly for the purpose of putting dead animals into the mouth. The covers of this book are too far apart. The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them up. We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over. About the author * Because of his tone, he is regarded by many as the first writer of humor in American literature. * While a soldier in the Civil War, Bierce gained his attitude and provided the background for this story. He saw many bloody battles, was wounded, and attained the rank of by the end of the war. * After the war he worked as a journalist and focused his anger on political corruption. * The last decades of his life were the productive of literary career, but they were not happy years. He his wife and sorrowed over the deaths of his two sons. These events led to even more writing. * His nickname " Bierce" dates from this period. In most of his stories the chief character. His works reveal that he placed his faith in mankind, who always disappointed. By the end of his life, he denied all values except those that a person might display in : honesty and courage. His works reflect the universal problem of someone's trying to establish values and discover life's apart from God. * In 1913 he joined with Pancho Villa's revolutionaries in. He was probably killed in battle. 4 of 26
Summary of the story * Set during the American Civil War, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is the story of Peyton Farquhar, a Confederate sympathizer condemned to die by hanging upon the Owl Creek Bridge of the title. The main character finds himself already bound at the bridge's edge at the beginning of the story. We later learn that a disguised Union scout enlisted him to attempt to demolish the bridge, and subsequently he was caught in the act. When he is hanged, the rope breaks. Peyton falls into the water, escapes his executioners, and makes his way down the river toward his home. During his journey, he starts to experience strange physiological events that ultimately end with a searing pain in his neck. It turns out that Peyton never escaped at all; he imagined the entire thing during the time between being pushed off the bridge and the noose finally breaking his neck. About the story * An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge explores the theme of and the delusions that may accompany the event. * narrator- Peyton Farquhar has most of his readers believing his escape, but in the end one realizes that Peyton just his escape. * - The story begins with Peyton about to die, but then the story flashes back to why Peyton will be hanged. * - Peyton Farquar * Irony (specifically irony)- One expects Peyton to escape or to be shot in his, but instead he is hanged and escaped at all. * Conflict- conflict that exists in the mind of Peyton * Foreshadowing- For example in part 3, paragraph 3, Bierce describes Farquhar's heightened perceptions. He has unusual acuteness of, and this indicates that something strange and out-of-the-ordinary is happening. Farquhar thinks he is in "full possession of his physical senses." He seems to have powers he never knew before. But in reality, he is experiencing of what he imagines; in a few seconds all will be blackness. * The story's disjointed nature reflects the author's pessimistic view that the world coherent order and meaning. Sidney Lanier 1842-1881 If you want to be found stand where the seeker seeks. Music is love in search of a word. 5 of 26
About the Author * Sidney Lanier was a native of. He is known as one of the most accomplished poets of the South in the latter part of the nineteenth century and the best poet during this time. * He studied music; he reportedly learned to play the flute, violin, organ, piano, and guitar very early on. After graduating from college, the War broke out. He enlisted in the Confederate Army, was imprisoned, and contracted tuberculosis, from which he eventually died. * He settled in Maryland after the war and supported himself by playing first for the Peabody Symphony Orchestra and lecturing on poetry. * His best poems include "Corn," "The Symphony," "Song of the Chattahoochee," and "A Ballad of Trees and the Master." For children he wrote The Boys' King Arthur, a popular version of the stories about King. * He is best known for his attempt to combine techniques with poetry. About "Song of the Chattahoochee" * This poem describes the beauty of the Chattahoochee River, a river that flows through Georgia. Lanier uses a variety of literary devices to make the reader the river and see it travel through the counties of Habersham and Hall in Georgia. * The river's ultimate destination is the plain where it performs the service of relieving the burning of the fields, turning the mills, and watering the flowers. * From the river man can learn the lesson of not allowing distractions to him from productive goals. The theme of the poem is. The river obeys the call of the ocean as well as the call of gravity. Although enticed to stay behind, to linger, the river hurries on in response to the call of duty. The --physical in stanza 2, tales and romance in stanza 3, and brawling and enticement in stanza 4--do stop the river. * Personification is used as the river is described in human terms by the use of the hurry, run, leap, accept, and flee. The river is also described as having "a lover's pain." The rushes cry, the waterweeds hold in thrall, the ferns and grass speak, the dewberry delays, the reed sighs; the hickory, chestnut, oak, walnut, and pine trees all talk; the stones make lures; and the yearn. * What are some examples of alliteration from the poem? * The rhyme and rhythm throughout the poem indicate the of the river. * Assonance is used in many of the lines and often involves rhyme. What are some examples? * Repetition is used in the "hills of Habersham and valleys of Hall" which begins and ends each section. The word abide is repeated, and the word plain is used frequently. About "A Ballad of Trees and the Master" * Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-46 * This poem is a picture of in the Garden of Gethsemane. * What are three examples of personification from this poem? 6 of 26
James Whitcomb Riley 1849-1916 The ripest peach is highest on the tree. When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck. About the Author * James Whitcomb Riley is known as the Poet. He had a keen ear for the native speech of and was able to write down-to-earth poems with the Hoosier dialect. * He is also known as the Poet of the People. * Riley also recited his poems to audiences, who especially enjoyed "When the Frost Is on the Punkin" and "Little Orphant Annie." About "When the Frost Is on the Punkin" * This poem was during Riley's day because of the feelings of nostalgia it invokes. * Fodder is coarse food for. * What is your favorite season? Why? * Riley's descriptions of are quite vivid in this poem. * The makes the poem humorous. * The phrase "the husky, rusty russel" illustrates, assonance, and consonance. * What images in this poem appeal to the senses? 7 of 26
Hamlin Garland 1860-1940 Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and numbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me - I am happy. About the Author * Hamlin Garland grew up in the Midwest, and his experiences provided material for his works. His success as a writer came with his book of short stories set in the Midwest, Main- Travelled Roads. His best-known work is A Son of the Middle Border, a collection of his. He won a Pulitzer Prize for A Daughter of the Middle Border. * Garland advocated the techniques of and realism. Terms * Garland's Realism, which he called "veritism," was concerned with that emphasized local color, portraying the life of a particular geographical location. His writings are often bitter and pessimistic. However, as he became older, Garland became more conservative and mellow in his own works, pessimistic Realism and criticized the extremes of the Naturalists. * Naturalism- view of life which emphasizes a detached scientific and photographic which includes everything and selects nothing * Persuasion- argument that motivates the listener to change not only his ideas but also his - Must be based on good - Attempts to engage the audience on an level + Humor + Emotionally moving illustrations * Propaganda- subcategory of persuasion, literature plainly written to persuade the reader to espouse the 's position on a significant issue - Usually has connotations - May be used for good if it is truthful and ethical * Garland s works such as Under the Lion s Paw often qualify as persuasion as well as propaganda because he wrote on issues that were contemporary in order to gain the support of his. He wanted them to see the problems in society and. 8 of 26
Sarah Orne Jewett 1849-1909 About the Author * Sarah Orne Jewett was a novelist, essayist, and short story writer from. She gathered her writing material by accompanying her father, a, on house calls. * Jewett published her first story when she was. She is known for her beautiful descriptions of the life and countryside of nineteenth-century. She tended to concentrate on the positive side of her characters. Her stories tend to focus on rather than on plot or setting. She once defined her goal for writing as acquainting the of her region with one another. * Jewett's stories are regarded as the fiction written in the late nineteenth century. Her masterpiece, The Country of the Pointed Firs, is a series of tales about the inhabitants of a Maine seaport. About A White Heron * Summary- Sylvia is a little girl who lives with her grandmother out in the New England wilderness. One evening, as she is walking the cow home from the pastures, she meets a young man with a gun slung over his shoulder. He asks her if she knows of a place where he can say the night. The young man follows her and the cow, and when they reach her grandmother s house, her grandmother invites the man to say the night. They learn that he is a bird collector; he shoots and stuffs birds for his collection. They also learn that he is hunting a white heron that supposedly nests in this area. Sylvia has seen the white heron but will not tell the stranger. The following day, Sylvia and the stranger walk in the woods together and become good friends. That night, Sylvia decides to climb a tall pine tree and find the white heron s nest, which she believes to be near the marsh. So early one morning, before anyone else is up, she climbs the tall pine tree. From the pine, she can see all the way to the ocean, and to her amazement, the white heron joins her in the pine tree and watches the sunrise with her. The heron then returns to its nest on the edge of the marsh. She quickly climbs down and returns to the house, prepared to give the news to the stranger, but when she faces him, she cannot tell him the location of the white heron s nest. She feels more loyalty to the bird that shared the morning with her in the pine tree than to the hunter, who kills the birds that he loves. So the disappointed hunter leaves without her. * What is the central conflict of the story? * Why did Sylvia change her mind about showing the stranger the white heron s nest? How would you respond? 9 of 26
* The name Sylvia means or of the. It is appropriate because Sylvia enjoys the outdoors, birds, trees, and animals. * How were Sylvia and the stranger similar? How were they different? * What do you think the heron could symbolize? * The suggests the love and intense pleasure that the little girl received from being outdoors and helps to explain she could not let harm come to the white heron. Emily Dickinson 1830-1886 Beauty is not caused. It is. Dogs are better than human beings because they know but do not tell. Forever is composed of nows. Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all. If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. 10 of 26
About the Author * Emily Dickinson was a famous author who wrote short, untitled poems. She was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, and her grandfather was one of the founders of Amherst College. * After her schooling, she herself in her house, dressing only in and seeing only a few close friends. This seclusion began around the time when her friend Reverend Wadsworth moved away. * She was influenced by the writing of Emerson and Emily. She was known as an extensive reader, especially of Isaac Watts, Shakespeare, and the. * Emily Dickinson was unquestionably the best of the regionalists writers during the post-civil War era. * She was able to see the most common and ordinary things in an unusual way. She wrote on aspiration, love, nature, immortality, and. Death was her most common subject. She had difficulty accepting it. She would not even attend her father's funeral service. Around of her poems are about death. * She wrote almost poems, but all except seven poems were published after her death (posthumously). These poems were written on anything she could find--brown paper bags and the backs of envelopes. They also did not have titles, so the first lines of her poems are the titles. * She was not a. She remained a skeptic throughout her life even though she wrote poems about God. Religion was important, but she did have a relationship with the Lord. At times she seems orthodox in belief; at other times she is blasphemous. She suggests, for instance, in several poems not included here that God created, that the Bible would be a better book if it did not condemn, and that God sadistically approves of and ordains suffering. * Her poems are in nature even though she wrote during the Realistic period of literature. About "Prologue: This Is My Letter to the World" (441) * According to this poem, the poet's task is to reveal Nature's. She is isolated from the world except through the one-sided communication of her poetry. * This poem calls the reader to Dickinson's works tenderly. * Notice Dickinson's odd use of. * The poem reveals her relationship with the world was -sided. She says that the world "never wrote to me" and that the message of her poetry is given "to hand I cannot see." This emphasizes Dickinson's choice to withdraw from the world. About "I'm Nobody! Who are You?" (288) * In this poem, one of Dickinson's most playful lyrics, she glories in being a "nobody." * Notice the she uses to describe the life of a "somebody." * Do you think it is right to withdraw from the world like Dickinson did? 11 of 26
About "Success " (67) * This was one of the poems published during Dickinson's lifetime. * This poem presents the paradoxical idea that success is more to the unsuccessful person than to the successful. In the same way, a beverage tastes best when one is very thirsty. * Dickinson develops this idea further in the last two stanzas, in which she says that the one who best understands victory is the one who, as he, hears the sounds of triumph coming from his enemies; for he knows that neither now nor later will he ever be able to share in the glory of winning. A defeated, dying man understands the importance of victory much more than the victor. About "Aspiration" (1176) * This poem illustrates that the individual's determine the height he reaches and that fear of lofty goals will warp his potential. * Also, Dickinson notes that necessity and cause us to accomplish great things. * In the first stanza, Dickinson works with the old maxim that it takes a to reveal the man. She implies that we often surprise ourselves in a critical situation by doing something we did not think we could do. * In the second stanza the poet explains that the heroic deeds of men in history would not seem so unusual if we did not have the habit of expecting so of ourselves. * This poem, part of Dickinson's seeing "New Englandly," is very much in the Emersonian view of New England transcendental thought; for called on Americans to recognize their inner godhood and rise to be kings. * The in the poem is that we underestimate our own potential and therefore miss out on opportunities of heroism. "I Never Saw a Moor" (1052) * Dickinson presents that we can be sure of things that we have never even. * The speaker in this poem seems to suggest a childlike in God. However, this was not Dickinson's view because she was a Christian. About "A Word" (1212) * Like all writers, Dickinson had a love for whether they were by themselves, in poems, or in books. In this poem she argues that words have. About "To Make a Prairie It Takes a Clover" (1755) * The poet combines nature and reverie ( ). How can daydreaming and using your imagination "make a prairie"? What else can the imagination do? About "Hope" (254) * This poem defines hope with a. By picturing hope as a bird, Dickinson suggests that it is constant and unchanging in spite of the worst circumstances. Hope is also unselfish: It expects in return for its cheering song. 12 of 26
About "A Book" (1263) * The poet uses two to tell the reader that even a powerful ship cannot take one deep into the realm of the imagination like a book can, nor is a courser ( ) as beautiful as. * Remember that Dickinson's knowledge of the outside world came through. * The theme of the poem is the of literature. About "The Bustle in a House" (1078) * This poem considers those who are left when someone they love dies. Their response to the loss is compared to cleaning house. They must up their grief and put love away until eternity, when they will again see the one they miss. However, Dickinson did know this comfort. Henry James 1843-1916 Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself. Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind. Experience is never limited, and it is never complete; it is an immense sensibility, a kind of huge spider-web of the finest silken threads suspended in the chamber of consciousness, and catching every air-borne particle in its tissue. Ideas are, in truth, force. About the author * Henry James was quite a prolific author. He published novels, 112 shorts stories, 15 plays, and 7 books of literary criticism. He also wrote a dozen other books of various types and over a thousand letters. * He often placed his major figures in settings that allowed him to develop the " theme." Works with this theme set the values of the New World against those of the Old World. He portrayed Europeans as world-weary, preoccupied with social 13 of 26
conventions, and often lacking in moral backbone. The Americans, in contrast, are frequently and sometimes even crude. In his works with a conflict between sophisticated Europeans and Americans the Americans almost always emerge as morally. * James was born to a New York family. He went to Europe when he was just a child and repeatedly traveled there as he grew up. His education was haphazard but he devoured. * James is the only major American writer who had to work at something other than writing in order to support himself. * James settled in, which became his home for the rest of his life and eventually his adopted country. He chose British citizenship when United States in entering World War I. However his ashes were buried in the United States at his request. * James provides an interesting perspective on the. * James is the acknowledged master of 19th century psychological realism. His works explore in detail the complex relationships between characters. He shows the subtleties of relationships and probes processes and unconscious motivation. James also focused more on characters than on plots. This resulted in little external action but a lot of conflicts. * James was a literary artist who raised the to an art form. He insisted that a writer be free to choose any subject and rejected didacticism in literature. He did want to teach a philosophy or moral in his works. * Unfortunately, James professed no religious beliefs at all and substituted the worship of and art for the worship of God. Mark Twain 1835-1910 A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval. An Englishman is a person who does things because they have been done before. An American is a person who does things because they haven't been done before. * Samuel Langhorne Clemens used the pen name. His various jobs and experiences (from a traveling newspaper printer to of a steamboat on the Mississippi) provided rich material for his works. 14 of 26
* He was born during the year that the Haley s first appeared and was named; also, his superstition that the year Haley s Comet reappeared he would die came true. * He suffered through many. His favorite daughter Suzy died of meningitis; his wife dies after being an invalid for a number of years; his daughter Jean died, and he suffered the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars. * Mark Twain is a term. Workers on a boat would measure the depth of the water by fathoms on a rope; the mark of safety was the 2nd mark on the rope which was 12 ft. deep; the sailor would yell to the captain Mark Twain to let the captain know the water marked the second mark and it was safe for a steamboat to continue on. "Mark Twain" is probably the most American pseudonym, or pen name. * His first work was the tale, "The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" * He is famous for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The latter is his work. * He was honored with honorary from Yale, Missouri, and Oxford. Also, he left a literary legacy that few American authors have equaled. His works represent the frontier spirit of the American people and contain American humor. * He has been called the of American literature. He is one of America's all-time favorite authors whose writings have brought laughter to countless readers. Unfortunately, his later works reflect the despair the naturalists. * He is considered a author, and many of his works portray a pessimistic view of nature. * In one of his works Twain presents God as a mere -winder of the universe and man as insignificant. He believed that morality and the Bible were inventions, asserting that men are shaped by society and education. He states that "to trust the God of the Bible is to trust in an irascible, vindictive, fierce and ever fickle and changeful master." * Furthermore, Twain denied the individual's accountability to. He did not recognize that man was created in the of God. * By the end of his life, Clemens came to the conclusion that "There is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a --a grotesque and foolish dream." He believed that life was a nasty trick played on man and that life ended in death and. * Because of Twain's world view, some of Twain's works are appropriate for recreational reading. His works also contain the word nigger which should not be used today. Summary of excerpts from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Chapter 7- Unaware of his earlier drunken rage, Pap wakes up and sends Huck out to check to see if any fish have been caught on the lines out in the river. Huck finds a canoe drifting in the river and hides it in the woods. When Pap leaves for the day, Huck finishes sawing his way out of the cabin. He puts food, cookware, and everything else of value from the cabin into the canoe. He then covers up the hole he cut in the wall and shoots a wild pig outside. Huck smashes the cabin door with an ax, cuts the pig s throat so it bleeds onto the cabin s dirt floor, and makes other preparations to make it seem as if robbers have broken into the cabin and killed him. Huck goes to the canoe and waits for the moon to rise, planning to paddle to Jackson s Island out in the river. Huck falls asleep and wakes to see Pap rowing by. Once Pap has passed, Huck quietly sets out downriver. He pulls into Jackson s Island, careful not to be seen. Chapter 17- A man calls off the dogs, saving Huck, who introduces himself as George Jackson. The man invites George into his house, where the hosts express an odd suspicion that Huck is a member of 15 of 26
a family called the Shepherdsons. Eventually, Huck s hosts decide that he is not a Shepherdson. The lady of the house tells Buck, a boy about Huck s age, to get Huck some dry clothes. Buck says he would have killed a Shepherdson had there been any Shepherdsons present. Buck tells Huck a riddle, but Huck does not understand the concept of riddles. Buck says Huck must stay with him and they will have great fun. Huck, meanwhile, invents an elaborate story to explain how he was orphaned. Buck s family, the Grangerfords, offer to let Huck stay with them for as long as he likes. Huck innocently admires the house and its humorously tacky finery, including the work of a deceased daughter, Emmeline, who created unintentionally funny sentimental artwork and poems about people who died. Settling in with the Grangerfords and enjoying their kindness, Huck thinks that nothing couldn t be better than life at the comfortable house. Chapter 31- The foursome travels downstream on the raft for several days without stopping, trying to outdistance any rumors of the scams of the duke and the dauphin. The con men try several schemes on various towns, without success. Then, the two start to have secret discussions, worrying Jim and Huck, who resolve to ditch them at the first opportunity. Finally, the duke, the dauphin, and Huck go ashore in one town to feel out the situation. The con men get into a fight at a tavern, and Huck takes the chance to escape. Back at the raft, however, there is no sign of Jim. A boy explains that a man recognized Jim as a runaway from a handbill that offered $200 for Jim s capture in New Orleans the same fraudulent handbill that the duke had printed earlier. The boy says that the man who captured Jim had to leave suddenly and sold his interest in the captured runaway for forty dollars to a farmer named Silas Phelps. Based on the boy s description, Huck realizes that it was the dauphin himself who captured and quickly sold Jim. Huck decides to write to Tom Sawyer to tell Miss Watson where Jim is. But Huck soon realizes that Miss Watson would sell Jim anyway. Furthermore, as soon as Huck s part in the story got out, he would be ashamed of having helped a slave, a black man, escape. Overwhelmed by his predicament, Huck suddenly realizes that this quandary must be God s punishment for the sin of helping Jim. Huck tries to pray for forgiveness but finds he cannot because his heart is not in it. Huck writes the letter to Miss Watson. Before he starts to pray, though, he thinks of the time he spent with Jim on the river, of Jim s kind heart, and of their friendship. Huck trembles. After a minute, he decides, All right then, I ll go to h---! and resolves to steal Jim out of slavery. Huck puts on his store-bought clothes and goes to see Silas Phelps, the man who is holding Jim. While on his search, Huck encounters the duke putting up posters for The Royal Nonesuch. When the duke questions him, Huck concocts a story about how he wandered the town but found neither Jim nor the raft. The duke initially slips and reveals where Jim really is (on the Phelps farm) but then changes his story and says he sold Jim to a man forty miles away. The duke encourages Huck to head out on the three-day, forty-mile trip. Chapters 38-39- Tom insists that Jim scratch an inscription bearing his coat of arms on the wall of the shed, the way the books say. Making pens from the spoons and candlestick is a great deal of trouble, but they manage. Tom creates an unintentionally humorous coat of arms and composes a set of mournful declarations for Jim to inscribe on the wall. Tom, however, expresses disapproval at the fact that they are writing on a wall made of wood rather than stone. The boys try to steal a millstone, but it proves too heavy for them, so they sneak Jim out to help. As Huck and Jim struggle with the millstone, Huck wryly notes that Tom has a talent for supervising while others do the work. Tom tries to get Jim to take a rattlesnake or rat into the shack to tame, and then tries to convince Jim to grow a flower to water with his tears. Jim protests against the unnecessary amount of trouble Tom wants to create, but Tom replies that his ideas present opportunities for greatness. Huck and Tom capture rats and snakes to put in the shed with the captive Jim and accidentally infest the Phelps house with them. Aunt Sally falls into a panic over the disorder in her household, while Jim 16 of 26
hardly has room to move with all the wildlife in his shed. Uncle Silas, not having heard back from the plantation from which the leaflet said Jim ran away, plans to advertise Jim as a captured runaway in the New Orleans and St. Louis newspapers the latter of which would surely reach Miss Watson in St. Petersburg. Tom, partly to thwart Silas and partly because the books he has read say to do so, puts the last part of his plan into action, writing letters from an unknown friend that warn of trouble to the Phelpses. The letters terrify the family. Tom finishes with a longer letter pretending to be from a member of a band of desperate gangsters who are planning to steal Jim. The letter s purported author claims to have found religion, so he wishes to offer information to help thwart the theft. The letter goes on to detail when and how the imaginary thieves will try to seize Jim. About the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn * Huckleberry Finn is one of the most influential books in American literary history. * Huckleberry Finn tells the story in -person point of view. His narration, including his accounts of conversations, regionalisms, grammatical errors, pronunciation errors, and other characteristics of the speech or writing of a 19th Century Missouri boy with education. These aspects bolster the verisimilitude of the novel. * The tone of the novel is frequently ironic or, particularly concerning adventure-novels and romances; at parts, the tone is contemplative while Huck seeks to decipher the world around him; at other times, the tone is and exuberant. * The story is set before the War (roughly 1835 1845). * At this time was at its height in America; the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn addresses in a roundabout way the prejudices of southern whites that had laid the foundation for slavery and were still omnipresent in the Reconstruction South of Twain's time. This discussion of slavery forces readers to confront the legacy of --something that readers during Twain's time were hesitant to do. * The physical setting of the novel, most specifically the and the raft, has also drawn the attention of critics. The Mississippi River itself serves as a kind of no-man's-land in the text, a place of society that is governed by different rules. The raft becomes a new world for Huck and Jim, where they can be themselves and make up their own rules by which to live. On either side of the river lies the shore, which represents a return to society. Significantly, it is who makes excursions into towns along the riverbanks for food, information, and fun. While Huck can be a kind of vagabond, traveling from one place to another without being a part of society, Jim must hide on the raft, the only place where he can be. * For Huck and Jim, the Mississippi River is the ultimate symbol of. Alone on their raft, they do not have to answer to anyone. The river carries them toward freedom: for Jim, toward the free states; for Huck, away from his abusive father and the restrictive sivilizing of St. Petersburg. Much like the river itself, Huck and Jim are in flux, willing to change their attitudes about each other with little prompting. Despite their, however, they soon find that they are not completely free from the evils and influences of the towns on the river s banks. Even early on, the world intrudes on the paradise of the raft: the river floods, bringing Huck and Jim into contact with criminals, wrecks, and stolen goods. Then, a thick fog causes them to miss the mouth of the Ohio River, which was to be their route to freedom. * Some also consider the river to be a symbol of, with all of its dangers. * The raft symbolizes freedom and. * What do you think is the main conflict of the novel? * The of the novel is that freedom includes physical freedom and a clear 17 of 26
conscience. * Notice the contrast between Huck's inventive and escape in chapter 7 and Tom's plan for Jim's escape in chapters 38-39. Although Huck is not aware of it, he is a realist and therefore is Twain's most effective argument against the foibles of philosophy (represented by Tom Sawyer). Tom's escape resembles the action in the romantic novels he has been reading. This juxtaposition is especially pictured by Huck's and Tom's views of. Tom desires an exotic palace of diamonds that can be whisked about wherever he wishes. Huck, the ever-practical realist, decides that if there is anything to the genie business, he will make the genie build a palace so that he can it. * Ironically, the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons go to church on Sunday and one another during the week. * Chapter 31 is the of the book. At this point Huck comes face to face with the conflict between what he has been taught by society and what he has come to know and feel for himself. As Clemens arranges the situation, Huck is in a dilemma and must choose between two views. The conflict has been mounting throughout the novel as Huck's initiation has progressed. It is not until chapter 31 that Huck is ready to listen to his. * Unfortunately, Clemens places the Christian reader in a dilemma by forcing him/her to sympathize with the view that God, the Bible, and Christianity. The fact that neither Huck nor society is right here clearly muddies the water and reminds us all of the necessity for clear vision founded on eternal principles of God's Word. While the individual may be wrong, so may the collective view of society because, after all, mankind in total is a sinful race. Stephen Crane 1871-1900 You cannot choose your battlefield, God does that for you; But you can plant a standard Where a standard never flew. He wishes that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage. Sometimes, the most profound of awakenings come wrapped in the quietest of moments. A man said to the universe: "Sir, I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." 18 of 26
About the author * Stephen Crane rebelled against his heritage. He attributed man s behavior not to sin but to social,, and environmental forces. * He viewed as Someone Who is uncaring, impersonal and indifferent. * Crane was a foremost practitioner of the tenets of naturalism. He placed the blame for the wretchedness of most men's lives on blind which he believed determined man's course for him. He viewed man as helpless. According to him, man is rebellious, bewildered, cheated, and victimized. He cries out, "It's not my fault!" He recognized man's, but could not offer the solution. * Unfortunately, Crane's works are often anti- and should be shocking to the Christian. * Both his poetry and prose reflect his experimentation with new forms of expression. They also reflect his interest in and use of violence and pessimism, two elements that have become the norm for many modern writers. Crane both represents his own age and foreshadows the period. * Stephen Crane was born in Newark, New Jersey. He worked as and also published his first novel in 1893 under the pen name Johnston Smith. However, the naturalistic book was largely ignored. * The publishing of The Red Badge of Courage, his novel, brought him international fame at age 24. * The Red Badge of Courage is a sensitive, study of the fear of a young soldier fighting his first battle in the Civil War. Interestingly, Crane was able to write realistically even though he had not experienced war personally. * While returning from an assignment in, Crane was on board the Commodore when it sank off the coast of Florida. He was a correspondent for an American newspaper, and he was on his way to write about problems that led up to the Spanish-American War in 1898 and the basis of the correspondent in his best-known story, The Open Boat, which was based on these experiences. In this story nature appears totally indifferent to the shipwrecked men, and the strongest and ablest man dies. - Read "The Open Boat" for bonus" * Later, Crane published two books of that were not well received because of the unconventional forms and ideas of the poems. For instance, most of the poems show the author's quarrel with God. * In 1897 Crane reported on the Cuban and Greek wars of independence and settled in an English manor house with his common-law wife Cora Taylor. He was friend by this time with important literary figures such as Henry James, Joseph Conrad, and H. G.. * Crane's+ health and writing declined later in his life, and he died at the age of 28 from tuberculosis. About "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" Having just gotten married in San Antonio Jack Potter, town marshal of Yellow Sky, and his bride are aboard a train headed back to Yellow Sky, Jack's home town. Despite their elegant surroundings, both bride and groom are nervous about returning to Yellow Sky. While the bride is not used to such classy surroundings and is anticipating her life ahead of her, Jack is anxious about the reception that his marriage will receive from his community, particularly as he had not told them of his intentions when he left for San Antonio. When they arrive, they quickly rush toward Jack Potter's house, hoping that they are not seen. 19 of 26
Meanwhile, in Yellow Sky six men are sitting in a bar when a man rushes in, announcing that Scratchy Wilson a local legend has been on the drink again and is in one of his usual moods. While most of the locals in the bar are immediately aware of what was about to happen, there is one newcomer, a drummer, who asks the locals what is going on. They warn him that when Scratchy Wilson is drunk, there is sure to be some shooting, if not a gunfight. The only person who will engage in a gunfight with him is Jack Potter, the town marshal, and he was out of town at the moment. The door of the bar is locked and the men inside sit and wait. The streets of Yellow Sky are quiet and empty as Scratchy Wilson patrols them, yelling out callous invitations to join him in a gunfight, as he grows repeatedly frustrated as his requests go unanswered. He approaches the door of the bar, and after taking a few pot shots at it, decides to shoot at the lazy dog at the door, making it run away in fear. He continues to take pot shots at the town, before deciding to take up the challenge with his old rival, Jack Potter. Scratchy Wilson approaches Jack Potter's house and calls out his challenge, with no response. Still frustrated, he reloads his gun, and the bride and Jack Potter interrupt him. Scratchy points his gun at Jack, dissatisfied with Jack's answer that he did not have a gun on him. Jack announces that he had just gotten married and shocks Scratchy. The shock of the news in enough to turn Scratchy away from the gunfight, and he walks away, flabbergasted. * This story lacks the naturalistic thrust of most of Crane's fiction and poetry; instead, it is a picture of the closing of the Old West. The new bride is a symbol of domesticity and civilization; Scratchy is the last vestige of the Old West, and the story is a historical allegory of the of the Old West. * Describe Jack and his bride. * What is Scratchy like? * How is the ending of the story significant? Jack London 1876-1916 20 of 26
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well. Intelligent men are cruel. Stupid men are monstrously cruel. White Fang knew the law well: to oppress the weak and obey the strong. About the author * Jack London (John Griffith) was an American short story writer and novelist from He was forced by poverty to drop out of school after the eighth grade and help support his family. * He worked has an oyster, robbing privately owned oyster beds during the night. After a time, however, he unexpectedly changed sides and began working with the State Fish Patrol to catch the oyster pirates he had formerly assisted. During this period he began drinking heavily, nearly killing himself with. He was not yet seventeen. * After this period he worked a variety of jobs and served a three-month prison sentence for. * He enrolled in high school at nineteen to prepare for college, which he went to for one semester. * London journeyed to the Territory in 1897 along with countless others hoping to make a score in the rush. In November 1897, he staked a claim in Creek, the destination of the man in his short story "To Build a Fire." Though he left Alaska the following summer without much gold, he would draw from his rich experiences in the northern wilds for many of his lasting works, including Call of the Wild and White Fang (his most works) and, of course, 1908's "To Build a Fire," usually considered his most lasting work. * He then turned to writing and became the highest, most novelist and short story writer of his day. He wrote fifty books. * In 1913 the house he was building and pouring his fortune into, Wolf House, was burned down deliberately. Soon his debts piled up and his drinking increased. * Influenced by the and revolutionary works of, Marx, and Nietzsche, London became a. Many of his characters are violent, strong men fighting for. He died at the age of, possibly of suicide. Edwin Markham 1852-1940 21 of 26
Ah, great it is to believe the dream as we stand in youth by the starry stream; but a greater thing is to fight life through and say at the end, the dream is true! We have committed the Golden Rule to memory; let us now commit it to life. There is a destiny which makes us brothers; none goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own. About the Author * Markham was born to pioneer parents in City, Oregon. He later moved to California. He did not receive much of a formal education, but he learned to love. * He graduated from a teachers' college and became a teacher and then a. * While he was a principal he wrote "The Man with the Hoe" and became and world famous. * His most common theme concerned the plight of exploited peoples (such as the ). * Markham optimistically believed that man could help himself and therefore naturalism. About "The Man with the Hoe" * Markham was first inspired to write this protest poem after seeing a black-andwhite reproduction of Jean Francois Millet's The Man with the Hoe. He finished the poem 22 of 26
years later after he saw the original painting. * Stanza 1 describes the peasant and emphasizes his hopelessness and insensibility by describing him as "a brother to the " (7). Notice the rhetorical questions that Markham uses to consider who has caused this man's position. * Stanza 2 also uses rhetorical and underscores the contrast between what this man is and what God intended him to be. The stanza ends with the poet's lament and warning of trouble. * Stanza 3 stresses the man's ruin and points out his loss of aesthetic sensibility (even the of the rose means nothing to him). In lines 27-32 the man becomes a of "humanity betrayed, / Plundered, profaned, and disinherited." He stands as a "protest that is also prophecy" (32). His portrait protests against his condition and against those forces that have made him what he is. The poem also prophesies that he will not long remain silent but will soon seek for his wrongs. * Stanzas 4 and 5 place the for humanity's sad plight on the "masters, lords, and rulers of all lands" (42). The final stanza looks to the future and warns mankind that the oppressed and wronged peoples will soon "rise to the world" (48). * Although the poem is melancholic, its implications are optimistic. The poet implies that restoration is, though difficult. His optimism is rooted in a belief in man's potential for helping. In another poem Markham goes so far as to say that men do not need God: "Is there a God? I shun the old debate: / If there is none still will I strive with Fate/ with such high courage, against every ban / That you shall know the Godlike is in man." While the naturalists err in saying there is no God, Markham errs in saying man God. * Markham said the following about Millet's painting: "I realized that I was looking on no mere man of the field; but was looking on a plundered peasant, typifying the millions left over as the debris from the thousand wars of the masters and from their long industrial oppressions, extending over the ages. This Hoe-man might be a stooped consumptive toiler in a New York City sweat-shop; a man with a pick, spending nearly all his days underground in a West Virginia coal mine; a man with a labor-broken body carrying a hod [a labor-broken body carried over the shoulder and used to transport bricks or mortar] in a London street; a boatman with strained arms and aching back rowing for hours against the heavy current of the Volga." * Even though the poem alludes to the and references God, this poem is not Christian. Toil is viewed as an abuse of rule rather than as a punishment imposed by on man because of original. O. Henry 1862-1910 23 of 26
The true adventurer goes forth aimless and uncalculating to meet and greet unknown fate. It is said that love makes the world go 'round - the announcement lacks verification. It's wind from the dinner horn that does it. When one loves one's Art no service seems too hard. About the Author * O. Henry is the for William Sydney Porter. This is the most famous American pen name next to Mark Twain. Porter reportedly borrowed his pen name from his guard at the Ohio Penitentiary, Orrin Henry. * His stories are famous for their and use of dialect. * His characters are Americans, especially underdogs who live in cities. * His most popular stories include The Gift of the Magi, "The Ransom of Red Chief," The Last, and The Cop and the Anthem. * He worked as a pharmacist, bookkeeper, draftsman, and teller. * In 1896 Porter was accused of embezzlement; he protested his innocence but panicked and fled to. Upon hearing of his wife s illness, he returned, stood trial, and was convicted and given a three-year prison term. In jail he continued writing to support his daughter and took the pen name of O. Henry. * After serving his prison sentence, he lived in New York. His final years were marked by ill-health, financial problems,, and an unhappy second marriage. About "The Gift of the Magi" * Summary- Mr. James Dillingham Young (Jim) and his wife, Della, are a couple living in a modest flat. They each have only one possession in which they take pride: Della's beautiful long, flowing hair, almost to her knees and Jim's shiny gold watch, which had belonged to his father and grandfather. On Christmas Eve, with only $1.87 in hand and desperate to find a gift for Jim, Della sells her hair for $20 and eventually finds a platinum fob chain for Jim's watch for $21. Having found the perfect gift, she then runs home and begins to prepare dinner, with 87 cents left. When Jim comes home, he looks at Della with a strange expression. Della then admits to Jim that she sold her hair to buy him his present. Jim gives Della her present an assortment of expensive hair accessories (referred to as The Combs ), useless now that her hair is short. Della then shows Jim the chain she bought for him, to which Jim says he sold his watch to get the money to buy her combs. Although Jim and Della are now left with gifts that neither one can use, they realize how far they are willing to go to show their love for each other, and how priceless their love really is. The story ends with the narrator comparing the pair's mutually sacrificial gifts of love with those of the Biblical Magi. * What is Jim and Della's greatest treasure? * The surprise ending works due to the situational in the story. Each spouse gave up his/her greatest treasure to buy the other a gift, a gift that is intended for use with the other's sacrificed treasure. * How would the story have been different if it were told from Jim's perspective? 24 of 26
* What is the moral point of the story? * Note the allusion to the wise men of Matthew 2. Fanny Crosby 1820-1915 It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me. If I had a choice, I would still choose to remain blind...for when I die, the first face I will ever see will be the face of my blessed Saviour. God will answer your prayers better than you think. Of course, one will not always get exactly what he has asked for...we all have sorrows and disappointments, but one must never forget that, if commended to God, they will issue in good...his own solution is far better than any we could conceive. About the author * Mrs. Crosby penned over hymns such as "Rescue the Perishing," "Safe in the Arms of Jesus," "Pass me not, O Gentle Saviour," "Jesus, keep me near the cross," "Blessed assurance," "I shall know Him," "All the Way My Saviour Leads Me," "To God Be the Glory," and "Praise Him! Praise Him!" * When she was only six weeks old, treatment for an eye infection scarred the corneas of her eyes and left her. Shortly after that her father died, and her mother had to work to 25 of 26