Melissa Sandifer

2 May 2010

Many Hands: One America

When I registered for early American Literature I really was not sure what I was getting myself into.  On the first day of class I realized that the literature we were reading for the semester might not be the most enjoyable that I have ever read, but I was in the class, so I had to make the best of it.  As the semester comes to a close, I have to admit that I am very glad I did give the literature of early America a chance.  It has taken me on a tour of our ever changing America.  I have a better understanding of how our modern day literature evolved from early literature and that is very important element to see as a literature major.  The literature of Early America provides more than just the development of where literature is now; it also shows Americans that their country was founded by a multitude of different people of different backgrounds.  America was not founded by one type of people; it was founded by all different kinds of people.  

One of the first texts I really enjoyed reading was Columbus’s Letters.  As children we hear the story of Columbus sailing the ocean blue in 1492, to discover what we know as America, and that is usually the extent of the story.  I was surprised to read of Columbus’ kindness and fair treatment of the Indians and then later was equally shocked by their capture of him.  This is all information that I was unaware of and shared later with anyone who would listen.  This information is very valuable to modern Americans, because they learn the struggles of the ones who founded the country they now call home. Through the letters of Columbus, modern Americans can see that he may have staked a claim to America when he arrived, but it was basically already founded by the Indians.  The Indians were there before Columbus arrived, but Americans will say that it was Columbus who founded our America as we know it.  This may not be altogether true, but it is this literature that allows readers the opportunity to know some information about the Indians who were already on the land and about Columbus’ struggles to stake his claim.

As I wrote in my first research post, stories such as Columbus’s Letters and Mary Rowlandson’s Captivity Narrative are important for Americans because they show where America began.  There is an element of ethnography in them as well.  Ethnography is a type of research method done usually about a society or culture and by another person spending time with this particular society/culture for a time being and documenting what is seen.  Basically Columbus and Mary Rowlandson spent time with the Indians of Early America, so what they write about them becomes history.  For example in The Captivity Narrative of Mary Rowlandson, she claims that the reason she was taken was for ransom.  Ethnographers look at other captivity narratives to figure out if this is the only reason Indians kidnapped women and children.  It is important to gather information through stories such as Columbus’ and Mary Rowlandson’s because otherwise how will modern Americans really know how their country was created and the struggles that people went through to create it.  Since Indians did not have the education to write things down, these stories are also important in helping Americans learn who the Indians really were.

I somewhat extended the ideas from my first research post into my second one.  I wrote about who was really behind the prospering of America and through my research I read something that was not read during our course.  I stumbled upon Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia and read the section he wrote on Africans.  I was appalled and continued my research to later find out that there was an African man named John Hemmings who was owned by Jefferson.  Hemmings was a master craftsman when it came to wood and he helped add on to Jefferson’s home as well as adding some very intricate wood trim, and yet Jefferson still saw African’s as lacking imagination.  Thomas Jefferson claimed that African’s just copied and reproduced things that the white people had already done.  Without Africans one has to wonder, where would America be today?  Africans are the ones who worked the plantations and made everything grow with their bare hands.  They deserve some credit for helping America thrive and prosper, just as the Indians deserve some credit because they were making the land work for them before Columbus discovered America.  America was built by many hands of many different ethnic backgrounds and this truth needs to be acknowledged.  The white man may have sold the cotton that was harvested, but the black man is the one who made it grow.  Without the Indians, there might be no story of the Pilgrims, because they would have died of starvation.  America is the greatest country in the world, but one type of person cannot take the credit for this, it is many who are due a pat on the back for all that they put into this great country called America!  

Fun in Early American Literature

I have really enjoyed this class.  Of course I loved the fact that I did not have to buy any books for it. I really think that the only thing that needs to be tweaked about the class is the discussions.  When I took Immigrant Literature last semester, discussions seemed to go a lot smoother and were not so forced.  I do realize that the material in Immigrant Literature was easier, but I do remember everyone having to get in front of the class to present.  That is my first suggestion; make the presenter go to the front to do their presentation.  It just sets the mood for a more formal and maybe more organized presentation.  My next suggestion is to require the students to organize their thoughts and what they plan to say and email that to you, so that you can have it available to view on the day of the presentation.  These are just a few things that were done in Immigrant Literature that seemed to work well and people seemed to be more accountable for the presentations they had to do.  I also feel that reading quizzes would help a lot with the discussion.  I understand your leniency due to this being the first time the course has been taught in a while, but sometimes stricter makes for better discussions.  For this class kind of being the guinea pig, I feel that it went quite well.  Personally I feel like I learned a lot and am very glad I chose to take the class. 

Write It Down: No Telling Whose Class It Will Be In Next

Early American Literature has obviously had an effect on our society today.  Whether it is as a didactic tool, for historical or political purposes, or to enlighten and entertain, early American literature has made its impact.  Some texts we have read this semester even contain several of these elements.  Literature from the past is very important for our future.  Verbally if a story was passed down from generation to generation, it becomes like the game telephone, and sometimes information can become distorted.  With the actual hand written literature, one can hope that it was not changed or altered throughout the years. 

Some writers in very early America wrote for historical or political purposes.  What would America be today without The Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution?  These were very important documents to write down.  Before this course I did not see these two things as literature, but as I read them I learned how important documenting these laws was to early American settlers.  Leaders in early America may have been striving for a utopia of sorts, and there is a possibility they were close, but without laws at all early America would have been chaos.  It is important for all Americans, living and future, to know how hard the founding fathers worked to make America what it is today.  Of course today things do not seem as simple as they were back then, but we still follow the basic writings of The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

Charlotte Temple is a perfect example of a novel used as a didactic or teaching tool.  A young girl thrown into a situation with a man who stole her away from her family, but later decided he was not going to marry her, so she lived in poverty longing for him.  She later ran away, and was eventually found on her death bed by her father.  What parents would want their daughter dropping out of school and running off with some man?  No parent would want this for their child, so Charlotte Temple was written as a warning to young women.  Susanna Rowson admits that she took some liberties in writing down the tale of Charlotte Temple.  The author maintains that this is a “Tale of Truth” but also states “I have thrown over the whole a slight veil of fiction, and substituted names and places according to my own fancy.”  Rowson has probably added information to make the story more entertaining.  As far as it being a true story she states the reason for writing the story down, “be of service to some who are so unfortunate as to have neither friends to advise, or understanding to direct them, through the various and unexpected evils that attend a young and unprotected woman in her first entrance into life.”  Rowson wrote this story down as a warning to other women not to get themselves in the same position that Charlotte found herself in.  Writings such as this were popular, because parents could suggest their daughters read it in hopes that they would stay on the right path.  These types of moral stories are all over modern day literature. 

By writing Edgar Huntly, Charles Brockden Brown has put together a wonderful concoction of dark nature scenes, hostile Indians, and almost supernatural happenings.  This novel was used to entertain Americans.  Instead of writing about dark castles and other things that Americans would not know much about, Brown sets his scenes in the wilderness which is something Americans can relate to.  Back then most of the surrounding area was woods and caves.  By writing this way Americans can picture themselves in Edgar Huntly’s position.  Brown also played with other gothic elements besides woods and caves.  In Edgar Huntly, Edgar slaughters Indians that may or may not have had something to do with his parents’ deaths.  “The stroke was quick as lightning, and the wound mortal and deep. He had not time to descry the author of his fate, but, sinking on the path, expired without a groan. The hatchet buried itself in his breast, and rolled with him to the bottom of the precipice.”  When it comes to gothic literature, Brown opened the door for writers like Edgar Allan Poe and Washington Irving.

As a student coming into a class about early American Literature, I had my doubts that I would enjoy it or even learn something from it.  All I could think of was all these old out dated texts we would be reading, that were dry and there was no entertainment to them.  Now as a student ending the semester I truly realize how valuable these texts are and why they are valuable.  If asked by someone if they should take this class in the future, I would definitely encourage it.  I really do feel that this class should be a requirement for Literature majors.  So many of us go from class to class reading and writing and we do not realize where what we are reading comes from.  That is very important in my opinion.  Why we read what we do and why it is written the way it is, is a big deal.  When teaching, teachers can only fill in so many gaps, in the allotted time they are given to teach, about the history of the text they have assigned the students to read.