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LITR 4231 Early American Literature |
Final Exam Essays 2014 Sample answers
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Thomas Dion
May 4, 2014
Moving Forward by Taking a Step Back
As another semester comes to a close (and my academic
career for now) one final paper is due. What can I say about Early American
Literature and Dr. White’s class? For starters I have never been so wrong about
a subject in my life. But that is okay, we learn our best when put to an
unfamiliar test. I figured we would go over some religious texts, some more
religious texts, and a few secular texts I call the Declaration of Independence.
To be honest I signed up for the class because I always thought Dr. White was
one of the nicest human beings I have ran across while at school and said to
myself, “What the hell.” From the moment I took a glance at the course website,
I was pleasantly surprised and ecstatic to find so many different
things
to read, look, listen, absorb, and enjoy! I would just click and get lost in the
labyrinth of knowledge I had been so ignorant to enjoy before. Coupled with the
freedom of the classroom experience I feel as if I have a deeper appreciation
for life at a different time, and not to judge the past from my own modern
standards.
However, when asked to write a paper it often times
difficult to separate what one knows now versus what one knows from the past. In
my mid-term long essay I fell right into this trap and ended up sounding rantish
and preachy. I focused so hard on the negative aspects of those early
colonizers, namely Christopher Columbus and the intertextuality between his
letters and the Bible. I have been too harsh in my criticism of both. Columbus
did commit humanitarian crimes, but it is not as if he went walked outside and
said aloud, “I think I will commit genocide today.” Columbus may have said this
but it is not in the letters assigned to the class; therefore I should not speak
from outside the text. Morally backtracking in my previous assumption more is my
treatment of the Bible and the power it gives to men. This is untrue yet again
as we learned from Sor Juana De Los Santo, Cabeza de Vaca, and the Quakers, here
individuals and groups using the power of Christ for good, peace, prosperity,
and
inclusion.
By the time my discussion presentation had arrived
I had not fully grasped the theme of inclusion in the class but that would
change. I love the
Declaration of Independence
(especially the first two paragraphs). For me there is nothing quite as
empowering as reading “We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are
created equal;” it literally makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck and
brings water deposits to corners of my eyes. I wish I could have sat in a saloon
with Mr. Jefferson and listened to the many ideas that filled his head. Then
reality kicks me in the pants and I remember these people had slaves! How was I
going to share with the class what an experience it is to read this document
when The
Constitution (the original) has the Three
Fifths Compromise! I found a saving grace when discussing the matter with my
mother and she suggested to me – the often times forgotten Ninth Amendment – the
inclusionary cause and its protection of future rights. Moms always know best
and at times do not even realize it. Inclusion! Of course why had I not thought
of this before? With all my time spent in other Literature classes learning
about and empathizing with the beaten down members of society, somewhere along
the way I had decided it was okay for me to beat down those texts that I saw as
threatening. Here was my saving grace though, a different side of the founding
fathers who left a piece to the ever evolving puzzle of America. I had been
reminded that there are always two sides to every story and perhaps I was on the
wrong side.
When I began Charles Brockden Brown’s
Edgar Huntley; or,
Memoirs of a Sleepwalker, I took this
inclusionary approach. A memoir about a sleep walker, with doppelgangers, and a
murder mystery, this has American Literature themes written all over it. It
starts out harmless enough with Edgar writing to his wife about his sleeping
problems, but then we find out about Waldegrave, a friend of his that has been
mysteriously murdered. Edgar has a sneaking suspicion that the outsider
Irishman, Clithero, committed the atrocity and follows him through the dark
murky woods, and into a cave. I could feel the imagery of a damp and ever
elongated journey into the center of a man’s mind while reading these passages
reminding me of
Death in Venice, which
would not be published for over another century. At every turn there was a
surprise but I did not see the biggest of them all, and I do not mean the
panther. First Natives killed Waldegrave?? I thought I had the novel solved from
get go accusing Edgar of sleepwalking the whole time and it was him who had
taken his friends life. I had to tell myself, our country in 1799, was not quite
at Stephen King’s level of horror in the gothic sense that Brown chose for his
literary milieu. Some First Natives were ferocious then as we learned in Mary
Rowlandson’s
A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration
that this would have suited a fitting ending for the times. One can see the
impact that America and its political fears had on the novel though. Here is a
country wrestling with its identity, not sure who to trust. Just one year prior
to the publication of
Edgar Huntley John Adams
signed into effect the Alien and Sedition Acts putting tighter restraints on
immigration and naturalization of hopeful new citizens. This paranoia is present
in Edgar and Clithero’s somnambulating leading both men into dark crevices of
their thoughts performing tasks of the unconscious mind. This again speaks to
the rich diversity in Early American Literature allowing and giving the others,
whether it is the unconscious or the conscious, which do not have a voice a
chance at expressing themselves.
Full expression has been my objective as a
Literature major from the first day Dr. John Gorman looked at me over his
glasses and asked, “Why are you here in class?” I knew I was good hands with a
professor carrying enough to ask what I wanted from him, instead of just another
syllabus with what they wanted from me. Mentorship like this has its roots here
in America and was revealed to me by my friend Cassandra Rea in her research
post Phillis Wheatley: The Center of the American Literary Cannon. Phillis was a
slave who was bought by the Wheatley family in Boston, and contrary to the
consensus in the classroom discussion was treated as if there was not a speck of
difference inside of her. The Wheatley’s educated her and encouraged her poetry
writing; even having Phillis’ “On the Death of Rev. George Whitefield” sent off
to Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntington making sure it was published
regardless of class or race. Phillis embodies the character of the patriotic
American, never surrendering, always striving for more, but not without the help
of some much needed compassionate instruction tailored made for her interests.
It was this exact same tailored made instruction
that made Dr. White’s classes such a success. The amount of time it must have
taken to make the web site, shows he cares about instructing, yet the endless
proposals one could conceive for the research posts expounds the belief that
when your education is in your hands, you will know what is best for you.
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