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LITR 4231 Early American Literature |
Final Exam Essays 2014 Sample answer
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Thomas Dion
Culture Wars: Give Me Some Shelter
When I hear the term “culture war” I immediately
think of news networks and talking heads trying to keep us from entering
the spin zone.
This is not one TV network or even exclusive to television; the dispute over the
advantages and disadvantages of a dominant culture versus a multicultural one
extends into music, art, books, food, clothing, religion, and the lists go on.
It is naïve to believe that disputes over which culture to be embraced has been
going on for anything less than the entire human history and in all geographical
areas. The dominant culture versus the marginalized culture is generally how the
two opposing sides are classified and depicted, and by a few, as having nothing
in common. However, with all the differences and “culture wars” we as humans
have had, we equally have had as many “cultural treaties” witnessed in the seams
of powerful moments, as one time period transcends to the next creating a
patchwork we like to call the American culture.
There are advantages and disadvantages to teaching
either dominant or the marginalized sides of society. For instance, where do you
fit slavery in while still honoring the “great white fathers?” The trick is to
find the similarities in their differences. Case in point at the beginning of
the semester, we started our course with the Renaissance age during the
1400-1600’s. The European Renaissance is all most people think of, and they have
their reasons. This was when the rediscovery of learning took place catapulting
the European nations into the forefront of the modern world. I for one would not
be here if it was not for King Ferdinand taking a gamble on a man like Columbus.
I felt encouraged to see Jennifer Matus in her essay “Pieces to the Puzzle of
History through Literature” felt as enlightened as I had felt when learning the
stories “Handsome Lake” and “How the White Race Came to America.” If we are to
teach the Renaissance age, then we should also include the achievements of the
Americas during the same time period. That is where a presentation, like that
from Amanda Duarte, can connect individuals with the past through the common
human emotion tied to music. When reading translated stories or post-contact
stories it is hard to get the full affect that the artist intended since
meanings of words change from language to language, and time to time. But music
is different. How incredible it was to listen to the clay pipes and experience
an unfiltered auditory sensation from a civilization that is no more. I found a
lot of classmates having a hard time grasping and connecting with the past even
after these moments. After all the music played on the pipes was rather
different. By including the intellectual arts that were occurring in America at
the time of discovering America gave an advantage when connecting across the
cultural gap. However, not everyone has always wanted a bridge.
The Seventeenth Century was ripe with cultural
turmoil as the reformation was in full swing and individuals from all over
Europe were looking for religious freedom. As modern readers we should see a
connection here to the talking heads of today. In Cotton Mather’s
The Wonders of the
Invisible World we find religious fanaticism
full of fear towards witchcraft. Mather says, “the Devil has made a dreadful
knot of witches in this country” and it is up to the religious dominate culture
to root them out culminating in the Salem Witch Trials. This is a skid mark on
Americas past as dominant culture can fizzle over and drown out reason. However,
during the same time William Bradford had brought the Pilgrims over and
exhibited Christian Humanism with references to not only religious texts but to
ancient philosopher Seneca for helping guide them to the new world. It is
important to see here in the Seventeenth Century the effects both Christianity
and the secular have on its own literature. The advantages of seeing religious
and secular work together and against, will have a profound impact and advantage
on the upcoming Enlightenment Period, represented in the themes supporting an
early framework of multiculturalism.
With so much claimed about the founding fathers being
Christian, it was a surprise to find out that many of them were followers of
deism. Thomas Paine makes a plea to the public in
The Age of Reason
to reconsider “false systems of government, and
false theology” that are keeping the majority of society from believing in the
“equality of man…loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures
happy.” His strong sentiments are stripped of mysticism but are filled with a
love that can be compared to Romanticism.
The Romantic Period is one of the hardest to
reconcile within myself, since my opinion of the genre being a “mass of trash”
agrees with Thomas Jefferson’s. Yet, this truly is not my overall feeling since
I do like certain messages within a text like
Charlotte Temple
by Susan Rowson. Contrary to my midterm essay opinion that literature which
tries to tell you something is
bad, I must retract my
statement in favor of Rowson’s preface. There are certain times when one needs
to be rescued with a blunt truth versus the “most elegant piece of literature
whose tendency might deprave the heart or mislead the understanding.” Charlotte
like many modern readers represents in her early age the innocence that is
corrupted by an unfair world. Although Charlotte’s personal story ends in
tragedy with her death, it is her parents that make the romantic qualities shine
through. Not only will Mr. Temple help Captain Eldridge out of debtor’s prison,
he stays true to his convictions and marries Lucy Eldridge regardless of being
ostracized from his family, marrying for love and not wealth. This
sentimentality sticks with him throughout the story and expounds upon morals
hinted on by Paine. Even after Charlotte recklessly leaves for America with
Montraville, her father still holds out that she will return to the family and
keeps his heart open to her. She finally gets a message home to her father and
he takes no time at all boarding a ship to save his little girl. Even at the end
when finding Mrs. Crayton destitute on the verge of death, Mr. Temple with
overwhelming compassion towards humanity forgives her for her ill part in
Charlotte’s life, and attempts to save her life. This is the type of romance
uncovers the truth about what it means to be a hero through forgiveness and
love. Countering this message is shown in Montraville showing remorse for
leaving Charlotte, but his attempt at redemption through slaying Belcour builds
no bridge to understanding. Through many angles in this book we can see that
even literature that has a message can still indeed draw out personal reflection
when we find ourselves attempting to reconcile our own desires.
Taking a step back and looking at the ages as a
continuous progression, instead of individual time periods, reveals a confusing
picture when trying to make an argument in support of teaching only the dominant
culture. Such a proposition involves omitting the effects that multicultural
backgrounds have on the dominant culture. America is a patchwork of men and
women from all races and nationalities. Sometimes the men are dominant like
Mather, while at other times they are the marginalized like Paine was for his
religious views. The same can be said for women since Rowson’s
Charlotte Temple
was one of the most popular books of its time when women writers were still not
fully supported. The best advice that can be given is if anyone tries to claim
dominant culture or multicultural as the most important to study, they are being
biased to the fact that everything is multicultural one way or another. The
advantage to approaching the culture wars in this manner gives social shelter to
the many instead of the few.
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