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LITR 4231 Early American Literature |
Final Exam Sample Essays 2014 Sample
answer
for
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Tiffany Robinson
Essay 2- A Literary Journey Across the Ages
This semester has been a literary journey across
the ages. I have traveled
academically to various periods in time that has built and shaped the America we
have come to know today. Each
period has contributed important values, ways of life, religious platforms and
cultural movements to the foundation of early American history.
Dissecting one period from the other is a complicated task.
Periods can overlap, replace, or even conflict with one another. Each
period is a steppingstone for the next era, and while there are some
similarities to compare, individually they add significant importance, to their
particular period.
We learned about several periods this semester;
for the purpose of this essay, I would like to discuss and compare the 17th
Century (1600’s), the Enlightment era (1660-1780), and the Romantic era
(1700-early 1800’s). Beginning with
the 17th Century, this marks the unique period of western culture and
is considered the “transitional period.”
The 17th Century concludes the Renaissance era and begins the
Enlightenment, which causes an overlap of the periods.
The main structure of this era is the reformation and Counter Reformation
of the Catholic Church. There were
two main participating parties; the Pilgrims and the Puritans, who were both
part of the same Protestant movement.
The Pilgrims were the more radical of the two groups, while the Puritans
were on the moderate side of things.
The people of this era were big on faith and God in the community.
John Winthrop was the Governor of Massachusetts, Bay Colony and the
leader of the Puritans. Winthrop wanted to create the ultimate Christian utopia.
I learned in class, that a utopia is; “an experimental community, intended to
reform or escape from normal human society, often by substituting planning,
cooperation, or collective values and practices in place of laissez-faire,
competition, and individualism.”
These were the first signs of political organization and progressive movements.
The people of the 17th century expressed tense emotion of
faith. John Winthrop preached that; “true Christians are of one body in Christ…
if one being honor, all rejoice with it,” and God should be pleased with your
works. This type of collective
thinking prompted the beginning the Enlightenment era, which is the age of
reason/ neo classical era. There was a push for the separation of state and
religion; there was religious warfare, persecution and suffering.
Religion was on trial, literally during the Salem witch trials.
This abrupt change in direction put an end to the short lived 17th
century period and began the Enlightenment era.
Ironically, the Enlightenment era is seen as a
“cooling off” period for religion and progress of “worldly ways.”
The Enlightenment period took place from 1660-1780’s, which will overlap
with the romanticism era. I believe
this era is called the “age of reason” because it was an awakening to new
idealism and empiricism. Powerful
figures and decisions were made during this time.
The main characters of the 17th Century were similar to the
ones of the enlightenment period, in the aspect that they all wanted to have
their stories heard. The women of
the 17th Century began writing and expressing their oppressions.
They wrote about the rights of feminism, the hard stern hand of the
church and the love of God and their families, and in worst cases; they wrote
about their captivity. Anne
Bradstreet and Rowlandson were both writers in the 17th Century,
while Mary Jemison and Phyllis Wheatly were writers in the enlightenment state.
There were also some great men between the two
periods. John Winthrop and William
Bradford were to the 17th century, what Johnathan Edwards and
Benjamin Franklin was for the enlightenment era.
Both Winthrop and Bradford were leaders for their period and helped
sculpt the religious background of early America, just as Franklin and Edwards
did for political background and social systems of early America. The
Enlightenment period was not just about talk, but about action.
Modern institutions and values were established during this period, such
as; the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 1776, and the Constitution of 1789.
American culture began to evolve around this time.
There were advancements in modern sciences, inventions and public health
concerns.
The People of the enlightenment were focused on
the here and now, which is surprising, that what came after focused on
fantasies, the gothic and the unknown.
The Romantic era followed behind the enlightenment era; (1700-early
1800’s), and values the unattainable or something lost.
Amidst the revolutions, both the American and the French, there raised a
society of people who embraced their imagination, emotions and feelings and
expressed them in writing and in song.
While the enlightenment era founded the U.S.A.,
the romantic era brought it into existence.
The romantic era gave birth to dreamers; both light and dark.
There was great love expressed for children and there was referred to as
holy creatures and innocent. The
spirit of nature and God are one.
In class, we learned that the word romantic as it refers to the period; has a
double meaning; it can be applied to a situation, such as; “he is so romantic”
or a personal trait, “don’t be a romantic” or in other words, a dreamer.
Even the music of the era was full of wonder and magical sounds.
The Nutcracker Ballet, Swan Lake and Beethoven are examples of music
influenced by the period.
The characters of the romantic era embraced
the light and the dark side of the imagination.
The light side was the romantic and the dark side was called the gothic.
This era produced a quest for something greater; a desire and loss. The
birth of fictional writers came to be during the romantic period.
Fictional writing became popular as a way to explore the “unreal or
mystical aspects of the human mind.”
Writers such as Susanna Rowson; who wrote Charlotte Temple brought
fictional romance to the everyday lives of people.
It was classified as an early American “seduction novel.”
Charlotte Temple offered a mixture of romance and religion.
The main character of the story is pure at heart, naïve and religiously
faithful, until she is tempted by lust.
The story of Charlotte Temple plays on the
good vs. evil angle. Madam la Rue;
who is Charlotte’s chaperone of sorts is the depiction of Satan. Charlotte is a
practical woman, but she allows herself to be romanticized by the prospect of
being free. Her love and devotion
for her parents can be compared to the love and devotion one has for God.
Although Charlotte was warned against foolishly falling in love and going
against the wishes of your family she gave in to her emotions and desires to be
free. I found that the manner, in
which Charlotte betrayed her parents by eloping with Montraville, was a
comparison to the sin of worshipping more than one God.
This story is a clear representation of the light side of the romantic
period.
On the flipside Edgar Huntly by, Charles
Brockden Brown; is an attempt at a fictional gothic novel.
This text is full of darkness and imagination which is what’s meant by
the term gothic. The main character
in this story is fixated on finding the killer of his dear friend.
Edgar becomes consumed with following who he thinks is the killer, and it
drives him nearly insane. In our
class discussion, the gothic world is a representation of death and can appear
as a “dangerously attractive nightmare.”
The romantic area birthed modern readers and according to the text,
fiction gave them a way to begin to see themselves and their own conflicts and
desires. This particular text is
comparable to Rowlandson’s account of captivity, only fictionalized.
In section 17.9-17.10, Huntly describes the brutal capture and murder of
his family by a group of Indians.
Huntly’s description of the “savages” is similar to the account that Rowlandson
depicted.
The discussed periods of the 17th
century, enlightenment, and romantic all meet at a crossroads at some point in
the era. Some characteristics of the periods and mind sets of the people change;
but there has remained a continuity of faith and advanced reasoning throughout
the ages. These basic aspects of culture have appealed to the mass audiences
during the course of change, reformation and self –improvement that has come to
be America.
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