 |
LITR 4328 American
Renaissance lecture notes |
 |
sketch two spheres, private and public
Discussion Questions: Stowe's fiction is great on any account, but for our course purposes it combines a large number of our style and subject terms.
How does Uncle Tom's Cabin combine domestic sentimentality (Wide, Wide World; Lamplighter) with political activism, particularly as civil disobedience?
domestic sentimentality
1.19
one of those wild, grotesque songs common
among the negroes
1.78 a woman of high class, both intellectually and morally
1.78 [woman’s influence]
4.2 domesticity in slave cabin
(readers identify = sympathy) 4.78 Tom as Patriarch
(biblical values despite feminine emphasis) 13.65
everything went on so sociably, so quietly, so harmoniously, in the great
kitchen 36.28 Legree dreams of mother
40.19 improvised family (cf. Wide, Wide World & The
Lamplighter) 7.39-40 passive resistance, non-compliance
[7.51]
"Pray for them that
'spitefully use you, the good book says," says Tom. 7.68 Mrs. Shelby's passive resistance 9.23 It's a shameful, wicked, abominable
law, and I'll break it, for one, the first time I get a chance 36.64 did only what thought was right
40.43
40.53 I forgive ye 9.115 trans form + narrative 1.8 Tom got religion 1.10
'I trust you, because I think you're a
Christian 4.78
prayer,
enriched with the language of Scripture, which seemed so entirely to have
wrought itself into his being 13.1 quaker domestic utopia Eliza and child received on equality as family 13.52 love thy neighbor 13.68 first time that ever George had sat down on equal terms at any white
man's table 13.69 living gospel 9.34-5 reason, x-reason (Romanticism) 13.63 dreamed of a beautiful country 14.18 perfection of childish beauty marked her out from other children (cf. Wolfe in Life in the
Iron Mills)
4.3 realistic details 9.121 realistic detail
civil disobedience?
How might Stowe's appeal be both Transcendental and Evangelical?
Transcendental
Evangelical
[9.25]
"Now, John,
I don't
know anything about politics, but I can read my Bible; and there I see that I
must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the desolate; and
that Bible I mean to follow."
(cf. Levi Coffin )
How
might her style be both
Romantic
and
Realistic?
Romantic
Realistic
How did Stowe become (in Lincoln's words) "the little lady who started
this big war"? (i.e., the Civil War) What strategies does she use
to make white readers sympathize? What does fiction achieve that the
slave narratives did not? (For example, her absorption of historical
materials like slave narratives or Levi Coffin's Reminiscences.)
How does Stowe manage the sexual nature of slavery for women like Eliza, Cassy, & Emmeline?
1.26 young quadroon woman
1.32 "I don't want to make my fortune on her,"
What qualities distinguish Stowe's style as a great writer?
1.53 'Tan't, you know, as if it was white folks, that's brought up in the way of 'spectin' to keep their children and wives, and all that. Niggers, you know, that's fetched up properly, ha'n't no kind of 'spectations of no kind; so all these things comes easier."
1.78
a woman of high class, both intellectually and morally36.74 Cassy's touch recalls dream of mother
7.107 narrative
9.115 trans form + narrative
UTC
Chapter 1: In Which the Reader Is Introduced to a Man of Humanity
1.2 class distinctions
1.4 ? "That is the way I should arrange the matter," said Mr.
Shelby.
1.8 Tom got religion
1.10
'I trust you, because I think you're a
Christian
1.14 only hard
necessity makes me willing to sell
1.19
one of those wild, grotesque songs common
among the negroes
1.26 young quadroon woman
1.32 "I don't want to make my fortune on her,"
1.41 I'm a humane man
1.44
These critters ain't like white folks, you
know; they gets over things, only manage right.
1.44, 1.46 humane, humanity
1.51 a little humanity
1.53
'Tan't, you know, as if it was white folks,
that's brought up in the way of 'spectin' to keep their children and wives, and
all that. Niggers, you know, that's fetched up properly, ha'n't no kind of
'spectations of no kind; so all these things comes easier."
1.61 So much
for being in debt,—heigho! The fellow sees his advantage, and means to push it."
1.62
no heavier counterpoise than the interests of
the helpless and unprotected.
1.63 shadow of law
1.63 humans as things
1.64 speculated largely and quite loosely
1.78
a woman of high class, both intellectually and
morally
1.78 [woman’s influence]
Chapter 4: An Evening in Uncle Tom's Cabin
4.2 domesticity in slave cabin
4.3 realistic details
4.6 scriptural prints & portrait of Washington
4.8 large, broadchested, powerfully-made man, of a full glossy black, and a face whose truly African features (cf. Uncas)
4.9 mas'r George
4.78 Tom as Patriarch
prayer, enriched with the language of Scripture, which seemed so entirely to have wrought itself into his being
Chapter 7: The Mother's Struggle
7.3 stronger than all was maternal love
7.5 your Harry, mother, or your Willie?
7.12 sublime
7.39-40 passive resistance, non-compliance
[7.51]
"Pray for them that
'spitefully use you, the good book says," says Tom.
7.68 Mrs. Shelby's passive resistance
7.102-105 cf. minstrel show, two black crows, cf. Greek comedy of clever slaves
7.107 narrative
7.114 you've got a little boy (sympathy, ID)
7.117 large white house (cf. Ichabod Crane)
7.134 shouts of laughter (object of laughter = slave trader)
Chapter 9: In Which It Appears That a Senator Is But a Man
9.10-11 Christian legislature? v. woman
9.23 It's a shameful, wicked, abominable law, and I'll break it, for one, the first time I get a chance
9.25 cf. Levi Coffin
9.34-5 reason, x-reason (Romanticism)
9.38 Eliza
9.39 hands as class marker
9.51 Senator breaks own law
9.80 have you ever lost a child?
9.106 your heart is better than your head (Romanticism)
9.108 O mother that reads this!
9.115 trans form + narrative
9.121 realistic detail
9.129 John Van Trompe
9.136 sexual nature of women's slavery
Chapter 13: The Quaker Settlement
LITR 4368 Literature of the Future
LITR 5439 Literary & Historical Utopias
13.1 quaker domestic utopia
Eliza and child received on equality as family
13.52 love thy neighbor
13.63 dreamed of a beautiful country (Romanticism, utopia, cf. Dr. King's Dream)
13.64 harmoniously
13.65 everything went on so sociably, so quietly, so harmoniously, in the great kitchen
13.68 first time that ever George had sat down on equal terms at any white man's table
13.69 living gospel
14.2 headlong tide of business
14.2 river of dreams > reality
14.11 Tom can't write
14.18 perfection of childish beauty
marked her out from other children (cf. Wolfe in Life in the Iron Mills)
14.47 religion a scarce article at our house
Chapter 36: Emmeline and Cassy
36.10 I've heard screams here that I haven't been able to get out of my head for weeks and weeks. [gothic]
36.16 drink as desensitizing to horrors of slavery (dehumanizing)
36.20 no end to the curse [gothic]
36.28 Legree dreamed. In his heavy and feverish sleep, a veiled form stood beside him, and laid a cold, soft hand upon him. (Legree dreams of mother) [gothic]
36.29 The morning star stood, with its solemn, holy eye of light, looking down on the man of sin [gothic]
36.40 woman's tact
36.64 did only what thought was right
36.74 Cassy's touch recalls dream of mother
40.14
"O, great Almighty God! we are
all sinners; but what have
we done, more than all
the rest of the world, that we should be treated so?"
40.19 improvised, reconstituted family
40.36 Speak!
40.43 O, Mas'r! don't bring this great sin on your soul! It will hurt you more than 't will me!
40.53 I forgive ye
40.65 cf. Christ w/ 2 thieves (symbol,
elevation)
Reminiscences of Levi Coffin notes
1 incident in childhood
1a what if Father . . . ?
2 wild and romantic scenery
2a fishing after night; my father protested
4 ninth month, cf.
Whitman, A Child Went Forth
4 [nonfiction detail]
6 multiplicity of business
6 free colored people
6a penalty of law x read in the Bible
6a my wife’s sympathies and feelings same as mine, do her
part
7 Quaker diversity of opinion
8 listening quietly
let my business go
8a heard him patiently
8a we parted in good feeling
9 trade diminished but new settlements, trade increased
9 deep mud and bad roads cf. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
11-11a extended
metaphors for Underground Railroad > preview
11c wife’s sympathy and efforts
11c (anti-Romanticism) real labor and suffering involved
12 while the north star could not be seen
13 unwilling to tell their stories
13 north star
13 on their way
to
14 number friendly to fugitives increased in neighborhood
(note local nature of Suu Kyi and Thoreau)
15 business influence (cf. separation of church and state)
15 principles of peace and non-resistance
17 business influence and large acquaintance
17 legal prosecution, law required writ
18 continual excitement and anxiety, but work its own reward
19 former slave to night-school, progress in learning
20 almost wild when they came in
Coffin 15 principles of peace and non-resistance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2005loNRYY
Aung San Suu Kyii of Myanmar / Burma
