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LITR 4328: American Renaissance  |
Final Exam Essays 2015 Sample answers for |
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Michael McDonald
May
12, 2015
The Distinguished Man
Romanticism outside of the realm of literary study is often believed to be
stories of love or a hero’s quest to rescue his love from the clutches of evil.
Within literary study that ideal of Romanticism though the love story and quest
do still apply, but not to the extent that many believe. In my basest knowledge
of Romanticism I believed the romance narrative to fall more in line with tales
like Romeo & Juliet, never did I expect to find that Romanticism encompasses far
more. British Romanticism taught me that the romance narrative centered on the
gothic and sublime. The American Renaissance showed that the romance narrative
could be so much more and was capable of telling deep and powerful stories of
redemption and hope.
Through the course of the class what I previously understood about Romanticism
has evolved. Before I focused on the aspect of nature being the heart of
romantic literature and that if it wasn’t sublime, it wasn’t romantic. That’s is
what the British romanticists would want readers to believe that nature always
comes first in the narrative, but American romanticist I feel believe the people
and characters of their tale should be at the forefront. American Romanticists
creating extraordinary heroes to lead their novels, these characters root
themselves in the minds of the audience.
Romanticism as a term seems to force people into believing they will be
subjected to reading a love story, but that isn’t necessarily true. Coming to
understand that the romance narrative is more about the journey of an individual
to accomplish a goal or mission makes the idea of reading romantic literature
more appeasing. To garner interest in a story I feel there must be interesting
characters who make me wonder where they are and what they’re doing when they’re
not on the page before me.
In
Cooper’s The Last of the Mohican’s
readers are treated to the pre-cowboy type character Hawkeye. Hawkeye’s
character is romantic in how he separates himself from the other characters in
the novel. Hawkeye still exhibits a great knowledge and love for the American
frontier, but the distinction of his character is displayed more in his grand
acts of marksmanship. Hawkeye also separated himself due to his choice of life.
Hawkeye was a white man who had taken up the Native American way of life. For
this time in history that is significant because of the thought that Native
American were ruthless savages who simply didn’t understand civilized life.
Hawkeye also shows no romantic interest to any women in the novel, instead his
love remains the land. Where the romantic narrative of Hawkeye is evidenced is
in his endless desire to fulfill the journey he has undertaken.
The
romantic narrative and Romanticism have taken hold in our modern society. This
is evidenced by movies, television, and even video games. In all these instances
there is some grand individual who has been chosen to complete the impossible to
ascend to heights of glory previously unknown.
1865 flag of the USA