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LITR 4328: American Renaissance  |
Final Exam Essays 2015 Sample answers for |
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Michael McDonald
Hawkeye vs Hugh: The Battle Between What Is Real & What We Wish Was
Romanticism creates a world of adventure and shows the grandeur of the world. In
a sense it appears almost fairytale in existence. It is because of Romanticism
that Realism exists, to counter the notion of the distinguished man and in his
place present you with the masses of men who are simple unskilled, everyday men.
Romanticism aims to paint the world in a light of utter beauty and also cover it
in the clouds of the gothic and sometimes supernatural. Realism wants to throw
ice water in your face to wake you from the dream that Romanticism is placing
you in.
Romanticism and Realism exist on opposite ends of the literary spectrum. The two
genres are separated solely in how they present their worlds. Where one attempts
to show you magic, the other tells you how the trick is done. Brianna Perry
argues “In Realism, morality is not black and white, while Romanticism wishes to
portray life as cut and dried, with an obvious right and wrong” (Model
Assignments).
Life
In the Iron Mills
at
its core is a story of Realism. Rebecca Harding Davis does not present the ideal
life that much of romanticism seems to find itself in. Instead Davis shows the
bleakness that exists in her Iron Mill town. The people within the town struggle
to maintain their way of life as they work tirelessly and suffer from harsh cold
and starvation. “It rolls sullenly in slow folds from the great chimneys of the
iron-foundries, and settles down in black, slimy pools on the muddy streets.
Smoke on the wharves, smoke on the dingy boats, on the yellow river,—clinging in
a coating of greasy soot to the house-front, the two faded poplars, the faces of
the passers-by” (Life In The Iron Mills). Davis description of nature is not one
of beauty, but instead of the dirty and harsh toll that the work at the foundry
has taken upon the town. Realism not only changes the view of nature, but the
view of the gothic as well. In Realism the gothic is represented in deformations
and grotesqueness rather than the haunting supernatural element that Romanticism
enlisted
Realism also maintains the idea that its “hero” isn’t truly a hero, instead they
are men who are slightly higher on the status scale than their peers. Hugh Wolfe
is described “Physically, Nature had promised the man but little. He had already
lost the strength and instinct vigor of a man, his muscles were thin, his nerves
weak, his face (a meek, woman's face) haggard, yellow with consumption. In the
mill he was known as one of the girl-men: "Molly Wolfe" was his sobriquet” (Iron
Mills). Hugh Wolfe is simply a man with no discernable skills or features
outside of his feminine stature. The only thing that separates him from the rest
of the mill workers is his minor artistic ability. This ability though is
overlooked and not deemed to be of use in the realities of the mill town.
Unlike Realism, Romanticism allows the sun to shine through the smog and gives a
sense of hope and purpose to its story. In
The Last of the Mohican’s Cooper
tells the story of Hawkeye and his quest to rescue and guide a group of English
colonists back to their father. In the midst of this journey Hawkeye and his
friends encounter many dangers and trials that are a cornerstone of the romantic
narrative. That journey takes them across the vast American Frontier taking the
characters to places where “the rushing of the waters ran through their melody”
(Mohican’s). Cooper allows for
Mohican’s to be a great journey filled with adventure, where Iron Mills only
aspiration is chance for there being more to life than what the town holds.
Mohican’s differs from Iron Mills not only in how the stories view nature, but
in the construction of characters as well.
Wolfe’s character differs greatly from that of Hawkeye. Hawkeye is the epitome
of a romantic hero. He is handsome, well put together, and a skilled
frontiersman. Hawkeye is also clearly identified as the “good guy” in The Last
of the Mohican’s, where Wolfe is just part of the men who work at the mill.
Throughout Mohican’s Hawkeye exhibits his astounding knowledge of the frontier
and his remarkable skill with his long-barrel rifle. Hawkeye’s character
predates the cowboy and in many ways could be responsible for the modern cowboy
archetype.
We
reside in a world of Realism, we see and accept the faults of our world and know
that in this reality there are no Hawkeye’s, there are only Hugh’s. Despite that
knowledge though we still find ourselves drawn to the idea that there is some
kind of magic in this world and we long for adventure.
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