LITR 4232 American
Renaissance
LITR 4232 2008 final exam
Essay Answers to Question 2: Moral Complexity in American Renaissance Literature
Cheryl Romig
“Judge not” and other moral lessons
At first glance, it appears that Nathaniel Hawthorne and Abraham Lincoln do not have anything in common, but when you look at their writings and speeches through the lens of moral complexity, similarities arise from the differences. Hawthorne’s fictional writings of “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “Young Goodman Brown” tackle the error of judging the motivations, sins, and morality of others, from moral leaders and those seen everyday to those closest to you. Lincoln’s speeches expose hidden political agendas and tackles morality while laying out both sides of the slavery argument. While the nature of political/historical speeches differ from fictional short stories, both authors make the reader think about who really might be right or wrong and good or evil.
In the “Veil,” Hawthorne sets up mystery around what the townspeople construe as a secret, sinful life and public penance of the local man of God. Even though the “Veil” was written before The Scarlet Letter, I had read the novel before reading the “Parable.” Since this was my reading history, I kept waiting, along with the townsfolk, to discover Parson Hooper’s secret sin behind the public mask just as Dimmesdale’s secret penance was discovered in light of Hester’s public sin. It seems that I can be judged along with the others as I judged the Parson before knowing his heart and on my “visage a black veil” could be placed.
A close reading of the “Veil” shows that the “black crepe” did not serve not as a penance for some unknown evil, but to remind the minister, and teach the townspeople, that everyone “shrink[s] from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin.” Parson Hooper was “kind and loving, though unloved,” and “men avoided,” “women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled only for [the] black veil.” In donning “that mysterious emblem,” he was able to see the dark heart of those around him as his wife, friends, and neighbors judged him daily. It seems appropriate that a minister should find a way to remind himself of his congregation’s moral failings, but Parson Hooper is irrevocably dedicated to this lesson that he only teaches on his death bed. The modern reader is left to wonder why the Parson did not simply wear the veil for one service, or even a week or month, and then express the meaning in a fiery lesson from the pulpit. The sincerity that even in death he wished the veil to not be removed serves further to indict those whom judged him. In the end it is the minister whom is redeemed and the people ashamed.
Hawthorne also teaches the reader about the danger of judging others in “Young Goodman Brown.” Goodman Brown meets with the devil outside of town in the wilderness (the American gothic setting) and sees all of the good church people worshiping the darkness as well. He holds out for his wife only to see her there as well. By the end of the tale, the reader and Goodman Brown are both unable to tell if the forest escapade was a terrible reality or a “fearful dream.” Instead of simply asking his wife or endeavoring to follow the ways of the church even more dutifully, he became bitter towards humanity, judging everyone and looking at them in disgust, ever forgetting that if they are guilty than he is as well. “A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not desperate man, did he become” and he robbed himself of a happy life due to his judgment.
Whether or not the townspeople were guilty of devil worship, Goodman Brown forgot that the church’s job is to forgive. Even Lincoln warns to “let us judge not that we be not judged” in a paraphrase of the Bible in his “Second Inaugural Address.” I was surprised to see that in his famous “House Divided speech,” after outlining almost every item on which he disagreed with Stephen Douglas, Lincoln was still careful to “not misrepresent” his opponent, “question his motives, or do aught that can be personally offensive to him.” Today’s politicians could take note of Lincoln’s dedication to the moral high ground instead of personally attacking those with whom he argued. While not assailing the character of Douglas and other pro-slavery politicians, Lincoln uses the “House Divided speech” to infer that the political manipulation and maneuvering of President Buchanan and his cohorts was immoral as it deceived the people whom they were supposed to be serving.
I found it interesting that Lincoln sandwiched his speech with quotations and paraphrases from the Bible, but as he pointed out in his “Inaugural Address,” “both [sides] read the same Bible.” Even as he felt his position against slavery was completely right, he found it “astounding” and “strange” that “each [side] invokes His aid against the other” and “that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces.” It is here that Lincoln invokes the “judge not” principle, even though his previous statement implicated himself as well as the enemy. He also states that “the Almighty has his own purposes” and implies that while God might not be on either side, they should endeavor to be on His. Modernity tends to see Lincoln as holding moral absolutes, which he might have personally, but he shows in this address that black and white is not as easy as each side would like to claim.
Modern readers can learn from both Hawthorne and Lincoln not to judge others, for we know not their motives. Also, such stories and speeches can teach students to think about complex moral issues that they otherwise would not have attempted. Hawthorne uses the gothic to make readers question their own moral failings and how we view the world while Lincoln teaches that we cannot blindly invoke our religion or what we believe to be moral absolutes upon those whom do not think as we do. These texts teach these lessons and can be springboards to important moral discussions in the classroom. However, extreme care must be taken to see that students are not manipulated to think as the teacher or the institution does. Additionally, it is imperative that the leader of the discussion maintains control of the dialogue so that all students’ ideas and beliefs are respected.
Natalie Walker
“Are You the Judge of Me or Am I the Judge of Me?”
Morality’s Place in Literature
In life people are faced with how they judge themselves and how they judge others. Most people would say if asked that they are quite open-minded, but is that a good thing? Current society champions that narrow-mindedness is wrong, but is that a good thing as well? How do people behave when no one is looking? Many writers during the American Renaissance such as Hawthorne wrote about situations where these very questions were asked of the characters in his stories. Many public speakers such as Lincoln also spoke about this topic, leaving the ultimate decision up to the audience. The topic of morals is a very hard one for writers to address and that is why many authors choose to leave the decision up to the audience, and instead show how their characters face the different scenarios throughout the stories they create.
In Hawthorne’s story of Young Goodman Brown, he tells the story of a seemingly upright, good Christian man. However, very quickly the audience learns that Goodman Brown is not all he appears to be. “Depending upon one another’s hearts, ye had still hoped, that virtue were not all a dream. Now are ye undeceived! Evil is the nature of mankind…” (1297). Hawthorne seems to be commenting on the eternal struggle between good and evil, and gives the choice to his reader like Goodman Brown to choose which side to belong to. However what side does Goodman Brown really choose? After his ordeal in the forest when he returns to town he no longer trusts or believes in anyone, even his wife. So has he banished the evil that is “the nature of mankind”? These are the sorts of questions that Hawthorne presents to his readers throughout the story of Young Goodman Brown.
Hawthorne also comments on people’s behavior when they think no one is looking. Brown goes into the forest at night when he knows no one will be in there that he knows or is acquainted with. He wants to make sure that no one suspects what he is up to because he wants to keep up appearances. This in itself can be a basis for the hypocrisy that many people base their lives on. In public people do one thing but in private they do another. By creating a character like Goodman Brown, Hawthorne can indict a whole society without preaching to his potential readers. “But with your leave, friend, I shall take a cut through the woods, until we leave this Christian woman behind. Being a stranger to you, she might ask whom I was consorting with, and whither I was going” (1291). Goodman Brown seeing a “very pious and exemplary dame” (1291) wanted to hide his true intentions of being in the forest so late at night. Just as some people hide their true intentions of being in their own personal “forest”, they don’t want others, they perceive to be moral, to see their less than honorable actions.
During the American Renaissance the social climate of America was changing. The Civil War was threatening to tear the nation apart, abolitionists were campaigning for the freedom of slaves, and women were campaigning for equal rights. Within this time President Lincoln spoke many times about matters that concerned morals and the choices that they must make. When Lincoln delivered his speech entitled, A House Divided, he spoke of the impending war and how this was not the way to maintain and grow a nation.
“We are now far into our fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augmented” (1629). In this quote Lincoln is placing the issue back into the laps of the people. The senators, in public, have been for the abolition of slavery but in private they are against it. Lincoln without telling anyone what to do is posing the question of what is right. That if the senators truly believe this is wrong then they should be willing to stand up and fight for what they believe in.
His whole speech is showing how, again people can be very hypocritical. In the above quote he shows morality is not just about words but actions. The saying “actions speak louder than words” is very appropriate in this speech because that is just what Lincoln is saying. Never once does Lincoln say that someone is wrong for believing what they believe, however he does say that if you are willing to voice an opinion it should be true to what is inside of you and not just for show. The very fact that many people were saying they were in favor of abolition but then not doing anything to push the movement along was doing more to harm the nation than help. Lincoln made that very clear in his speech.
During this time period many authors were confronted with morality issues themselves and the only way they could work them out was to pose them as internal questions, hidden in their speeches, and stories. As [SB] states from their 2006 final exam sample, “As American society is changing in the 19th century, the classic author, Hawthorne and the great leader, Lincoln, recognize that human morality is both important and complicated.” Morality is something that no matter how hard anyone tries they cannot escape from it, no matter where you fall on the morality scale.
Reading these types of materials within a classroom setting is a good opener for talking about any kind of topic that falls in the social context. Teaching the speeches of Lincoln or the writings of Hawthorne can become good examples of critical thinking; because they do not tell the reader what decision to come, to they enable the readers to delve within themselves, to discover the truth. These examples give the reader an inside view on the thought process of the characters and inevitably themselves, because while trying to figure out what the characters are going to do, the reader invariably puts themselves in their position and decides what they would do. The question that is left with the reader is always, what would I do? That is always what we as a society, if we are to grow and prosper, always have to ask ourselves.
Martin Bidegaray
Dealing with Morality and Avoiding Definition
The discussion of the complexity of morality in the literature we have discussed this semester is an interesting one. Certain things seem clear-cut, from the time we are born we are taught that there are things which are simply taboo, and should never be done. Following this, it becomes easy for us in our adulthood to tend to want to color things and black and white, and often political and social discussions are simply trying to sort through the mess to find this simplicity. Simplicity can be elusive in application.
Some clear thinkers will try to avoid right and wrong altogether and steer towards finding unity despite an obvious breach, this is the main idea presented in Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address. Call it a cop-out if you like, but accusing Abraham Lincoln of inaction might be a little extreme, you can definitely call the man a politician. Having generally imposed his will upon the southern states, creating unity in the body of the country, it became his job to extend that unity to the mind. Instead of preaching about right and wrong, re-hashing old discussions, or classifying anyone as good or evil, he accepts that reality has no place for these distinctions. Instead he highlights the similarities between the former enemies, how they pray to the same God and read from the same scripture, he doesn’t dismiss the differences so much as appeal to their overlapping culture. By doing this he is acknowledging his powerlessness to decide and judge between right and wrong and as a leader, showing humility in a way that forces others to follow suit.
Whitman similarly deals with good and evil by dismissing it as all part of the same thing, the definitions we as a society apply are useless, there is only life as it flows. “Clear and sweet is my soul and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul”, he says, “Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile”, Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is an acceptance of life for what it is, without necessarily seeking to define good and bad as he moves from suicide to snow-sleighs and snowball fights. In “There was a Child that went Forth” he discusses how the bits and pieces of our surroundings shape the whole, from playing children to quarrelsome children without skipping a beat. All of this is an acknowledgement of the unity between good and bad, how we all possess the seeds of greatness and trouble, and life itself as a whole is simply beautiful.
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