LITR 4232:
American Renaissance
Sample Answers from Student Midterms, Spring 2001
Essay—Cultural
/ Historical Option
(Assignment first;
answers below)
In the Declaration of
Independence announcing the formation of the United States of America in 1776,
Thomas Jefferson wrote, "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all
men are created equal . . . ."
In the Gettysburg Address in
1863, President Lincoln stated that the Civil War was being fought to complete
the nation’s "unfinished work."
Between these two
proclamations came the literary and cultural movement known as the American
Renaissance. Citing at least 3 sources from the literature of this period,
describe how authors, texts, or characters within texts challenge the USA to
live up to the Declaration’s promise of equality.
Develop your commentary on
this cultural or historical situation and the literary responses to it with
literary concepts like voice, literacy, and strategies authors used to make
audiences identify (and thus grant equality to) those they might otherwise
consider unequal.
Sample student essays
in response to
Cultural / Historical Option.
[complete
essay from in-class exam]
The founding fathers
and subsequently President Lincoln were confronted with the making of a new
nation. Drawing on sources from European heritage as well as designing new
concepts invented by the "New" America, these men struggled to find a
new path for all citizens. The upheaval of immigrating people merging with
Native Americans and adding the forced entry of African Slaves made for a
complex and difficult mix of people. The European attitudes of dominating and
superior status clashed with the other cultures and walks of life deemed to live
together. Out of these groups of `outsiders’ emerged many voices of
resistance, independence, and courage. Of these people, the slaves, Native
Americans, and women became the most vocal opponents to the status quo of
European control of ideas and of white men.
The Native Americans
took several approaches in fighting against the overtaking of American soil.
Their culture was decimated by the encroachment of white settlements. Later,
Native Americans were humiliated by the treatment of white people as Americans
forced Indians to convert to their culture, while not giving the Indians respect
or equal status. William Apess uses the language and religious beliefs of white
Americans to unravel the so-called Christian ideas of Mankind. In, An
Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man Apess effectively points out
the fatal flaws in white man’s Christian beliefs by referring to God’s
people as a world of predominantly people of color. He uses the strategy of
taking the language of Christian believers and turning them inside out proving
again and again how wrong their ideas are. He refers to St. Paul as a colored
skin man who the white skin man owes a debt of gratitude for his religious
services. (p.1870)
The women’s
movement begins to stir during this time period becoming a voice to be reckoned
with as well. The rights of women and equality are issues brought to the
forefront as women feel the impact of their status. Sarah Margaret Fuller steps
into the limelight as a sounding fury for women’s rights. Her writings became
pivotal to the Women’s movement much later; however, her understanding of
inequalities among many groups resonates loudly during this time. Her
understanding and empathy to slaves helped to further the cause of both
movements. She was seen as an outspoken writer who mixed her talents of writing
with commentary of equality issues. Her ability was to state her position from a
universal standpoint. She draws from sources above that of man’s law referring
to Nature and mankind’s laws. She expresses the sentiments saying, "What
Woman needs is not a woman to act or rule, but as a nature to grow, as an
intellect to discern,"(1721). Fuller as did Apess took the same theories
and ideas of European man and poke holes in all the traditional attitudes of
white men.
Perhaps the most
effective and important movement of this time was the Anti-Slavery movement.
This group of people became the supreme example of all inequalities,
dehumanizing, and sufferings to test the notions of an equal society. All other
outside groups could draw inspiration and encouragement from the slave
narratives that bravely emerged during this time. These exceptional men and
women used their talent of words and speaking to break down all fronts of white
Americans insidious treatment of slaves and its existence. The power of their
knowledge seen through the narratives of Fredrick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and
Harriet Jacobs moves the nation to re think all of the philosophies that were
held dear to white society. Fredrick Douglass is a genius in his ability to put
his reader into the shoes of a slave’s life. His affront to so called
Christian people and the barbarity in which these "Christians"
treated slaves is so revealing. Douglass appeals to the nature of man in which
the soul becomes absolutely corrupt through the horror of slavery.
These outside voices
became the pinnacle point of arguments of America’s need for true
equality. These founding ideas still resonate loudly today as words of truth as
Americans refer back to as the essence of true equality. They changed the face
of a nation through their elegant, meaningful and clear truths, opening the eyes
of a country that remained ignorant of its sins. [KC 2001]
[complete
essay from email exam]
Literature during the period of the American
Renaissance was a driving force in the fight for equality. It offered a medium
that allowed voices to be heard that were otherwise being suppressed. The words
that were written conveyed an urgency and a longing that many people could
relate to. The written story was a means of getting the information out to the
masses and allowing them individually to form their own opinions. By reading the
texts people were given opportunities to view their society in a different
manner and draw their own conclusions. The result was that the masses gradually
became more educated on the realities of slavery and were then able to join
together to end it.
In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher
Stowe, the black characters where given human characteristics – feelings and
emotions. Stowe brings the slave into the heart of the reader by showing that he
is no different from a white – he is a human with a soul.
Stowe describes the fear, sadness and
desperation that Eliza feels when she realizes that her son is going to be sold.
" It is impossible to conceive of a human creature more wholly desolate and
forlorn than Eliza. In leaving the only home she had ever known, and cutting
loose from the protection of a friend whom she loved and revered." In
Stowe’s description of Eliza she makes her audience identify with a black
women, not as the lowest form of life as a women and a slave, but as a mother,
friend and person very capable of experiencing the same emotions as anyone else.
Stowe uses a combination of realism and
romanticism in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She shows the real battle and ugliness that
was slavery but she also shows the dream that is ever present in the mind of the
slave to be free. She offers her audience a view of the slave’s reality by
letting them into the mind and thoughts of the slave. In the scene where Eliza
is waiting for her husband to arrive Stowe describes Eliza’s thoughts and
perceptions of family life from the outside. "She saw them at the table
with Little Harry in a high chair." This indicates that Eliza knows in her
heart that her child deserves to be treated as human and deserving to be in a
loving, cared for home. This concept is so foreign to how the slave children are
seen at this time in history. They are referred to and treated like farm animals
and perceived as worthless. By depicting the slaves as people who care about
their families Stowe is showing her audience how inhumane and unacceptable it is
to continue to treat them as sub-human.
In Incidents of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Ann
Jacobs, representative literature is used to show the reader the injustices of
life as a female slave. Jacobs humanizes the slave by allowing her readers
insight into the feelings and emotions of the slave and also showing the
audience that the façade of the good, southern home is not a reality. Jacobs
describes the undermining of the white family and the weakening of its family
bonds that occurs as a result of slavery. This strategy helps to promote the
cause of ending slavery by showing the detriment to society as a whole. "I
draw no imaginary pictures of Southern homes . . . the young wife soon learns
that the husband in whose hands she has placed her happiness pays no regard to
his marriage vows."
Jacobs also shows her character as being a
thinking, intelligent person. She can look at the situations around her and
decipher good from wrong. She is on level with her master, if not above, in
matters of justice and intelligence. Jacobs makes her audience realize that the
slave girl is not ignorant and without feelings. She is in fact smart and able
to think about her life in abstract form. This allows the reader to connect with
the character on their level. "The influences of slavery had had the same
effect on me ….they had made me prematurely knowing, concerning the evil ways
of the world. I knew what I did and I did it with deliberate calculation. Jacobs
forces her audience to accept the black slave girl as an equal by showing how
she is able to think and act as a white person – a human being. She challenges
her readers to deny that the black has less capacity for thought and feelings as
the white.
In Sojourner Truth, the Libyan Sibyl, the
black is also shown to have traits equal to whites. This is done in a different
way from the previously mentioned texts in that it allows the speaker,
Sojourner, to speak in her "native" tongue. She does not appear to be
equal as far as the way in which she speaks but it is in the thoughts that she
conveys that makes her so intriguing.
"Laws, ma’am, he don’t know nothin’
about it,…Why I have seen them poor critters, beat an’ abused an’ hunted,
where the dogs have been a bitin them.
This strategy on the part of the author gives
a true voice to the slave and still gets the message across to the reader that
even though Sojourner may speak in a way that is less intelligent than the white
– her need to communicate the injustice of slavery is still very much
instilled in her being. She is illiterate but yet she is strong and does not
give up in her attempt to communicate the injustices of slavery.
This technique is very effective in that it
shows the reader that perseverance and courage are very much present in the
makeup of the black slave. That just because someone is different – in color
or education – does not make them less human. [JoH 2001]
[excerpt
from email exam]
During the time of the American Renaissance,
literature and the press were crucial in broadcasting and reflecting the
American citizen’s sentiments and personal cogitation. Classical works of
literature spread the message in the form of entertainment as an appeal to the
intellect of higher society. Representative literature brought readers into the
world of struggling slaves, suppressed women, or the lower class so that the
audience could identify with the struggle and feel a personal connection to the
cause. Both types of literature, especially representative, sought to
redefine the term "man" to include all of human kind despite their
race, economic status, age, or gender. The issues they addressed defined the
"unfinished work" of the nation and presented America with a mission
to cast aside biases and live up to its promise of equality. [CC 2001]
[excerpt
from email exam]
. . . Cooper in The Last of the Mohicans uses
the attraction of Cora and Uncas to make several points about society. Uncas
represents the diminishing Indian from society and the forest themselves to
compare against the growing industrial state of the white man continually
pushing them from the country using their religion as the argument for why they
are justified. Cora is interesting because she represents the mix of the
American white man with the native people of the country. In the book they are
not allowed to mix until after they die but the point is made that there will be
a mixing of the pure blood to where it will not be possible to exclude different
people based on their race and color. Apess makes this same argument in An
Indian’s Looking-Glass for the white man saying, "I know a great deal of
intermarried, both of the whites and the Indians"to forewarn the white man
that what he believes is pure is not through the natural mixing of the races.
Colonel Munro after fighting and killing Indians learns there is no difference
between men only whether they are good or evil according to their nature and not
their race. He says to the Indian women after they help him to bury Cora there
will be a time where we all will assemble around the throne of heaven
"without distinction of sex, or rank, or colour!" These words Cooper
writes in classical literature will be restated in the future for equal rights
for all people. In this way classical literature is shaping the consciousness of
American society through reading a novel that the treatment of the Indian has
been wrong and should be corrected. It also alerts the readers that there is no
pure blooded American that we are all one people and that with continued time
there will be a natural mixing of the blood that will make it impossible to
discriminate.
In Harriet Jacobs writings from Incidents in
the life of a slave girl again the reader is led through a classical writing
style to the wrongs of not only slavery but the mistreatment of women. The main
character of the story was Linda Brent who was a mulatto meaning a mixture of
black and white. That she is mixed of lighter color makes her more desirous in
her white master’s eyes and adds to the tension of whether she will be raped
by him. Linda’s writes of her ordeal as a slave and the conflict not only with
the slave master but his wife as well who is jealous of his attention to her but
yet cannot free her as the women on the plantation knew their husbands would
make babies with the slaves and be helpless to stop it. The corruption for both
parties is related as dehumanizing for the slave as well as the slaveowner. . .
. [anonymous blue]
[excerpts
from in-class exam essay (introduction & conclusion)]
American Renaissance produced an outpouring
of movements and literary works. Using the "Declaration of
Independence" as a basis for human rights, many authors challenged the
United States to uphold the promise of equality, the common thread that will
hold people together. Champions of this cause were William Apess and John
Quinney for Indian rights, and Sara M. Fuller and Elizabeth C. Stanton for
women’s rights, and Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth for both slaves’
rights, and women’s rights. . . .
Because these authors felt that they were
being left out of The "Declaration’s" intent for equality for all,
they took the burden upon themselves to make a case for either their sex, their
race, or both. They included parts of the "Declaration" and parts of
the Bible to prove that both God and man had intended that all are equal. In
doing so, it was their courage to either write or speak out about the injustices
that paved the way for the rights we enjoy today.
[excerpts
from in-class exam essay]
When we look at the
author's of the Declaration of Independence we are
quite aware that the document was written in the interest of the people who
were there: Wealthy, white landowners. This leaves out basically everyone
else, most notably African Americans, Native Americans and Women.
The women who started finding their voice
and began to speak out
helped pave the way for other minorities to find theirs.
The first Women's Rights Convention helped
with abolition. These
minorities formed a bond with each other because they were outside the
dominant group(white males). . . .
He (Apess)
has a strong voice, and his learning or education was from
the bible so he uses the tools he has to get his voice heard.
The freedom for these authors is the
breaking of the chains from the
past. That students today are reading and learning about their journeys and
that people can grow (as a society) from knowing about them. [SP 2001]
[excerpt
from in-class exam essay]
In Elizabeth Stanton’s Declaration of
Sentiments, she rewrites the Declaration of Independence to include
all people. She rewrites the most famous line of the Declaration to the
following: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women
are created equal." This gives women a voice and power. This statement
reveals that women are humans too, and deserve the same rights as men. She also
gives the following proclamation: "it’s the right of those who suffer
from it [government] to refuse allegience to it, and to insist upon the
institution of a new government." This is like Thoreau, an act of civil
disobedience. She is showing that if the government will not recognize them,
then they do not have to recognize the government. [EG 2001]
[excerpt
from in-class exam essay]
Stanton and Thoreau cross paths in their
belief that those who suffer at the hands of the government (in their refusal to
grant certain rights) have the right and duty to refuse allegiance to that
government. Stowe does a beautiful job in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in
exposing the lack of equal rights being extended to slaves. George (UTC) states
that he does not have a country. This resounding statement is made several
times. He states that there are no laws for him. The slaves don't make the laws
and they don't consent to them. [LA 2001]
[excerpt
from in-class exam essay]
Literacy was an important element in the
volume of "the voice." An illiterate culture is only going to know the
type of life they have, with a narrow-mindedness that can be either blissful or
degrading, usually the latter. The dialogues of Apess, Quinney, Douglass, etc.
prove the power of literacy, while giving the reader a view of the world
completely unfamiliar to them. Frederick Douglass’s writing style was of the
highest quality as can be expected of the time. His mastery of the language gave
the readers of the time a glimpse (quite easily) into the life of a "Negro
servant." His plight is easily felt through the reading, showing the
audience that there were causes that needed attention, and that there has
been a great injustice in what was then known as the status quo. Stowe’s
depiction of the "slave world" helps to bring it even closer to the
heart. She shows a distaste for the slave owner and a sympathy for the slave.
The reader is forced to have an emotional connection to the family that is torn
apart, another element of the status quo of the time. [WF 2001]