Answer 2 of the following 3 passages. LITR 4232: American Renaissance
UHCL, spring 2002
Sample Student
Answers to Midterm Exam
Part 1. “Identify
and signify”
Copied below are answers (complete or excerpted) by
students in LITR 4232 2002. They are posted as submitted. Some editing and other
errors may remain. In general, though, these answers are models of outstanding
work for present and future students to review in order to gain a fresh approach
to course materials and become acquainted with course standards.
Answer 2 of the following 3 passages.
Instructions
from syllabus: First, “identify” the passage by author, title, and
context in the work from which the passage is taken. Second,
“signify”—highlight and discuss themes, ideas, and style features of the
passage in relation to course lectures and discussions. [Comparisons and
contrasts to other texts are welcome.]
Passages from readings
(2002)
Passage
#1.
Our house stood within a few
rods of the Chesapeake Bay, whose broad bosom was ever white with sails from
every quarter of the habitable globe. . . I
have often, in the deep stillness of a summer's Sabbath, stood all alone upon
the lofty banks of that noble bay, and traced, with saddened heart and tearful
eye, the countless number of sails moving off to the mighty ocean. The sight of
these always affected me powerfully. My thoughts would compel utterance; and
there, with no audience but the Almighty, I would pour out my soul's complaint .
. . .
"You are loosed from
your moorings, and are free; I am fast in my chains, and am a slave! You move
merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before the bloody whip! You are
freedom's swiftwinged angels, that fly round the world; I am confined in bands
of iron! O that I were free! Oh, that I were on one of your gallant decks, and
under your protecting wing! Alas! Betwixt you and me the turbid waters roll. Go
on, go on. O that I could also go! Could I but swim! If I could fly! O, why was
I born a man, of whom to make a brute! The glad ship is gone . . . . I am left
in the hottest hell of unending slavery. . . . There is a better day
coming."
Answers
to Passage #1.
[excerpts from email exam]
Passage 1
This passage is from “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an
American Slave” written by Frederick Douglass.
. . . Douglass is literally and figuratively bound by the chains of
slavery as he watches the sails furl over ships that carry others to a freedom
that he can only imagine. As a
slave, Douglass dreams the African dream of freedom in flight as he wishes for
wings to take him to his dreams. .
. . Douglass is telling this
narrative, in terms that gain sympathy of the white community, terms of an
extremely literate man. The manner
used throughout Douglass’ text is one of detached objectivity on the part of
the narrator but the underlying emotions created by his slavery are clearly
evident, especially in this passage. The
description of the scenery lends itself to poetic elements of alliteration in
phrases like: “deep stillness of a summer’s Sabbath”,
“lofty banks of that noble bay”, and “freedom’s
swiftwinged angels, that fly”.
At the same time, these examples evidence romantic elements: longing for
freedom, describing the larger than life expanse of Chesapeake Bay that he is
viewing, a struggle with slavery, and a hope for transcendence through death or
the less likely, eventual social change resulting in freedom.
Douglass’ view of the harbor, that results in the poetic descriptions,
expresses a desire for anything but the “here and now” and is filled with
romanticism. [VH]
[complete answer from in-class exam]
The
author of this passage is Frederick Douglass from his Slave Narrative.
In this passage, his is looking out over the Chesapeake Bay envying the
freedom of the boats that can simply sail away unhindered.
This passage is an illustration of the romantic aspect or style of
writing during this period, in that Douglass longs to be anywhere but where he
is. Because his situation is undesirable, and the circumstances
of freedom are as yet unknown, he fancies that all would be perfect if he could
just be as free as the boats. Conversely,
while romanticism is seen primarily in fiction, here Douglass is actually living
these feelings, so while romantic in nature, this passage illustrates
Douglass’ reality. The second
paragraph is especially powerful because of Douglass’ use of contrast.
"When he compares the “gentle gale” and the “bloody whip”,
and the “swift-winged angels” and “bands
of iron”, he uses imagery to paint a picture of light vs. darkness.
This is indicative of the gothic style of light vs. dark. This passage is a good representation of Objective #2, which
is the use of romanticism. [SO'R]
[complete answer from email exam]
Here Douglass is telling about his time
spent with Mr. Covey a slave “breaker” to whom he has been sent to live with
for a year. This is a most cruel
and painful experience, and now he is experiencing the beauty and freedom of
vessels on the Chesapeake Bay. Here
are elements of Romanticism as the boats on the bay become symbols of free
movement that Douglass longs for. He
is a man alone in nature, and he is restored his own emotion and thought by the
scene around him. He is longing for
transcendence of flight and to become as these images.
Emerson also relates the experience of freedom from an inhibited
existence (although different from
Douglass’ society) when he speaks of man truly being alone and free in the
awesome presence of the stars in
the night sky. In another place
Emerson also asserts that “the
endless circulations of the divine charity nourish man.”
This relates to Douglass seeking a sustenance from his nature scene of
not just nature serving to feed man physically but give him hope and
rejuvenation spiritually. [LL]
[excerpted answer from email exam]
Author:
Frederick Douglass
Title:
Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave
.
. Douglass sees the beauty of
freedom, but he cannot really enjoy this aspect of his life because it is just
like the ocean and the ships: unreachable.
Douglass is taking a beautiful moment and turning it into a moment of
passion. He enjoys the nature and
the romance of a sad situation. . .
. He demonstrates the feeling of
the sublime; where he is sad, but he is also happy (looking over a the ocean and
watching the ships sail away). Douglas
manages to converge romanticism and reality.
He loves what he is feeling, but he knows that after the vision and after
the stillness he will have to come back to reality that he is still a slave and
the only way he will be set free is to free himself.
[complete answer from email exam]
The
passages above come from the slave narrative “Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass; an American Slave,” by Frederick Douglass himself, written
once he had made it to the North and to “relative” safety. The passages are
from page 1852-3 where Douglass is relating how his worse time was the first
months with Mr. Covey. The setting on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay and it is
on a Sunday, the only time off he had from his grueling work. He felt that Mr.
Covey had succeeded in breaking him of all but only an occasional burst of
energy and yearning for the freedom he had once yearned for so strongly. These
passages are almost poetic in their flow and style as well as romantic. They are
the desire, the yearning for freedom…something Douglass felt he would no
longer ever achieve, while romanticizing about what it is like to be on the
ship. There is also the element of nature in the scene where he is in nature,
looking at a natural scene while contemplating his existence and future.
Therefore, even though this scene is very real, it embodies romanticism well.
There is a gothic element in the lightness of the freedom—almost as if able to
fly, and the darkness of the hell he endures under the bondage of slavery. There
is also the sublime in the overall scene where we see the awesomeness of his
view of the bay while being caught in the scene with him, and not being able to
join the boat. The pleasure and the pain combined in the same scene. [RS]
[complete answer from in-class exam]
This passage comes from Fredrick
Douglass' "Narrative." This is written in chapter 10 about
halfway through and is on a Sunday at Mr. Covey's.
There are a couple of different themes on which Douglass touches base here. He hints at romantic ideas as well as ideas of the sublime. As for as the sublime is concerned he sees the ships as being free and angelic, while he is the beaten and confined. He also touches on the sublime with his reference to the almighty and pouring out his soul's complaint. As far as the romantic ideas go, Douglass shows this yearning for freedom. A wanting of something he doesn't have. Statements of flying and swimming along with the angelic ships also imply a romantic theme to this passage. He refers to freedom stating "she hides in the dim distance." Again the yearning for something he does not or may not obtain shows his romantic ideas. [ML]
*******************************************
Passage
#2.
"Name chapter and verse;
in which of the holy books do you find language to support you?"
"Book! . . . What have
such as I, who am a warrior of the wilderness, though a man without a cross, to
do with books! I never read but in one, and the words that are written there are
too simple and too plain to need much schooling . . . ."
"What call you the
volume?" . . .
"'Tis open before your
eyes . . . and he who owns it is not a [miser] of its use. I have heard it said,
that there are men who read in books, to convince themselves there is a God! I
know not but man may so deform his works in the settlements, as to leave that
which is so clear in the wilderness, a matter of doubt among traders and
priests. If any such there be, and he will follow me from sun to sun, through
the windings of the forest, he shall see enough to teach him that he is a fool,
and that the greatest of his folly lies in striving to rise to the level of one
he can never equal, be it in goodness, or be it power."
The instant [the other man]
discovered that he battled with a disputant who imbibed his faith from the
lights of nature, . . . he willingly abandoned [the] controversy.
Answers
to Passage #2.
[excerpts from email exam]
Passage 2 In James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, Hawkeye is the character “without a cross”. Our debates in class centered on whether Hawkeye was a man without religious affiliations, at least not those espoused by the average white man, or whether the “man without a cross” refers to no crossing of bloodlines to indicate his purity of race as contrasts with the characters of Uncas and Cora. Either of these theories could apply to Hawkeye but I tend to think the solution lies in a combination of the two possibilities. The chosen text quote on this exam seems to relate to Hawkeye’s religious beliefs as the stronger of the two because of the references to his interaction with nature.
Cooper creates a certain affinity with Emerson as he tells us to merely look and we will see who owns nature. This simplicity carries with it the belief that man has been jaded and does not view the beauty and bounty of nature with the innocence and purity so often demonstrated by the reactions of children to its magnificence. Like Emerson’s “part or particle of God”, Cooper tells us that “he is a fool” who will not see that nature dominates the life of man, not vice versa. This novel fulfilled elements of popular writing with its stereotypical Indian scenes and picturesque settings while it also provided romance. The setting was one far removed from the everyday society commonly known by readers, yielding a taste of the exotic as the journey for freedom from the Indians led Cora and Uncas through a series of tests of their merit. Alice provided the damsel in distress, the forest was the consummate castle, and chivalry was alive and well; Cooper even provides transcendence with the uniting in death of Cora and Uncas. . . . [VH]
[Complete answer from email exam]
Passage 2:
Comes from James Fenimore Cooper’s The
Last of the Mohicans.
This passage deals with one of the issues
raised in Course Objective 2. The
aspect of romanticism that Cooper is dealing with here is that there is great
importance in nature. Living in
nature and communing with it is good for the human soul.
However, nature itself also has a soul.
In this passage Hawkeye is talking to David
Gamut about spiritual matters. There
are many possible interpretations for the line “a man without a cross.”
Hawkeye is a pure blooded white man, so unlike Cora he is not of mixed
blood. He could also be saying that
he is not like Jesus who had a horrible burden / cross to bear.
Or, he could also be saying that he is a man without Christianity or a
formal religion. He is also a man
who has very little formal education. However,
living the life he leads he has very little need of it.
He has learned how to survive in the wilderness through experiencing
nature and all the trials that it poses for man.
Hawkeye does not need to read the Bible to know that there is a God. He is living in God’s creation—nature and that is enough
proof for Hawkeye that there is a God. I
think that Hawkeye is saying that it is folly for man to try to rise to the
level of power and goodness of God. In
the last sentence of the passage, Hawkeye seems to be saying that once man
learns to see God through nature that he then stops arguing about whether or not
there is a God because through studying nature it becomes immediately obvious
that there is a God. [DT]
*******************************************
Passage
#3.
Under a government which imprisons any
unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison . . . .
When I came out of prison,--for some one
interfered, and paid the tax,-- . . . a change had to my eyes come over the
scene,--the town, and State, and country,--greater than any that mere time could
effect. I saw yet more distinctly the State in which I lived. . . .
My neighbors first looked at me, and then at
one another, as if I had returned from a long journey. I was put into jail as I
was going to the shoemaker's to get a shoe which was mended. When I was let out
the next morning, I proceeded to finish my errand, and, having put on my mended
shoe, joined a huckleberry party who were impatient to put themselves under my
conduct; and in half an hour,--for the horse was soon tackled [harnessed], I was
in the midst of a huckleberry field, on one of our highest hills, two miles off,
and then the State was nowhere to be seen.
Answers
to Passage #3.
[complete answer from email exam]
Henry David Thoreau is the author of
this passage from the essay, “Resistance to Civil Government.”
The author is speaking of his view that
man should follow what he believes is right; if this disagrees with the law then
jail is the place for the good man. The
rest of the passage refers to his actual stay in prison and consequent release.
Thoreau after spending his night in jail sees his country in a new light.
It takes on a characteristic of a presence that can only deal with him as
a physical being by locking him in a cell.
He recognizes that the government no true strength in meeting a man’s
intellect one on one. Therefore,
man must recognize himself as in individual in his society and find his own
truths. Thoreau transcends
structured way of life under a law that he does not chose to live by as he
enters onto the path toward nature and a purer truth for man in the form of a
huckleberry party mission. This
same theme of exiting oppression and entering into a more freeing connection
with nature can also be found in Douglass as he writes, “In presence of
nature, a wild delight runs through the man in spite of real sorrows.”
Margaret Fuller also asserts the importance of an individual standing on
their own in the midst of a disagreeing majority “…though I might
be aided and instructed by others, I must depend on myself…” She goes on to point out that women who lack freedom are
taught not to “unfold their [rule] from within.” [LL]
[complete answer from email exam]
This passage
comes from Thoreau’s “Resistance to Civil Government”. This piece, which
is seen as the founding work of passive resistance, is powerful for one of the
same reasons that Douglass’s is. That is that it is true. The piece, and
specifically the passage in which Thoreau is jailed, has these romantic
elements, but the reader never loses sight that this is real.
Another reason
that this is so vivid is we see the idea of transcendence again. Douglass wanted
to go off on the ships he saw sailing by, but Thoreau finds his own means of
escape in his “huckleberry field”, where “the State was nowhere to be
seen.”
The
major difference in these passages highlights the major difference in the
authors, as well as representing the differences we have discussed throughout
the semester. Douglass wants to be
free and get away from the State that keeps him a slave, but he cannot. It is a
dream. Thoreau wants to be free of the government that he sees as oppressive,
and he can be. Even thought he can not have everything he desired form his
government, he at least has the freedom to physically remove himself from his
unpleasant surroundings, where as Douglass can not swim.
Aside from the
comparison between these two passages, Thoreau’s actions set a precedent that
is followed to this day. For a man to be jailed for his beliefs is an idea that
passive resistance is known for. Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and others looked to
Thoreau’s beliefs and teachings for guidance in the struggle against an unfair
government. [KP]
[complete answer from in-class exam]
This passage comes from Henry David
Thoreau's "Resistance to Civil Government." It is specifically
from the time he spent the night in jail for not paying his taxes.
Something we can immediately see
in this passage is the problems between the individual and the community.
Although Thoreau has not done anything wrong or victimized anyone, the fact that
he spent a night in jail made the others around him become distrusting. We
see how unjust the whole system of society can be.
Another issue brought about is
that of transcendentalism. Thoreau, after getting out of prison joins a
party to travel to huckleberry fields. It is up here and on the highest
hill that he escapes from society and get back in touch with the truth; nature.
The style and ideas in this
passage from Thoreau can relate almost exactly to Emerson's "Nature."
Like Thoreau, Emerson seeks truth in the place it naturally exists.
Nature. Both men agreed with the transcendentalist ideas and both men saw
society or the state as a blockade to attaining the truth. [ML]