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Literature
4232:
American
Renaissance
Assignment:
Discuss how American authors adapt one or more of the elements of European
Romanticism to the realities of the American landscape, American history, and /
or the American people. [complete
essay from email midterm] Europe is filled with history, often darkened by hundreds of years of war or disease. Because of this history, Europe is credited with the original use of the gothic in literature. From the dark alleyways, to the tremendous castles, Europe is the natural setting for darkness and mystery. The literary element is profoundly effective, however, so after America was settled, American writers made adjustments to the European style and made it their own. Authors such as Poe, Cooper, Irving, and even Jacobs have, in a sense, “Americanized” the gothic and brought it home. James Fennimore Cooper had an incredible sense of the lush nature of New York. He did not, however, have knowledge of castles and alleyways. In effect, the readers receive tremendous images of the untapped North American landscape in The Last of the Mohicans. One example, taken from a model from last year’s midterm, is the cave that Alice, Cora, Hawkeye, Uncas, and the rest hide in from the Mohawks. This student makes a wonderful analogy to the cave as Hawkeye’s haunted house “with secret passageways and concealed exits.” The cave is almost completely dark with only a slight glimpse of light seeping through the cracks between the rocks. Throughout the Mohicans, Cooper uses light and dark imagery as he describes the characters qualities, such as their light or dark hair, or their red, black or white skin (the three most significantly gothic colors). In fact, Cora alone represents the gothic, in that she is black and white, and even farther, she falls in love with a man with red skin. Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow is overflowing with gothic elements. Similar to Cooper, Irving makes the transition from dark castles to dark landscapes. The headless horseman, with his flaming appearance, attack in the dark gloomy woods. He describes the scary wooded scenes illicitly with “limbs gnarled and fantastic” and describes his scary encounter with the monster as something “gathered up in the gloom, like some gigantic monster ready to spring upon the traveler.” Though Cooper and Irving avoid the use of the European castles (etc.), they thoroughly achieve the gothic image through the landscape. Jacobs achieves the gothic in a very different manner. Instead of focusing on the landscape, something she has few to no opportunities to enjoy herself, she describes her feelings and/or experiences with references to light and dark. For example, in the end of her narrative, Jacobs describes slavery as a “dark and troubled sea” and her grandmother as “light and fleecy clouds.” Also, after her escape, Jacobs is forced to live day and night in an attic of sorts with little light. She is cramped in this dreadful existence, with only the short-lived visions, through a crack, of her children as they run to and from the house. The description of this suffering is dark and scary, with just a hint of light and happiness.
In closing, the style of gothic (Obj. 2) is
used often by American Renaissance authors through landscapes and light and dark
imagery. In this matter, each of
these authors in a sense present a representative type of literature (Obj. 1),
in that they manipulate European literary standards to “fit” the settings
and interests of the American people in their adolescent country. [SR] [nearly
complete essay from email midterm] Authors of the American Renaissance (between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War) brought elements of European Romanticism into their work, though in Americanized ways. In order for them to use the genre of Romanticism created in Europe, they had to find ways to adapt its elements to the New American's nations different elements. One key element is the setting of the gothic scene. In Europe, old castles and mansions were a major part of the landscape and easy to locate, but the same wasn't true in America, so a new setting was required. This new setting was set up in the American wilderness, and in this new setting, the elements of the Romance were crafted in (i.e. the gothic and sublime). The American authors also had to redefine the conflict in the story so that instead of analyzing and confronting European problems, some of which were the same, (i.e. "Jane Eyre" and giving the woman the intellect and the voice), but were made to be American in presentation and attitude. These two aspects of the American Renaissance's writers show what adaptations were made and how. Irving and Cooper's work both brought American Romanticism into the heart of the wilderness, the new eerie castle. Through the characters of Ichabod Crane, Irving brings us into the mystical elements of the forest, as does Cooper in his work, "The Last of the Mohicans," with its many characters. In the forest with Ichabod, we enter the world of the gothic and the sublime where the innocent character enters into the darkness, with only the moon guiding him. In his mind float the stories of ghosts and that where he was walking was a haunted valley (2095). The forest had a past, and Ichabod, with his mind reeling with the stories and their correspondence to the atmosphere of the forest, he experienced the sublime, as he was in awe and yet terrified (2086). The scene in Cooper's tale that jumps out as a gothic scene is that when the main characters entered into and were hidden in the cave behind the falls. In the darkness, of the cave, the cave that was a secret (p. 46), the innocent, Cora and Alice, are in the perfect picture of the gothic, which is accentuated by Gamund's hymn and the piercing cry of the horse in terror (p. 61-63). These scenes show how Irving and Cooper successfully adapted the gothic into the American wilderness. Emerson also adapted the gothic into the wilderness in his writing, "Nature." Though this work isn't a story like the others, it has its romantic elements to it, and the gothic and the sublime are ever present. The gothic in his work is perhaps not very apparent, but when looking at Emerson's words in the following passage: "The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and heart of the child. The lover of nature is he…", contains the gothic elements, as the following passage contains the sublime: "In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows." The sublime is also in the following: "I am glad to the brink of fear." These are sublime because of the contrasting of the two emotions: delight and sorrow, glad and fear. Emerson here is trying to use words to describe his experience of the sublime while in nature. To be successful in the adaptation of European Romanticism into the American culture, writers also had to adapt their writings to the problems and issues that were prevalent and important in the American culture. Cooper's work is full of the controversies of the times as evidenced by Hawkeye's continual repetition of the phrase, "man without a cross," and the emphasis of the book on this issue of mixing races. Heyward and Alice lived and were able to return to the suburbs and procreate, and Chingachgook and Hawkeye were able to return as loners into the wilderness together, but the mixed couple, Cora and Uncas, which were able to procreate, weren't allowed to procreate as they were killed off in the end. This shows that a vital subject in the American mind was the mixing of races. The subject of race is also seen in the words of William Apess who was of mixed blood (1397), and he boldly addressed this issue when he said, "Why, say you, there would be intermarriages. How that would be I am not able to say – an if it should be, it would be nothing strange or new to me; for I can assure you that I know a great many that have intermarried, both of the whites and the Indians – and many are their sons and daughters – and people too of the first respectability" (p. 1402). In his speech he is more forthrightly addressing the question of equality and prejudice, which was the main topic brought to the forefront continually as a result of the living words of the Declaration of Independence, a very American theme and problem. . . . [KV] [nearly
complete essay from email midterm] Gothic elements are present within the romantic genre of writing. Through books like Last of the Mohicans and short stories such as Rip Van Winkle, Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Ligeia, we see a full constructive use of the gothic tools used for the construction of romantic horror. . . . American Romantics brought the element of gothic to a place that they, and their readers, could identify with. Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, and Last of the Mohicans are set in the dark gloom of the forests. The sharp features of buildings are transformed to the sharp, ever watchful, and dark tree tops. The ray of light, the saving purity of the darkened world, changes with every novel. In Last of the Mohicans this purity can be found directly with Alice. She is the white grace, the innocence and pure blood, amongst a dark dreary gothic forest and travel companions that have mixed blood. She is the driving force behind the plot as her companions keep trying to return her to her father. This differs greatly with the Legend of Sleepy Hollow whose innocence and white rays of light are comparable to the white pasty face of Ichabod Crane. His naivety and lack of bravery are comparable to Alice; however, Ichabod is the focus of the short story. The glooms of two stories are comparable as is the pointed trees that seem to hide hidden and secretive things. You never know when and Indian or a monster will jump out behind a bush. An answer presented by a student for the 2002 midterms plays with the concept that the cave in Last of the Mohicans was the comparable haunted house with it’s twisting shadows and its echoing haunting words. The secret it contains as well as the secret of its entrance all lends to the powers of the gothic element. . . . In today’s time we can still see the influence of the Gothic element present in our literature and film. Works like the Blair Witch Trials, House on Haunted Hill and others all bring the elements of both British and American Gothic Horror found in the Romantic Genre. It is almost hard to believe that horror could be classified as a romantic piece, then again, after you read Poe that does not become hard to believe at all. There was a movie, Schindler's list, which was written about the Jews in Nazi Germany. It was done completely in black and white and it narrated the abuse and torture during the time. The only color in the entire movie was during a scene where the Nazis were raiding a village and shooting everyone they came across. The red was a little innocent naive 3 year old wearing a red dress wandering aimlessly through the carnage of the scene. I did not appreciate the full meaning of that scene, or in truth, any other gothic scenes, until this class. I always new what gothic was, but I do not think I truly grasped all the elements that where involved. The splash of red, representing blood, the hidden secret, the dark gloom, the points and sharp edges, the feelings of despair, the light of innocence in the dark, all represent elements of the gothic nature in romantic literature that can be found even today. The subculture of Goths represent and carry on the ideas, with the bad girl approach, white makeup and black dress’s or reversed, white dress and black makeup, chains and spikes as adornments, the wild hair, all lend to the same concept and theme as the gothic literature. The final detail is the red lipstick; it is the red among the contrast of write and black. The blood in Last of the Mohicans, the red burning eyes of the Headless horseman’s demonic horse in Legend of Sleepy Hollow or the bright red tulips of the dark and twisted tulip tree in Rip Van Winkle. [RA]
[complete essay from email midterm] American authors have adapted the gothic element of the European Romanticism’s castle or dungeon to the American forest, or cave, or small room in a house. The authors move from the haunted mansions and sounds of ghosts to unusual sights and sounds in nature that may or may not truly exist. The American authors tend to focus more on the contrast of light and dark versus architectural elements such as gargoyles and pointed archways. In “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, as presented by a former student in the Spring 2002 semester, Irving creates the European haunted house in the midst of the forest by describing the fearful tree in the middle of the road combined with the audible moans heard by Ichabod. There stood “an enormous tulip-tree, which towered like a giant above all the other tress…Its limbs were gnarled, and fantastic…suddenly he heard a groan…” While on his journey through the forest, Ichabod thought he saw something white hanging in the tree. This is a classic example of the American gothic in that it is the contrast of dark and light. Cooper also uses the elements of the gothic in “The Last of the Mohicans” by also moving the haunted house story to the forest. The natural landscape becomes gothic in that it is full of secret places such as the cave and it also takes on a ghostly atmosphere because the characters are often in places where battles have taken place and blood has been spilled. Throughout the book there are also references to light and dark in relation to the skin colors of the characters. Hawkeye continually refers to himself as being a man with “no cross” in his blood. In Magua’s speech about the differences in the races, Cooper clearly identifies the gothic elements of black, white, and red. In much of the same way as Cooper and Irving, Jacobs in her “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” also moves the haunted house, instead of to the forest, to a small, cramped attic room where she hid. The dark elements are obvious in the small space in which Jacobs lived for weeks. The element of light is introduced when she is finally able to make a hole in the space through which she can watch her children play. Finally, Jacobs integrates the red element by pointing out that she was “tormented by hundreds of little red insects”. Although American authors did not have the luxury of being surrounded by the gothic elements used by European authors, they were successful in using the Romantic style of the gothic found in their surroundings. The authors had to search for the “haunted house” in nature because there were no such castles or mansions in the United States during the period of their writings. It is interesting to learn how these authors used what they had to create the gothic elements found in the writings of Romanticism. [KM] [nearly
complete essay from email midterm] America before the Civil War was a nation newly established and lacking historically significant or aged architecture. The institution of Democracy eliminated the need for castles and extravagant palaces housing monarchies. The American identity was not rooted in ancient tales past down from generations but birthed from the imagination of the frontier and the forest in which America was settled. American authors were inspired by the gothic and sublime literature coming from Europe, but had little resources on which to derive gothic inspiration. The forest and frontier thus became the setting for such tales. The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow is a story riddled with gothic and sublime overtones and staged in the forest. An intriguing paradigm began in the American Renaissance, one in which nature was now seen as alive and mysterious. Instead of ancient castles the towering trees in the forest housed ghosts and goblins. Authors such as Irving were allowed to escape the confines of haunted establishments that were common to European literature and venture out into the unknown and menacing forests. This release of creativity allowed for new characters to be created such as the “Galloping Hessian”, whose large dark demonic countance symbolizes the gothic intrigue. The description of the haunting nature in Sleepy Hollow brings a sublime feel to the text. “There was a contagion in the very air that blew from that haunted region; it breathed forth an atmosphere of dreams and fancies infecting the land.” The idea that “dreams and fancies” are infecting is an incredibly sublime concept and one written with eloquent and evocative imagery. . . . [JN]
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