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American
Literature: Romanticism Student Midterm Samples 2015 1. Long Essay |
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Roslynn Kelley
March 23, 2015
Section 1: Long Essay 1b:
Separate, yet Complete: Examining How the Journey
Narrative in American Romanticism Unites the Exterior and Interior Self
Romanticism, be it English or American emphasizes the concept of the individual in various situations during which the person reacts to or interacts with his or her exterior environment, i.e. nature. Of the many themes and ideas that embody the concept of Romanticism, the actions of an “individual in nature and/or separate from the masses” illustrates the core of this idea; in a Romantic narrative, the journey towards resolution reinforces how an individual is able to blend their external and internal experiences (Course objectives 1a). The environment –be it in a natural setting, an imposing manse, or among a group of people– is an important feature in Romanticism because it creates a tension that a person must reconcile since an individual cannot control their exterior surroundings. This paradoxical condition forces them to find a way to unite the opposing dynamics of what is exterior to him or her. The unity of self in the American Romantic tradition has an earthy or pragmatic quality to its approach in resolving the conflict between the interior and exterior. American Romanticism illustrates how the process of reconciliation between the two takes place by developing the Romantic journey narrative into something that is almost tangible because many of the American Romantic nature narratives discuss an early American landscape that is unexplored, undeveloped, and savage.
Early American literature is not always fictitious; captivity narratives and technical survival accounts by the first English settlers provide the basis on which American Romanticism develops. From Mary Rowlandson’s Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson to Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle,” the journey narrative aspect of Romantic literature becomes an identifying feature of American Romanticism. This essay will examine how Rowlandson’s captivity narrative and John Smith’s A General History of Virginia, leads the way for Irving and other authors to cultivate the different features of the Romantic journey in American Romanticism. In many of the Romantic narratives, the characters experience metamorphoses into individuals that merge with their environment –separate from the masses– because they recognize the role of nature as an exterior force that they need to integrate into themselves.
In Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative, she moves from her known existence, which is that of a part in a like-minded community, into a state of being, which driven by forces outside of –exterior– to her is, beyond her control or comprehension. She begins her journey, not on her own volition, but by a power compelled by her desire for reconciliation: “…I chose rather to go along with those (as I may say) ravenous beasts, than that moment to end my days; and that I may the better declare what happened to me during that grievous captivity, I shall particularly speak of the several removes we had up and down the wilderness.” In telling her story, Rowlandson hopes to achieve a unity between her previous existence and the changes she underwent while in captivity.
She chooses to live, not because she values her life, but because she feels the journey will enable her to find a way to combine the different phases of her life; that is, she is reborn when she chooses to go along with the “ravenous beasts.” By transcending the “here and now,” Rowlandson’s narrative demonstrates the earthiness of American Romanticism because it not only occurs in “the wilderness,” but also because she transforms from being dependent upon others –her husband and community– to finding her independence through her desire to survive: “I have learned to look beyond they present and smaller troubles, and to be quieted under them.” She can unify her experience in a wild exterior with her domesticated interior because of her journey; and since she is now able to reconcile the two, her new individuality provides deeper insight and knowledge into her existence. The motivation to survive is a crucial component that compels a person to transcend the here and now and embark on a journey of unity.
Mary Rowlandson’s metamorphosis is common in Romantic journey narratives; however, every individual who embarks on a journey does not always undergo such a Romantic transformation. In John Smith’s A General History of Virginia, Smith writes the report in the third person; this literary trick changes the “report” from a piece of colonial propaganda to an example of an early American Romantic journey narrative. Smith, more or less, invents the great American hero in how he depicts himself in the History: “…he was beset with 200 savages, two of them he slew, still defending himself with the aid of a savage his guide, whom he bound to his arm with his garters, and used him as a buckler yet he was shot in his thigh a little, and had many arrows that stuck in his clothes; but no great hurt, till at last they took him prisoner.” Having just finished hunting for food, Smith, must defend himself. He not only has to fight for his life, but he has to defend his right to life; that is, Smith knows that a journey into the wilderness to find food could also become a fight for the right to live in the environment.
Unlike Rowlandson, who is able to unify her exterior and interior during the course of her journey –she undergoes many transformations throughout her various “removes”–, Smith has to make the assimilation immediately because he knows that if he does not unify the environment with his internal needs, he will die. It is as though during the course of this skirmish, Smith takes on several small quests. First, Smith kills two people, which could impact him emotionally while he tries to rectify the taking of someone else’s life with his ardent desire to protect his own. Second, Smith uses another human as a shield, and this decision could not have been an easy one for him to make because he has to reconcile the value of life, be it his life or the life of the guide. In each of these two examples, Smith may try to show that he is a tough frontiersman, but these actions have greater consequences as he works them into his journey. It is important that these men must cross a boundary, be it physical or mental; in the case of Smith, the place in which the skirmish occurs –which is at the head of a river– immediately suggests that he is crossing into new territory. Because he is at the head of the river, he is at its beginning and this indicates that he must resolve to move beyond what is emotional and physical to him as he knows it, that is why when he is shot in the thigh and has “many arrows stuck in his cloths” he experiences “no great hurt.” He must ignore the “here and now” in order to unify his mind and body. Unfortunately, Smith does not have the same kind of insight that Rowlandson does, but this is because his motivation is different and it makes the American Romantic Hero narrative; that is, he must live to fight another day, whereas she can use her newfound unification to maintain a spiritual and terrestrial foothold on her existence.
The goal of the journey is a unified self; however, the need for this kind of resolution is the desire “to attain or regain some transcendent goal or dream” (Course Objectives 1a.). Of course the goal is different for each character because their needs are different; be it a biographical narrative, such as Rowlandson’s, or a technical report, such as Smith’s, the end result is that they move beyond what is occurring in “the here and now” and move into a new area of understanding (Course Objectives 1a.).
