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1. Long Essay |
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Umaymah Shahid
13 October 2016
How Real is Romanticism? Finding the Real
Romanticism is always pitted against Realism and is painted as the unreal and
exaggerated while Realism is the practical, realistic, and actual way the world
functions or looks. However, such a black and white depiction of Romanticism I
find to be incorrect. Thus far through the course it seems Romanticism is not
just the “unreal” but although idealistic, is a mix of the sharp and blurred
boundaries. The Romance narratives on the surface seem quite impractical and
picturesque, yet they teach a realistic lesson to the reader or, when compared
to a similar text, show elements of realism. Romanticism is not merely the
formulation of narratives that are quite unrealistic to follow, but extends to
attaining and regaining a realistic better self through one’s surroundings and
inner conscience. Mary Rowlandson’s
Narrative of the Captivity & Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, James
Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans,
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance,” Henry David Thoreau’s “Resistance to
Civil Government,” and finally Edgar Allen Poe’s “William Wilson” are
categorized as Romantic texts but touch upon realistic aspects of society and
the nature of mankind.
Narrative of the Captivity & Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson
and The Last of the Mohicans are
captivity narratives that deal with European and Indian relationships, and
although the former is a true account and the latter a fictional one, both
narratives depict a true understanding of the clashing groups. Rowlandson’s
narrative is autobiographical and when read alongside Cooper’s
The Last of the Mohicans,
it seems Twain, in “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses,” is slightly more
critical than necessary. He comments that Cooper should “confine [himself] to
possibilities and let miracles alone” (9) while D.H. Lawrence, in “Fenimore
Cooper’s Leatherstocking Novels,” comments that Cooper creates a story that is
unrealistic and a “kind of yearning myth” (6). Although it could be argued that
The Last of the Mohicans was not
meant to be real, it works quite well
next to Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative. Although, from the excerpts read
in class, Cooper focuses heavily on battle scenes, the two narratives share
similarities in the depiction of the Indians (or colored people) as largely evil
and the development and growth of characters within the wilderness. These
similarities between the two texts undermine the argument that Romanticism
illustrates the unreal and ideal.
Although Romantic artwork incorporates a blending effect in its color schemes
and outlines, Romance narratives do not necessarily blend that well and the two
captivity narratives, especially, create sharp outlines within the narratives.
The colors and stories are sharp yet dull, they are painfully real yet mixed
with ideals. Both narratives depict contrasting images of the blood, scalping,
and murder along with the sublime beauty of nature and the intimate relationship
one develops when enfolded within it. The Native American story is difficult to
Romanticize without giving some attention to the blood and gore, but Cooper
creates it by developing an intimate relationship with nature and characters
such as Uncas as the hero and Magua as a dark and villainous character. Although
Rowlandson does not create such heroic individuals as Uncas, she still draws a
very sharp line between the Europeans as good and the Indians as evil and
impure. The narrative is real and raw, capitalizing on her fear of the Indians
and the solace that Mary takes in the Bible. Although at first Mary is
distraught at being taken away from civilization and her domestic comforts, she
takes her experience in the wild to grow closer to God as well as nature. A
terrifying image of this realistic conflict of the wild and Mary’s domestic
nature is when she reflects on “what wolvish appetite persons have in a starving
condition; for many times when [the Indians] gave [her] that which was hot,
[she] was so greedy, that [she] should burn [her] mouth, that it would trouble
[her] hours after, and yet [she] should quickly do the same again” (15.1a).
Mary, a European civilized woman allows nature to take its course in bringing
her closer to her primal state. Aside from nature, the pillage and carnage that
Mary hears about and briefly witnesses, Cooper takes the reader into the field.
Both texts complement each other, not because they deal with the Indians, but
because they are realistic representations of the country at the time of its
beginning. Both texts, although one is nonfiction and the other is fiction do
not fall under the category of Romanticism because they deal with nature and are
about sunshine and love. They fall under the category of Romanticism because
they reflect on man and himself and man and nature. Native Americans represent
the land, the earth, essentially nature, while the Europeans represent
innovation and industrialization. The unifying of the two through realistic
details extends Romanticism into the waters of Realism.
Unlike the captivity narratives that dealt with the wilderness as the foreign
and unknown and relied on the villages and cities as safe areas, Thoreau and
Emerson often seem a bit extreme in their idea of resisting government and
becoming wholly independent of society. “Self-Reliance” can perhaps be seen as
too ideal and an Emersonian dream, but the ideology behind self-reliance, though
selfish, holds a very important aspect of individualism and its realistic
expectation from Romantics. A Romantic individual is not only independent but is
intelligent as well as able to put his or her intelligence to action within
social or personal life (Bazaman). While Emerson’s ideas are quite radical, he
points out a very important and realistic flaw within society which is also
echoed in Thoreau’s “Resistance to Government” that “the mass of men serve the
state thus, not as men, mainly, but as machines, with their bodies” (Thoreau 7).
Emerson argues that man needs to become independent of the shackles society has
placed upon him by being a “nonconformist” (8) and allowing no law “but that of
[his] nature” to govern him (9). Thus, although people seek belonging in society
through conformity, both Thoreau and Emerson argue that to be truly Romantic,
the individual must unite both mind and body and become independent in their
thinking instead of just performing rote action.
Although categorized under the genre Romanticism, because the possibility of one
entirely leaving nature or disregarding the government is unrealistic, it is not
just the action which the reader needs to focus on, it is the underlying message
that both Thoreau and Emerson as Transcendentalists are getting across. The
realistic aspect of these two texts is the idea that man needs to be confident
in himself and question the world around him, especially his work, the
government, and his overall life choices. Man needs to become aware of his
surroundings and by becoming aware, man transcends that rote living style so
common amongst the average man. One does not necessarily have to take the
Transcendental road to alienation, but can transcend within the culture and
lifestyle he is living in.
Another text which might not seem realistic at first glance yet relays many
realistic truths about human beings is Edgar Allan Poe’s
William Wilson. Throughout the
narrative William Wilson faces a seemingly haunting image of himself that tries
to thwart every evil act the original Wilson tries to carry out. Although the
reader is introduced to this other Wilson as an annoying character who seems to
resemble the original Wilson and goes to the same school, the second Wilson can
be taken as the original Wilson’s good conscience. When the original Wilson
kills this “conscience” of his, he is not only literally killing a human being
within the narrative, he is killing a part of himself and the better part of
himself. The dead Wilson speaks at the end of the story, “you have conquered,
and I yield. Yet, henceforward art thou also dead- dead to the World, to Heaven,
and to hope! In me didst thou exist and in my death, see by this image, which is
thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself” (57). When first reading
William Wilson I was quite confused
as to what the point of the story was, aside from Poe being his usual dark and
disturbing self. After discussing the text in class and reading Gregory
Buchanan’s 2015 midterm “The Complex Duality of Romantic Selfhood,” I better
understood the realism behind the Romantic narrative. Poe’s Wilson is a
representation of man and his internal struggle with good and evil, and by
Wilson killing his better half he leaves any possibility of him transcending the
confines he has put himself in. That is why the dead Wilson above says that the
original Wilson has killed himself. This internal struggle man goes through is
not unique to Wilson but is a shared experience with every human being. Thus
through a well-articulated narrative which seen through the lens of the
Romantics, presents very strong themes of realism.
Coming into this American Romanticism class, I had already presupposed
that the class was going to be about daffodils, waterfalls, and a Tarzan type
character isolated within nature. Romanticism is stereotypically the genre of
nature and man’s isolation within it. However, through these various texts I
have discovered that Romantic texts are not simply idealized action plans for
the common man, but that the average person can take these texts and see the
unifying and conflicting forces of nature and human nature and can take very
practical lessons from these texts and apply them in their daily lives.
