LITR 5535: American
Romanticism
Student Presentation on Reading Selections, fall 2003
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Selection Reader:
Simone Rieck
Discussion Recorder:
Sheila Newell
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), “The
Notorious Jumping Frog of
Calaveras County” N1237-1244
&
Sarah Orne Jewett, "The White Heron" N1586-1594.
Objectives
1b
The Romantic impulse is usually a desire for anything besides “the here
and now” (or “reality”); thus the quest or journey of the romance
narrative typically requires crossing borders or transgressing physical, social,
or psychological boundaries.
1c
To speculate on residual elements in “post-Romantic” writings from
later periods such
as “Realism and Local Color,” “Modernism,” and “Postmodernism.”
Realism
(Bedford, p. 398): Broadly speaking, a
term that can be applied to the accurate depiction in any literary work of the
everyday life of a place or period…Realism differs
from romanticism particularly in its emphasis on an objective presentation of
details and events rather than a subjective concentration on personal feelings,
perceptions, and imaginings of various characters.
Realists also reject the idealized presentations, imaginative and exotic
settings, and improbable plot twists characteristic of the romance.
Realists often rely heavily on local color, deliberately attempting to
portray faithfully the customs, speech, dress, and living and working conditions
of their chosen locale. Realists also stress characterization as a critical (if not
the critical) element of a literary work.
Regionalism/Local Color
Local Color, Bedford, p. 237-238: Often used to provide mere decoration or as a vehicle for sentimentality, local color has nonetheless been used by some realists as an aid in developing character. Rather than rendering picturesque scenes of unusual charm, these writers use local color to depict the tawdry-to-sordid breeding grounds of vice and temptation. Local color thus helps the reader to envision and understand the moral dilemmas faced by ordinary people.
Mark Twain
Regionalism/Local Color
Mark Twain uses local color and realism repeatedly in his
writing to captivate readers. The
characters in his stories are real people, whether children or adults.
Twain allows readers to base their emotions on the trials and
tribulations of the characters and the detailed plots and settings, which are
often reflections of the actual events taking place in the U.S. following the
Civil War. According to a report done by PBS, “Twain's sharp ear for regional speech patterns and his journalistic eye
for (literally) local color resulted in narratives that were, on the one hand,
specific to life on the Mississippi but were, on the other, very much about the
growing pains of a young nation.”
The opening of “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras
County” discusses the possibility that Simon Wheeler’s tale of Jim Smiley is
reminiscent (N 1240). This
relates to Romanticism in that Wheeler may be feeling nostalgia for a different
time; in his recollections, he is transcending to the past (transcendence being
a commonly Romantic theme). It is believed that the regionalist movement is based in
nostalgia, but more specifically the uniqueness of regions.
Twain is a known regionalist because each of his
narratives takes place along the Mississippi, often based near his hometown of
Hannibal, Missouri.
In “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” Twain uses words and phrases that show the dialect of the characters and local color. For example, “Thish-yer,” “considable,” and “cal’lated.” There is also section in which a character describes himself as a stranger and others that speak of “fellers that had traveled and been everywheres.” This implies a dedication to the region about which Twain is writing (N 1242).
Sarah Orne Jewett
Regionalism/Local
Color:
In connection with Twain, “A White Heron” contains
some dialectic elements of local color especially through the character of Mrs.
Fields, who speaks like the poor farmer she is. More so, however, “A White Heron” uses the landscape and
life on the farm as a sort of escape from the industrialization that is growing
all around.
“When Sarah Orne Jewett was born in South Berwick,
Maine, in 1849, the town and region she was to memorialize in her fiction were
already changing rapidly…By the end of the Civil War…textile mills and a
cannery had largely replaced agriculture, shipbuilding, and logging as the
economic base of the community; and the arrival of French-Canadian and Irish
immigrants brought ethnic diversity to the town. The stable, secure, and remote small town Jewett knew and
loved as a child was experiencing the economic, technological, and demographic
pressures that transformed America in her lifetime” (N 1586).
Similar to Jewett herself, Sylvia loves nature and the simple life of the farm:
“Everybody said that it was a good change for a little
maid who had tried to grow for eight years in a crowded manufacturing town, but,
as for Syliva herself, it seemed as if she never had been alive at all before
she came to live at the farm” (N 1588).
“With the publication of [her first collection of short
pieces in 1877], she entered the company of Mark Twain, George Washington Cable,
Harriet Beecher Stowe, and other regional writers who were depicting the
topographies, people, speech patterns, and modes of life of many distinctive
regions of the country” (N 1586).
Through the local color found in the dialect and real-life
situations of the characters, Jewett maintains her place as a
realist/regionalist; however, similar to Romantic fiction, “A White Heron”
contains transcendence by Sylvia through her move to the farm.
Also, Jewett’s nostalgia, the same nostalgia felt by many of the
readers of the time, marks an inner transcendence through memories of better and
quieter times.
Discussion Questions
Based on your understanding of
the term, what about local color do you find realistic, and what do you find
Romantic?
Personification is defined in Bedford
on p. 339 as “a figure of speech…that bestows human characteristics upon
anything nonhuman, from an abstract idea to a physical force to an inanimate
object to a living organism.” In these two stories, I believe personification is used
minutely, but effectively. Did you
recognize the use of personification in the two stories?
If so, do you believe this use of personification is essentially Romantic
or Realistic? Or do you think it
could go both ways?
Discussion Notes
Based on your understanding of
the term, what about local color do you find realistic, and what do you find
Romantic?
CHARLEY: One of the realist
things is the dialect. For me, if you can use the dialect the people are using
it makes it much more real.
SIMONE: I notice that a lot of
it’s blurred in the Local Color, the Realism and then the Romanticism, they
both contain nostalgia. Nostalgia is a natural psychological transcendence as
well.
DR WHITE: Yeah, I’d definitely
put nostalgia. If I hear you right, it’s kind like Local Color mediates
between Realism and Romanticism, so that you get nostalgia detail. The detail is
realistic.
SHERRY: The White Heron suggests
a natural setting.
SIMONE: I read on the internet
that a lot of the time with local color part of the setting is nature and that
sometimes the natural settings take on the life of the character like they
become part of the character.
DR WHITE: Especially, like
Sylvia’s interaction with the tree
HOLLY: I thought the description too, along with the heron. As a child we were able to see all that she thought….
There is a discussion in here
between Dr. White and Holly about how regionalism and local color are
interchangeable.
DR WHITE: Historically, Local
Color is after Romanticism, after the American Renaissance, after the Civil War.
If you're just discussing literary history, it's post Romantic. So the Romantic
spirit survives. The Romantic style survives. After the Civil War a lot of
writers start doing the style.
SIMONE: They said that after the
Civil War a lot of writers were feeling nostalgia so their individuality was
their regions because the Civil War they were trying to have one unified nation
through the writing one local color and regionalism then they could still be
their individual areas, individual states.
There’s a whole web page on Southern Local Color and Regionalism
because after the Civil War they felt like they couldn’t hold on to their
Southerness so they really started taking hold of they writing style.
DR WHITE: That’s right.
Simone’s right on the money. Before the Civil War the country was not that
much of a unified nation. The north and south really do think of themselves as
two really distinct regions. After the Civil War the union triumphs. And in
addition there’s the railroad, the telegraph, so that all these parts of the
country that use to just sort of exists without much knowledge of each other now
have better communication.
DR WHITE: To refocus on your
question, one of you brought out in Jewett Sylvia going up the tree. Now
that’s a very Romantic moment. Another thing that would tie into what Simone
was saying was that’s its very transcendent. For one thing she rises. Another
thing she sees over everything.
YVONNE points out a transcendent
moment in Jewett.
THERESA: I’m trying to
understand Realism in Twain. The hyperbole kind of lifted us away. It seems like
exaggeration takes us away from normal realistic everyday kind of ideas. I
didn’t know what I was doing. It just seemed like the exaggeration lifted us
away.
DR WHITE: Part of the answer
might be in terms of the personification. Why don’t you go ahead and do the
personification question?
Personification is defined in
Bedford on p. 339 as “a figure of speech…that bestows human characteristics
upon anything nonhuman, from an abstract idea to a physical force to an
inanimate object to a living organism.” In
these two stories, I believe personification is used minutely, but effectively.
Did you recognize the use of personification in the two stories?
If so, do you believe this use of personification is essentially Romantic
or Realistic? Or do you think it
could go both ways?
SIMONE: Both his animals had
first and last names and at some level that is personification. But then
addressing your exaggerations, the dog was not just a dog. He was deemed a
genius. It’s like personification but it’s also like you said it’s an
exaggeration after all, it’s a dog we’re talking about here. I don’t know
what do ya’ll think about that?
DR WHITE: To give you a quick
standard literary answer: its just comical. It’s comical because it’s
excessive. Inflating the dog’s power. It’s not just talent—it's genius.
Then people start to laugh.
DR WHITE: Romanticism has no
sense of humor. That’s what you give up when you're into Romanticism. Remember
with Irving we had a sense of humor, but he is an early Romantic. But once you
get into the realm of Cooper, Hawthorne Romanticism tends to be pretty sober. It
tends to be full of itself.
DR WHITE: But back to the dog, in
comedy, pain doesn’t really register. Somebody else’s pain is funny.
Generally, personification is Romantic. But in this case is it Romantic. Its too
comic would be the short answer.
DR WHITE discusses mock-heroic in
Bedford pg. 267. After reading definition, so in other words the dog and the
frog are trivial. But they’re written about as though they were heroes of
epic. Comedy doesn’t go much with Romanticism. But comedy does go with
Realism.
DR WHITE: In round about way we
are answering Teresa’s question. Twain does inflate the material for comic
purposes rather than for Romantic purposes.
SIMONE: There is a comic episode
in Jewett pg. 1588. She is playing hide‘n seek with her cow. I thought that
was comic because when Sylvia’s with the cow she’s named. When the cow is
with anyone else she’s just a cow.
DR WHITE: It’s sentimentally
comical. Personification is found in Jewett on 1592 and 1593.
APRIL P: Personification with
catbirds and heron. Another aspect of Romanticism in Jewett is that Sylvia wants
to be somewhere else. In that way she is Romantic.
NANCY: She is a child with
limited amounts of understanding.
SIMONE: There is still that level
of escape. She is so happy being out there in nature.
HOLLY: And I think too that even
with her grandmother being in her poor situation it is not important to her. I
think her ambivalence is escapism.
THERESA: May she has this moment
of Realism? She had to come to
terms with industrialization when the guy shows up with the gun. This guy wants
to kill things in the nature that she loves so much.
DR WHITE: Just to stay with
personification, one more passage I want us to look at is at the bottom of page
1592. The tree has a spirit. The tree has a will, a sympathetic response. It’s
almost outrageous personification.
DR WHITE: Lets look on 1593 for
the sake of the transcendent moment. This is a much more Romantic story than
Twain’s story. Twain is much more Realistic. Just for contrast keep finder at
1593 and go back to 1242. Where we’re going here is that simile and metaphor
are the main figures of speech in Romanticism. I’m in the middle of 1242 where
it says: “solid as a gop of mud” a pretty realistic simile. Back to 1593
first full paragraph: “Sylvia’s face was like a pale star” a lofty
metaphor, it’s transcendent. In the middle of 1592 “heart to heart with
nature” suggests correspondence.
DR WHITE: I have for our Tally:
for Realism we have dialect, detail (local color), city, industry and guns. For
Romanticism we have nostalgia, with Jewett in particular the closeness to
nature, we talked about transcendence, personification = a dignified
personification and mock heroic.
APRIL P: Jewett reminded me of
“The Pioneers” in Cooper with the birds, the guns, hunting. Both have
the intrusion of the outside industrial encroaching on the natural.
DR WHITE: Other patterns would be historical differences. Romanticism is before the Civil War Realism is after the Civil War. Jewett is born before the Civil War. There is a different industrial base. Twain pg. 1240 story after Civil War but story written before Civil War, in other words, a pre-industrial society.
Additional Resources on Local
Color and Regionalism
http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/enl311/lcolor.html:
According to the Oxford
Companion to American Literature, “In local-color literature one finds the
dual influence of romanticism and realism, since the author frequently
looks away from ordinary life to distant lands, strange customs, or exotic
scenes, but retains through minute detail a sense of fidelity and accuracy of
description” (439)…
Setting: The emphasis is frequently on nature and the limitations it imposes; settings are frequently remote and inaccessible. The setting is integral to the story and may sometimes become a character in itself.
Characters: …The characters are marked by their adherence to the old ways, by dialect, and by particular personality traits central to the region.
http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/regionalism.html:
Although the terms regionalism
and local color are sometimes used interchangeably, regionalism generally has
broader connotations. Whereas local
color is often applied to a specific literary mode that flourished in the late
19th century, regionalism implies a recognition from the colonial
period to the present of differences among specific areas of the country…
With the increasing move toward
urbanization and industrialization following the [Civil] War and the concurrent
diminishing of regional differences, it is not surprising that there was a
developing nostalgia for remaining regional differences.
Local color writing, which was regionally, and often rurally, based …
met a need for stories about simpler times and faraway places.
Personification Notes
Twain’s character, Jim Smiley,
names his animals and applies to them humanistic traits.
The bulldog’s name is Andrew Jackson and is thought of as a
“genius” for his talent at dog fighting.
Wheeler’s narrative lets the reader know that Andrew Jackson had a
well-thought-out strategy when fighting. The
human owner, Smiley, made the only mistake when he matched Andrew against a dog
without hind legs. Smiley also
names his frog, Dan’l Webster, and “educates” him.
Similar to Twain, Jewett’s character, Sylvia, names her cow, Mistress Moolly, and plays hide and seek with her. Mistress Moolly and Sylvia seem to have an understanding, and Jewett implies that Sylvia and the cow work together, but as individuals as well, to get home. Never is the cow discussed as just a cow when she is with Sylvia.