Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem “Truth” addresses the importance of shifting one’s focus from worldly pursuits to eternal salvation through its unique form, rhetoric and metaphors. The poem ultimately emphasizes that wealth and personal success are temporal, while faith in God grants ever lasting reward. “Truth’s” speaker gives little inclination as to whether he is Chaucer himself or not, however because the poem includes an envoy with an assumed reference to one of Chaucer’s associates, Sir Philip de la Vache, it is likely Chaucer was personally addressing the poem’s recipient (Chaucer Line 22). Chaucer begins his poem by listing a broad series of lessons giving the reader advice on how to reach an eventual “trouthe” that “shal delivere” (7). The speaker continues through the first two and a half stanzas to provide rhetorical lessons that inform the recipient how not to live their life in order to be a good person, without actually advising how to live life. As “Truth” progresses, form and structure play a large role in keeping the poem coherent; the rhyme scheme and refrain used at the end of each stanza create a rhythm captivates readers and keeps the engaged. As the poem begins to shift from broad declarative statements to a more personal message in the third stanza, the speaker tries to further convince the recipient by introducing the metaphor of earthly life as an uncivilized “wildernesse” that one should not focus on (17). Chaucer’s poem concludes with an envoy that directly addresses his poem’s recipient and insists he must “leve thyn old wrecchednesse” and praise God if he is ever to live a fulfilling afterlife, a lesson that is ultimately represented as the “truth” Chaucer alludes to in his poem’s title.
Read more…
James Cameron’s blockbuster motion picture Avatar depicts the story of the human race’s colonization of the distant planet Pandora, and their indigenous people, the Navi. Cameron creates obvious parallels between the Navi and Native Americans by utilizing early (and current) American stereotypes towards the unfamiliar natives that white settlers came in contact with; the unexplored and lush planet of Pandora can easily be equated to the untamed, open frontier that was early America, while it’s inhabitants are bow-wielding primitives that display a notably different skin color than that of the colonists. Though Cameron’s film is revolutionary because of its technology, the story uses many of the same conventions found in early texts such as Mary Rowlandson’s The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. Red or blue skin alike, in both Avatar and early American literature, natives are distinguished purely as savages in an attempt to contrast and romanticize the positive views of the colonists. Similarly, the attitude of superiority regarding their own beliefs led the colonists to disregard the native’s practices and faith because of it’s foreignness. While James Cameron’s Avatar uses many of the same conventions found in Mary Rowlandson’s The Sovereignty and Goodness of God and other early American texts, his film subverts these conventions by gradually humanizing the natives and justifying their beliefs, ultimately shifting the audience’s perception of the plot’s protagonists and antagonists.
Read more…
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is one of literature’s most famous commentaries on 18th century society. Austen tells the story of the middle-class Bennet family and their daughters’ pursuit of love and social advancement through marriage. The Bennet family’s relationships with their suitors depict Austen’s cynical perception of her society’s courtship process that focuses solely on economic and class advancement, and overlooks elements such as attraction and love. The novel opens by infamously stating, “it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” and “this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of…their daughters” (3). Austen quickly lays the foundation for her story’s satire in this quote as she pokes fun at a society that assumes entitlement based entirely on another’s class and social situation. Mrs. Bennet is a heavy advocate for this, as she obnoxiously and overbearingly takes the initiative in ensuring that her daughters receive fair marital consideration from the rich and single men they encounter, namely Mr. Bingley and Mr. Collins. Mr. Collins also acts as a vehicle for Austen’s satire as he verbosely flaunts his class and wealth in pursuit of a spouse, blatantly demonstrating little intelligence along the way. By using extremely nonsensical characters like Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins to represent the societal perception of aristocratic marriage, Jane Austen is able to utilize satire to openly comment on the absurdity of 18th century courtship in a manner that protects her from public scrutiny, ultimately allowing her to spread her opinion during a time in which the criticized beliefs were still heavily practiced.
Read more…
Mark Twain’s popular works The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have solidified him in history as one of America’s greatest authors. His stories integrate wit and satire with beautiful writing to present an honest, yet not always pleasing depiction of America. While Twain is one of America’s most renowned figures, he is also one of its biggest critics, with the majority of his writings devoted to the criticism and critique of American society. Though novels such as Tom and Huck are rich with social commentary, much of Twain’s criticism is delivered through satire, humor and tall tales in his shorter stories and newspaper submissions. Pieces such as “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” “The Disgraceful Persecution of a Boy,” and “Cannibalism in the Cars” utilize such elements to each uniquely comment on different social issues that Twain felt should be addressed during his time. Twain used the elements of humor, satire and tall tales to mask his opinions and allow himself to speak freely without fear of being ostracized. By criticizing and critiquing the workings of American society through stories of the unbelievable and absurd, Twain is able to deceptively deliver a commentary that would otherwise be interpreted as offensive and unreasonable, ultimately allowing his messages to reach the people who were willing to listen and be disregarded as exaggerations by those he criticized.
Read more…
JK Rowlings’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone tells the story of a young boy introduced into a magical world of witchcraft and wizardry. The plot focuses on Harry Potter, an eleven year old who has grown up within his aunt and uncle’s non-magical (Muggle), middle class family. The Dursley’s treatment of Harry is anything buy familial; forcing him to sleep in a cupboard, do the family’s physical labor and suffer through verbal abuse. After enduring many torturous years of neglect from the Dursleys, Harry is informed of his magical heritage that his aunt and uncle have hidden from him out of fear and intolerance towards his “kind” (8). Harry is eventually rescued from his aunt and uncle and brought to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the academic school year, where he begins to learn about his heritage and starts his training as a young wizard. Among his peers, Harry begins to realize that his aunt and uncle’s feelings towards magic user’s are not one sided; Magic users have mixed feelings of curiosity and negativity towards Muggles, and some even frown upon and stereotype against witches and wizards with Muggle backgrounds. Rowling’s depiction of Muggles, Wizards and mixes is highly reflective of racial relationships between Caucasians and African-Americans and enforces an element of racial tolerance and acceptance among the story’s protagonist. In Rowlings’ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the story’s title character encounters a large degree of social conflicts that accurately reflect real racial situations, ultimately instilling values of acceptance and racial tolerance not only within the book’s hero, but within its readers as well.
Read more…
The children’s tale of Little Red Riding Hood is one that has developed over hundreds of years from something as simple as a children’s fable to something as explicit as a graphic, sexual trial of maturity. Despite its transformations however, the plot has maintained focus on the universal account of a naïve or innocent girl encountering a wolf on the way to her grandmother’s house in a test of childhood independence. Charles Perrault published one of the first versions of the tale in 1697 with “The Little Red Riding Hood,” a short story that delivers a quick account of Little Red’s journey, concluding with her being eaten by the wolf and a moral from the storyteller. In 1812, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published “The Little Red Cap,” a slightly more developed version in which Little Red is cautioned before her departure, then saved from the wolf’s stomach and given a second opportunity to have her wit and independence tested. Angela Carter takes the children’s tale to a whole new level of complexity in her 1979 story “The Company of Wolves” where Little Red lives in a society plagued by the dangers of wolves and ignores the cautions forcing her to accept her death or sacrifice her own virginity at the cost of saving her life. Despite their similarity in general plot, the three stories demonstrate a progressive increase in societal warning and intervention towards Little Red Riding Hood, which distinguishes her struggle for independence even more. By progressively increasing the societal role in the story of Little Red Riding Hood over the years, the authors eventually shift the story’s moral from independence by overcoming naivety to independence by straying from society and making one’s own decisions, ultimately adapting an old children’s tale to a modern world where rules and regulations are more pertinent.
Read more…
Both Robert Matthews and John Brown have had their sanity questioned upon further examination of their lives. Robert Matthews was the founder of a cult and “proclaimed himself a direct descendant of the Hebrew Prophets” (Johnson & Wilentz, 5). His radical actions and preaching’s as a “prophet” led many to look further into his life and eventually question hi mental stability. John Brown led an unwinnable raid against Harper’s Ferry in an attempt to incite slave insurrection throughout the country. To many historians his actions are “to the civil war what the Boston Massacre had been to the American Revolution,” emphasizing the important of his actions in sparking revolution (Davidson & Lytle, 151). Despite his intentions however, Brown’s actions were still described by many as “the work of a madman” (152). Defining the term insanity is tricky when approaching it in a historical context, and often times the line between revolutionist and sane becomes blurry. While both activists showed evidence of insanity and sanity alike, they ultimately demonstrated that to be an extremist in seek of change, a little insanity was necessary.
Read more…
Benjamin Franklin’s success is often attributed towards his fame as a scientist and inventor; His kite experiment that was used for the discovery of electricity is well known through out the world. Despite his prominence as an inventor however, Franklin arguably strived even more as a philosopher of virtue and as an influencer and founder in the formation of public spheres as they are known today. In The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Franklin heavily examined the importance of virtue in one’s life, attesting that “[he] wish’d to live without committing any fault at any time” (82). Franklin further developed his ideas towards virtue and morality by examining each of his listed thirteen virtues in detail and explaining how one should practice them. While Franklin admitted he had been less than successful in achieving perfection, he noted that overall they made him a better person and he lived a happier life. One of Franklin’s goals was to share these virtues with whoever read his autobiography, taking full advantage of his writing as a source of public knowledge and making the fruition of each an integral goal. Though Benjamin Franklin’s dedication to virtue influenced much of his life, it was through his developments of public spheres, his autobiography, the Junto debate club and newspapers, that his success was ultimately achieved, allowing him to share his theories and discoveries with the world.
Read more…
Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1891. The story focuses on a woman who is deemed hysteric by her physician who is coincidentally also her husband. Upon undergoing her prescribed treatment, the narrator loses her sanity as she obsesses over her room’s yellow colored wallpaper. Two years later in 1893, Stephen Crane published his novel Maggie: A Girl of the Streets that depicts the story of a girl who is subjected to a life of hardships that despite her best efforts, she fails to ever overcome. During the late 19th century a literary movement of naturalism was founded on the style of realism that focuses on characters’ lives being as realistic and natural as possible, however also takes into account that many circumstances shaping people are entirely out of their control. Both Gilman and Crane lean heavily on naturalism in telling their stories and focus the uncontrollable circumstances’ implications directly towards the women of their text. By focusing on the direct and indirect examples of naturalism through the narrator’s marriage and Maggie’s living conditions, both Gilman and Crane assert women’s place in society during the 1890s as sub-class citizens, ultimately stating that their position was shared by the majority of women during the late nineteenth century.
Read more…
