Blog 3: To Build A Fire

In “To Build a Fire”, Jack London tells the story of a man trying to survive in the woods during winter. He tries to use, every precaution even forcing his dog ahead of him while walking on the frozen river so that if the ice was not strong enough it would break under the dog and not himself. He did not seem to understand that he could not beat nature no matter how hard he tried. It wasn’t till the end when the man finally accepted the inevitable. He says, “Well, he was bound to freeze anyway, and he might as well take it decently. With this new-found peace of mind came the first glimmerings of drowsiness” (638 London).

The man was inevitably going to die. No matter how many times he tried to avoid death, nature will still always run its course. This is why the story is categorized as naturalism. In the end nature will win and we cannot control it. The dog represents one aspect of nature and the man does not realize how much better of he is with the dog as a companion rather than risking the dog’s life.

I don’t think it would have mattered if the man had paid more attention to his surroundings, he would have died anyways. Yes, I think there were many warning signs that the man should turn around or not travel in this weather or be traveling alone, but since it is a naturalism story which involves determinism I think it was already determined that the man would die from the beginning. 

London, Jack. "To Build a Fire." Norton Anthology American Literature. By Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol. 2. N.p.: W.W. Norton, 2013. 628-39. Print.

Race and the American Novel Part 1 Blog 3

One prominent theme in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is the use of religion. Religion was valued by women and slaves, but not by white men. This is shown by the different spheres we discussed in class. There is the public sphere, which included men, and there was the private sphere, which included women and family. The private sphere was domestic where as we described in class, “women were powerless, naturally confined and had no desire to speak”. Religion was also included in the private sphere.

Religion was used as a tool to both justify slavery and oppose slavery. Marie St. Clare used religion to support and reinforce slavery. At one point Marie was describing the preachers sermon to St. Clare saying, “It was so appropriate, you now, and beautiful, that some should be high and some low, and that some were born to rule and some to serve (…) he proved distinctly that the Bible was on our side, and supported all our institutions so convincingly” (166 Stowe). I question if everyone who heard the same sermon felt the same way, especially Eva.

Others like Mrs. Bird use religion to oppose slavery. Mrs. Bird was arguing with her Mr. Bird about weather slavery was right or wrong and as Kayla said in her blog, “Mary makes a point using religion as a weapon”. Mary Bird says, “Obeying God never brings on public evils. I know it can’t. It’s always safest, all round, to do as He bids us” (73 Stowe). Mary Bird uses religion in a very different way compared to Marie St. Clare. Mrs. Bird feel that being Christian entails helping those around you that are in need, including the runaway slaves.  

I find it very confusing how Stowe uses one of the biggest themes of the story in this way, just as Michelle said in her blog, “How can religion explain two different sides of slavery? Why would Stowe use religion as a tool in each defense?” It would be interesting to see if all the white males in the story would still view slavery the same way if they were religious. One white male character, St. Clare, early on has an interesting opinion about religion. He says, “Is what you hear at church religion? Is hat which can bend and turn, and descend and ascend, to fit every crooked phase of selfish, worldly society, religion? (167 Stowe). I think St. Clare makes a great point, that what Marie St. Clare is trying to tell him is religion, he cannot possibly understand to be religion.

I think Stowe may have decided to use religion in this way so that all readers can understand different perspectives. Readers can get into the minds of other people who have different views of the same topic and try to understand one another.

Works Cited

Kayla’s Blog: http://blogswithfriendsatuwmanty.blogspot.com/

Michelle’s Blog: http://americanauthorsandtheirliterature.blogspot.com/2015_02_01_archive.html

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Ed. Elizabeth Ammons. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994. Print.

Race and the American Novel Part 1 Blog 2

In Sophia Cantave’s article, Who Gets to Create the Lasting Images? The Problem of Black Representation in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, she points out how Stowe recognizes that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is not a good representation of slavery since slavery is too awful to be portrayed in art, specifically her writing. Stowe also goes on to say that if she had decided to portray slavery more accurately it could not be read and would not be a successful book. Instead she creates more pleasing characters and scenes. Cantave focused a lot on how Stowe uses comedy to make slavery readable. Cantave says, “By making the tragic and the laughable, Uncle Tom’s Cabin gives white people and black people a way to read slavery together” (585 Cantave). Yet, Cantave states that this also gives white people a way to “regulate black achievement, black national mobility and black cultural expression” (586 Cantave).

What happens if the irony is lost on the readers? Cantave argues that by “denying African Americans the opportunity to tell their story without comic interjections left whole things unsaid” (592 Cantave). African Americans were not able to create the “lasting images of the slave experience” since at that time they could not write about their own experiences.

This article helped me understand why Stowe used comedy and unrealistic characters when portraying slavery. A book that would portray slavery more realistically would not be popular or constantly used in classroom settings. Not many people would want to read it because of how gruesome and awful slavery truly was. Stowe’s book allows many people to read and learn about slavery. By including comedy more people want to read it.

I agree with Cantave, in that Stowe had to use comedy to make her novel readable, but when doing so African Americans were not able to tell their own story that would have eventually become the lasting image. This reminds me of Adiche’s Ted Talk, The Danger of a Single Story. Is Uncle Tom’s Cabin the single story about slavery that many of us know? I think in some ways it is and as Adiche says, “The single story creates stereotypes and the problem with stereotypes are not that they are untrue but that they are incomplete” (Adiche).  Cantave does make a good point that even thought this novel is not a true depiction of slavery it does create a start to discuss racial and literary topics. 

Works Cited

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. "The Danger of a Single Story." Ted Talks, July 2009. Web. 10 Mar.               2015.

Cantave, Sophia. "Who Gets to Create the Lasting Images? The Problem of Black Representation in Uncle Tom's Cabin." Approaches to Teaching Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (2000): 582-94. Print.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Ed. Elizabeth Ammons. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994. Print.

Race and the American Novel Part 1 Blog 1

Another Kidnapping 1844, by William Wells Brown, describes Brown’s encounter with an African American couple, Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson, as he travels through Georgetown on his way to Mount Pleasant Ohio. The Wilkinson’s tell Brown about the men who came into their home, beat them, and kidnapped their fifteen year old son. The kidnappers quickly traveled over the river to Virginia and Mr. Wilkinson knows his son is gone forever. Brown says, “One of the villains was recognized, but it was by a colored man, and the colored people have not thee right of their oath in this state. This villain will go unwhipped of Justice” (442 Brown).

Reading this added to my understanding the true conflict between the North and the South. The setting took place in the North where this African American family was free to live in a non-slave state. Yet, people from the South were able to kidnap those from the North and turn them into slaves. It seemed through Brown’s use of characterization and tone the family in the story had really given up hope only after a day and had come to realize that they would never see their son again, even though someone had identified one of the kidnappers. Miss. Ophelia’s character in Uncle Tom’s Cabin seemed to portray how against slavery Northerners were. Talking about slavery Miss. Ophelia says, “I wouldn’t have it, for a thousand worlds. You ought to educate your slaves, and treat them like reasonable creatures,- like immortal creatures that you’ve got to stand before the bar of God with”(161 Stowe). If this was true why wouldn’t they have laws in place that would help stop Southerners from kidnapping Northern African American’s and turning them into slaves, especially since there were laws like the Great Compromise and the Fugitive Slave Act which both supported slavery and were there for the South to benefit from.  

Yet, on the other hand whites from the North still disliked African American’s even if they did not support slavery. Miss. Ophelia portrayed this when she interacted with Topsy. Topsy describes how Miss. Ophelia feels about her saying, “No; she can’t bar me, ‘cause I’m a nigger!- she’d ‘s soon have a toad touch her” (258 Stowe). Miss. Ophelia seems hypocritical since she does not support slavery yet treats slaves worse than her cousin, who is a slave owner. 

Works Cited
Brown, William W. "Another Kidnapping 1844." (1969): 442. Print.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Ed. Elizabeth Ammons. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994. Print.

Blog 2 The Yellow Wallpaper

At the end of The Yellow Wallpaper I finally understood what was happening or at least my interpretation of what was happening. The woman says, “And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!” (497) which leads me to believe that she has become the wallpaper. She is saying that she is the wallpaper and is not going to deal with this any longer

.

There are many more references to her being the wallpaper throughout the story. After she addresses the wallpaper as being a woman she then proceeds to see that woman outside her window. She says, “I can see her out of every one of my windows!” (494). I read this as it was her shadow that she continued to see out of her window. This could be the case with her seeing the woman at night in the wallpaper, which may have been her own shadow that she saw if a light was turned on where it would cast a shadow.She also describes the woman from the wallpaper "creeping around" and in the end of the story she describes herself as creeping around the room. Was there even another woman or was it just herself who was creeping around the entire time, the other woman could have just been in her mind or her own reflection.

In the end why did John faint? He must have seen the signs leading up to this, how could he have been that shocked? It almost seemed like he was so shocked that it was the first time he had seen his wife in a while and everything else was a figment of her imagination.