American Literature
Choose two characters studied this semester. Do they have similar problems? Look beyond the specific details of their circumstances in order to find the essential common dilemma they face. For example, explain what common issue confronts both Sylvia in “A White Heron” and Carrie in Sister Carrie.
Both stories are similar in that they confront similar issues of self-doubt and principle. In Sylvia’s case it is the protection of a bird which she deems to be important for survival. Although she befriends the hunter in the story she cannot seems to bring herself to reveal that she saw a bird since she fears for that bird’s life and also due to the fact that she has grown to love the countryside where she lives in. With Carrie it is her confrontation with Hurstwood who ends up broken and destitute and the acceptance of the fact that she can never be happy without him.
According to Baym, Naturalism is a version of Realism. While Realists wrote about “human beings defined within recognizable settings”, Naturalists wrote about “human life as it was shaped by forces beyond human control” (10). Select a short story that best illustrates the difference between Realism and Naturalism. Explain how and support your argument.
‘A White Heron’ is a typical story that explores such themes. Sylvia is defined by her surroundings and by nature as she confronts the issue of existence. Thus her life is defined by the characteristics which she cannot really control but has to face realism since her friend the hunter has to kill birds to survive.
Choose one: “A White Heron”, “To Build a Fire”, “The Open Boat”, “Desert Places”, “Anecdote of the Jar” or “If we must die”. Explain the role nature plays for the narrator or speaker in the text. For example, is Nature treating literally or figuratively? Explain and support your position.
In ‘A White Heron’ we view the importance of nature for Sylvia who grows to love her natural surroundings. Nature is a crucial part of the story since it permeates every single setting as well as the moral confrontation for Sylvia as she yearns to protect the bird from the hunter. Thus nature is being explained figuratively as a struggle for survival and manifest destiny.
Dave, Desiree and Sylvia are just a few of the characters studied this semester who have developed original or unusual ways to face their struggles; in these and other cases, their decision-making processes were impacted by their outside worlds. Select two characters and explain how their outside worlds influenced them to make their final decisions. In particular, argue whether those outside forces encourage the reader to be more or less judgmental about these characters.
In Sylvia’s case, the natural surroundings placed a huge influence on her decision to protect the bird from the hunter. Since Sylvia grew to love the countryside immensely she could not bring herself to part with the bird that was an important part of her surroundings and reinforced the fantasy world in which she lived. In Stephen Crane’s ‘The Open Boat’ we are made to observe the harsh reality of a shipwreck and this is important to understand since the reactions of Crane and his fellow men were borne out of sheer desperation. This makes the reader become judgmental due to the fact that it it is difficult to really understand what was going on in the ship if not present during the sinking. The horror of watching other people sinking whilst powerless to intervene is portrayed in this powerful quote:
“The cook let go of the line. We rowed around to see if we could not get a line from the chief engineer, and all this time, mind you, there were no shrieks, no groans, but silence, silence and silence, and then the Commodore sank. She lurched to windward, then swung afar back, righted and dove into the sea, and the rafts were suddenly swallowed by this frightful maw of the ocean. And then by the men on the ten-foot dingy were words said that were still not words—something far beyond words” (Crane, p 65).
In “Song of Myself”, the speaker has a powerful connection with and understanding of Nature. Discuss the main character in one of the texts studied this semester who best illustrates the relationship with Nature described in Whitman’s poem. “A White Heron”, “The Open Boat” and “To Build a Fire” are some examples of texts to consider.
Undoubtedly, Sylvia in ‘A White Heron’ is the character which best describes Walt Whitman’s ‘Song of Myself’. Sylvia becomes one with nature and her communion with her surroundings creates an almost hallowed effect which is crucial to our understanding of the link between man and nature.
In Baym’s essay on American versions of Modernism, she states “A typical modernist work may seem to advance without explanation end without resolution . [to] suggest rather than assert [and make] use of symbols and images rather than statements” (664). How does Frost’s work from “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “Desert Places” or Stevens’ “The Snow Man” use this method to portray, diagnose or critique the individual and the world around him/her?
‘The Snow Man’ which is written in the transcendentalist style fits Baym’s description quite perfectly. The poem which is mostly a glorification of winter has no real beginning and ending and focuses on God as being ever present in all nature. Thus the description of winter is in abstract form and has more than a whiff of modernism about it without any fluff or softness.
In “Song of Myself”, Whitman writes: “I celebrate myself, and sing myself, / And what I assume you shall assume, / For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” (1-3). Explain how one text read this semester illustrates, challenges or questions the democratic principle expressed by Whitman.
Stevens’ ‘The Snow Man’ is quite a good parallel to draw out of Whitman’s poem since the bleak description of the beauty of winter is an apt description of man’s communion with nature. This text seems to illustrate the democratic principle that is suggested by Whitman as the nature of winter is ours to commune with. This quote from the poem is a perfect description of observation:
According to Baym, one of the core purposes of literary Modernism is to represent the difficult and sometimes seemingly impossible “transformation of traditional society under the pressures of modernity”. Pick one character whose life or one text whose world could be described in these terms. Make sure to identify/discuss what “pressures of modernity” are present.
Sister Carrie is undoubtedly the character who is faced with the pressures of modernity and although she has considerable success in her star studded career, she still cannot be happy since her true love Hurstwood dies destitute and without money leaving her alone to enjoy her success although that is not possible.
Make an argument that one text read this semester provides the central key to your understanding of American literature after the Civil War. The text you select should not only have merit in its right but should provide some insight about the era and literature that came before it, that occurred at the same time as it and will come after it.
Undoubtedly the text which makes one really understand how American literature developed after the Civil War is ‘A White Heron’. Here we are made to observe the moral pressures which are ever present between man’s uneasy relationship with nature which has to protect but at the same time survive. The question regarding the dignity of man is also important as is the communion with nature.
Works Cited:
Crane, Stephen. 1898. The Open Boat and Other Tales of Adventure. New York: Doubleday & McClure Co.
Peisner, Jeremy. The Snow Man. Harrisburg: 2013. Print.
Theodore Dreiser, Donald Pizer (ed.). Sister Carrie. Norton Critical Edition, 1970
"A White Heron." American Literature Volume 2, William E. Cain, 2004, page126, 127.
