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American Literature (Enlightenment (Life, Liberty, Property, and Freedom…

- - - - Nature and Self-Reflection
        
        Henry David Thoreau
        
        (1827--1862)
        
        "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach... I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life" (Walden, 967)
        
        Thoreau clearly outlines his intentions regarding his retreat into the woods. He wishes to streamline his consciousness and to exist with self-purpose; this is something he could not have done within the general populace and society. Such mentality and intention is the foundation of Transcendentalism.
        
        Ralph Waldo Emerson
        
        (1803--1882)
        
        "What pretty oracles nature yields us on this text in the face and behavior of children, babes, and even brutes" (Self Reliance, 597).
        
        Nature operates as a divine being, as an oracle, for humans. It is offers insight into the mundane life of the a person who does not look deeper into themselves and into the world.
        
        "Always the soul hears an admonition in such lines, let the subject be what it may. The sentiment they instil is of more value than any thought they may contain. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart, is true for all men,-- that is genius" (Self Reliance, 596).
        
        As the opening to Self Reliance, Emerson establishes his view of the titular idea. One must not rely on the opinions and minds of others, but instead hold truth to what they believe and think individually and separately from the world around them.
    - - Abnormality and Supernatural Mystery
        
        Edgar Allan Poe
        
        (1809--1849)
        
        "There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart-- an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of sublime. What was it-- I paused to think-- what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher" (The Fall of the House of Usher, 749).
        
        The Fall of the House of Usher opens with intense observation about the setting of the house and the land upon which it sits. This sets an aesthetic and tone for the coming events. There is an abnormal, paranormal air to the House, as the narrator notes which puts in an uneasy state of mind.
  - - - Common Sense
        
        Thomas Paine was a large proponent in the argument for independence of the English colonies in North America. He wrote within Common Sense to persuade the public to support the movement that would lead to the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War
    - - "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" (U.S. Declaration of Independence)
        
        The United States' Declaration of Independence was an idealist demand for Enlightenment ideals. Of course, this was only applicable to white, landowning males of the time period. Although this also proposes the right to claim life, liberty, and property as inalienable, there is direct contrast with the Haitian Declaration of Independence and the way that the authors of each portray their demands.
    - - The Haitian Declaration of Independence addressed the same wants and desires as the United States' Declaration of Independence. However, the Haitian Declaration called for violence in explicit terms, painting a far more bloody picture of freedom from oppression.
    - - As a former slave, Sojourner Truth focused on the emancipation of African-Americans through the abolishing of slavery; she supported the fundamental enlightenment ideals but in the fully equal application of them. Additionally, she spoke extensively on the rights of women. She dedicated herself to bettering the rights of oppressed and enslaved individuals; she called for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to be applicable to all individuals and not just those white, land-owning males.
  - - - Frederick Douglas
        
        (1818--1895)
        
        Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slaver, Written by Himself:
        Frederick Douglass freed himself from slavery after teaching himself to read and write. His journey-- as he had wrote about-- focuses on his relationships to the family he lost and left upon seeking his freedom and escape.
      - Harriet Jacobs
        
        (1813--1897)
        
        Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl:
        Jacobs outlines her life, beginning as a child who did not know that she was a slave. Prominent features of this narrative-- as well as other slave narratives-- are how their masters treated them and the events leading to the author's freedom.
  - - - Within his writing, Whitman frequently conveyed the grandeur of the world around him and how he, in turn, related to it. He made note simultaneously his significance and insignificance; Song of Myself and Crossing Brooklyn Ferry are examples of this paradoxical existence. Whitman writes to higlight the grandeur of his existence as well as all other individuals' existences. However, he also writes about the future and how small and fleeting everyone's time on this earth is.
    - - Benito Cereno
        
        Melville's Benito Cereno considered race in relation to the sense of self and society. Melville created a microcosm of a society on the ships. This isolated space where the roles and hierarchy of race were flipped served as a mode of examining the definition and consequences of the aforementioned racial hierarchies.
    - - Dickinson focused on the more abstract and expanded thinking that the Enlightenment developed. In particular, she wrote extensively on human mortality and relationship to Death. She often depicted Death not as a figure to be feared, but an eventual friend into the afterlife.
- - - - A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies
        
        He recounts the destruction that the colonizers brought. The significance of this is when the imagery is contrasted with Columbus' letters. Columbus' idyllic setting has been destroyed and the inhabitants have been mistreated and killed; it is made clear that the "explorers" have created the decline and there is nothing more the land has to offer.
    - - Columbus' Letters
        
        This is an idealization of the Americas; Columbus paints the land he "discovers" with initially idyllic and other-worldly language.
        Later, he addresses the barrenness of the lands. The New World and its resources have been used up. As a result, he requests more funding for another adventure of discovery
  - - - Life of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, or Black Hawk
        
        Black Hawk notes the subversive nature of the colonizers, highlighting the undeserved violence against his people. Through a first-hand account and perspective, the true invasive nature of the white "explorers" is expressed in honest and often bloody terms.
    - - Cherokee Phoenix
        
        The Cherokee Phoenix was the first newspaper printed in both English and a Native language. As a result, it spoke at length about the integration of Natives into the burgeoning white society that the colonizers have created. It is not meant to be a polarizing bearer of news, but admits the struggles with the new and incoming people. There is a sense of contemplation as it focuses on how the Natives are to survive alongside the frequently subversive and greedy white settlers.
    - - The Last of the Mohicans
        
        The fictional conversation between a white man and a Native American justifies the colonizers' invasion. This attempts from the confiscation of Native land as the "next logical progression" of the earth, therefore trying to excuse the atrocities that had occurred and will occur.
    - - "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man"
        
        Apess poses a question to the Christian settlers, being that, if they truly followed the word of Jesus and their God, why are they killing and oppressing the Native Americans. He challenges the white colonizers through their faith and their "following" of that faith. Their actions are a perversion of the loving religion that they claim to follow and are at fault for their transgressions and violence against the native population.
  - - - A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson
        
        Through great tragedy, loss of her family, and her own captivity, Mary Rowlandson examines her identity as a white woman in the burgeoning settlements in North America. The time spent with the Native Americans (albeit unwillingly) resulted in her education and remedying of her ignorance, therefore building her own identity in relation to those around her
    - - Anne Bradstreet frequently vyes for the opportunity that woman may publish their own writings. She uses several strategies to persuade her surrounding misogynistic society; she primarily focuses on the fact that female writers are of no threat to their male counterparts and peers.
- - - - Barn Burning
        
        This piece consists of winding run-on sentences which deviates from the previous sentence construction within prose. Despite the long-winded and (at times) overly descriptive passages, there is very little that is handed to the reader. Instead, Faulkner forces the reader to consider what exactly is being portrayed in the overly descriptive phrases.
    - - Hills Like White Elephants:
        
        Primarily dialogue
        No internal narration
        This is a break from the typical structure of a story which is typically a combination of dialogue and internal narration; it was not one or the other as seen in Hemingway's writing
    - - The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
        
        This poem-- although written with more traditional form-- offers a dream-like narrative in which the narrator contemplates the way in which he has lived his life. Similar to his contemporaries, TS Eliot sets a scene and tells a story, however the true focus of his writing is existentialism and contemplation of self
    - - In the Station of the Metro
        
        This concise and simplistic form contrasts with previously occurring long and wordy poetry. There is a ghostly examination of faces passing, perhaps suggesting the fleeting nature of life and daily activity
    - - The Red Wheelbarrow
        
        Within few, short lines Williams suggests there is a significance to be found in a simple red wheelbarrow. However, he does not give a clear reasoning to the significance of that object. The information that he neglects to give-- or even to give probable answer to-- contrasts preceding literature, demanding consideration without a clear meaning.
  - - - Zora Neale Hurston
        
        (1891--1960)
        
        How It Feels to Be Colored Me
        
        The idea that Hurston is "colored" only exists because of white people. When there is no one to ostracize the black community, that community exists as simply American. The sense of being misplaced only occurs to Hurston when she leaves her predominantly black town, displaying how the concept of race and racial inferiority is created in American society.
      - Claude McKay
        
        (1889--1948)
        
        If We Must Die
        
        The sonnet formation of this particular piece evokes the feeling of a love poem. The significance of which is therefore the romanticism of the black power revolution. It is a call to arms for the claiming of social and political freedom and equality; there is a necessity to fight for their rights as Americans.
      - Langston Hughes
        
        (1901--1967)
        
        Hughes focuses on the nature of black individuals. They are the first people of the earth, yet they are Americans as well. They can and will build the future and improve the country; they are part of the next step for America and demand the liberties and rights they deserve as human beings
      - Alain Locke
        
        (1885--1954)
        
        The New Negro
        
        The "New Negro" is not in fact new at all. Instead, the old perception was false all along and now African-Americans can claim and express their true identities. They can build and develop whilst continually disproving the myth of previous black stereotypes.
- - - - The Yellow Wallpaper
        
        Comments on the results a restrictive and patronizing misogynistic society has on the women living in it. It is an observation and critique of American society.
    - - Daisy Miller: A Study
        
        There is an attempt at rationalization of Daisy Miller. Despite the fact that Daisy a fully three-dimensional person, those around her try to understand her as a two-dimensional-- even a one dimensional woman-- because she does not follow societal norms. This becomes a reflection of how an late 1800s society views the breaking of social customs: particularly when it is a woman who transgresses
  - - - Up From Slavery
        
        Washington catered to the white population of American. He called for the integration of African-Americans as a gradual process, relegating them to the lower and menial labors of society and then earning their place among white people as equals. He did not believe that African-Americans could force change and should instead comply with the current conditions of society in order to slowly transition into full and equal citizens.
    - - Souls of Black Folk
        
        In contrast to Washington, Du Bois viewed blackness as its own identity instead of one that is defined through relation to whiteness. He argued that African-Americans do not need to "earn" their place in the country. Just as white people did not earn their rights, black people deserve their social and political equality without proving that they are "worthy"