There was a time when masculinity and independence depended highly on the self and responsibility to nature. Natty Bumppo and Almanzo Wilder are just two among the plethora of strong leading male characters set in the American frontier who are windows into a now foreign world of reliance on oneself and nature. Both of these characters display not only the capability, but the desire to live and work within nature, as well as being known to be more stoic and quiet. By delving into the characteristics of Natty Bumppo in the Leather Stocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper, mostly as Pathfinder, as well as Almanzo Wilder as he is written about in the books Farmer Boy, and The Long Winter, and These Happy Golden Years, by Laura Ingalls Wilder (with some insight into his real-life counterpart.) the reader can just how these two characters are alike. However, the argument is that Pathfinder and Almanzo Wilder complement each other into the idealized American frontier man (a “perfect boyfriend” for lack of a better phrase) even with their differences (mostly in the realm of the physical). Though there are other leading male characters in the American frontier setting—such as Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett—these two represent a reserved masculinity that is not exalted in modern media, where the masculine …show more content…
hero is supposed to walk away from a loud explosion and then take the girl. These literary heroes are beloved by so many readers because of their love of their characteristics of strong yet reserved masculinity, respect for their female counterpart, and the desire of self-reliance. Very little is written on the life and character of Almanzo Wilder. In the time period in which the “Little House” series was written, there was a focus on giving daughters, wives, and lovers of famous men the spotlight. Therefore, Almanzo Wilder, seemed to have been lost by literary critics of that time. But now the pendulum is coming back to the center. In Fred Erisman’s “Farmer Boy: The Forgotten ‘Little House’ Book” the focus come back to the independent farmer. It shows the characteristic of the fictional farmer boy who would become the husband of the fictional Laura Ingalls. In this, we see a father give important advice to his son. The advice is that of independence. Almanzo could choose between the life of a wheelwright and live comfortably, but sacrifice his independence and self, the life of a farmer, hard as it may be (Erisman 124-125). Erisman further focuses on the dichotomy of the frontiersman (the Ingalls) and the farmer (the Wilders) to show the complementary relationship they would have in the future, something that furthers Almanzo’s character. Where the frontiersman settles, the farmer cultivates (Erisman 128). This point will be instrumental in comparing Natty Bumppo as Pathfinder and Almanzo, the farmer, later in this essay. But for now, this is a key in showing what Almanzo, the book character wanted. He chose the life of a farmer, though hard, over the comfortable life of the wheelwright. The need for independence and self-reliance was stronger than the want of a steady food supply and money in the bank as seen in the quote below: There's the other side, too, Almanzo. You'd have to depend on other folks, son, in town. Everything you got, you'd get from other folks. "A farmer depends on himself, and the land and the weather. If you're a farmer, you raise what you eat, you raise what you wear, and you keep warm with wood out of your own timber. You work hard, but you work as you please, and no man can tell you to go or come. You'll be free and independent, son, on a farm. (Wilder 370-71) The actual Almanzo Wilder did not want much written about him, his demeanor was quiet and humble.
This is why there is very little that is not heavily fictionalized about his life, and probably why there are little literary and social critics writing on his life, as compared to the life of his wife, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and even that of his daughter Rose Wilder Lane. (Jebian) However, there is the account, in the novel The Long Winter, where he saves the town of DeSmet through sheer endurance and his ability to control nature through horses. Though he took on a terrible risk, it was through stoic resourcefulness that he saved the town from starvation
(Jebian). In this account, Ingalls as author furthers the “frontier myth” through Almanzo (the character’s) actions. This “frontier myth” is simply the romanticizing of the Wild West in literature and media with concepts such as “Noble Savage” being a part of its definition. Mark Twain’s criticism of the Leather Stocking Tales uses the “frontier myth” against the novels, but that is coming from a realist who cannot seem to fathom anything from the Romantic era and anything before it. However, the “frontier myth” is paramount in the tales of many different Western American heroes, such as Natty Bumppo, Davey Crocket, and Daniel Boone, and isn’t a terrible phrase to coin when talking about these literary characters. To tie the “frontier myth” in with Almanzo Wilder, we look ahead about a century past Pathfinder to see a new stoic hero wrangling the frontier, making it a farm, with the same techniques of that of the frontiersman. Because Almanzo is a frontiersman, but mostly farmer, he is able to romantically save the town of DeSmet. One would most likely never see a character like Almanzo in the popular media today and certainly Mark Twain would have a field day with him if he was alive when the “Little House” series was published. But that is part of the glory of the “frontier myth” and the romantic hero of the frontiersman and a frontier farmer.
The day is unlike any other. The mail has come and lying at the bottom of the stack is the favored Outside magazine. The headline reads, “Exclusive Report: Lost in the Wild.” The cover speaks of a twenty four year old boy who “walked off into America’s Last Frontier hoping to make sense of his life.” The monotony of the ordinary day has now vanished from thought as Jon Krakauer’s captivating article runs through the mind like gasoline to an engine. The article is not soon forgotten, and the book Into the Wild is happened upon three years later. The book relates the full story of Christopher Johnson McCandless and how he left his family and friends after graduating college in order to find himself. Krakauer based the book off of his article on McCandless that was printed in January of 1993. From the time of writing the article to the printing of Into the Wild, Krakauer was obsessed with the tale of the boy who rid himself of society and later turned up dead in the Alaskan frontier. In the foreword of Into the Wild, Krakauer describes McCandless as “an extremely intense young man [who] possessed a streak of stubborn idealism that did not mesh readily with modern existence” and who was in deed searching for a “raw, transcendent experience” (i-ii). Krakauer is correct in assessing this conclusion about McCandless. This conclusion is seen throughout the book in many different assessments. Krakauer uses logical appeal, a comparison to his own life, and assumption to bring about his assessment of McCandless’ life.
Cowboys, Indians, gunfights, cattle, stealing, prostitutes, alcohol, deserts, plains, and horses: Where can all these be found? Only in the Wild West. The days when the West was once the newest frontier have been preserved forever due to the many novels and movies written about them. The stories from the west are full of action, packed with battles between cowboys and Indians, and adventures of tracking down pistoleros (bandits, gunman). They are also full of drama, cowboys who have fallen in love with prostitutes, finding long-lost loved ones, and the pains of growing up in hopes of being a cowboy. All of this action can be found in one Western novel, Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry. One theme, however, stands out from the rest of them. The theme of growing up and maturing is a predominant theme in the book Lonesome Dove. Newt, the young stable hand, is finally maturing and is looking to his leaders, Augustus 'Gus' McCrae, Captain Woodrow F. Call, and other assorted cow hands such as Dish Bogget, Joshua Deets, and Jake Spoon for advice and tips in life. After being born to a prostitute mother, who died, Newt was raised by the Hat Creek Outfit. This outfit is like the Bad News Bears. It is a ragtag group serving no real purpose other than to steal horses from Mexican bandits and then sell them to travelers who happen to stop by the desolate town of Lonesome Dove. This is a very harsh environment for Newt to grow up in. Newt is constantly looking for a companion and friend, and at the very least someone to talk to. He talks to Deets, the only one in the company who seems to enjoy his company. Call is too shy, abrupt, and ashamed to get into long discussions with Newt. Gus certainly do...
According to the thesis of Fredrick Jackson Turner, the frontier changed America. Americans, from the earliest settlement, were always on the frontier, for they were always expanding to the west. It was Manifest Destiny; spreading American culture westward was so apparent and so powerful that it couldn’t be stopped. Turner’s Frontier Theory says that this continuous exposure to the frontier has shaped the American character. The frontier made the American settlers revert back to the primitive, stripping them from their European culture. They then created something brand new; it’s what we know today as the American character. Turner argues that we, as a culture, are a product of the frontier. The uniquely American personality includes such traits as individualism, futuristic, democratic, aggressiveness, inquisitiveness, materialistic, expedite, pragmatic, and optimistic. And perhaps what exemplifies this American personality the most is the story of the Donner Party.
When writing William Cooper's Town, Alan Taylor connects local history with widespread political, economic, and cultural patterns in the early republic, appraises the balance of the American Revolution as demonstrated by a protrusive family's background, and merge the history of the frontier settlement with the visualizing and reconstituting of that experience in literature. Taylor achieves these goals through a vivid and dramatic coalescing of narrative and analytical history. His book will authoritatively mandate and regale readers in many ways, especially for its convincing and memorable representation of two principles subjects- William Cooper, the frontier entrepreneur and town builder, and his youngest son, the theoretical James Fenimore Cooper, who molded his own novelistic portrayal of family history through accounts such as The Pioneers (1823).
In All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy reveals the limitations of a romantic ideology in the real world. Through his protagonist, John Grady Cole, the author offers three main examples of a man’s attempt to live a romantic life in the face of hostile reality: a failed relationship with an unattainable woman; a romantic and outdated relationship with nature; and an idealistic decision to live as an old-fashioned cowboy in an increasingly modern world. In his compassionate description of John Grady, McCarthy seems to endorse these romantic ideals. At the same time, the author makes clear the harsh reality and disappointments of John Grady’s chosen way of life.
Jon Krakauer, fascinated by a young man in April 1992 who hitchhiked to Alaska and lived alone in the wild for four months before his decomposed body was discovered, writes the story of Christopher McCandless, in his national bestseller: Into the Wild. McCandless was always a unique and intelligent boy who saw the world differently. Into the Wild explores all aspects of McCandless’s life in order to better understand the reason why a smart, social boy, from an upper class family would put himself in extraordinary peril by living off the land in the Alaskan Bush. McCandless represents the true tragic hero that Aristotle defined. Krakauer depicts McCandless as a tragic hero by detailing his unique and perhaps flawed views on society, his final demise in the Alaskan Bush, and his recognition of the truth, to reveal that pure happiness requires sharing it with others.
In the short story, “Carnal Knowledge,” T. Coraghessan Boyle portrays the character Jim as one man’s inner conflict between his lust for a beautiful activist, Alena, and his own convictions. Although he lacks interest in animal rights that she strongly feels passionate about, he finds himself respecting her perspective, but he doesn’t seem to be amused. Despite irony, the author shows the fantasy life that Jim lives with Alena can only come disoriented at the end because of its superficiality, irony, and the different point of view.
“I now walk into the wild” (3). It was April 1992 a young man from a rather wealthy family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness. His name was Christopher McCandless. He gave all of his savings to a charity, abandoned his car in the desert, left all his possessions, burned his money and wallet, and invented an alter ego all to shun society. Four months after his adventure, his decomposing body was found in bus 142 by a moose hunter. Into the Wild is a riveting novel about one man’s journey to find himself and live as an individual. Although, Chris McCandless may come as an ill-prepared idiot, his reasons for leaving society are rational. He wanted to leave the conformist society and blossom into his own person, he wanted to create his own story not have his story written for him, and he wanted to be happy not the world’s form of happiness.
In the novel Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, the protagonist, Christopher McCandless, displays isolation and independence almost to the point of narcissism but it was not until he set out on his journey into the wild that those closest to him realized the true height of his individualism. In McCandless’s eyes, people in his society have forgotten about the value in the pursuit of personal knowledge, the chase of individual happiness, and the existence without materialistic objects. On his journey, McCandless takes drastic measures to uncover, find and discover who he is and what he is capable of, isolating himself physically and mentally, driven by the idea that society urges men to conform.
Mark Twain expresses and displays the reality of the vigorous debate of nature versus nurture in his novel, Pudd’nhead Wilson, through the development of one of the main characters, Tom. In addition to tossing ideas around of nature versus nurture, Twain also does the same in terms of other societal issues that still exist even in modern society, such as gender roles and racism. Yet, through both Tom’s and Chamber’s upbringings and resulting attitudes shown towards the end of the novel, Twain shows that how a person is raised, their privilege, or lack thereof, and their surrounding environment affects their future personality and attitude towards others. Considering all these factors, it is obvious that a person grows up to be an adult that
Labrie, Janet M. "The Depiction of Women's Field Work in Rural Fiction." Agricultural History 67 (Spring 1993): 119-33. JSTOR. Web. 15 Mar. 2012.
Some critics have argued that Richard Wright’s women are “flat, one dimensional stereotypes, portrayed primarily in terms of their relationship to the male character”. (Quote, p540) However, in Uncle Tom’s Children, Wright resents three very distinct types of female characters who did not fit this description. Wright portrays women as an Avenger, a Sufferer and a Mother figure whose actions propel the stories to their final conclusion. In the story “Bright and Morning Star” Wright places the protagonist, Aunt Sue, in a domestic environment. “Her hands followed a lifelong ritual of toil” (pg222) as she cleans and cooks. Interestingly, Aunt Sue is the only heroine in the stories, who shows a different type of bravery than perhaps shown by the male figures in other stories. She is brave in the face of the loss of her two sons; she is brave as she does not show weakness to the white men who attempt to control her and make her do their bidding. She does not allow herself to be bound by the conventions of society. She speaks her mind to the white men who invade her home and states “Ah don’t care who Ahm talking t!” (pg238). Aunt Sue is portrayed as a cunning woman, who hides behind men’s perception of her as weak and uses it to her advantage. Her final act of bravery in the story is to giver herself up to death, before the white men can take her life from her. Wright also portrays women as sufferers in his work. Sarah, in “Long Black Song” suffers from isolation and is stuck in a loveless marriage. The gap between men and women is very much evident in this story. Sarah is very much dependent on Silas for company, security and items of comfort. Silas is allowed to exceed from the isolation imposed on his wife. Even when Sarah flees from ...
“Into The Wild” by John Krakauer is a non-fiction biographical novel which is based on the life of a young man, Christopher McCandless. Many readers view Christopher’s journey as an escape from his family and his old life. The setting of a book often has a significant impact on the story itself. The various settings in the book contribute to the main characters’ actions and to the theme as a whole. This can be proven by examining the impact the setting has on the theme of young manhood, the theme of survival and the theme of independent happiness.
The Nebraskan prairies are beautiful and picturesque and set the scene for a memorable story. Big farm houses and windmills placed throughout the graceful flowing golden yellow grass become a nostalgic aspect of Jim as he leaves his childhood life behind. The frontier includes destructive and depressing winters and luscious summers that affect Jim's family and the immigrants. The gloominess of winter and the suicide of Mr. Shimerda provide memories that associate Jim's recollections with nature's seasons. The Christmas season provided faith to persevere through winter and the exchanging of gifts made happy memories, which Jim could not experience if snow darkness did not exist. The summers were most unforgettable though. The smoldering sun and fertile land made growing crops easy. The immigrants references of roads lined with sunflowers as opportunity inspired Jim to appreciate the splendor and bountifulness of the land. Later Jim encounters these pathways, now concealed because of erosion, remembering that "this was the road over which Antonia and I came when we got off the train . . . the feelings of that night had been so near that I could reach out and touch them with my hand. For Antonia and me, this had been the road of Destiny" (Cather237).
Then his family would appreciate him. But the garden fails, as does Willy. Works Cited and Consulted Baym, Franklin, Gottesman, Holland, et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 4th ed.