There has been much written about Isabella Lucy Bird being a unique individual, bold traveler, talented descriptive writer, and great example to women. These are all great ways to describe the well known traveler, however, there have been few efforts to proclaim her as the luminary of Christian faith that she is. In A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains Bird paints an awe inspiring picture of the harsh life and beautiful landscape of the Rocky Mountains in the early 19th century. Throughout her book, Bird gives grand descriptions of the breathtaking natural scenes she experiences along her travels in Lake Tahoe, Estes Park, Colorado City, Denver, Boulder and other areas within the great mountain range. Bird also recounts the hard way of life …show more content…
lived by the early settlers she lodges with and comes to know on her journey. The natural beauty and way of life that Bird whiteness during her travels are described by her through the lens of her faith. The seventeen letters of A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains contain within them not only a view of the life and landscape of the time and place but a glimpse into the soul of Bird and reveal her deepest beliefs about God, nature, and man. According to John Lienhard, a professor at the University of Houston, Bird was brought up in an “upper-class evangelical Anglican household”.
Her father and grandfather (her mother’s father) were both clergymen of the Church of England (Isabella Bird Facts). Bird’s affiliation with the Anglican church is apparent in letter twelve of A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains when she chooses to visit an Episcopal church in Denver. It is important to note that Bird was not only Anglican but evangelical as well. John Bowen, a modern day evangelical Anglican and Doctor of Ministry, describes evangelicals as the “part of the Christian community which emphasizes the importance of the Bible as the primary source of the church’s authority, and the Gospel as the source of the church’s vitality”. Bird’s admiration for scripture and constant quotation of it throughout her letters as well as her thoughts about the Chalmers, discourse with Mountian Jim, and view of nature all serve to prove that her upbringing in an evangelical Anglican home has had a significant impact on her spiritual …show more content…
life. Bird is a woman that knows and loves her Bible. One of the most obvious ways one can peer into Bird’s soul is by counting how many times she quotes or alludes to scripture in her letters. Out of seventeen letters there are sixteen quotations directly from the Bible. Along with the direct quotations there are many allusions to scripture and other christian writings throughout her letters. Bird’s use of Christian literature is intentional and should be viewed as a way of her sharing her faith. In such a short book with so many Christian references it would be ignorant to believe that Bird is not making a claim for the Gospel. She is confident in her faith and chooses to share it when possible. An interesting section of A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains that reveals Bird’s faith in a more subtle way can be found in her account of her stay with the Chalmers family. Before reaching her most desired goal, Estes Park, Bird is forced to learn how to be “agreeable” while staying with the very poor Chalmers family in their partially ruined cabin. Bird writes about the family in a way that exposes their shortcomings, but does so whimsically. Bird points out, among other things, that the Chalmers never wear a pair of shoes that match and think it effeminate to sleep inside under shelter. There is a pride about the family that can only be seen as humorous. The only “higher influences” among the Chalmers as described by Bird is their “narrow and unattractive religion”, Reformed Presbyterianism, and an “intense but narrow patriotism” (p 26). Bird goes into detail about Mr. Chalmers’ beliefs and his intolerance towards anyone who disagrees with his specific sect of Christianity. She also describes how Mrs. Chalmers and the children show no courtesy or gentleness towards each other and regard anyone that works less than them as sinners. As dull as their religion is, Bird writes that she is sure of their salvation. However, even though she is sure of the families eternity, Bird would like to “show them a more excellent way” to live their lives. The “more excellent way” Bird is referring to can be found in 1 Corinthians 12:30-13:13 where the Apostle Paul teaches that love is the greatest gift of all. By pointing to this scripture Bird gives an exhortation to all legalistic or moralistic Christians that have forgotten about the love they have received from their Savior. Bird’s evangelicalism and love for her common man is most seen through her interactions and conversations with Mountian Jim whom she respectfully addresses as Mr. Nugent. There is little evidence for Mountian Jim’s Christianity and yet Bird treats him and loves him in a way that allows him to share his thoughts, beliefs, and feelings with her. In letter fourteen Jim exclaims that Bird is the “first man or woman who’s treated [him] like a human being for many a year” (p 100). Through her interactions with Mountain Jim, Bird gives the reader a great example of how to share the Gospel. Bird’s soul is most transparent at the end of the last letter when she urges Mountain Jim towards reformation and feels “a pity for (him) such as (she) never felt before for a human being” (p 121). One of Bird’s last recorded thoughts of Mountian Jim are in the form of a prayer lifted up for his soul. Finally, the most clear example of Bird revealing her faith through is how she shows that God is revealed through His creation. The phenomena of seeing God revealed through nature is not an original thought or idea. Many apologists before and after Bird have given the same argument for a creator God. King David, the Apostle Paul, C.S. Lewis, and St. Francis of Assisi of whom Pope John Paul II said “offers Christians an example of genuine and deep respect for the integrity of creation” are all men that have made the claim that God can be perceived through his Creation. There are many instances that Bird reveals her belief in a creator God throughout her letters. Several times Bird write that she is compelled to worship because of the splendor of nature. Many of her scripture quotations are strategically placed at times in her letters when she happens upon a heavenly scene. In letter thirteen as she describes Estes Park Bird gives her most blatant apologetic statement about God and nature; “Nature, glorious, unapproachable, inimitable, is herself again, raising one’s thoughts reverently upwards to her Creator and ours.” (p 54).
This is a clear statement that says nature makes one think of God. Although her most blatant statement is in letter thirteen her most powerful testimony of seeing God in nature is found in letter seven. In letter seven, Bird recounts her ascension of Long’s Peak with her friend Mountain Jim as her guide. At 3,700 feet below the summit of the mountain they come upon a beautiful sunrise. Bird records that upon seeing the beautiful sunrise Mountian Jim cry’s out that he believes in God. By recording the words of Mountian Jim, the notorious desperado, as they relate to the sunrise, Bird shows how creation undoubtably points to a
Creator. Upon reviewing A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains one will find it clear that Bird shares her faith throughout her letters. Almost all of her descriptions of places and people are seen through the lens of her faith. The Chalmers are described as Christians that are in need of learning more about Christ’s love, Mountian Jim is explained as a lost soul that needs repentance, and the views of every exquisite sunrise, sunset, precipice, lake, or mountain are compared to that of heaven and described as prompting the soul to worship their Creator. From history we know that Bird was brought up in a Christian home, but through her writings it is clear that she herself accepted the faith of her father.
Today I am going to be explaining how the three different point of views or P.O.V the narrators in three different stories all about unfairness to the miners during the gold rush or the late eight-teen-hundreds though. Mainly I'm going to be mentioning the character's narrators background, family, and their opinions. For opinions I'm going to be talking about if they thought the rules where to strict or just right.
Engel, Mary Ella. “The Appalachian “Granny”: Testing the Boundaries of Female Power in Late-19th-Century Appalachian Georgia.” Appalachian Journal 37.3/4 (2010): 210-225 Literary Reference Center. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
The diction surrounding this alteration enhances the change in attitude from self-loath to outer-disgust, such as in lines 8 through 13, which read, “The sky/ was dramatic with great straggling V’s/ of geese streaming south, mare’s tails above them./ Their trumpeting made us look up and around./ The course sloped into salt marshes,/ and this seemed to cause the abundance of birds.” No longer does he use nature as symbolism of himself; instead he spills blame upon it and deters it from himself. The diction in the lines detailing the new birds he witnesses places nature once more outside of his correlation, as lines 14 through 18 read, “As if out of the Bible/ or science fiction,/ a cloud appeared, a cloud of dots/ like iron filings, which a magnet/ underneath the paper
The Jump-Off Creek introduces the reader to the unforgiving Blue Mountains and the harsh pioneer lifestyle with the tale of Lydia Sanderson, a widow who moves west from Pennsylvania to take up residence in a rundown homestead. She and other characters battle nature, finances, and even each other on occasion in a fight for survival in the harsh Oregon wilderness. Although the story is vividly expressed through the use of precise detail and 1800s slang, it failed to give me a reason to care because the characters are depicted as emotionally inhibited.
Mrs. Carrie Watts, the main character in the movie, personifies the three common dilemmas of old age, e.g., “Where will I live? How will I cope by myself? And, What should I do about money” (Solie, 2004, pp. 91, 95, & 99). Having lived most of her life in the wide and open field of the town of Bountiful, Mrs. Watts cherished the thought of coming home to Bountiful. There had been several attempts in the past, that were all foiled by her over-protective son and overbearing daughter-in-law. Time and time again, she would express to her son, her desire to go back to Bountiful. The son, for the practical reason of employment opportunity, always decided against the idea of going back to Bountiful. It was a toss
Born in Home, Pennsylvania in 1927, Abbey worked as a forest ranger and fire look-out for the National Forest Service after graduating from the University of New Mexico. An author of numerous essays and novels, he died in 1989 leaving behind a legacy of popular environmental literature. His credibility as a forest ranger, fire look- out, and graduate of the University of New Mexico lend credibility to his knowledge of America’s wilderness and deserts. Readers develop the sense that Abbey has invested both time and emotion in the vast deserts of America.
Travel was an important part of Quaker life. As a fledgling religious movement focused on the importance of introspective faith and a personal relationship with God, many Friends took it upon themselves to spread the word world-wide. Furthermore, as a group looked down upon and disliked by the rest of English society, Quakers were tempered to have a predisposition towards independence and adventure that serve...
The small community of Hallowell, Maine was no different than any other community in any part of the new nation – the goals were the same – to survive and prosper. Life in the frontier was hard, and the settlement near the Kennebec Valley was no different than what the pioneers in the west faced. We hear many stories about the forefathers of our country and the roles they played in the early days but we don’t hear much about the accomplishments of the women behind those men and how they contributed to the success of the communities they settled in. Thanks to Martha Ballard and the diary that she kept for 27 years from 1785-1812, we get a glimpse into...
Mrs. Carrington leads the reader through the plains skirting the Rocky Mountains as she describes the land. Most notably she re...
In James Baldwin’s 1952 novel “Go Tell It On The Mountain” the characters in the novel each embark on a spiritual journey. Baldwin has dedicated a chapter to each member of the Grimes family, detailing their trails and tribulations, hopes and aspirations, as each one’s quest to get closer to God becomes a battle. I have chosen the character John because I admire the fierce struggle he endured to find his spirituality. I will examine how he’s embarked on his quest and prove that he has done it with integrity and dignity.
The Market Revolution took place between 1800-1840. It was described as a time when new forms of transportation connected different parts of the country resulting in an expansion of the marketplace. Although becoming connected mainly defined this time period, it also represented a great amount of people becoming disconnected. People began to disconnect themselves religiously, socially, and individually. It seemed that during this time period, people became more independent from the “norm.”
Specht, N. J. (2003). Women of one or many bonnets?: Quaker women and the role of religion in trans-Appalachian settlement. NWSA Journal, 15(2), 27. Retrieved from http://bluehawk.monmouth.edu:2048/?url=/docview/233238105?accountid=12532
"When she heard it there came before her imagination the figure of a man standing beside a desolate rock on the seashore. He was naked. His attitude was one of hopeless resignation as he looked toward a distant bird winging its flight away from him." (pp26-27)
Women in the nineteenth century, for the most part, had to follow the common role presented to them by society. This role can be summed up by what historians call the “cult of domesticity”. The McGuffey Readers does a successful job at illustrating the women’s role in society. Women that took part in the overland trail as described in “Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey” had to try to follow these roles while facing many challenges that made it very difficult to do so.
Wordsworth’s famous and simple poem, “I wandered lonely as a cloud,” expresses the Romantic Age’s appreciation for the beauty and truth that can be found in a setting as ordinary as a field of daffodils. With this final stanza, Wordsworth writes of the mind’s ability to carry those memories of nature’s beauty into any setting, whether city or country. His belief in the power of the imagination and the effect it can have on nature, and vice a versa, is evident in most of his work. This small portion of his writing helps to illuminate a major theme of the Romantic poets, and can even be seen in contemporary writings of today. One such work is Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. This story follows two characters, Inman and Ada, who barely know each other and are forced apart by the Civil War. As Ada waits in North Carolina Appalachia for Inman to return home from three years of battle, Inman decides to abandon the war effort and journey across the Southern states to reach his beloved.