James Baldwin's Attack of Uncle Tom's Cabin
What Frederick Douglass was to the 19th century, it might be argued that James Baldwin was to the 20th century.
Baldwin was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement and an African American novelist, publishing many books and plays, including his most popular Go Tell It on the Mountain in 1953. However, he was also known as an essayist. One of his most famous essays, "Everybody's Protest Novel," attacks the concept of protest fiction and more specifically, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. This 20th century critical analysis discusses the novel's downfalls of sentimentality, grandiose violence, and racialist characterization.
Baldwin feels that the protest novel is almost always sentimental. He feels that sentimental fiction is inherently dishonest. He writes, "Sentimentality, the ostentatious parading of excessive and spurious emotion, is the mark of dishonesty, the inability to feel; the wet eyes of the sentimentalist betray his aversion to experience, his fear of life, his arid heart; and it is always, therefore, the signal of secret and violent inhumanity, the mask of cruelty" (1654). He explains that Uncle Tom's Cabin is a "very bad novel" with sentimentality similar to Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Baldwin also writes that Stowe includes an excess of violence in Uncle Tom's Cabin. He notes:
This [violence] is explained by the nature of Mrs. Stowe's subject matter, her laudable determination to flinch from nothing in presenting the complete picture; an explanation which falters only if we pause to ask whether or not her picture is indeed complete; and what construction . . . forced her to so depend on the description of brutality - unmotivated, senseless - and to leave unanswered and unnoticed the only important question: what it was, after all, that moved her people to such deeds. (1654)
Baldwin sees the graphic violence in the story as a means to create reality; however, Stowe fails, creating only more sentimentality.
Baldwin suggests that the characterization in Uncle Tom's Cabin is racist in its development. He discusses the main characters of the novel as George, Eliza, and Uncle Tom. He writes, "Eliza is a beautiful, pious hybrid, light enough to pass . . . . George is darker, but makes up for it by being a mechanical genius, and is, moreover, sufficiently un-Negroid to pass through town .
Harriet Beecher Stowe was born on June 14, 1811. Her father was Lyman Beecher, pastor of the Congregational Church in Harriet’s hometown of Litchfield, Connecticut. Harriet’s brother was Henry Ward Beecher who became pastor of Brooklyn’s Plymouth Church. The religious background of Harriet’s family and of New England taught Harriet several traits typical of a New Englander: theological insight, piety, and a desire to improve humanity (Columbia Electronic Library; “Biography of Harriet Beecher Stowe”).
Frederick Douglass. “Frederick Douglass Cuts Through the Lincoln Myth to Consider the Man.” W.W. Nordon and Company. eLibrary. Web. 27 February 2014.
Childhood is a continuous time of learning, and of seeing mistakes and using them to change your perspectives. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates how two children learn from people and their actions to respect everyone no matter what they might look like on the outside. To Kill A Mockingbird tells a story about two young kids named Scout and her older brother Jem Finch growing up in their small, racist town of Maycomb, Alabama. As the years go by they learn how their town and a lot of the people in it aren’t as perfect as they may have seemed before. When Jem and Scout’s father Atticus defends a black man in court, the town’s imperfections begin to show. A sour, little man named Bob Ewell even tries to kill Jem and Scout all because of the help Atticus gave to the black man named Tom Robinson. Throughout the novel, Harper Lee illustrates the central theme that it is wrong to judge someone by their appearance on the outside, or belittle someone because they are different.
Frederick Douglass 1818-1895. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston: Houghton, 1998. 1578-1690.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was released right after World War I. During this period of 1920’s, after the German forces had been defeated in the World War I, the nation had been taken over by the U.S government. This lead to the loss of many lives and the economy was a complete disaster and at a very low point. The citizens were greatly traumatized by the war and to face the truth about their economic depression. This great nation once used to be called the world’s major country. The screenplay written for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari immediately caught the attention of the film industry. Carl Mayer came up with the story when he witnessed a murder and a figure was at the scene of the murder. He then saw the same figure again at the funeral. It represents the troubled and social anxiety that was rampant in Germany at a time of great horror. It was then labeled as a film that portrayed the artistic style of German Expressionism.
Robert Lee Frost began life in San Francisco on March 26, 1874. For an unknown reason, Frost believed for years that he was actually born in 1875. When Frost’s father died in 1885 his mother decided to move closer to her wealthy parents in Massachusetts. In California, Frost had dropped out of kindergarten after one day, and upon returning to the first grade, also dropped out. This was no deterrent on Frost to attend college. He was accepted to Harvard but instead attended Dartmouth because of his financial situation. Even though Frost found the school to be anything but challenging, he would not finish his time at Dartmouth, nor earn any formal degree in a school (Bengtsson). He once said of schooling that “Education is hanging around until you’ve caught on.” Interestingly enough, Robert Frost held several postions at credible schools, including Amherst and Harvard. Also, Frost was awarded an incredible amount of honorary degrees from Berkley to Yale (Parini 59). Frosts careers also ranged from editing for Henry Holt to raising poultry on his Derry, New Hampshire farm.
To be a successful lifeguard, you must like to be in the sun and you need to be very patient with pool patrons. They can be very rude to you, especially the older crowd who has trouble dealing with a teenager telling them that they can not throw their child in the air.
...did he want us to enter the war so bad? Whatever the reason may have been, it entered us into one of the most historical and gruesome wars ever.
Robert Lee Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco. When his father died, he moved to Massachusetts with his family to be closer to his grandparents. He loved to stay active through sports and activities such as trapping animals and climbing trees. He married his co- valedictorian, Elinor Miriam White, in 1895. He dropped out of both Dartmouth and Harvard in his lifetime. Robert and Elinor settled on a farm in Massachusetts, which his grandfather bought him. It was one of the many farms on which he would live in throughout his lifetime. Frost spent the next 9 years writing poetry while poultry farming. When poultry farming did not work out, he went back to teaching English. He moved to England in 1912 and became friends with many people who were also in the writing business. After moving back to America in 1915, Frost bought a farm in New Hampshire and began reading his poems aloud at public gatherings. Out of the blue, he suddenly had many family disasters. Frost’s youngest daughter and wife died and his son committed suicide, soon after which another daughter institutionalized. Darker poetry, su...
Robert Frost was a talented American poet whose works have left a lasting impression on many people. Frost was born in San Francisco, California on March 26, 1874, and died in Boston, Massachusetts on January 29, 1963. Frost ‘s father died when he was a young boy, which forced his family to move across the country to live at his grandfather’s farm. On November 8th, 1894 Frost sold his first poem called “My Butterfly: An Elegy”, in the New York Independent. He was paid fifteen dollars. Frost married Elinor Miriam White In 18...
Frost’s early years in life were very adverse. Frost’s father, who named the boy after his idle Robert E. Lee, met his wife in Pennsylvania while they were both teaching at Bucknell Academy. William Prescott Frost Jr. and his wife Isabelle Moodie married and moved to San Francisco where Robert was born. William Frost was a Harvard graduate and was the city editor for the San Francisco Daily Evening Post. Frost’s family moved a good amount and his father, who had serious drinking problems, died of tuberculosis in 1885 and left his mother and younger sister with very little money after burial expenses. The Frost’s returned east to live with the paternal grandparents, but soon moved to Amherst, New Hampshire to stay with his great-aunt. Shortly after this the family returned to Lawrence, Mass. where Robert was placed in school as a third grader. Frost graduated here as co-valedictorian with Elinor White. Though he was moved often and had troubles with his father in his young life, Frost still maintained good grades and two years before he graduated Frost had “La Noche Triste” printed in the high school bulletin. This was his first printed poem. Two years later Frost graduated and read a speech titled “A Monument to After-Thought Unveiled” (Faggen, xi). This marked the end of Frost’s childhood and the beginning of his adulthood and the many decisions that came with it.
Robert Frost was born in 1874 and died in 1963. During his years of living Frost, wrote 105 poems including; The Road Not Taken, Mending Wall, Stars, and A Time to Talk (Best Famous Robert Frost Poems) and many more. While Frost was in his early and late twenties he attended school at Dartmouth University, only to return home and have unsatisfactory jobs, and Harvard University, where he had to drop out after two years due to health concerns. He married Elinor White on December 19, 1895, together they had four children but only two were able to live into adulthood. In 1912, Frost and Elinor decided to move their family to England, where Frost met Edward Thomas. It has been said, that Frost and Thomas would
Some desire, while others remember. History, sleep cycle, and nightmares all come together to make the mystical vision called dreams. Did you ever wonder why we dream? Why do we always have that one same dream? A lot of people questioned how dreams relate to their conscious life. Dream interpretation dates back to over one hundred years ago. Some try to remember their dreams, while others may experience de ja vu. A few reasons why people do not recall their dreams, is due to lack of sleep or not getting enough nutrients. In order to get to that point, one must become acquainted with the 4 stages of sleep cycle ending with the REM cycle, which is when you undergo the actual dream process. Dreams can be quite scary at times, leaving you in a panic, shock, and refusing to go back to sleep. Dreams are important to Psychology because it identify psychological functions. Although everyone has dreams,
Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco. He died on January 29, 1963 in Boston. His parents were William Prescott Frost Jr. and Isabelle Moodie. He went to Dartmouth College and later Harvard College but never receive a degree. His first poem he published was called, “My Butterfly.” “He was the co-valedictorian from Lawrence High School.” (Sarah Johnson) In the end, he married the co-valedictorian from high school. He got many awards and honors along the way. “He got the Pulitzer Prize in 1923, 1931, 1937 and 1943.” (Beacham Walton) He served as a Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress. He also cited one of his poems at the inauguration before President John F. Kennedy. He accomplished many things in his life time. One of his more famous poems is called, “The Road Not Taken.”
The word dream has many meanings most people know dreams as events that play in people's minds that occur during sleep. The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary describes it as, “A series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.” In the ancient times, many civilizations thought of dreams as omens of the future, while others believed that their soul would travel (Rathus 158). Dreams are like movies they range in characters, the impossible can happen, and sometimes they are in black and white or seem to be in slow motion. Dreams occur mostly during the REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep. During this stag...