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American Gothic Narrative essay
Themes in gothic fiction
American Gothic Narrative essay
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In August of 1799, Charles Brockden Brown published his fourth novel, Edgar Huntly Or, memoirs of a Sleep-Walker. Brown’s American Gothic novel follows the narrator, later named Edgar Huntly, as he labors to find the mysterious murderer of his beloved friend, Waldgrave. Throughout the novel, Brown begins to challenge the status quo of “Classism.” In her 2011 book Using Critical Theory: How to Read and Write About Literature, Lois Tyson defines classism as the “belief that our value as human beings is directly related to the social class to which we belong: The higher our social class, the higher our natural, or inborn superiority” (112). The belief goes on to state those of the highest class should assume the roles of leadership as they are …show more content…
Lorimer’s home, Clithero begins to rise within her household. He “enjoyed, equally with [her son], all the essential benefits of education” (37). Unlike most treatment of a servant in this time period, Clithero is given the opportunity to better himself and learn alongside the heir of the estate. He does acknowledge “there were certain accomplishments, from which I was excluded, from the belief that they were unsuitable to my rank and station” (37). While he is being educated, he still “knew the duty of [his] station” and what is acceptable and unacceptable to his station (38). He knows he is not of the highest echelons of society and his place is in service to Mrs. Lorimer and her family. Brown begins challenging classism when having Mrs. Lorimer educate Clithero in a very much American ideal. She is breaking one of the barrios between the classes by educating her servant. The idea of education and bettering himself follows the ideas Benjamin Franklin presents in his 1784 essay “Information to Those Who Would Remove to America.” Franklin’s essay presents ideas that are the complete opposite of classism, representing truly specific American ideals. He believes to succeed, young men need to be willing to work and apply themselves to make a name for themselves. According to Franklin, only those who are willing to work and strive for a better life are the American ideal. In American, there is the opportunity to better one’s self and rise within the hierarchy “which Europe does not afford” (Franklin
After reading both “Self Reliance,” by Ralph Waldo Emerson and “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave,” by Frederick Douglass, one might notice a trend in what both writers regard as the key to happiness or self-fulfillment. Emerson and Douglass both imply that acquiring knowledge is what people should strive for throughout their lives. However, their perceptions on the kind of knowledge should be attained is where their ideas diverge; Emerson is the one that encourages one to develop the soul whereas with Douglass, it is the mind.
Benjamin Franklin has been without a doubt one of the most relevant individuals in US history. His autobiography gives us a brief but detailed summary of what his life was like and how society worked in the eighteen century. This autobiography gives us many details of how the colonies where and offers and an overall image of the development of British North America which later turned into the United States. Due to the fact that this book was originally written for Franklin's son, the book concentrates in personal information and has very little information about other topics. However, there are some topics that can be extracted from his writings; one of them is gender. Even though, Franklin never talks openly about gender, we can observe how in his writing these roles are clearly assigned. In this paper, we will analyze how Benjamin's Franklin autobiography showcases the importance of gender in the early eighteenth century. Gender can be analyzed in Franklins book by looking at different topics. This given to men and women by society can be seen in the workspace, in the education of each individual, and in the family and family structure.
Education is a privilege. The knowledge gained through education enables an individual’s potential to be optimally utilized owing to training of the human mind, and enlarge their view over the world. Both “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” by Frederick Douglass himself and “Old Times on the Mississippi” by Mark Twain explore the idea of education. The two autobiographies are extremely different; one was written by a former slave, while the other was written by a white man. Hence, it is to be expected that both men had had different motivations to get an education, and different processes of acquiring education. Their results of education, however, were fairly similar.
First, Frederick Douglass’s Narrative introduces the reader to a young Douglass who is ignorant in terms of book knowledge and also lacks practical life experience. He even lacks the knowledge of his own age. But the fact that Douglass is able to educate himself refutes the idea of the time that African Americans were intellectually inferior. By the end of the narrative, he is more educated than someone like Covey, one of his former masters.
In the passage from “Outliers”, published in November of 2008, acclaimed author Malcom Gladwell discusses class and argues that being a part of a higher class comes with its advantages in regards to being successful. He supports this claim by using rhetorical strategies such as ethos, example and comparison, along with an unvarnished tone, with the purpose of exhibiting the advantages of social class on success.
Often when we think of slavery in the 1800’s we associate the concept with only black slaves. However in the book of Uncle Tom’s Cabin we see that if mister Shelby wasn’t a slave owner and owed the debts to Haley, he has been just as likely to become a slave working for Haley. It is we arrive at the question what does it mean to be free and how do we obtain it. We will be looking at Frederick Douglass’s definition of slavery and how he overcame it through increasing his own literacy as a result of reading.
The idea of Americanism as viewed by Frederick Douglass comes in two variations. The first being the Americans who’s fathers fought for unalienable rights given to each man, Americans who love liberty, welcome refugees from around the world with open arms, the purest of Christians following the word of God. The second type of American being the more truthful in the eyes of Douglass is the American whom sits idly on the accomplishments of these same fathers that fought tooth and nail against the British for freedom. When the opportunity to create massive change and liberation for slavery and the rights of women, to stand by these unalienable rights that are supposedly extended to each man, the argument falls upon deaf ears. The liberties that Americans so gleefully claim are nothing but a sham, hiding behind Christianity and riding along the coattails of their fathers hard fought change for such liberties. Frederick Douglass criticizes what it means to be an American and argues that the liberties promised within the constitution should be extended beyond the wealthy oppressors; the freedom to be ones own should be extended to all citizens of the United States. The time to make change is now while America is still young and in its development. In order for Americanism to reflect the ideology in which many of its citizens blindly view it as, Frederick argues that the government and its citizens must stop hiding behind their inconsistent politics, fake Christianity, and to not shrink away at the site of change in order to bring about truth to the words that their founders fought so hard to ink to paper providing equal freedom to all citizens.
Franklin looks back on his fervent love of books, particularly Dr. Cotton Mather’s Essays to do good wherein the minister preaches about the importance of human courtesy and doing good unto others. He concludes that Dr. Mather’s essays “gave [him] a Turn of
Douglas starts begins defining freedom with his recounting of his mistress stopping his lessons. “Education and slavery were incompatible with each other” (Douglas, 25). This simple statement highlights the necessity of ignorance in maintaining slavery. Slaves, so long as they remain oblivious of their lacking freedom, will remain slaves. Much akin to Davis Wallace’s “This Is Water” speech, fish are ignorant of the existence of water, likewise slaves are ignorant of their status as possessions. How can someone possible comprehend that their existence lacks freedom and basic rights, if one doesn’t even know of these rights to begin with? It follows then, that as Douglas begins his self-education, he would learn of his disposition in the world. As Douglas so eloquently puts it, “in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell” (Douglas, 25). This statement presents the idea that the mere realization of one’s position allows one to begin the journey to liberate oneself from their enslavement. Douglas begins his own journey then, taking into his own hands his education, he befriends the local white boys and continues to learn to read. As his knowledge continues to improve, Douglas begins to make plans to escape and make for himself a new life. Thus, it can be drawn from Douglas’s argument that freedom is directly related to one’s awareness of one’s own existence. Through education we free ourselves from being trapped in a loop of inequality and gain the tools necessary to free ourselves from our bindings. The truest mark of this link between freedom and knowledge is demonstrated in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit
Without being educated, slavers endure dehumanization and the control of their slaveholders. As a result, Douglass is motivated to get literate with ingenious strategies. He constantly bribes the “little white boys” and the “poor white children” who live closely with him to teach him reading with extra bread (Douglass 62). His writing lessons are from the boys who can compete with him in writing letters, Master Thomas’s book, and ship-yard. Along with his reading’s improvement, he comprehends the injustice between slaves and slaveholders from the books. A book “The Columbian Orator”, which provokes him the critical thinking about slavery and freedom. Through reading the Sheridan’s speeches that are from the same book, he claims, “[w]hat I got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slavery, and a powerful vindication of human rights” (Douglass 62). Sometimes he listens the discussion of abolition even though he does not really understands it. Until he gets a city paper that allows him to pray for “the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia” (Douglass 63), he understands the meaning of abolition. Being literate helps him understand the extensive knowledge, which is ready for
Fredrick Douglass asserted that, “Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave,” (“Abolition Through Education,” 2016). The truth in this statement posed a huge threat to the way of life of colonial Americans. Deprivation of education was used to assist in the enslavement of African Americans in developing America; in fact, prohibiting the education of African Americans quickly became the standard, as laws were increasingly put in place to oppress and limit colonial African Americans. During this time there was a widespread belief that if you were African American, then you were not fully a person which led to many basic rights being withheld, including the ability to get an education.
Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Sun Also Rises, deals with a number of issues that might be examined through a Marxist point of view. For one thing, the story includes a numerous amount of references to class status. The words “upper class” (153) and “peasants” (156) are both present in the text. There is a definite portrayal of social ranking in The Sun Also Rises, as well as a definite description of who belongs into a certain class. Count Mippipopolous, along with Brett Ashely, for example, both represent the top of the social chain. The count enjoys a lifestyle of extravagance. Brett, though financially dependent upon her husband and other men, is rewarded by the many benefits that her title affords her. Robert Cohn and Bill Gorton also
Benjamin Franklin starts off this excerpt by saying,'' SAVAGES we call them, because their manners differ from ours, which we think perfection of civility; they think the same of theirs. Personally, this statement alone set my opinion of the text and gave the writing a sense equality and justice. This writing is making a bold statement of impartiality and asks for compassion of people of all different races. Franklin uses a strategy of compare and contrast between the native american people and the traditions of white americans alike. The first comparison we see is of our governments, their government is mostly by Counsel, or Advice, of the Sages. They live by a non-forceful way, that is void of prisons or prison officers to coerce obedience
The basis of political views of Benjamin Franklin is the concept of the natural and inalienable rights of an individual. Franklin attributes life, liberty, and property to such natural rights. According to Benjamin Franklin, a man is simply “a tool-making animal,” a creature, whose freedom and, thus, independence is limited (Houston 45). In his Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, Benjamin Franklin put the statement that every...
...y a set of expectations and values that are established on mannerisms and conduct challenged by Elizabeth. From this novel, it is evident that the author wrote it with awareness of the class issues that affect different societies. Her annotations on the fixed social structure are important in giving a solution to the current social issues; that even the class distinctions and restrictions can be negotiated when an individual turns down bogus first impression s.