Main Blog Post October 23rd

Caleb Harris
Dr.Lee
American Literature
10/23/2015

What is an American? by J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur

 

 



J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur was a French born writer who moved around often. The first move that he made was when he was nineteen and sailed into England to live with distant relatives. Will in England he was engaged, but before the ceremony occurred his fiancée died. After that happened he decided to move to Canada in 1755,  while in Canada he joined the Canadian militia. When he was enlisted his job was to be a surveyor and cartographer. In 1759 is when his career in the Canadian militia ended do to a gun shot wounded that he got at the defense of Quebec. After finishing in the military he traveled down to New York where he changed his name to J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur. The next ten years of his life consisted of trading with the Native Americans and working as a surveyor around the colonies. He bought land in Orange

County, New York and married. He bought the land and got married in 1769 and also at this time he became an American farmer. Being an American fascinated Crevecoeur so much so that most of his writing consisted of  America and Americans.

 

 

In, this text Crevecoeur explains how different Europe is compared to America and also talks about what is an American? In the first part of the text Crevecoeur talks about how in America there is no lords who have all the wealth. Also, "the rich and the poor are not so far removed from each other as they are in Europe"(605). Another difference he gives in the text is how  you won't see a mansion or castle in America rather you will see cabins and cattle. He goes on to talk about what an American is as a person, but also as a belief. An American is a mix of "English, Scotch, Irish, Dutch, Germans and Swedes" he goes on to say "that a race called Americans have arisen"(606). Later in the text he talks about the belief or the idea of an American. An example of this is how if you were poor in England you would be poor your whole life, but if you sailed to America you could make a better life for yourself. Another example he gave was how it would seem weird for people in Europe to marry or converse with someone outside of your religion or other race groups. Crevecoeur used different kind words to describe his point.

 

To prove his point Crevecoeur used different literary techniques. The author would compare humans to plants. An example of this is when talked about transplanting a plant from England and how it would be more fertile in America. Another example of this is when he compared the different inhabitance of each region. The author says " men are like plants; the goodness and flavors of the fruit proceeds from the peculiar soil and exposition in which they grow" so in other words people are different based off of the region they grew up at or live at(608). All in all Crevecoeur used metaphors to get his point across.

 

 

 

 

Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th Ed., New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.

    

Main Blog Post (October 16th)

Isaac Sarmiento

Dr. Lee

Engl&244

October 16, 2015


                                       Blog Assignment: "Samuel Sewall & Cotton Mather's"


                              In this reading it talks about Samuel Sewall who went to Salem, and in the meetinghouse the people who were accused of witchcraft had to get examined. And in the time Mrs. Cary who was accused of witchcraft, made her escape out of the Cambridge prison. Meanwhile in Salem Giles Corey was pressed to death just for standing in silence. Cotton Mather's  who was the oldest son of Increase Mather's and also the grandson of Richard Mather's and John Cotton. He was the heir apparent of the congregational hierarchy which had dominated the churches of England for many years. Cotton Mather's had attended Harvard college which was a really good college at the time. And he was only twelve years old when he attended the college. Cotton Mather's was expected to excel, not disappointing anyone. But he had to pay a price for how he got there, he stumbled badly when he was young and so much. He also had nervous disorders that had driven him alternately to ecstasy and dark paths. His enemies were saying that he was really aggressive.

                            Also in this passage of reading of Cotton Mather's found great satisfaction for doing good deeds for others. He as well organized societies to build churches, supported schools, and established funds for indigent clergy. In the passage " From The Wonders of The Invisible World" it talks about Englanders who are a people of good but once they were the devils territory. And the devil was irritated and he had tried many methods to overturn the poor plantation and a lot of the church. Also in this reading they proclaim that the devil made a knot of the witches in the country. In the passage of "A Notable Exploit" it talks about how the savages traveled to the skirts of Haverhill and they had murdered about 39 people there. There was a party of Indians that had shot at him and he had shot back trying to get away unto safety with the children and he had reached a spot of safety about 2 miles away from the house. It was brutal because the Indians had got ahold of the infant and bashed his brains up on a tree as well with several other people that were caught. Some 2 women were caught and token back to the Indians tribe where they would be stripped and killed in the gauntlet in front of all the Indians, but before the break of day the women had killed many Indians while they were sleeping and one of the women had gotten away while the other was killed. Many of her personal friends congratulated her but Colonel Nicholson sent them a very generous token of one of his favors.

                     What this whole passage offers is a more deep understanding of Samuel Sewall and how he was at Salem during the witch trials and he wrote in his diary each day of what had happened. And how hard it was for some of the people in the witch trials who were accused of being witches but were innocent. Also it gives a better understanding of Cotton Mather's and how he came up to be who he was by going to college at the age of twelve and persevering most people of that age. But the only way to get where he was he had to suffer and go through many hardships as a child stumbling upon many things. He had satisfaction for what he done for people doing many great deeds. He describes in these two passages in the reading about how the Indians had gone for them but getting away safely with the children unlike two women who were caught and only one making out of the hands of the Indians. This passages as well as the descriptions of Cotton Mather's show clear imagery of what was going on at the time and how Mather's was able to be what he was at such an age.



Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th Ed., New York: W.W Norton, 2012. Print.

Main Blog Post (October 9th)

Bella Martinez

Dr. Lee

ENGL&244

8 October 2015

Blog Assignment: “As Weary Pilgrim” by Anne Bradstreet

            Anne Bradstreet was a talented poet. As a young girl, she would write poems to please her father and from then on her talents soared. Her brother-in-law, John Woodbridge, even published a collection of her poems known as The Tenth Muse; the first published volume of poems written by a resident of America (207). As for her journey to the Americas she and her family came over on Winthrop’s fleet in the year 1630. At that time she would have been just 18 years old. With regards to her poem, “As Weary Pilgrim” she is writing from personal experience. Life as a pilgrim, which is what she was, was not easy. Life at sea during that time especially was undeniably hard; no bathrooms, no showers, shortages of food and sickness all make for one horrible trip to endure through. Then one has to also consider the types of stress one faces with regards to finding a means of survival once making it to the Americas as well. She endured and fought hard and even “risked death by childbirth eight times” (207). Although she endured, she looked more forward to escaping it all; the hard life of a pilgrim that is, which is the basis for her poem.

            In her poem, “As Weary Pilgrim” Bradstreet talks about the hard life of a pilgrim and the ultimate way to overcome that. She focuses on death and how death in and of itself is how one can truly escape all the things life has to throw at us. She also continually expresses the idea that through death, pain will be no more as well as all the cares and worries one could muster. Being a pilgrim herself, she knows exactly what it’s like and in her writing one can tell that she wants to be done with it all. This is particularly evident when she says, “Oh, how I long to be at rest and soar on high among the blest” (234). On one hand she sounds as if she is sad and is ungrateful for the life she has had to endure through, but on the other she talks about death with a happiness even saying, “As weary pilgrim, now at rest, hugs with delight his silent nest” (233). By saying these things she makes it clear that she too wants that sense of relief and a means of happiness again and to her death can provide those things. Rather than being afraid of it, she is happily welcoming it. For this reason the tone I feel she is using is one of gratitude and excitement for the next life to meet her Maker. With regards to the purpose of the text’s publication, I feel as if it was published to better reach out and help other pilgrims going through a hard time realize that it’s okay to feel done, but that they aren’t alone. In reading Bradstreet’s poem I feel as if she is trying to communicate that life especially as a pilgrim is hard, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel; Christ and Heaven where as she puts it “such lasting joys shall there behold” (234).

            What this poem offers is a deeper understanding of the life of a pilgrim. Although Bradstreet doesn’t offer up specific examples of hardships in her poem, one can feel her pain even in describing an excitement to be done with it all. In looking at the larger themes being developed in our module we have read accounts of Bradford’s voyages and occurrences of the ship not being sufficient enough for travel, times of starvation because of food shortages as well as wars breaking out between the Indians and the English (132-4). These particular struggles are in accordance with the fact that being a pilgrim is hard and miserable. Bradstreet’s text functions artistically in that she uses some forms of weather to explain the hardships one goes through as a pilgrim. She states that, “[n]or stormy rains on him shall beat” which offers clear imagery and means that death offers an escape from the hardships of being a pilgrim.

 

Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th Ed., New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.

 

                       

           

Main Blog 1

Abdirahman Abdi

ENG & 244

9/30/15

Blog Assignment: Smith (9/29 pp.88-99)

John Smith was an English explorer, soldier, and author. He was one of the first explorers of English descent to reach the Americas. Smith has written quite a bit about his experiences in the “New World”. This particular story takes place around the time England renewed its colonial involvement in America. John Smith is said to have played a significant role in the establishment and creation of the Jamestown Colony. Since he was young, Smith had been captivated by stories of war, colonization and exploration. Along with his interest in exploration, his father’s death propelled him to venture off and explore. John Smith was drawn by stories of wealth, a thirst for action, and to make something of himself.

In the text, Smith wrote about his experiences in America. The beginning of the reading was about how the supplies on the boat perished which lead to the crew having to scavenge for food that was not contaminated. Afterwards, Smith and some of his crew went off to do some trading. However, Smith, who is known for using unnecessary force, fired his gun and created tensions with the Natives. Throughout the text, Smith continued to describe his encounters with the Indians. Toward the end, he expressed his gratitude toward Pocahontas for saving him. There was nothing unique about what Smith has written. It is very similar to the works of other explorers/ Europeans who reached America. It seems as though Smith wrote about his experiences so the people back home could read about them.

John Smith referred to the Natives as savages multiple times. He used derogatory terms and believed he was better than the Natives. This reading is quite similar to the others. All the other writers referred to the Natives as savages as well. In addition, they too had tensions with the Indians and went through famine and other hardships.

Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th Ed., New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.