Little Lord Fauntleroy

Frances Hodgson Burnett's Little Lord Fauntleroy brought to our discussions the topic of gender in association with authorship. There was much debating as to whether Burnett being female versus male alters the reader’s perception and response to the text. I do not think that Frances Burnett being a woman makes any difference in the meaning drawn from her novel. I do think that there are phrases and textual elements that seem to make more sense from a female mind, such as descriptions of Cedric as “beautiful” and with flowing blonde locks. But I do not see any reason why those same phrases could not have been said from a male author. Cedric is a character composed of numerous exceptional qualities, ultimately developing him into a “perfect” child and future leader.

I think another interesting thing in regards to male and female authors is that so far this semester of our selections of novels, we have seen the American girl as portrayed by female authors, and the American boy as told by male authors. Until this text, where a female author has broken the mold and become the creator of another image of the American boy. With this addition we have a completely different view of boyhood in the nineteenth century. We are given Cedric, a boy who is beautiful, clever, wise, focused on helping people, trustworthy, etc. and we contrast this with Tom and Ragged Dick who are street savvy, somewhat misleading, and focused on themselves. I think it would be very easy to take a stand and say that we see different views because men created Tom and Dick and a woman created Cedric. But, there is no support saying that one gender could or could not have created a boy with the opposite qualities just as easily as they created their own characters.

Tom Sawyer

Something that really got me thinking this week about Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, was the comment made comparing Aunt Polly and Nan Grant as parents. Throughout the semester we have seen varying roles of parenting in the nineteenth century. And interestingly enough, in most of the novels we have read, the parenting was the responsibility of adults other than the parents. For Ellen it was Aunt Fortune, for Capitola she was taken in by Ira Warfield, and Gerty’s caregiver was Nan Grant. Tom is no exception. His primary caregiver is his Aunt Polly.

I enjoyed the conversation comparing and contrasting Nan Grant and Aunt Polly in class and I wanted to continue the discussion. Nan Grant was not the ideal “mother figure,” “pulling the child into the house, amidst blows, threats, and profane and brutal language.” (Pg 81). Gerty was “scolded, beaten, and deprived…” (Pg 81). This physical abuse proved Nan Grant to be an evil character. As the reader we might have been able to see some kind of emotional attachment if we were privileged with the internal workings of her character, but they were absent from our pages. Aunt Polly provides us with a contrast to the parental role. Though Aunt Polly is upset with Tom and constantly having to investigate his activities and mischief she still has love in her heart for him (an emotion lacking completely from Nan Grant). Aunt Polly even after being tricked again by Tom says, “poor thing, and I ain’t got the heart to lash him, somehow. Every time I let him off, my conscience does hurt me so, and every time I hit him my old heart most breaks.” (Pg 399). Later in the text as she is about to strike Tom for stealing the sugar “her conscience reproached her, and she yearned to say something kind and loving…” (Pg 421). Aunt Polly showed remorse when she caused Tom pain and in these actions we see her love towards him.

Ragged Dick

Horatio Alger’s Ragged Dick provides us with a view of the American boy in the nineteenth century. This perception is very different than our view for the American girl. In our field of view, we know that the American girl was expected to be well kept, clean, and put together. We would never see a young girl in the nineteenth century in rags alone and helpless in the streets. Ragged Dick on the other hand represents the American boy who can be dirty and funny and charming in rags. He is described as a one with “no particular dislike to dirt” and “in spite of the dirt and rags, there was something about Dick that was attractive.” (Pg. 336) This text seems to approve of boys being dirty and wearing rags by showing a charming funny boy living happily on the streets.

Dick is a very hardworking boy. And although he lies about many things, especially is clothes, “This coat once belonged to General Washington…” (Pg. 337), Dick is an honest boy with his finances and work ethic. “You don’t catch me stealin’, if that’s what you mean…I wouldn’t. Lots of boys does it, but I wouldn’t.” (Pg. 334). I feel like that this character trait teaches boys that they can be funny and “cool” but also “good” and honest. They must work hard for their money to make an honest living. I think it was interesting that Dick worked hard and made quite a lot of money by midday when Johnny who admits to stealing earlier in the text had not even had one customer yet.

I also thought it was interesting that in our texts on the American girl we learned that the countryside was best. But in Ragged Dick, the countryside was not as popular for the boys. Johnny was provided a wonderful opportunity and life really, but turned it down because he was “lonely.” The city is portrayed as a home place of adventure and thrill.

A Whisper in the Dark

One thing that I truly enjoyed about Alcott’s A Whisper in the Dark was that it was written in first person. I loved being able to hear the story from the lead character, Sybil’s perspective. I found this text interesting in the fact that our other novels this semester have been told from an omniscient third party that knew all. Like what was said in class, we could picture ourselves as a bystander in the background on the story. But in Alcott’s novel, we could picture ourselves as Sybil. She is our narrator; we see life through her eyes and mind. As readers we must completely rely on Sybil to tell us what is happening throughout the novel. And when the issue of insanity is brought into the mix, we must choose whether to fully rely on her anymore. We cannot completely trust Sybil when she cannot completely trust herself. This inclusion of insanity is a prime example of American Gothic literature. Things are no longer as they seem in our novel. We as the reader must make our own conclusions on whether she is sane or not. As we discussed in class, when females were not submissive or completing their womanly duties, they could just be shipped off and proved to be “insane”. In Sybil’s case, this being sent away is what caused her to question her own sanity. We as the reader must determine whether she was truly insane, and in doing so we must question everything we have read thus far, or whether this new place she has been confined to has caused her change in mental state.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

So today my U key fell off of my keyboard. How does that even happen?! I have to poke a pen into the U slot for them to type. Haha I just really needed to share. Hopefully they are all in the proper places! On to our reading...

I believe that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a very different text than the others we have studied so far this semester. Stowe did not concern herself with hiding the societal issues of the time period, but instead she chose to make them the center point of her text. I think that the theories of children being symbolic of hope and potential are still very evident in this text, although not in the way they are presented in other texts like The Wide, Wide World or The Lamplighter. Stowe used the child to symbolize the hope and potential for a future of freedom and peace for Eliza and her husband. The threat of losing her only child prompts Eliza to decide to risk everything and fight for freedom for her family, “the bare thought of putting him out of her arms made her shudder” (pg. 243). This compassion was a common feeling in mothers to young salve children. Throughout chapter eight there are examples given by Haley, Tom Loker, and his partner Marks of women being torn apart from their children. Marks described a women who “lopped around half as if she’d lost every friend she had.” (pg. 260). Children were seen as potential in both the slave owner’s eyes and their mother’s eyes. Their mothers could hold on to the glimmer of hope for a future of freedom. Slave owner’s viewed the young children as easy profit and good labor.

The message of slavery is anything but “good,” although Stowe did use this social issue to produce a “good” message common to children’s literature. I believe the “good” in this text is the rallying of the slaves. Sam told Haley, “I’d rather be ‘clined to ‘magine that Lizy’d take de dirt road…” (pg. 251), trying effortlessly to put as much space between the two parties as possible. I feel like Uncle Tom’s Cabin brings a very real and negative issue to the forefront that is difficult to read today; I can only imagine the response this text received in the time of its publication.

The Hidden Hand

We began our semester discussing the major characteristics of literature of the nineteenth century. We gathered various conclusions based on both the MacLeod and Sanchez-Eppler texts, and then saw most of the characteristics followed through in our first two texts. One key point that we discussed was the lack of setting and deep description. We saw clear examples in both The Wide, Wide World, and The Lamplighter. In both texts there was very little description of the surroundings of the story and practically no mention of a setting or location. This technique was used to provide as little distraction as possible from the primary instructional message of the text. Not only was the setting considered a distraction, but also without a specific location tying down the storyline, the message could be more universally accepted and applied. But, in our most recent text The Hidden Hand, Southworth begins the text with an in-depth description, “Hurricane Hall – a large old family mansion, built of dark-red sandstone, in one of the loneliest mountain regions of West Virginia.” (pg 151). This sentence alone is much more description of a setting than what was provided in our previous texts. The first chapter introduces the reader to multiple locations all described in great detail using dark, negative words. “Spiked clumps of dark evergreens,” “terrific raging of the torrent over its rocky course,” broken rock and barren soil,” (pg 151) all describing a place called “Devil’s Run.” These word choices were all made for a specific reason. Southworth made these rhetorical decisions to evoke a certain response from the reader. The vocabulary used to describe the events of the first night, and the story of the woman was in the same tone, a tone that was used to prepare the reader of what was ahead in the text. Each decision made by a writer is for a reason; the font, tone, vocabulary, etc. are all rhetorical choices to serve a specific purpose. The fact that Southworth chose to be so specific in the settings and descriptions was a very different approach in the nineteenth century. I believe this decision was thoughtfully preparing the reader for upcoming events and setting up that this novel was to be a different kind of domestic fiction.

The Lamplighter

I believe the video is evidence that both girls today and girls of the nineteenth century are instructed to become women, but different women. Today girls are encouraged to be creative, lively, outspoken, strong, independent women, whereas girls 150 years ago were taught by following strict guidelines of how to become a lady and how to properly fit in with society. We saw this very clearly in Warner’s The Wide, Wide World through the relationship between Ellen and Mrs. Montgomery. Therefore, I believe that the way children find a balance in life is expected to change as these expectations change.

I think that the interview between Amy and Anna shows a clear picture of how we encourage girls today to be individuals and how girls need to find a balance in their lives. Both Anna and Gerty strive to find this balance, but in very different ways. Anna chooses to use yoga and various yoga positions to find her peace and calm. Gerty seems to find her balance through her anger and violent emotions. I think that Gerty being the product of such an unstable household, and of such violent abuse, she struggles dramatically with finding balance in her life. She develops such love and compassion for her Uncle True and she wishes to please him, but Gerty believes what others have told her, that she is “not good” and ugly. Gerty expresses on multiple occasions that she wishes “to be good,” and she even begins to pray and seek God. But when she is upset, there is a drastic change in Gerty. She throws “tantrums” as Willie calls them, she strikes Nan Grant with a stick (something a lady is just not to do), she even intentionally throws a rock through the window. Throughout the text Gerty tries so hard to be a good girl, but it is a constant struggle.

I believe that if Gerty was on this TV show, the focus would be shifted. In Anna’s case, she found a very healthy and productive way of finding balance. She took the stress in her life and found calm through her yoga. In Gerty’s case, she uses her inner struggle to express her anger. I believe that the TV show would be about how to improve her techniques and help her to develop better methods.