The Red Badge of Courage

The story that I will be responding to is called The Red Badge of Courage by a man named Stephan Crane. The story is set in the time of the civil war. The main character is a soldier named Henry. Henry is on the Union (blue side) of the Civil War. This was a time of huge controversy and problems. This is a dead give away of an example of Thoreau's writings because it is a very controversial topic at the time. It gets even more controversial when they talk about how Henry wasn't a faithful soldier. The story talks about his thoughts before he later on actually did leave his soldiers and flee to the woods,"It had suddenly appeared to him that perhaps in a battle he might run. He was forced to admit that as far as war was concerned he knew nothing of himself." (Crane) This shows Henry's general struggle to find himself, so that way we can find himself a true man. He talks about hard troubles with his mother "But his mother had discouraged him. She had affected to look with some contempt upon the quality of his war ardor and patriotism." (Crane) This definitely effected his time in the war and the author Stephan Crane definitely displayed this very well. This emotional tie and truly heartening topic is very much something that Emerson would right about. Emerson is known for his really intense emotional concepts that touch people to their core, Crane did this as well talk about this mans life. A literary critic said "As an artist, Crane set out to capture the "unaesthetic whirl" in an aesthetic rendering that would preserve the dark tension of its beauty, and Red Badge is entirely consistent with that aim." (Shanahan) This critic is basically saying that this work is a work of art because it displays this disheartening story in such a way that it does it's exact purpose of awareness and inspiration of the war. Thoreau and Emerson were also well known for their wonderful ways of displaying awareness of difficult topics in their time periods.


Crane, Stephan. "Untitled Document." The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. .

Shanahan, Daniel. "The Army Motif in The Red Badge of Courage as a Response to Industrial Capitalism." Papers on Language & Literature 32, no. 4 (Fall 1996). Quoted as "The Army Motif in The Red Badge of Courage as a Response to Industrial Capitalism" in Bloom, Harold, ed. The Red Badge of Courage, Bloom's Modern Critical Views. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2003. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts on File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= MCITRBC012&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 28, 2012).

Kate Chopin

The story "The Story of an Hour" is by a women named Kate Chopin. She wrote the story in 1894. It starts out by talking about a women who is about to find out her husband is dead. The man was killed in a train accident and one of their family friends who works at the newspaper office. This shows the time period very well because it showed how slowly news is passed and how at that time it got to the newspaper before the family because they couldn't even contact them yet. They knew the widows devastation to the loss of her husband would be grand and expected it. Her reaction was quite large as it is said in the story, "She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone." (Chopin). The story then went on into describing the women's surroundings as she went into a room by herself. The vivid descriptions remind me very much of Emerson's writings because he is a very well known vivid writer. His poem "Art" displays this idea of vivid descriptions of surroundings perfectly, much like Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" does. A quote from "Art" saying "On the city's paved street ;Plant gardens lined with lilacs sweet; Let spouting fountains cool the air,; Singing in the sun-baked square;" (Emerson) shows how he loved to extrude the little details and give everything life. Chopin has a description in "The Story of and Hour" just as vivid stating "She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky." (Chopin) This part describing her sad, weeping, and mourning time right after the loss of her beloved husband. Although the story seems grim for the wife it takes a crazy turn of events, yet still stays grim for the women. A literary critic says it best when he says, "In a Surprise Ending, her husband walks through the front door, and Louise suffers a heart attack and dies." (Werlock)The story itself I liked a lot because of its attention to detail and of course surprise endings give any story a better review.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Art." Poemhunter.com. Poemhunter.com. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. .


Werlock, Abby H. P. "'The Story of an Hour'." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CASS782&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 23, 2012).


Chopin, Kate. ""The Story of an Hour"" Virginia Commonwealth University. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. .

A Wagner Matinee

The story A Wagner Matinee by Willa Cather is a literature piece about a women who is living the pioneer life style and how it has affected her life. The story is from the perspective of a women named Aunt Georgiana's nephew. The nephew is informed that his aunt, whom which used to care for him as a child, is coming back to Boston from Nebraska for a visit to claim a newly founded estate. The nephew then takes this time to rekindle some time that has been lost since her thirty year pioneerage to Nebraska. He feels that she has done so much for him as a child and recollects some fond memories spent with her. He says "I owed to this woman most of the good that ever came my way in my boyhood, and had a reverential affection for her."("Willa...) whenever he talks about his childhood with is aunt. He feels so much remorse for her because he feels her soul has gone to stone and has been "dead" for thirty years. He describes her eyes in this sentence by saying "She sat looking about her with eyes as impersonal, almost as stony, as those with which the granite Rameses in a museum watches the froth and fret that ebbs and flows about his pedestal-separated from it by the lonely stretch of centuries." ("Willa...) The author then goes on to say how his aunt was a wonderful musician when she was young and loved music and has now realized she has lost her love for it. This saddens him the most and he makes a plan to change this long time lost. "At two o'clock the Symphony Orchestra was to give a Wagner program, and I intended to take my aunt; though, as I conversed with her I grew doubtful about her enjoyment of it." ("Willa...) This was his exact plan and although he was quite nervous of following through he did with great success. A the end his aunt says "I don't want to go, Clark, I don't want to go!" ("Willa...) A literary critic talks about Cather's writing in her story by saying "Key structuring techniques that will retain importance throughout Cather's canon are already evident in this early story, for example, significant or symbolic names." (Werlock) This compares to Thoreau and Emerson because they both use symbols in their writings to take their writing to the next level. This compares to Thoreau and Emerson because they both use symbols in their writings to take their writing to the next level. This technique is very unique and makes the writing become even better, making this a good one.

Werlock, Abby H. P. "'A Wagner Matinée'." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CASS846&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 18, 2012).


"Willa Cather's Short Story: A Wagner Matinee." Read Book Online: Literature Books,novels,short Stories,fiction,non-fiction, Poems,essays,plays,Pulitzer Prize, Nobel Prize. Readbookonline.net, 2011. Web. 18 Feb. 2012. .

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

The story I will be reflecting over is called “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. The story was originally published and written in 1890. This means it was after the Civil war, yet there still some friction between the north and the south. For instance in the story he refers to the soldiers who are giving him the death sentence as being from the north. "Some loose boards laid upon the sleepers supporting the metals of the railway supplied a footing for him and his executioners--two private soldiers of the Federal army, directed by a sergeant who in civil life may have been a deputy sheriff." (Bierce) When it talks of the Federal army it is referring to those from the north. It is also told that he is a man from the south and keeps the ideas that many southerners had in this time, which was very much opposite of the Norths. "Being a slave owner and like other slave owners a politician he was naturally an original secessionist and ardently devoted to the Southern cause" (Bierce) This definitely leads you to believing that that is what he is being prosecuted for, or something he has done to the northerners for that matter. This idea of the civil war persecution is very similar to the ideas of Thoreau because it is a very politically touchy subject which most authors would struggle writing because of taking it to far. Thoreau on the other hand, along with Bierce managed to accomplish this with little scrutiny compared to others who were knee deep in politically sketchy topics. One critic talks about how Bierce served in the civil army himself which is more likely where he gets his realistic writing ideas from, which is very praise-able work. He wrote this "Having served in the Civil War himself, Bierce was ideally suited to portray the plight of ordinary soldiers of that period, and the majority of his stories, supernatural and otherwise, are linked to that conflict."(D'Ammassa) about Bierce in his criticism. The whole story is very theatrical with lots of vivid descriptions giving it a very well developed picture which was much like Emerson's writings, who was very into details in his own writings. The story itself portrays a very good picture of political happenings in the past without it being to documentary and still having credible ideas to it.


D'Ammassa, Don. "'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge'." Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror Fiction. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EFHF0384&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 18, 2012).
Bierce, Ambrose. "Fiction: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." Fiction: Welcome to The EServer's Fiction Collection. EServer. Web. 18 Feb. 2012. .

Letter to His Son

A man by the name of Robert E. Lee wrote a story/speech called "Letter to His Son". The letter displays his evident opinion on the newly dividing of our country between northern and southern. It is quite obvious that is not for the idea of splitting our country in half. He says, "I must try and be patient and await the end, for I can do nothing to hasten or retard it." (Lee) This shows that although he does not like what is going on he can do nothing about it really for he is just one man. This make him seem to be kind of a talker and not so much a walked, or in other words likes to blow hot air but doesn't seem to want to do anything about it. This to me separates him from Thoreau because Thoreau was more of a talked and an actor, while Lee on the other hand falls short when it comes to acting on what he is saying. Lee and Thoreau yet are still very similar because they do both hit the very political topics of the time. Emerson is also very similar because Emerson likes to use a lot of specific examples and ideas. Such as when he says, "I see that four states have declared themselves out of the Union; four more will apparently follow their example" (Lee) This is an example of how he specifically shows exactly what was going on during the time, right at the beginning of the civil war. Lee had a very opinionated outlook on what was going on. His words may have even come out a bit biased at times though making the story slighted a bit, but generally the facts are the facts and there is very little altering in that sense. Robert E. Lee was actually a general for the Confederates army which could very easily explain is evident biased attitude. (Long. Although it was biased the writing itself is a historical classic no matter what.

Long, See A. L. "Robert E. Lee Biography." The Civil War. Son Of The South, 2003-2008. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. .

Lee, Robert E. "Letter to His Son." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 385. Print.

Aint I a Women

A story by Sojourner truth called "Aint I a Women" is about women's rights and slavery. This is very much a political piece acting out for women's rights and slavery to be abolished. When it repeats the phrase "Ain't I a Women" (Truth) multiple times throughout the story it is evident that this is especially towards back slave women. In the story Truth says, "Nobody ever helped me into carriages or over mud puddles or gives me a best place. . " (Truth) This to me shows how truly bad it was at the time and how black women got little to no respect as the other white women living at the time. This is a sad a tragic thing and is portrayed very nicely in her writing. This is very similar to Thoreau's writings because it was very politically biased. Thoreau was and is still known for his writings on tough political topics of the time. This make Truths writing have much more meaning than just any old story. She is very blunt when she talks about how her rights as a black women were trashed in her writing, "that little man in black there say a woman can't have as much rights as a man cause Christ wasn't a woman" (Truth) She then went on to say that Christ himself came from a women did he not? and again repeats the very vivid phase "ain't I a women". This gives a lot of emphasis and detail on the real matter at hand. Another man by the name of Emerson was very good at giving specifics and details about what he was talking about, and would often go into so much detail that you felt as if you were there. This is what Truth did, she added enough detail to make me almost angry and feel as if I were in this time period myself. A literary critic says , "Sweeping aside quibbles about the intelligence of women and blacks, she demands female rights for all women." (Snodgrass) This highlights how Truth was truly a women activist working on making the world better for women, black women in particular. She showed a true test of strength and dignity in the speech that has still remained popular today.



Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. "'Ain't I a Woman?'." Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EFL009&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 14, 2012).



Truth, Sojourner. "Sojourner Truth's Aint I a Woman Speech!" Women Writers: A Zine. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. .

3 Songs

The three songs/poems I am reviewing over are "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", "Keep Your Hands on the Plow", and "Go Down Moses". Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is about going home but I take that as going home to the heavens which gives a very religious feel to it. This is known when it says "Comin' for to carry me home," ("Swing...)multiple times during the story. A literary criticism said "His return (or at least the return of someone or some angel from that era) in such a vehicle to convey the speaker to heaven, his/her "home.""(Huff) which explains that home does mean heaven. This makes the story distant from Thoreau and Emerson writings because they were not known for religious writings. Go Down Moses is talking about a religious figure named Moses going down to Egypt asking to let his fellow people go. It is repeated many times "Let my people go"("Go..), which is quite a demanding statement. The story is about a very contravercial concept in the time of the 1940's when it came out. A literary criticism said, "The story is generally recognized as one of Faulkner's most astute handlings of the complex issue of race relations in the South during the 1940s." (Fargnoli) This is very much close to Thoreau's writing because it is on the a complex issue which is very much related to the way Thoreau writes because he tended to stay in the controversial political topics. And lastly Keep Your Hands on the plow is about Christianity as a whole and talking about some major things that happened in it. Such as "Peter was so nice and neat,Wouldn't let Jesus wash his feet." ("Your..) because it is talking specifically about when Jesus washes Peters feet in the Bible. This is a close relation to Emerson because of his intense attention to details in the songs in relation to the Bible. Emerson did not relate so much to the Bible but was very specific.

Fargnoli, Nicholas A., Michael Golay, and Robert W. Hamblin. "'Go Down, Moses'." Critical Companion to William Faulkner: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCWF3044&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 13, 2012).


Huff, Randall. "'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CPAP0396&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 13, 2012).

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Lyrics." Scout Songs: Song Lyrics for Boy Scouts Songs, Girl Scouts Songs, and American Patriotic Songs. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. .

"Keep Your Hands on the Plow." Yet Another Digital Tradition Page. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. .

"Go Down Moses." Web. 13 Feb. 2012. .

Calvary Crossing a Ford Reflection

This reflection will be over Walt Whitman's poem "Cavalry Crossing a Ford". I would like to fist start out by saying this poem was written in 1865 (Poetry), which means it was written in the time during the civil war. Knowing this the poem begins to become more understandable and clear to the reader. The poem describes how they looked in comparison to other things. In other words he was using a lot of descriptions that did not exactly go with it but inferring it's about the soldiers it actually is very creative. For instance, in line two Walt Whitman says "They take a serpentine course—their arms flash in the sun". (Whitman) The author does not mean that their "arms" were flashing in the sun, he meant their guns. This shows how Walt Whitman used creative writing to make something such as war not so gruesome as it truly was. A man by the name of Max Nardau wrote in his literary criticism over Walt Whitman's poetry "He is morally insane, and incapable of distinguishing between good and evil, virtue and crime." (Nordau) This to me explains why he doesn't go into any true gruesome details of how bad the civil war, and almost makes it sound beautiful. Walt Whitman gives even a pretty picture of the army by the river when he says, "Behold the silvery river—in it the splashing horses, loitering, stop to drink". (Whitman) This portrays to me a beautiful scene of horsing in the water with the sun shining with their owners standing near by gazing into the beautiful river. This is the opposite of most of Thoreau's because Thoreau would use the gruesome details to get the point across that he wanted to get to his readers. For example in Thoreau's writing "Civil Disobedience" he writes about the army as well but he says "In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well." (Thoreau), which portrays a much different picture of the soldiers. As Whitman liked to keep things happy and soulful, Thoreau tended to take the more realistic and yet very pessimistic route. Although is see little relation to Thoreau, I do see some to the great Emerson. The ideas of having such admiration of nature and looking at the little things in life is very much an Emerson-like writing style. In the very first line of "Cavalry Crossing A Ford" he displays his simplistic naturalistic writing style when he says "where they wind betwixt green islands". (Whitman) All in all Whitman was a writer that liked to stay on the lighter side of things while still hitting the political topics of the time, without having to be to politically one sided nor to involved in the specific details of the politics.


Nordau, Max. Degeneration, 1895: 230–32. Quoted as "On the Poetry of Walt Whitman" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Walt Whitman, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCVWaW040&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 9, 2012).


Poetry for Students. "Cavalry Crossing a Ford Study Guide - Walt Whitman - ENotes.com." ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More. Gale Cengage. All Rights Reserved, 2012. Web. 09 Feb. 2012. .

Thoreau, Henry D. "Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - with Annotated Text." The Thoreau Reader. Richard Lenat, 2009. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. .

Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Philadelphia: David McKay, [c1900]; Bartleby.com, 1999. www.bartleby.com/142/. [2/9/12].

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is known for being one of the best presidents this nation has ever seen, but little do we recognize his great writings as often as we should. For instance his "Second Inaugural Address" is basically a masterpiece of the American literature. In the speech he talks a lot about slavery and the abolishing of it. He is very much against it and talks about how greatly evil it truly is. In paragraph three he opens by saying "One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it." (Lincoln) This stood out a lot to me because he gives the cold hard facts which in themselves are persuasive. This reminds me a lot of Thoreau's writing style because it leads back a lot to transcendentalism. It does this when it talk about the facts to get a point across about how their needs to be a political change in America. I believe Lincoln thought that if we were to move on as a United State we must get rid of slavery. He displays this idea in the last paragraph saying "with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan," (Lincoln) Although he is not so blunt about it as to say that it is specifically about doing right by abolishing slavery, it is very well inferred that that is what he was talking about. There is a slight Emerson effect here as well when it talks about all of our individual duties to make us become one as a nation in this time of rebuilding our nation. A man named Jacques Barzun said in his criticism of the "Second Inaugural Address" "For his style, the plain, undecorated language in which he addresses posterity, is no mere knack with words. It is the manifestation of a mode of thought, of an outlook which colors every act of the writer's and tells us how he rated life." (Barzun) Which in other words means he truly sees Lincoln's speech as the raw truth of how things truly were. He then went on later to say kind of why he believes that Lincoln had so much success as a political person by saying "They think of the momentous issues of the Civil War, of the grueling four years in Washington, of the man beset by politicians who were too aggressive and by generals who were not enough so, and the solution flashes upon them." This to me definately explains a lot of what was going on at the time and why transcendentalism writing was such a huge thing at the time.

Barzun, Jacques. "Lincoln the Literary Genius." The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 231, No. 33 (14 February 1959): 30, 62–4. In Bloom, Harold, ed. Enslavement and Emancipation, Bloom's Literary Themes. New York: Chelsea Publishing House, 2010. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= BLTEAE011&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 8, 2012)

Lincoln, Abraham. "Abraham Lincoln: Second Inaugural Address. U.S. Inaugural Addresses. 1989." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Bartleby, 2011. Web. 08 Feb. 2012. .

Dougless Blog

The speech given by Fredrick Douglass called “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” is still a mark in American history today because of it's intense truth in what was truly going on at the time. He even stated in paragraph ten "to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their mastcrs?". (Douglass) This in itself has such an intense and heart wrenching reality to it that gives a lasting impression still today. Douglass gave a very convincing portrayal of what was going on at this time in American society. He let the citizens he was speaking to know the harsh reality that was their truth. He spoke of all men as humans, which in some respects relates back to Emerson s writings because it talks of each individual man as being important. While Emerson would write about individuals and our rights as individuals. In paragraph nine Douglass questions this when saying "Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? that he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for Republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood?". (Douglass) Here he is talking about how people say that African Americans are not going about getting their independence in the right way, his rebuttal is how else but to give the cold hard facts? This is very Thoreau like to me because he gives a very intense idea that the government is being unjust, which was a huge part of most of the great Henry David Thoreau's writing.


Douglass, Frederick. "Africans in America/Part 4/Frederick Douglass Speech." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. International Publishers Co., Inc. Web. 06 Feb. 2012. .

Fear

The moment when your hand begins to sweat uncontrollably. All of your skin becomes clammy and cold. You become silent, not just on the outside but silent on the inside. Your thoughts begin to be encased by the fear you are feeling and there is nothing that can make you feel better. Shaking from the inside out but yet trying to be so still. Feeling like the pit of your stomach that it is turning. These feelings come over most when there is a fear in them. This happens to people at different times and for different reasons. Some people can handle their fears while others let these fears overcome and even take over their everyday lives. Some have trouble giving up on some child like fears such as; being afraid of the dark, thinking that their is something under their bed, or thinking the 'boogy man" is in their closets. Many high school students fear things like failing, being humiliated in front of other students, not exceeding in their sport, getting broken up with or rejected, and/or not getting accepted into the college they want. Many adults have fears of being alone forever, divorce, losing their job, being homeless, getting robbed, their children or significant other passing. These fears can go for all ages but the ones I described for each group are thought about on a daily to weekly bases. These are the fears that sometimes consume people lives. Fears are things that people too often say are weaknesses. This is not true to me at all. To me it is only a problem when people allow these things to take over their lives. Many people have multiple fears, and not matter how much they say they have no fears, everyone has at least one. It is just human nature. We all have to have fear so that we can sensor ourselves in a way so that we don’t do things that are harmful to us or become superior.