Smith 90
University of Rio Grande
Healing the Break:
Examining My Voices as a Writer
A Senior Portfolio
Sydney M. Smith
Literature and Writing Seminar English 49003
Dr. April Julier & Dr. Heather Duda
14 November 2013
Table of Content
Healing the Break: Examining My Voices as a Writer:
A Self-Reflective Essay…………………………………………………………….….pg 3
Timed Writing Piece: ENG 25203……………………………………………………...pg 6
Educating the Deaf:Public verse Residential Schools for the
Deaf:
ENG 11203……………………………………………………………………………..pg 12
A&P as a Modern Symbol: ENG 24103………………………………………………..pg
18
“We are a City upon a Hill”: A Critical Analysis of A Modell of
Christian Charity by John Winthrop: ENG
25103…………………………………………………………………pg 23
Daughters of Eve: The Defiance of Sexual and Social Norms: ENG
26103………….pg 27
Tristan and Isolde as A Character Basis for The Arthurian Tales:
ENG 24803………pg 38
How to Teach Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: ENG
26203…………………………..pg 43
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre: ENG 44303……………………………………………pg
49
Beauty and the Beast: ENG 37103…………………………………………………….pg 58
Teaching Morality Through The Great Gatsby: ENG
25203…………………………pg 65
The Broken Voices: ENG 49003………………………………………………………pg 75
· Introduction………………………………………………….pg 76
· Stall Confessions…………………………………………….pg 77
· Seeing Red…………………………………………………..pg81
· Black & Blue………………………………………………...pg 85
· Invisible……………………………………………………..pg 89
Healing the Break: Examining My Voices as a Writer
Literature and Writing Seminar
31 October 2013
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will
survive but those who can manage change “Charles Darwin
In a person’s life there is one moment that forever alters their
life and sets them on a specific path. This moment defines them and
molds the individual that they will become. That moment came to me
at the age of twelve; it was the moment when a phone rang to tell
me that my father had killed himself. The aftermath of that death
left me devastated, I withdrew into myself and depression overtook
me. I was drowning in a sea of sadness and I couldn’t get my head
above the water. For six months I stayed that way until my seventh
grade reading teacher gave me a copy of J.K. Rowling’s, Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. That book taught me one truth, I
had a choice I could let my grief destroy me or, like Harry Potter,
I could learn to adapt to my new reality, survive, and become the
hero of my own story.Comment by aprilzosia: I still don’t like
these two general lead sentences. I think it would be SO much more
powerful if you start in the first person:“In my life, one moment
altered my course and set me on my path more than any other. It
came at the age of 12….
That choice was simple. I would not be a victim: I would be a
survivor. To survive parts of me had to change: I had to adapt. I
kept the wounded parts of me buried deep within myself. I took the
parts that were left and put them together to create the person
that people would see from that point onward. One of the things
that helped to stitch the leftover parts of myself back together
was being able to create stories that let me vent the turmoil that
was left inside of me. A creative voice immerged from the parts of
my soul that I had to bury, it was the only time the secret parts
of me were allowed to be shown. Without the creation of my creative
voice the public image I showed to the world would not have been
able to exist. I needed that secret part of myself to survive.
Comment by aprilzosia: I don’t get this “had to bury” idea. I think
you can cut this.
As the years passed I continued to adapt myself to my ever
changing environment in order to thrive in my surroundings. When I
reached my freshman year of college I once again had to adapt but
unlike the other times this time it wasn’t a change of personality
or an altering of emotion. Upon entering college I had no academic
voice, my voice had always been creative in nature which didn’t
serve me because I needed to be able to research and analyze new
material. This was an obstacle for me, because I could no longer
just create stories to vent my feelings, I had to create a voice
that was able to look at a text and analyze and critic it, I needed
a voice that sounded professional and was professional and up to
that point I didn’t have that voice. In order to survive this new
challenge I would not need to change but I would need to create
this new voice. That is what I did, I created my academic voice and
like a child that voice needed to grow and develop in order to
survive. Comment by aprilzosia: cutComment by aprilzosia: I love
your voice here.
This collection of work is that maturation of my academic voice.
Each piece exemplifies the progression of that voice. The
organization of this portfolio is tracking the creation of that
voice and the growth up until this point in my academic career.
Because of this my pieces are arranged by what I deem my weakest to
my strongest. Each piece is chosen specifically to show the growth
that my voice has undergone and to highlight the best and worst
moments in my writing. This portfolio shows the bumps and bruises
of my academic voices childhood and allows the reader to see that
the injuries and scars from that childhood taught me how to mature
that voice into mature and proactive adult. The weakest piece in
this portfolio is my paper from Literary Imagination, it was the
first paper I wrote in my academic voice, and it was hard for me to
separate my personal opinion and look at what the textual evidence
was showing me. At the time of this piece I didn’t know how to
separate the two, opinion and fact, and this piece highlights that
issues I was trying to overcome. My strongest piece is my American
Literature 2 paper. This piece was my strongest because it is the
convergence of all of the things I had learned. I figured out how
to work things I was passionate about into a paper and how to use
the text to drive the paper instead of letting the text drive me.
The papers in between just offer the struggle of the maturation and
development of that academic voice. Comment by aprilzosia: Verb
choice is weird. Maybe replace with “illustrates”Comment by
aprilzosia: Verb tense issue. “Tracks”Comment by aprilzosia: Start
a new paragraph hereComment by aprilzosia: Loving these ideas. But
you are starting a lot of sentences with ‘it.’ That’s my academic
pet-peeve. When you revise, try to restructure these
sentences:“Separating my personal opinion from _____ so I could
look at what the textual evidence was showing me was
difficult.”When you eliminate ‘it’ at the start of the sentence,
you reveal that your sentence construction is faulty. In this case,
you are missing a part of your object.Comment by aprilzosia: New
paragraphComment by aprilzosia: How did you do this specifically? I
want details. Describe your writing process and/or what we can see
of this work in your process.Comment by aprilzosia: New paragraph.
Give examples. You can’t summarize the whole portfolio in one
sentence. Unpack where YOU see these struggles and these
maturations. This is the essay where you prove you have learned
what you claim. Don’t fizzle out.
My senior project, titled The Broken Voices, takes the reader in
a different direction. It is a collection of short stories. These
stories are about topics that effect teens and young adults today,
such as, rape, suicide, drug abuse, and domestic violence. Similar
to myself when dealing with my grief, each character is living with
a secret or a life changing event and in order for them to survive
they choose to live two separate lives, the one the world sees and
the one that happens behind closed doors. Though this is still a
work in progress I am hoping that when the reader has finished the
or she will at least think twice before making their judgments,
because everybody is fighting a battle the outside world knows
nothing about. These stories highlight that decision to survive,
and not to let the bad things in life destroy them. I chose to add
this collection to my portfolio because it shows the creative voice
that I have always had, but it also shows the core of who I am. The
part of me that I buried within is also the part that gives me my
creative voice. I wanted to add this section in order for the
reader to understand that I have two halves of self, the one half
(the creative) shows what I was given from birth and experience,
and the other is my academic voice which was created and developed
because I needed to survive in a world that required this self.
Comment by aprilzosia: OK. BUT this is the moment where I need to
know how this new direction connects to your argument about
academic voice and creative voice. Don’t make me wonder about the
connection.Comment by aprilzosia: Woah. I take issue with this, as
would many creative writers. Do you mean to suggest that your
creative writing isn’t still in process. That your creative voice
isn’t still growing and changing? Freire writes that we are all
“beings in the ever unfinished process of becoming.” Are you
suggesting that you are already a fully cooked bean?
This portfolio is a journey. It shows the creation and growth of
my academic voice but it also shows the other part of me. This
portfolio allowed me to bridge the gap between my academic voice
and creative voice and it made me whole, and though that is not
what I started out to do, it is what I now hope to show the reader.
If the reader can see the two sides that are me becoming whole
again, then I accomplished my end goal for this portfolio and it
gives me reason to be proud of what I have accomplished. Comment by
aprilzosia: I want this Self Reflective Essay to SHOW the two sides
of you becoming whole. I want you to describe how you chose each
piece to illustrate this growth/movement.
Educating the Deaf
Public verse Residential Schools for the Deaf
Composition 2
8 July 2012
It is heard for a deaf child to go anywhere and be themselves
because they will get stared at and sometimes even treated
different. Most hearing people will stare at the deaf like
something is wrong with them just because they have never seen
someone sign before. When a hearing person does this it will make a
deaf person very uncomfortable unless they have gotten used to
this. That is why it is more beneficial for a deaf child to go to a
residential deaf school rather than mainstreaming, home schooling,
or going to an oral school. There are many causes to why a child
should not go to a mainstreaming school, get home schooled, or go
to an oral school, just like there are many causes to why a deaf
child should go to a residential deaf school. Among all the causes
for these schools there are also many effects to them also.
A cause for why a student should not go to a mainstreaming
school is that if a deaf child goes to a mainstreaming school then
the deaf child will not be able to ask questions if he/she gets
lost because the other students and most of the staff will not be
able to understand what the child is saying because he/she will be
using ASL (American Sign Language). This can make it very hard for
a deaf child because the child cannot communicate with anyone to
try to get help or find where they need to go.
There are many effects to a deaf child going to a mainstreaming
school. One of these effects would be that this child would not
have any friends that he/she can compare with because most of the
students are going to be hearing and will not be able to understand
what the deaf child is saying. If a deaf child has no one to
associate with and to compare to he/she will feel out of place and
could get depressed. Another effect of a deaf child going to a
mainstreaming school would be that people might make fun of him/her
because they cannot hear and have to use ASL (American Sign
Language) to communicate with people (Lynas, 1999).
.Most hearing people do not understand what the deaf person is
doing because all they are using are there hands to communicate
with. The last effect that I have for why a deaf child should not
mainstream is because when the child is in class and the teacher
turns around to write something on the board then the only
information that the child is getting is what the teachers is
writing on the board. Also it is very hard for a deaf person to
learn how to read lips because for one some people talk to fast and
for two some words look the same when you say them. So when a deaf
child is in class they are more than likely only getting little
bits of what the teacher is saying because he/she cannot read lips
very well or because the teacher talking too fast for he/she she
catch every word. “Keep in mind that only 25-30% of spoken English
can be lip read (Goldstein, Simonds & Sanders, 1994).
A cause for why deaf children should not get home schooled is
because a parent cannot teach a deaf child everything he/she needs
to learn. Even if the Child’s parents are deaf the deaf parent’s
cannot teach them everything they need to know because more than
likely the parents do not know everything they need to teach a deaf
child. A deaf child still needs to learn all the basics such as
math, science, history, reading etc. Even for a hearing student the
parents would not know every subject they need to learn.
There are also many effects to why a deaf child should not get
home schooled. One of these effects is that if a deaf child gets
home schooled they will never really learn social skills until they
are old enough to move out. Any child weather they are deaf or
hearing need to have social skills. A deaf child needs to know that
there are other people that are like him/her other people with whom
they can identify ("Deaf home schooling," 1997). They need to have
friends that understand them and get them and being home schooled
gives a deaf child none of that. Another effect would be that if a
deaf child gets home schooled and gets home schooled there whole
life they more than likely will not have many friends, so this
might lead to them never wanting to leave their parents’ home, so
then the deaf child would never really learn how to socialize and
also they child would never have a real job because they cannot
move away from his/her parents’ house.
There are causes to why you should not send your child to an
oral school and one of those causes are they do not let the deaf
use ASL (American Sign Language) they have to actually talk. It is
sometimes very hard for a deaf person to talk because they “cannot
monitor the volume and tone of their speech and may be initially
hard to understand (Goldstein, Simonds & Sanders, 1994). Most
deaf people are also embarrassed by the way they talk because it
will usually sound different than how a hearing person can talk.
Also deaf people do not like to talk because then hearing people
think that just because a deaf person can talk that they can also
hear to, so a hearing person will talk back to a deaf person and
the deaf person cannot understand what they are saying.
There are also effects to why deaf children should not go to an
oral school. One effect would be that oral schools were made up
because Alexander Graham Bell thought that deaf people were going
to contaminate the human race even though his wife was deaf. He
also thought that deaf people should not be able to intermarry
because he did not want them do bring another deaf person into this
world (Woolsey, Harrison & Gardener, 2004).
Another reason a deaf child should not go to an oral school is
because they cannot use ASL (American Sign Language) and that is
part of deaf person’s heritage. With a deaf child going to an oral
school it is like take away part of their heritage and culture.
There are many causes as to why a deaf child should go to a
residential school. One of those causes is that they get to be
around people that are like them rather than people that are not
like them. If they go to a residential school they will not have
people stare at them like there is something wrong with them they
also will not get made fun of because they are dead and have to use
ASL (American Sign Language) to communicate with people. They also
will be able to ask anyone for help if something happens unlike at
a mainstreaming school.
There are also many effects to why you should send a deaf child
to a residential school rather than any other type of schooling. An
effect would be that they would be able to interact with people
that are just like them, they will not have to worry about what
other people are saying about them. They will have some where that
they feel they will fit in at. Also anther effect is that if they
go to a residential school they will be able to make friends and
most of the time the friends that they make they stay friends. But
if they went to a mainstreaming if would be difficult for them to
have friends that could understand what they are telling them and
more than likely they would not remain friends after they
graduated. Another effect would be that they would be able to
actually learn rather than guessing what they teachers are saying
because at a residential school they would have teachers that knew
ASL (American Sign Language) and these teachers would know not to
turn around and write assignments and notes on the board because
they would not be able to see what she was signing.
All in all deaf children should go to a residential school where
they can learn that right material that is needed to go onto
college. Also so they can learn how to socialize with people that
are like them rather than people that do not understand. A
residential school would be the best fit for a deaf child to go to
school for all of his/ her years of schooling. IDEA guarantees that
children with disabilities get an education that is in a “least
restrictive” environment ("U.s department of," 2011). Each parent
must decide what least restrictive means for his or her own
child.
Work Cited
Deaf home schooling. (1997). Retrieved from
http://www.listen-up.org/edu/homeschool.htm
Goldstein, T., Simonds, C., & Sanders, C. (1994, October).
Succeeding together:people with disabilities in the workplace.
Retrieved from
http://www.csun.edu/~sp20558/dis/acknowledgement.html
Lynas, W. (1999). Supporting the deaf child in the mainstream
school: is there a best way?. Support for Learning, 14(3),
115-116.
66.
U.s department of justice Americans with Diabilities act. (2011,
October 17). Retrieved from http://www.ada.gov/index.html
Woolsey, M. L., Harrison, T. J., & Gardener, R. (2004). A
preliminary examination of instructional arrangement, teaching
behaviors, levels of academic responding of deaf middle school
students in three different educational settings. Education and
Treatment of Children, 27(3), 265-266.
A&P as A Modern Symbol
Literary Imagination
17 February 2010
In the story “A&P” by John Updike introduces the character
of Sammy. He is a nineteen year old who is working at a supermarket
as a cashier. The first detail presented about Sammy is how he
notices a particular girl among a group of girls who enters the
store where he works. “The one that (caught) my eye” (Updike 268),
these girls are the beginning of a process in which Sammy is
“rehumanized” after years of being dehumanized by the society in
which he lives and works. He begins to reconsider what he has
always known to be true or right. The point I will make is that
Sammy’s sexual interest in the girls, particularly one girl,
Queenie, has a major effect on how Sammy visualizes the world, and
what the store represents.
In the beginning of the story Sammy is totaling the purchases of
a woman. “She’s one of these cash-register-watchers, a witch about
fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows, and I know it
made her day to trip me up” (Updike 267). While he is in the
process of totaling the sale, he notices three young women entering
the store dressed in nothing but bathing suits. Because of their
attire his attention is drawn to them and he visually follows them
throughout the store. Upon their entrance into the store, these
girls pique nothing more in Sammy than his sexual interest, but as
he visually follows them he starts to notice things about the girls
that make him think of them in a different light. At the beginning
of the story, these girls are something to look at, yet they are
different because of their choice of attire. Although, initially,
he is drawn to them for their attire, he notices that they are
moving against the crowd. These three girls are disrupting everyone
by their simple display of rebellion. As Sammy says, “These sheep
pushing their carts down the aisle-the girls were walking against
the usual traffic (not that we have a one way sign or anything)-
were pretty hilarious” (Updike 269).
Because of these attractive girls Sammy begins seeing himself in
a better, less mechanical world. In this world, the machine does
not have a voice that overshadows a human being. By working at
A&P he is conforming or being dehumanized by the continuous
rotation and the overall routine of the job he is performing.
Because of the girls he starts to see the people in his environment
differently. These girls are forcing the other shoppers to move
from their usual patterns. The people stop and stare to see why the
girls are so different. They cannot ignore the girls’ clothing or
the way they are moving against the regular traffic patterns in the
store. The girls are showing him a world where he wants to be, a
world where he does not have to sit back and look at females as an
attraction. They offer him a different reality in a world where he
does not have to work so hard for so little pay to make his family
and society happy. In on part of the story as he is describing
Queenie and her life he makes fun of his own life by saying that
his family thinks it’s big when they have a certain cup from which
they drink. He makes an assumption about Queenie and the other
girls’ lives. He assumes that they must come from a higher
socioeconomic class than he does even though he has no actual proof
that this is so. A part of the story suggests that he begins to
view the girls differently when one of them begins to talk. “All of
a sudden I slid right down her voice into her living room” (Updike
270). He describes her family and her life based solely on hearing
her speak a few words. He had once believed that the girls were
attainable, but he now realizes that they are above him. He thinks
that they are way above his status in society and therefore
unattainable.
He begins to have these hero thoughts; he at one point of the
story calls himself their “unsuspected hero” (Updike 271). He quits
in front of them, hoping they will notice the heroic action he has
taken to defend their honor, and from this be welcomed into their
lives. He does not quit just to gain their attention. However, by
quitting he is going against everything he was taught to believe
and everything for which he has works. The idea that he will never
again have a life that is easy. The hardest thing to do is go
against the grain to gain independence. In life we have been taught
that there is only one to achieve success, to stay in the
mainstream, to not lash out through rebellion, and to do what is
expected. Lengel, the boss, tells Sammy, “Sammy, you don’t want to
do this to your Mom and Dad”(Updike 271”, referring to the fat that
if Sammy quits he is going to disappoint his parents. This suggests
that by quitting his job he will somehow be seen as a failure and
thus embarrass his parents. According to Lengel, his parents will
experience disappointment because he no longer wanted to work at a
store in town.
In a critique of this story, Timothy Sexton, suggests that the
supermarket itself is a symbol (Sexton 1). As supermarket is the
only store where all classes can go to purchase products regardless
of socioeconomic status. The supermarket is an everyday occurrence.
What it offers is what everyone needs despite money or status. In
the story, Updike, makes it a point to say that the store is in the
center of town near the bank, a real estate office, and a church.
It is centered among the everyday needs of the community. The bank
is the financial center of town. The church is the religious center
of town. The real estate office is the means by which this
community houses its residents. Having the supermarket in the
middle of town around everyday things makes it so people look at it
as an everyday necessity. It is in the cultural heart of the town.
Going to these places is a human routine. We have been given a
routine in life and now that Sammy sees this routine, he chooses
not to like it. Although the supermarket is important, it is the
meaning of the environment when it is combined with Sammy’s
viewpoint that gives the supermarket its greatest importance. To
him, quitting is to obtain a false hope, similar to what we get
when we pick up a can of food we have never eaten before just
because the picture is pretty. Once we actually taste the food it
is not what we imagined it would be. That is how the girls are to
him; they are objects representing a life he wants, a life he
cannot have unless he quits the store. In reality Sammy cannot have
these things. They are unattainable because his job and the people
around him make it impossible for him to have them.
He first sees the girl that he describes as “chunky” as someone
with which he might achieve a relationship. She is not the everyday
definition of beautiful. As the story progresses, you see him start
to dream bigger by fantasizing about Queenie. She is the symbolic
meaning of everything he wants. By quitting he is trying to make
the statement that he can be what a man of worth is according to
the social norms. He is rebelling against the accepted viewpoints
on socioeconomic status and how to achieve success in this country.
By impressing these girls he wants to prove to himself and other
around him that he can be more.
In conclusion, Sammy is a character who represents everyone in
the middle and lower classes. He is the one who works every day to
be something that society says he cannot be. Despite this he tries,
in a manner that is somewhat heroic in nature. The girls are his
out. They represent the life he wants and then becomes the reason
he quits. The supermarket is a representation of everything that
people need and a comparison to the way he sees the girls. “I go
through the punches, 4,9,GROC, TOT- it’s more complicated than you
thing, and after you do it often enough, it begins to make a little
song, that you hear words to , in my case “Hello (bing) there,
you(gung) hap-py pee-pul(splat)”(Updike 271). These objects have
become more human, then the people working them. John Updike
captured everything that the store and America tell people and all
of the false hopes and promises that people in society are faced
with everyday but will never obtain.
Work Cited
Sexton, Timothy. “John Updikes A&P: Selling False Hope and
Promises”. 31 Jan 2006. 17 Feb 2010. Web.
Updike, John. “A&P” Exploring Literature. Madden, Frank, Ed.
New York, Pearson Education, 2004. 267-271. Print
“We are a City upon a Hill”: An Critical Analysis of
A Modell of Christian Charity by John Winthrop
American Literature 1
9 October 2013
The people in America before 1776 saw themselves very
differently than what an American would see his/her self today. An
individual will identify themselves b where they are from
geographically, first and foremost. From there it breaks into
religion, family, and ideologies. The people of the Massachusetts
Bay Colony did not see themselves as only European but instead
chose to identify themselves by their religion. By coming to
America they shifted from identifying themselves by a geographical
location to identifying themselves by their religious faith. In
John Winthrop’s, A Modell of Christian Charity the reader sees this
shift in the identification of their self. The Puritans no longer
saw themselves as an extension of their geographical homeland but
chose to identify themselves with their religious faith. They
became known as singularly Puritan, and that viewpoint changed how
they not only saw themselves but how the world would see them. In
the eyes of the world around them they were no longer European but
Puritan.
This shift in identity shifted before they hit the soil in
America, their intention was never to remain European. In Edmund S.
Morgan’s, The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop, he talks
about why the Puritans chose to leave England, why they decided to
form their own society on what they thought God was demanding of
them, “They had left England because England was failing in its
promise. In high hope that God was guiding them and would find
their efforts acceptable, they had proposed to form a new society”
(61). The Puritans chose to separate themselves from where they
came from in order to keep the presences and the blessings of God
in their lives. In Winthrop’s, A Modell of Christian Charity he
groups together the whole of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, “First,
to hold conformity with the rest of his workers” (155). Winthrop
combines the whole of the colony together saying they are one. This
meaning that how he describes himself and how he sees his
self-image is how he sees his community as a whole. He later states
that they must see themselves as their own city, “For wee must
Consider that wee shall be as a Citty upon a hill. The eies of all
people are upon us, soe that if wee shall deale falsely with our
god in this worke wee have undertaken, and soe cause him to
withdrawe his present help from us” (Winthrop 166).
The Puritans wanted to wash their hands of the identity of being
European because they saw the European country as being sinful and
flawed. In Perry Miller’s The Wrath of Jehovah he describes the
reasons for leaving, “The Great Migration thought of itself as
achieving corporate identity by the act of migrating, but it did
not identify the covenant- its promise of good virtue and of evil
to vice- with the opportunity of America. Any place in the world
would have served. Massachusetts was only a convenient (not to
convenient) platform on which the gathering might be enacted, so
that the city upon a hill would be visible to Europe” (Miller 25).
This statement allows the reader to see that by choosing to leave
their homeland they were choosing to completely break away from the
identity of that of an Englishman. They went to America because it
was one of the only options left to them, it could have been any
other place in the world and it would have been the same result.
“Lord our God may blesse us in the land whither wee goe to possesse
it. But if our heartes shall be seduced, and worship other Gods,
our pleasures and profits, and serve them; it propunded unto us
this day, we shall surely perishe our of the good Land whither wee
passé over this vast sea to possesse it: (Winthrop 166). The
Puritans separated their identity from geography as soon as they
landed on foreign soil, and once they did that their self-image
became primarily a Puritan and not an Englishman. They feared the
English were damned for their tainted religion and because of the
fear of the wrath of God on the English they no longer wanted to
group themselves as English.
In John Winthrop’s, A Modell of Christian Charity, there is a
clear change in how the society of Massachusetts Bay saw
themselves. In England they were English first and Puritan second.
Due to the fear the England was damned, and the oppression that was
barring them from practicing their religious lifestyles the
Puritans decided to leave. Instead of feeling defeated by the fact
that they would need to leave their home they decided to strike out
and find a new home, one in which they would form the rules. The
Puritans still saw themselves, geographically as English, but the
decision to leave defined and decided that their self-image would
no longer be that of just English but would be primarily that of
their religion. They were the Puritans, that was the image that
they owned and the image that generations after them would know
them as, they are not known to this generation as European
Puritans, but as Puritans. The people that came to America before
1776 may have come from different locations but the image and
identity that would define them would be that of their religion,
and this is how the people of the Massachusetts Bay Colony saw
themselves, as Puritans.
Work Cited
Miller, Perry. "The Wrath of Jehovah." The New England Mind.
London: Belknap Press, n.d.
19-25. Print.
Morgan, Edmund S. "A Special Commission." The Puritan Dilemma:
The Story of John Winthrop. 2nd ed. New York: Longman, 1999. 61-69.
Print.
Winthrop, John. “A Modell of Christian Charity.” The Bedford
Anthology of American Literature:Volume One, Beginnings to 1865.
Eds. Susan Belasco and Linck Johnson. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
2008. 155-166. Print.
Daughters of Eve: The Defiance of Sexual and Social Norms
British Literature 1
6 December 2012
In British Literature, from the beginning of the written word to
the Romantic Era, the characters change to fit the era to which
they belong. For example in Beowulf the character of Beowulf is
strong, fearless, and in search for fame. He is the embodiment of
what men of his time were supposed to be in that era. The same can
be said of Sir Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Male
characters of these times embraced the norms of society, they did
not deny them. Unlike the males, female characters, not all but
some, deified the norms of their sex and their society. Where they
were supposed to be weak they were strong, where they were supposed
to be meek and thoughtless, they created their own stories. Three
female characters not only defied the norms of their sex and
society but blossomed in their defiance. Shakespeare’s’ Viola from
Twelfth Night, Geoffrey Chaucer’s, The Wife of Bath, and finally
Margery Kempe, not only defied the norms but became the heroines of
their own stories. In this paper I am going to discuss each of
these women, what there purpose is, and how each defied their
society and sex in some form. In the case of the Wife of Bath the
subject of marriage and where the power of that union must fall is
the norm that she defies. Viola, defies the ideas of what a woman’s
place in the world, by choosing to dress as a male and work for a
duke. Margery Kempe, defies the ideas of how a religious woman has
to live her life, that a woman on a religious path and be wife and
mother, as well as a loyal servant to God. In this paper I am going
to be discussing the differences in their choices versus the norms
set by society on what a woman’s place is in each of the areas that
these characters defy and how those grievances have influence women
in today’s society.
I will be starting with Geoffrey Chaucer’s Wife of Bath first.
Allison of Bath is a woman described as:
“In all the parish not a dame dared stir
Towards the alter steps in front of her,
And if indeed they did, so wrath was she
As to be quite put out of charity.
Her kerchiefs were of finely woven ground;
I dared have sworn they weighed a good ten pound,
The ones she wore on Sunday, on her head.
Her hose were of the finest scarlet red
And gartered tight; her shoes were soft and new.
Bold was her face, handsome, and red in hue.” (Chaucer 15)
Allison of Bath is described as a woman of temper and of means.
In this era it was uncommon to meet with a woman who was
independently wealthy and independent. This makes Allison of Bath a
woman in violation of her sex and society due to her large income
in a society where men held the money and women ran the household.
The narrator goes on to tell the reader that:
“She’d had five husbands, all at the church door,
Apart from other company in youth;
No need just now to speak of that, forsooth.”(Chaucer 15)
This tells the reader that unlike most of the women in her time
who married once, usually by and arrangement, Allison of Bath
married five times. It is also hinted at that before her marriages
she had been in the company of other men in her youth. This would
have been deemed scandalous in the era this was written.
The wife of Bath, as told in her story, has a different view on
marriage then what is deemed appropriate. Unlike most people of the
time she finds nothing wrong with having multiple marriages in one
life span.
“ ‘Someone said recently for my persuasion
That as Christ only went to one occasion
To grace a wedding- in Cana of Galille-
He taught me by example there to see
That it is wrong to marry more than once.”(Chaucer 258-259)
Alison of Bath argues that marriage is a union carried out to
produce offspring, and by continuing to wed she has done noting
wrong in marrying again after the death of each husband. In the
view of the Wife of Bath she is carrying out the order of the Lord
by going into another union in an attempt to bar a child. This is
feat she has failed to do with each husband. Alison of Bath also
admits to not wanting to be celibate for long:
“Blessed be God that I have wedded five!
Welcome the sixth, whenever he appears
I can’t keep continent for years and years.
No sooner than one husbands’ dead and gone
Some other Christian man shall take me on,
For then, so says the Apostle, I am free
To wed, o’ God’s name, where it pleases me.”
(Chaucer 259)
The Wife of Bath also does something that is uncommon in this
era, she blatantly defies her husband:
“And when I saw that he would never stop
Reading this cursed book, all night no doubt,
I suddenly grabbed and tore three pages out
Where he was reading, at the very place,
And fisted such a buffet in his face
That backwards down into our fire he fell. (Chaucer 279)
With this incident we come to the final violation to her sex.
After her husband has hit her, Alison acts as if she is dead, and
in his upset over her laying there he promises her anything if she
will come back. She asks for one thing, sovereignty over herself,
her household, and finally over him.
“And when I’d mastered him, and out of deadlock
Secured myself the sovereignty in wedlock,
And when he said “My own and truest wife,
Do as you please for the rest of your life,
But guard your honor and my good estate,”
From that day forward there was no debate.”
(Chaucer 280)
What does the Wife of Bath’s story have to offer the modern
female? Without the story of the Wife of Bath women may have never
learned that it is okay to love again once your love has died. She
teaches us that you can have an opinion and state it, even if some
will never agree with you. Alison of Bath gives hope that love will
find you again even when you deem it unlikely. She gives us hope
that we can stand on our own with no support from a man. That we
can be independent and financially sound. She lets us know that we
can be our own leader, even when you have to get a little sly to
gain that power.
The second character that I’m going to talk about is
Shakespeare’s Viola from Twelfth Night. Viola is a maiden casted
ashore, after a ship wreck, upon a foreign land. Left to believe
her brother dead and having no money or a place to lay her head,
Viola begins her defiance to her sex. She chooses to become a
servant to the Duke Orinso. Deciding to disguise herself as a man
instead of remaining a female and going to work for the Countess
Olivia, Viola makes a choice to defy her upbringing.
“Conceal me what I am, and be my aid
For such disguise as haply shall become
The form of my intents. I’ll serve the duke.
Though shall present me as a eunuch to him.
It may be worth thy pains, for I can sing
And speak to him in many sorts of music
That will allow me very worth his service.
What else may hap, to time I will commit.
Only shape thou thy silence to my wit.”
(Shakespeare 13)
This is a defiance to the norms the society of her sex. In this
era a woman of her class would not have worked and would most
definitely not attire themselves in men’s clothing.
Another grievance is becoming a messenger to the Duke. Viola is
sent alone on several occasions to deliver messages to Countess
Olivia. At this time a woman of her station would not have traveled
any distance without a companion to escort them, usually a male
companion of relation to them. Viola as Cessario, participates in
many unwomanly activities. She is in male attendance alone, is
allowed to speak her mind freely with no fear of apprehension or
punishment, and at one point in the play she is challenged to a
dual:
“I will return again into the house and desire
Some conduct of the lady. I am no fighter.”
(Shakespeare 127)
Though Viola is not a man, and most definitely not a fighter,
she still participates in the dual, which is swiftly broken up my
Antonio.
Viola, unlike the Wife of Bath, goes against her sex and society
for survival purposes only. She seems almost embarrassed to be seen
in men’s clothing once the secret has come out and she is known to
be a woman. She wishes not to remain a male if she does not have to
and in the end of the play it is hinted to that Viola will return
to her womanly ways:
“If nothing lets to make us happy both
But this my masculine usurped attire,
Do not embrace me till each circumstance
OF place, time, fortune, do cohere and jump
That I am Viola; which to confirm,
I’ll bring you to a captain in this town,
Where lie my maiden weeds; by whose gentle help
I was preserved to serve this noble count.
All the occurrence of my fortune since
Hath been between this lady and this lord.”
(Shakespeare 179)
What has Viola offered to the modern woman? Viola has offered
women inspiration that the beauty of the soul is brighter than the
beauty of the skin. That one day someone will see past the skin and
look straight into your soul. Her story allows us to see that
courage and strength can and will allow you to come out of any
storm with dignity. Viola teaches us that sometimes hard decisions
have to be made in order to survive. Finally, Viola teaches us that
true love really does conquer all.
The last female I am going to discuss is one, who unlike the
other two is real. This is a woman who really existed and who
really committed these grievances against her sex. Margery Kemp
dictated a book called The Book of Margery Kempe, in which she told
of her struggles, her journeys, her visions of God. In this book
she told of her first vision from God, the vision that would begin
her long journey into the defiance’s against her sex.
“He said to her these words: “Daughter, why have you forsaken
me, and I never forsook you?”. And as soon as he had said these
words, she saw truly how the air opened as bright as any
lightening, and he ascended up into the air, not hastily and
quickly, but beautifully and gradually. So that she could clearly
behold him in the air until it closed up again.” (Margery
Kempe)
This excerpt is the beginning of the long journey for Margery
Kempe. Kempe chose to maintain the life of a wife while still
maintaining her love for God. She would falter at her quest, for
this is human nature. This was before she truly understood what was
destined for her. After coming to her senses and regaining control
of her household, Kempe began to return to her old ways. She was
not a poor woman and was used to luxurious clothing and had a
prideful manner, which one knows is considered a deadly sin. To
truly become one with God Kempe would have to learn a lesson about
her pride.
“And when this creature was thus graciously come again to her
mind, she thought she was bound to God and that she would be his
servant. Nevertheless, she would not leave her pride not her popous
array that she had used before time, neither for her husband nor
for none others man’s counsel.”(Margery Kempe)
The lesson would follow with the starting and failing of
multiple businesses in an attempt to maintain the lifestyle that
she was used to. To buy the clothing she deemed appropriate for a
woman of her station, yet as a consequence to her need to have rich
things her attempts and opening and maintaining a business would
fail.
“The this creature thought how God had punisher her
beforetime
and she could not beware, and now eftsoons by losing of
her goods, and then she left and brewed no more. And then she
asked
her husband mercy for she would not follow his
counsel aforetime, and she said that her pride was
cause of all her punishing and she would amend that
she had trespassed with good will.”(Margery Kempe)
Margery Kempe would go on to have more visions, and eventually
find her way past her pride and become the wife, mother, and
Christian she was supposed to be, but underneath all of these
womanly norms she would hold in her heart the truth, that she was
married to God and by continuing to have a sexual relationship with
her husband she was committing a grievance to her true husband.
This is a defiance against her sex and society because in this era
a woman was to be true and steadfast to her husband, a woman who
wanted to live with the lord and be the wife of the Lord joined a
convent, freeing their husbands to remarry, and for the wife to
remain in the nunnery for the rest of her mortal life. Margery
Kempe defied that norm by maintaining a sexual and marital
relationship with her husband.
She would also continue to defy the norms of a married woman by
asking her husband to give up his marital rights involving a sexual
relationship. She would maintain being his wife and living in his
home, but he would be unable to come to her bed; he would be denied
his husbandly rights. He would deny her appeal to him for many
years taking what was his right, until one day coming home, after
asking her what she would do if a man came to them and told her
that he would cut off her husband’s head if she didn’t sleep with
him what would she do. Margery would answer that she would let him
die before sleeping with him; with this response he granted her
desire.
“Her husband set him down under the ross, cleping his wife unto
him and saying these words unto her, “Margery, grant me my desire,
and I shall grand you your desire, My first desire is that we shall
like still together in one bed as we have done before; the second
that ye shall pay my debts ere ye go to Jerusalem: and the third
that ye shall eat and drink with me on the Friday as ye were wont
to do.” ”Nay sir,” she said, “to break the Friday I will never
grand you while I live.” “Well,” he said, “then shall I meddle with
you again.”( Margery Kempe)
With this choice, and some deliberation with God, Margery would
choose to take the deal and her husband and herself would no longer
have a sexual relationship.
Margery would begin her travels with her husband as her
companion. She would suffer being a social pariah and continue to
challenge the role of a woman. She would write this book in an
attempt to gain sainthood, always pushing the boundaries of
society. Margery Kempe teaches the modern woman to stay true to
your faith and to stand your ground. To never let anyone bully you
into conforming to what they believe your role in life is, she is a
real life person who truly suffered to stay true to her beliefs,
despite all of her crying, and defeated those who would scorn
her.
Woman throughout the ages have been told what to do, who to
marry, and how to think. These women in literature pushed that
thought and challenged the roles that they were born into. These
women would represent a new woman one who could have both family
and religion, one who could do a man’s job just as well as a man,
and one who pushed the ideals of marriage to the extreme never
giving up on love. These women where created before a time where
they could be truly appreciated and through learning about them in
this age and in this time they become heroines for the everyday
women. Their stories act as a guide on what a woman should be
today. They defied the roles of their sex and so society and
because of that they are remembered.
Work Cited
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. London: Penguin Books,
2003. Print.
Kempe, Margery. The Book of Margery Kempe. London: Penguin
Books, 2001. Print
Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. New York: Simon and
Schuster Paperbacks, 2009. Print
Tristan and Isolde as a Character basis for the Arthurian
Tales
Comparative World Literature
1 December 2010
The Arthurian tales have been a know legend for centuries. They
deal with kings and queens, knights and wizards, love and
adventure. However, before these tales were ever in existence there
was a story about a knight and his lieges’ lady that fell in love
due to a magic potion; and because of that love almost destroyed
the kingdom of Cornwall. The love story of Tristan and Isolde
predates the Arthurian Tales. Le Morte d’Arthur is said to have
been written between the years of 1469-1470, by Sir Thomas Mallory,
according to the bibliographical note. (Mallory 99) Within the
Arthurian tales one will find reference as well as an altered story
of Tristan and Isolde in chapter XXIV of Le Morte d’Arthur. This
tale of the characters from Tristan and Isolde combine their story
with the story of King Arthur, even going so far as having Sir
Tristram save King Arthurs life in a further chapter. The Arthurian
Tales are similar to the love story of Tristan and Isolde, this
being that the characters of Tristan, Isolde and King Mark are the
basis of the characters from Le Morte d’Arthur’s Sir Lancelot,
Guinevere and King Arthur.
The character of Tristan is known to be the nephew of King Mark,
he is a part of King Marks court, a trusted advisor, and is loved
by his king. Tristan is the one who goes to win Isolde for his is
King but because of Isoldes trickery he drinks a love potion that
ensures that he will love Isolde until his dying days. Tristan
loves her beyond his love for his king yet tries to banish his
feeling and himself from court to ensure that he does not do wrong
against his king. Similar is his character to that of Sir Lancelot
the trusted knight of King Arthur who falls in love with Queen
Guinevere. Sir Lancelot is one of the most trusted knights to King
Arthur, he goes on many quests and saves King Arthurs life on many
occasions only to be banned from his court due to his feelings for
Queen Guinevere. Queen Guinevere requests that Sir Lancelot remain
away from court so they do not commit treason however, like Tristan
he cannot stay away from his lady love and henceforth dooms himself
to live his life loving a woman he can never have. “But the joy
that La Beale Isoud made of Sir Tristram there might no tongue
tell, for of all men earthly she loved him most.” (Mallory 831) In
Le Morte d’Arthur, when told by his barons that he should take a
wife King Arthur goes to Merlin for advise, Merlin says to marry
her but with that advise gives him a warning “But Merlin warned the
king covertly that Guenever was not wholesome for him to take to
wife, for he warned him that Launcelot should love, her, and she
him again.” (Mallory 329) As if fated the character of Lancelot his
destined to commit treason to his king, as is the case with
Tristan.
The character of King Mark of Cornwall is told to take a wife,
his nephew Tristan responds that he will go and win whoever his
king so wishes to marry. King Mark chooses Isolde as his bride, due
to her beauty. He shows compassion to both his queen and his nephew
upon hearing about their betrayal, after he begins to punish them.
When handing down the punishment an outside force thwarts his plan
to avenge his ego, from there Tristan and Isolde runaway together.
King Mark later finds them and shows mercy, with a sad heart the
couple returns Tristan hands over Isolde to her husband and leaves
with his own company. Similar is the scenario about how King Arthur
chooses his bride. “My barons will let me have no rest, but needs I
must take a wife, and I will none take but by thy counsel and by
thine advise.” Similar to King Mark, King Arthur must first seek
the advice of an outside source relying on what his advisors have
to say before making a decision about his own life. When asked who
he wants to be his wife he chooses for beauty similar to the scene
in Tristan and Isolde, where King Mark tells Tristan to bring him
back the lady to which this strand of hair belongs. “I love
Guenever the king’s daughter. Leodegrance of the land of Cameliard,
the which holdeth in his house the Table Round that ye told he had
of my father Uther. And this damsel is the most valiant and fairest
lady that I know living, or yet that ever I could find.” (Mallory
329) King Mark chooses Isolde strictly on what he could gain by way
of land as well as people opinion, same is it with the character of
King Arthur. In the story of Tristan and Isolde, King Mark is
forgiving taking back his wife and allowing his nephew to leave and
prosper outside of his kingdom offering him still a place in court.
King Arthur takes back his wife banishes Sir Lancelot, yet brings
him home upon his command, knowing that forever Guinevere will love
Sir Lancelot above all.
The character of Isolde is a damsel in distress, she is uprooted
from her home, forced to marry a man not of her choosing and loves
a man that is not her husband. She makes sacrifices however for her
husband’s kingdom choosing to remain at his side to promote peace
and a united front. Forever loving a man she can never have. She
leaves the kingdom of Cornwall for a brief time and lives with
Tristan never truly committing adultery. She loves Tristan until
his dying day leaving her king long enough to be at his death bed
and making it too late to say goodbye. Queen Guinevere is based off
of the character of Isolde because she is in the same circumstance
as Isoldes character. She is married to a great king, who is so
good that he offers her back her home upon arriving back from
living with Sir Lancelot. She is forever in love with a man that is
not her husband but remains at her husband’s side to keep the
kingdom together. Although there are many changes to the character
of Guinevere the love triangle remains intact. Guinevere is more
selfish in some ways than Isolde, Isolde loves Tristan because of a
love potion where Guinevere loves Sir Lancelot of her own free
will. Upon her death similar to that of the death of Tristan,
Guinevere’s death is of the same circumstance, she awaits her love
Sir Lancelot only for him to be to late, and knowing that he did
not make it to see is lady love one last time. He does however
bring her back to be buried with her husband whereas Tristan is
brought back and is later reunited with his lady love in death.
Both the characters of Guinevere and Isolde both love there other
men until their deaths.
Though the stories are drastically different the characters of
Tristan, Isolde and King Mark are still the inspiration that gave
way to the legendary characters of Sir Lancelot, Guinevere and King
Arthur. The personalities as well as the circumstances remain the
same as well as the love triangle between the king his lady love
and his trusted friend. The Arthurian tales have been renowned for
centuries yet the inspiration for these stories never would have
occurred if not for the love story of Tristans and Isolde. The
character of Sir Lancelot would not come to be without the
character of Tristan and his love for his king and his woman. The
character of King Arthur may not have been a forgiving, and great
king if not for the inspiration of a king before his time. And
Guinever may not have been the love of Sir Lancelots life if not
for the character of Isolde first being in love with Tristan.
Mallory gained his characters from a previous novel “ The Romance
of Tristan and Isolde”.
Work Cited
Mallory, T. (1484). Le morte d'arthur.
Bieder, J. (2004). The romance of Ttristan and Isolde.
How to Teach Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: A Literary Review
British Literature 2
10 May 2013
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a novel widely taught in the
United States education system. Most commonly taught in the twelfth
grade, which is designated British Literature; students are
introduced to this novel in a multitude of ways. Each educator
taking a different approach to how to teach this novel, while
having an end goal in sight for what they want the students to take
from their lesson. When preparing to teach this novel an educator
must do some research into what the critics have said about
teaching the material. Having chosen to do Frankenstein I was to
take this exact approach. By using a book called Frankenstein: A
Norton Critical Edition, which is a collection of reviews written
by multiple people that gives the educator ways of approaching the
novel, I found that critics have found that approaching
Frankenstein by using the lens of text accuracy, supplemental
material, realism, theory, real-life scenarios, and finally what
the impact of the novel would be the best approach when
teaching.
First, critics have found that a selection of the appropriate
text is very important. In an article by Anne K. Mellor called
“Choosing a Text of Frankenstein to Teach” there are three texts to
choice from. The first of these is the original manuscript which
Mellor says, “is so inaccurate and so prejudice in favor of Percy
Shelley that students must be warned against its misleading
combinations of truths, half-truths, and unwarranted speculations”
(205). In this manuscript there is a biased that unless the
educator allows the students to know about they may be misled and
not receive the proper education on this text. The first edition
which was publish in 1818, is said to “have greater internal
philosophical coherence, are closest to the authors’ original
conceptions, and are more convincingly related to their historical
contexts” (205). If the educator wants the students to get an
understanding of the author’s original intent the best edition
would be this text. Finally there is the second edition which was
published in 1831, which according to Mellor,
Mary Shelley’s philosophical views changed radically, primarily
as a result of the pessimism generated by the deaths of Clara,
William, and Percy Shelley; by the betrayals of Byron and Jane
Williams; and by severely straitened economic circumstances. These
events convinced Marry Shelley that human events are decided not by
personal choice or free will but by and indifferent destiny or
fate. (209)
Each edition offers the students different ideas and theories.
If one was to combine the three texts one could make a very
interesting lesson on theory and how it evolves and changes as time
changes the individual.
The second approach is to use supplemental material as a means
of connecting the text to other works. For example Milton’s
Paradise Lost is referenced many times throughout the novel. By
using this supplemental material students will have a better
understanding of what is happening in the text and will be able to
make a connection between the text and the poem. This connection
allows the students to have a more educated stance while reading
the novel and will allow the educator to have discussions in class.
This approach to teaching the novel is very important for a couple
of reasons. Firstly, in order to understand the development of the
Monster one has to know what the he is gaining his novel from. A
second reason that this approach is important is because without
this knowledge the novel becomes more confusing and not a coherent
as it is by knowing this companion piece.
A third approach to teaching Frankenstein is by using a realism
approach. Realism is a manner of treating a subject of matter that
represents everyday life, this usually pertains to the lower or
middle class but it is not limited to these socioeconomic levels.
Teaching Frankenstein allows educators to introduce Realism and to
see how is evolved. The text of Frankenstein is a romantic era
text; however the fact that Victor is not killed by some
supernatural force allows the idea of Realism to emerge. In an
article by George Levine titled “Frankenstein and the Tradition of
Realism” he states that, “He is destroyed not by some metaphysical
agency, but by his own nature and the consequences of living in or
rejecting human community” (311). This approach is important
because it begins to introduce this idea that Victor is his own
enemy and because of this reason Frankenstein has a Realism
tradition. By using this approach the educator opens a gateway to a
transition into Realism that would otherwise not be a smooth
transition.
A fourth approach to teaching this novel is by defining what a
monster is. This is a good approach because it allows students to
theorize about who the monster of the story really is and discuss
what makes a monster. In an article by Peter Brooks, titled “What
is a Monster? According to Frankenstein.” in this article Brooks
points out that:
We are always lead back, in Frankenstein, to the peculiarity
that this cultural creation, this epistemophilic product, has
become part of nature – that this idea or concept of the monster,
which at first has no referent in the natural world, gains one.
(390)
By using the idea of what makes a monster students could form
their own definition to the text and allow for them to raise the
issue of who is the monster Victor or his creation. This is an
approach that pulls in theory and philosophy as well as opening up
discussion and debate that would otherwise not be included within
the lesson.
The fifth approach to teaching this text is to make it real.
Give this story a truth a link to the real world. In the article by
Lawrence Levine, “Frankenstein, the True Story; or, Roussaue Judges
Jean Jacques” this real life story is introduced. This story is no
longer a work of fiction but something that could happen in real
life. In this article it is said that:
The book itself, of course, inspires this fascination with
secrets. An undisclosed secret, the principle of life, motivates
all the action, and Frankenstein’s lonely, obsessive quest spurs a
competitive response in many lonely, obsessive readers who pursue,
like him, the mystery of creation. (417)
This approach is important because by connecting this text to
the readers the students gain more of an understanding and learns
to identify with both the Monster and Victor. An educator could use
this approach and have students look into court cases like the
Casey Anthony story and write an essay on the comparison to either
Victor or the Monster to the defendant within the court case. This
is just another approach when teaching this novel.
The last approach to teaching this novel is to discuss the
impact that this novel had on the culture of the time as well as
why it is still a popular text today. In an article by William St.
Clairs, “Frankenstein’s Impact”, in this article William St. Clairs
states:
Frankenstein had a political and ethical purpose. In accordance
with the Godwinian theory of progress, Frankenstein would, they
hoped, help to change the perceptions, the knowledge, the
understanding, and therefore the behavior, of those who read or
otherwise encountered it. The reading of the book would, they
hoped, contribute, in its small way, to the general intellectual
and moral improvement of society in its slow, much interrupted,
progress towards perfection. (248)
This approach is one that can be used in the classroom to
highlight what Mary Shelley was saying was wrong with society and
allow students to decide what course of action would improve
society. Frankenstein’s impact on society is still in effect
everyone who reads this novel is left with these sense that we have
failed society in some way and makes the reader want to better that
world. This is something that can go in many different directions
starting with politics and ending with moral standards. Students
need to have this approached last because it is something that is a
concluding thought and therefore needs to be approached at the end
of the lesson.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a timeless novel. It is full of
mystery and intrigue; it makes the reader yearn for more. But this
text also brings up many issues that need to be addressed. In order
to teach this novel an educator must take many different approaches
in order to for the students to gain an understanding of the text.
An educator need to consider what they want their students to know
and they need to do research into what the critics are saying about
this text. They need to choose supplemental material that is both
beneficial and important. The critics are saying that Frankenstein
needs to be approached in many ways, through text, importance, and
impact. In order for the students to begin to change the world they
first have to see what is wrong with society.
Work Cited
Brooks, Peter. “What Is a Monster? According to Frankenstein”.
Frankenstein. 2nd ed. Ed. J.Paul Hunter. New York: Norton, 2012.
368-390. Print.
Levine, George. “Frankenstein and the Tradition of Realism”.
Frankenstein. 2nd ed. Ed. J.Paul Hunter. New York: Norton, 2012.
311-16. Print.
Levine, Lawerence. “Frankenstein, the True Story; or, Roussau
Judges Jean- Jacques”. Frankenstein. 2nd ed. Ed. J.Paul Hunter. New
York: Norton, 2012. 416-34. Print
Mellor, Anne K. “Choosing a Text of Frankenstein to Teach”.
Frankenstein. 2nd ed. Ed. J.Paul Hunter. New York: Norton, 2012.
204-11. Print
Milton, John. “Paradise Lost”. Frankenstein. 2nd ed. Ed. J.Paul
Hunter. New York: Norton, 2012. 290-95. Print
Shelley, Mary. “Frankenstein”. 2nd ed. Ed. J.Paul Hunter. New
York: Norton, 2012. Print.
St. Clairs, William. “Frankenstein’s Impact”. Frankenstein. 2nd
ed. Ed. J.Paul Hunter. New York: Norton, 2012. 248-62. Print
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre
Genre Studies
12 December 2012
Charlotte Bronte is one of the most famous female authors of
British Literature, coming from a family that urged the imagination
and produced not only Charlotte Bronte but also her sisters Anne,
and Emily. Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, is one of the most famous works
of autobiographical fiction in the English Language. This fictional
autobiography is representation of the life of Charlotte Bronte,
the character of Jane Eyre is living the events that happened to
not only Charlotte but her sisters and her unrequited love.
Hardships endured by Jane are also hardships that plagued the
famous Charlotte Bronte. In this paper I am going to discuss how
the events that happened in Charlotte’s life shaped the story of
Jane Eyre.
Charlotte Bronte was born April 21st, 1816. Her parents were
Maria Branwell and Patrick Bronte. From the start the family was
influenced by the love of their parents, for that time they did
something uncommon, they married for love. In Elizabeth Gaskell’s
biography on Charlotte Bronte she states that Patrick Bronte,
“wooed and married Maria Branwell.”(33). At an early age they grew
to believe in love, for that was what their parents married for,
the occurrence of love is prominent in Jane Eyre. Another theme in
Jane Eyre is the loss of a mother both the characters of Jane and
of Jane’s charge are motherless. Maria Branwell serves as an
inspiration to Charlotte throughout her work. Her appearance
appears in not only Charlottes books, but also in her sisters work:
“Miss Branwell was extremely small in person; not pretty, but very
elegant, and always dressed with a quiet simplicity of taste, which
accorded well with her general character, and of which some of the
details call to mind the style of dress preferred by her daughter
for her favorite heroines. (Gaskell 35). Maria was also an orphan,
having no parents but an Uncle that took care of her. In Jane Eyre,
Jane has no parents but an Aunt by marriage and an uncle on her
father’s side, this character we don’t hear about until much later
in the book, and serves only as an income for Jane once he has
passed away.
This is because shortly after the age of six Maria Branwell
passed away leaving behind her husband Patrick, her daughters
Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. She left behind a son
also, Branwell Bronte. The children were kept mostly at home being
tutored by their Aunt Miss. Branwell. A life without their mother
left the children to be raised with no motherly guidance, the aunt
could only fill so much room in their hearts and in Gaskell’s book
she says “The children could never freely love her” (36).
In July of 1824, Mr. Bronte escorted his two oldest children,
Maria and Elizabeth Cowans Bridge School. This is the school where
the inspiration for Lowood’s School for Girls came about. So
similar was Lowood the Cowans Bridge School that Charlotte said to
Gaskett:
“Miss Bronte more than once said to me, that she should not have
written what she did of Lowood in ‘Jane Eyre’, if she had thought
the place would have been so immediately identified with Cowan’s
Bridge, although there was not a word in her account of the
institution but what was true at the time when she knew it,”
(51).
In one descript of the food, one will find almost identical
text. Jane says:
“On two long tables smoked basins of something hot, which,
however, to my dismay, sent forth and odor far from inviting. I saw
a universal manifestation of discontent when the fumes of the
repast met the nostrils of those destined to swallow it; from the
van of the procession, the tall girls of the grist class, rose the
whispered words:- ‘Disgusting! The porridge is burnt
again!’(43)
Gaskell’s book describes the food almost similarly but without
the added length of text,
“To some children oatmeal porridge is distasteful, and
consequently unwholesome, even when properly made; at Cowans Bridge
School it was too often sent up, not merely burnt, but with
offensive fragments of other substances discoverable in
it,(54).
Charlotte Bronte lived in fear of this school and showed the
treatment of the children in a very honest manner when writing Jane
Eyre. Most of the events that happened to the character Helen
Burns, in reality happened to Charlotte’s sister Maria. In
Gaskell’s biography she writes about the treatment of Maria
Bronte:
“For her ill health was increasing; the old cough, the remains
of the hooping-cough, lingered about her; she was far superior in
mind to any of her play-fellows and companions, and was lonely
amongst them from that very cause; and yet her faults were so
annoying that she was in constant disgrace with her teachers, and
an object of merciless dislike to one of them, who is depicted as
‘Miss Scatherd’ in ‘Jane Eyre,’ and whose real name I will be
merciful enough not to disclose. I hardly need to say, that Helen
Burns is as exact a transcript of Maria Bronte as Charlotte’s
wonderful power of reproducing character could give. Her heart, to
the latest day on which we met, still beat with unavailing
indignation at the worrying and the cruelty to which her gentle,
patient, dying sister had been subjected by this woman. Not a word
of that part of ‘Jane Eyre’ but is a literal repetition of scenes
between the pupil and the teacher.”(56)
In Jane Eyre the treatment that Maria Bronte suffered is
magnified in detail when talking about Helen Burns. In Jane Eyre,
Jane witnesses this abuse upon arriving to Lowood:
“When I returned to my seat, that lady was just delivering an
order of which I did not catch the import; but Burns immediately
left the class, and , going into the small inner room where the
books were kept, returned in half a minute, carrying in her hand a
bundle of twigs tied together at one end. This ominous tool she
presented to Miss Scarcherd with a respectful curtesty; the she
quietly, and without being told, unloosed her pinafore, and the
teacher instantly and sharply inflicted on her neck a dozen strokes
with the bunch of twigs. Not a tear rose to Burn’s eye; and, while
I passed from my sewing, because my fingers quivered at this
spectacle with a sentiment of unavailing and impotents anger, not a
feature of her pensive face altered its ordinary
expression.”(51)
This was the treatment to which Maria Bronte suffered at the
hand of her teacher, the same suffering of Helen Burns and the same
anger that rises in Jane would also rise up in Charlotte. Charlotte
wanted readers to know what was done to her sister by allowing the
character of Helen to suffer so, allowed for the reader to connect
with not only Helen’s pain but also with the pain her sister
suffered.
During the time the girls were in school a fever broke out in
the spring of 1825, this incident is spoken of in Jane Eyre as the
last straw in the death of Helen Burns. Like Helen, Maria didn’t
last past the spring catching a fever like so many others, yet
unlike the others Maria would go home and later die of consumption.
I am not sure that like Helen, Maria got to give a final speech but
Helens speech was that well beyond the years of a ten year old:
“I am very happy, Jane, and when you hear that I am dead, you
must be sure and not grieve, there is nothing to grieve about. We
all must die one day, and the illness which is removing me is not
painful; it is gentle and gradual: my mind is at rest. I leave no
on to regret me much: I have only a father; and he is lately
married, and will not miss me. By dying young, I shall escape great
sufferings. I had not qualities or talents to make my way very well
in the world: I should have been continually at fault.”(77)
With the death of their sister, Maria, the rest of the children
returned to school. They would quickly be coming home because the
second oldest, Elizabeth would soon become ill and die shortly
after Maria. With both of the oldest sisters gone Charlotte would
take up the reins as the eldest child, quickly growing up in order
to fill both the roles of the eldest child but also the role of
mother and caregiver. During the time the children were home, they
took to creating a magical world. Branwell and Charlotte would
focus their attention on their world. Angria, where they would make
up characters and give them wild adventures. It was during this
time that Charlotte began creating the dashing Mr. Rochester,
though at that time he was not named so.
Life would quickly change for Charlotte, not long after being
home her father sent her away to another school to begin her
professional training. Unlike the school before this one was well
taken care of and so were the students. However, Charlotte begins
school on a bad note, for due to her old style clothing and shy
demeanor she was not liked immediately choosing to indulge in her
studies instead of making friends. Emily Gaskell describes
Charlotte in her biography:
“This is perhaps a fitting time to give some personal
description of Miss Bronte. In 1831, she was a quiet, thoughtful
girl, of nearly fifteen years of age, very small in
figure—“stunted” was the word she applied to herself, -- but as her
limbs and head were in just proportion to the slight, fragile body,
no word in ever so slight a degree suggestive of deformity could
properly be applied to her; with soft, thick, brown hair, and
peculiar eyes, of which I find it difficult to give a description,
as they appeared to me in her later life.” (74)
Once her time at Roe Head was complete, she became a teacher at
the school. Charlotte would take this experience and incorporate it
into Jane’s life. For once Jane was finished at school she would
then become a teacher just like her creator. And like her creator
she would quickly tire of that profession and wish to find a
different job. That job for Jane would be the beginning of her
life, that job for Charlotte would be a nuisance.
Jane leaves her school to begin the job as governess for Mr.
Rochester and his charge. While Charlotte would bounce through a
couple of places before deciding that she wanted to own her own
school. This need to own her own school would lead her to Brussels
and to the love story that would come from that trip. While in
Brussels, Charlotte was attending a school to teach her and Emily
more foreign languages it is here that Charlotte begins to fall for
her married instructor Mr. Heges. She would fall deeply in love
with this married man but unlike the end of Jane Eyre Charlottes
love life would not end so nicely. Her love would become that of a
simple infatuation on Charlotte’s behalf but would not be returned.
Charlotte gave Jane, the ending she wished would have happened to
her, allowing for Mr. Rochester’s wife to pass on allowing her to
become his wife.
Charlotte also added the character of St. John due to a proposal
that was offered to her by the man that would later become her
husband Mr. Nicholas Bell. Who proposed to her while she was still
fawning over her Mr. Hege. She introduced the character of St. John
as a good match for Jane Eyre yet, like Charlotte she could not get
over her past love life to allow any room in her heart for
another.
Charlotte would make one final connection between herself and
Jane. In the end of Jane’s adventure she goes back to find Mr.
Rochester blind and burned. After marrying him she learns that he
is gaining sight in one of his damaged eyes and they make haste to
London to speak to a surgeon about the options he has. After having
surgery on his eye he gains sight back in one eye. This is an
ending that came about due to Charlotte’s father’s eyesight being
lost. During the time that she wrote Jane Eyre, Charlotte was
standing vigil at her fathers beside after he underwent surgery to
remove cataracts. In a letter written by Charlotte to one of her
sister’s she say:
“The affair lasted precisely a quarter of an hour; it was not
the simple operation of couching, Mr. C. Described, but the more
complicated one of extracting the cataract. Mr. Wilson entirely
disapproves of couching. Papa displayed extraordinary patience and
firmness; the surgeon seemed surprised. I was in the room all the
time, as it was his wish that I should be there; of course, I
neither spoke nor moved till the thing was done, and then I felt
that the less I said, either to papa or the surgeons, the
better.”(230)
When asked about the comparison between herself and Jane
Charlotte had only to say on the subject, “She once told her
sisters that they were wrong- even morally wrong- in making their
heroines beautiful as a matter of course. They replied that it was
impossible to make a heroine interesting on any other terms. Her
answer was,
“I will prove to you that you are wrong; I will show you a
heroine as plain and as small as myself, who shall be as
interesting as any of yours.” Hence “Jane Eyre,” said she in
telling the anecdote: “but she is not myself, any further than
that.”(235)
This is the last I will say on the subject of Jane Eyre and
Charlotte Bronte. In my opinion they are one in the same, Charlotte
created her to live vicariously through and became one of the most
remembered of the Bronte’s sisters due to her novel. They hold more
similarities than she would ever want to admit.
Work Cited
Gaskell, Elizabeth. The Life of Charlotte Bronte. New York.
Penguin Putnam Inc, 1997. Print
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Mineola, Dover Publications Inc,
2002. Print
Beauty and the Beast
Literature and Media
20 October 2013
Beauty, a trait many compare to outward appearance, but in the
story by Mme Marie Le Prince de Beaumont beauty is what is in the
inside and that should be what is judged and deemed worthy of love.
Beauty and the Beast is one of the most famous fairy tales in the
world. Known for the underlying theme of looking past the surface
flaws and seeing the beauty underneath, it has become one of the
most cherished children’s stories in today’s culture. The character
of Beauty always sees through the monstrous mask of the Beast, and
falls in love with him, changing him into a prince. Adaptations of
this story has spanned into plays, movies, TV shows, and novels.
Mme Marie Le Prince de Beaumont never fully describes her Beast but
in many other adaptations the viewer or reader is given a
description of the Beast. Many adaptations focus on the character
of Beauty, who changes and evolves but always falls for the Beast
in any form he takes. The Beasts character is always changing from
a monster, to an animal, to a woman with a curse, the character of
the Beast has been portrayed in multiple ways. Using the source
text I will be focusing on the adaptations of the Beast within
three adaptations, Beauty and the Beast by Disney, Shrek, and a
novel by Alex Flinn.
In Beaumont’s story a merchant has six children, the youngest of
them is Beauty, upon the loss of her father’s riches Beauty takes
over the role of caregiver. When her father leaves to journey to
the sea to pick up a shipment he asks each of his three daughters
what they would like him to bring them back. The two oldest sisters
say jewels and jewels, Beauty however, says “ Since you are so kind
as to think of me, be so kind as to bring me a rose, for as none
grown hereabouts, they are a kind of rarity”(Beaumont 4). The
merchant upon becoming lost takes shelter in a palace. He eats the
food, and sleeps in a palace bedroom, and upon waking in the
morning he embarks on his way home he sees a rose garden. He picks
one for Beauty and as soon as he picks one the Beast appears giving
us our first appearance of the Beast’s character,
“My name is not My Lord, but Beast: I don’t love compliments,
not I; I like people should speak as they think: and so do not
imagine I am to be moved by any of your flattering speeches; but
you say you have got daughters; I will forgive you, on condition
that one of them come willingly, and suffer for you. Let me have no
words, but go about your business, and swear that if your daughter
refuses to die in you stead you will return within three months,”
(Beaumont 6).
The character of Beauty chooses to take her father’s place and
is welcomed into the castle. Upon her first sight of the beast is
described as “Beauty was sadly terrified at his horrid
form”(Beaumont 8). The source text focuses more on his personality
than on his appearance. This is truly the only adaptation that I
have researched that the Beasts personality is the main focal
point.
In Walt Disney’s animated movie of Beauty and the Beast, it
begins by first telling how the prince became the Beast, focusing
on his cruelty to an old woman who offers him a red rose for
shelter from the cold. Upon refusing her twice, the old woman sheds
her appearance and becomes a beautiful woman who lays upon the
prince a curse. The prince will take on the appearance of a beast
until his twenty first year when if he hasn’t found someone to love
him for who he is he will remain a beast. The Walt Disney
adaptation creates a beast that is more animal than man. The Beast
can talk and walk on two legs however; his appearance is that of a
mix between a bear and a lion. The Beast has a temper that is not
mentioned in the source text, for example in the Disney version the
Beast invites Belle for dinner upon her refusal he threatens to
beat down the door. Walt Disney’s version also portrays the Beast
as animalistic in his mannerisms, taking the dinner scene and
showing the Beast eating with his claws, upon seeing the look in
Belle’s eyes he picks up the eating utensils and in a sense
relearns how to be human.
James Beradinelli states in a review that “The ballroom
sequence, which mixes computer- generated backgrounds with
hand-drawn characters, is the best scene in the movie, but it is
nearly equaled by a handful of others. And, while the camera in
most animated films remains largely static, here it's frequently on
the move, soaring and zooming as it circles characters and imitates
tracking shots. Visually, Beauty and the Beast is so
carefully-constructed that repeated viewings reveal new details,
like the wayward strands of hair that fall across Belle's
forehead.”(Beradinelli). The ballroom scene is the most humanistic
that the Beast appears in the movies. Until this scene he still
maintains a very animalistic aura. When he appears in this scene he
is dressed like a man. He walks on two legs and dances with Belle,
he becomes the prince he thought he has lost.
In Beastly, Alex Flinn takes a story usually told from Beauty’s
perspective and places the story in the Beast’s. The story starts
out in modern day New York City, with a kid named Kyle. Kyle is the
most popular guy in his high school with the cruelest personality.
He asks the “weird” girl to go to the dance with him and she
agrees, asking her to the dance is going to be a joke. She asks for
him to bring her a single white rose. He stands the character
Kendra up, not knowing that she is a witch. She gives him one year
as he truly is, a beast. “You are ugly now, on the inside, where it
matters most… you are beastly” (Flinn). Flinn’s Beast is so
disgusted with himself that he moves into a house in the outskirts
of New York where his father hires him a blind tutor to educate him
so no one will see what has happened to him. The character Kyle
changes his name to Adrian in order to avoid anyone knowing his
true identity. Kendra gives him a year to find someone to love him
for him, instead of the cruel rich boy he once was.
Kyle learns of a girl named Linda who saw past his cruel
exterior when he was a regular guy. He realizes that if any girl
could love him for his personality, then Linda could. Similar to
the source text the father of the beauty trades his daughters’ life
for his own. Linda’s father gives her to Kyle, who tries over and
over to make her like him. He learns that gifts and riches won’t
make her care. Instead Kyle learns to enjoy her hobbies, and
introduces her to his gardening. Flinn’s beast is described very
similar to that of the Disney version, very animalistic however
without the anger issues. However, in the Flinn version the beast
is given a chance to not only return to his human form but also
asks that the people that have lived the year with him are allowed
to have the one thing they want the most. Beastly was number one on
the New York Times best seller list in April 24, 2011.
The last adaptation is Shrek, an animated movie created in 2001,
that takes place in a fairytale land where donkeys talk and
princesses are really stuck in towers. Unlike the other adaptations
the character of the Beast is not the scary ogre you meet at the
beginning, the Beast is the princess stuck up in a tower. Fiona is
a young princess who was cursed to be a beautiful girl by day but a
ogre by night. The only way to end her curse is if she experiences
true loves first kiss and with it take true loves form. Shrek is on
an adventure to get his land back but in order to do this he must
save Princess Fiona, little does he know of her curse or that like
the other adaptations of Beauty and the Beast, he will fall in love
with Fiona.
Fiona’s character wants nothing more than to become a human
permanently, she despises herself as an ogre not realizing that in
herself hat
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