Journal for Herman Melville

Gregory Alcala
English 48A
Journal for Melville
September 30th, 2009

Quote:
“’I prefer not to,’ he replied in a flute-like tone. It seemed to me that while I had been addressing him, he carefully revolved every statement that I made; fully comprehended the meaning; could not gainsay he irresistible conclusion…” -quoted from The Norton Anthology: American Literature 7th Edition Vol. B
Summary:
Melville short story, Bartleby, The Scrivener, is written in a narrative form. This quote shows Bartleby’s lack of excitement for his job. Melville described Bartleby as cadaver-like, I see in my mind’s eye an animated corpse doing the copying of legal documents. Without need of emotions, only doing the simple humdrum work. Melville is showing the major change in America of people moving into cities or the cities expanding further and the country side is being enveloped into cities. The jobs are changing to reflect the expansion of the cities. Farm work is being far less common and office work is normal. Bartleby is understanding of what his coworkers and employer is asking of him but Bartleby is not wanting to take part in it. Bartleby seems indifferent but when asked directly, Bartleby shows lack of interest in anything.

Quote:
“Herman created a refuge from this chaos in his second-floor library. Keeping to a regular writing schedule, he completed four novels, a collection of short stories, and 10 magazine pieces, as well as beginning work on a volume of poetry. The works Melville wrote at Arrowhead included Moby-Dick … “Bartleby the Scrivener.” Arrowhead influenced him greatly in his writing. The view of Mount Greylock from his study window, the one that brought him to Arrowhead, was said to be his inspiration for the white whale in Moby-Dick…” -quoted from the Berkshire Historical Society Herman Melville’s Arrowhead website (http://berkshirehistory.org/herman-melville/herman-melville-and-arrowhead/)
Summary:
Herman Melville was inspired by his surroundings and his past experiences in his writing. His first novel was fueled by his job on board a ship that took him around the South Seas. At his farm home at Arrowhead, a named Melville choose himself after finding an arrowhead while plowing, he wrote other novels which are rumored to have been influenced by his surroundings. Herman Melville wrote several more pieces of literature while staying at his farm, Arrowhead. It seems that without his visual aid and memories from his past he would not be able to create his literature.

Response:
Herman Melville’s works are famous around the world for their detail. The opening sentence to Moby Dick is famous for being so causal, as if he is speaking directly at the reader. I’m shocked that Moby Dick was not as famous when Melville was alive as it is seen now. It was probably ahead of it’s time and true art is not appreciated in that generation as it will be in later ones. If Melville drew from his own life experiences, Bartleby, The Scrivener, would seem to be Melville’s anger at the change of the working class in America. He wasn’t happy working in an office and Melville did have a government job given to him by his family. Melville died without getting the acclaim he was hoping his writing would bring him, but today writers and students of English see his work as inspirational.

Journal for Harriet Beecher Stowe

Gregory Alcala
English 48A
Journal for Stowe
September 30th, 2009

Quote:
“Her husband and her children were her entire world, and in these she ruled more by entreaty and persuasion than by command or argument. There was only one thing that was capable of arousing her … anything in the shape of cruelty would throw her into a passion….” - quoted from The Norton Anthology: American Literature 7th edition Vol. B
Summary:
This quote from Stowe’s acclaimed novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is speaking about the character Mrs. Bird the wife of the senator. Throughout this story Stowe writes that both women and slaves could persuade their husbands or slave drivers into thinking because of their own bias towards the lower class members. Stowe wrote that Mrs. Bird thought of herself as a true Christian by feeding and sheltering a run away slave. Stowe’s passion for showing the antislavery movement with Christian values is written through Mrs. Bird’s character. Mrs. Bird is described as a small figure, no more then 4 feet, that normally did not ask her husband questions about the House of States. Stowe is telling her readers that Mrs. Bird was the meek housewife who would listen to her husband and not think about subjects outside the home. Yet when Mrs. Bird talks about the law that was passed that would make it a crime to help run away slaves even in the slave free states she seems to fire up. Mrs. Bird convinces her husband that turning away anyone from their home would be going against the word of God. Through Mrs. Bird Eliza was able to get further into the North towards freedom.

Quote:
“"Uncle Tom’s Cabin" was the first major American novel to feature a Black hero. Harriet created memorable characters who portrayed the inhumanity of slavery making her readers understand that slaves were people who were being mistreated and made to suffer at the hands of their masters. Through her novel, Harriet insisted that slavery eroded the moral sensibility of whites who tolerated or profited from it. She wrote passionately to prick the consciences of fellow Americans to end their blind allegiance to slavery. ” -quoted from History’s Women (http://www.historyswomen.com/socialreformer/HarrietBeecherStowe.html)
Summary:
Stowe shook the nation with her novel, both the North an South saw this book as shocking. Abraham Lincoln when meeting Stowe for the first time after she had published Uncle Tom’s Cabin he allegedly greeted her by saying “So this is the little old lady who started this great new war.” Stowe’s work is remembered as a turning point in people’s view of slavery. Stowe’s novel was the first to show slaves as human beings who fled the Southern states to protect their children and to escape the horrible conditions. Stowe is famously remember as a feminist fighting to stop slavery and showing women as a intelligent members of society.

Response:
Harriet Beecher Stowe is a powerfully influential member of the popular American authors who would still have a novel that is seen as important in modern times. Stowe used American slang in her novel for character’s speech. This made the character more easily linked to the past and time the novel was set in. The reader gets a clearer mental image of what these character would sound like through Stowe’s writing. Still, this doesn’t make the character any less easy to understand of their struggle and the human emotions that each character feels when Eliza interacts with them on her escape to the North. Years after Stowe’s novel was published and slavery has been had been abolished in America, her novel is still read to see the genuine human emotions in each character.

Journal for Lincoln

Gregory Alcala
English 48A
Journal for Lincoln
September 29th, 2009

Quote:
“On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dread it-all sought to avert it.” -Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address, March 4th, 1865 quoted from The Norton Anthology: American Literature 7th Edition Vol. B

“’In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever.’ Beneath these words, the 16th President of the United States-the Great Emancipator and preserver of the nation during the Civil War—sits immortalized in marble. As an enduring symbol of freedom, the Lincoln Memorial attracts anyone who seeks inspiration and hope.” -quoted from the US Department of the Interior, National Park Service website for the Lincoln Memorial(http://www.nps.gov/linc/index.htm)

Summary:
The first quote is by Lincoln himself when speaking to the crowd after he was voted into office for the second time. I think Lincoln is showing his true colors by talking about the North and South states as part of the whole. He didn’t talk poorly about the South or cheer the North for bringing the South to their knees. He spoke honestly about the war and the loses on both sides.
The second quote is talking about how American History will talk about the 16th president. As a president who came into office about the face the greatest threat to the Union any president before him had faced, a civil war. Lincoln didn’t falter and stayed head of the Union to see the North win the war over the South and keep the States United.

Response:
After being the leader of a Nation that was threatening to rip in half had a powerful effect on Lincoln. Even in pictures, Lincoln is showed to have greatly aged during the civil war years, probably due to a great deal of stress. He spoke about how both sides, Northern and Southern, wanted to avert the war. The beginning of the war was still in living memory so lying about how easy it would have been to win against the South might have been to great of a lie. Throughout the speech Lincoln keeps a somber tone. He doesn’t get too excited about the end of the war in the favor of the North or his victory over overwhelming odds.