Journal for Apess

Gregory Alcala
English 48A
October 29th 2009
Journal for Apess

Quote:
“If black or red skins or any other skin of color is disgraceful to God, it appears he has disgraced himself a great deal-for he has made fifteen colored people to one white and placed them here upon the earth.” -The Norton Anthology: American Literature 7th Ed Vol. B
Summary:
This is a deep quote written by an Native American to remark on. Apess is stating something that is still very true today, that the whites are a minority. Yet it is the white people saying that God has chosen them to lead the world. Apess, being a minister, instead of preaching just the praises of God also writes about how the design of God could be ‘disgraceful.’ The ratio of whites to non-white people in America, with African American slaves and Native Americans, and the small number of whites oppressing them both. This quote stuck out for me cause I had just read shortly before this in Apess’s biography that he was turned to Christianity during his childhood. Apess might have had these thoughts floating around his mind.

Quote:
“At a time when whites presumed Indians were dying out or being moved west of the Mississippi, Apess attacks whites' treatment of Indians using forceful language and rhetorical skill.” -William Apess, A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff (http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/heath/syllabuild/iguide/apes.html)
Summary:
While the white people of America thought that Native Americas were quietly being moving into smaller and more distant lands, Apess was writing to get human rights for the Indians. He was the first Native America writer that wanted to see more happen for the Native American people. Apess is remembered for his writing that made his readers look at the oppressive force on the Native Americans.

Overall Summary:
Apess did have a very strong view and was not lacking passion in his writing. I could not really wrap my mind around the message as strongly as the reader might have when it was first published. This is all distance history for me so I feel so removed for it. However, that doesn’t make his words less powerful just I feel like the target he is aiming for is no where close to me. I can only hear the thunder in the distance that is the message Apess wants me to hear.

Journal for Irving

Gregory Alcala
October 27th 2009
English 48A
Lankford
Journal for Irving

Quote:
“Rip Van Winkle, however, was one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, which ever can be got with least thought or trouble…” -quoted from The Norton Anthology: American Literature Vol. B
Summary:
Irving’s writing really could have been much shorter for today’s reader to understand that Rip Van Winkle was a lazy man. But this style of writing was needed for the reader about 200 year ago. Van Winkle didn’t care what kind of food he got as long as it didn’t take work to get it. I love that sentence. I can see Van Winkle walking the shorter distance to the half eaten loaf of bread then working for a dollar to buy a fresh loaf.

Quote:
“We feel a just pride in his renown as an author, not forgetting that, to his other claims upon our gratitude, he adds also that of having been the first to win for our country an honorable name and position in the History of Letters.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow the addressing the death of Irving, Poems and other Writings, J.D. McClatchy
Summary:
It is always difficult for me to find a quote about the author that is not from a critic. However, Irving had an great impact on the American poet Longfellow who used Irving’s Sketch Book for his school studies in literature. Longfellow remarks that Irving was the first American to win a literacy award for his writing. Longfellow is remember the first American writer that would break ground in America and become popular in Europe.

Overall Summary:
People describe the stories of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as some of the first American folk stories or fairy tales. I think too many authors have turned to a very frank way of writing. Writers like Irving use more words to describe the surrounds and characters. Even his non-fiction work on the History of Columbus was used in American classrooms till the 20th century. Irving was a great writer who didn’t start out as a writer. It seems like the best writers of American Literature didn’t start off that way and just feel into it. Irving was slightly different from other greats like Poe and Melville cause Irving was able to support himself with his writings.

Journal for Emerson

Gregory Alcala
October 20th 2009
English 48B Lankford
Journal for Emerson

Quote: "...but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude." -quoted from The Norton Anthology: American Literature Vol. B
Summary: Emerson's writing of Self-Reliance encourages his readers to stick to their guns and stay true to themselves. This quote taken from that his writing shows that even when in a mob of people who are all flowing in a single direction that it is the act of a great man who can still think for himself. The sweetness of solitude Emerson writes about in this quote is the idea that the mind in each person can be completely singular and without need of others influencing it's actions. This is the sweetness of solitude.

Quote: "The brilliant genius of Emerson rose in the winter nights, and hung over Boston, drawing the eyes of ingenuous young people to look up to that great new start, a beauty and a mystery, which charmed for the moment, while it gave also perennial inspiration, as it led them forward along new paths, and towards new hopes." -Theodore Park, fellow transcendentalist and minister
Summary: Theodore Park, who knew Emerson, saw the genius in Emerson. He could see the power in Emerson's words that had the power to influence people and change their mindsets. I'm not sure if the word of trailblazer is a correct one to use for Emerson. He did help and influence people, even other future writers of his time and later to become greater writers. He did open minds and make people question life around them.

Overall Summary:
Self-Reliance used so older English them what I am used to reading today. It was hard to follow cause it was Emerson's manifesto. Not a story like I have read in earlier classes. Emerson's work held more weight in his time them they do today. His words still hold meaning, I'm not saying it is irrelevant in modern times. He's meaning, message and moral have been said before. Other writers have taken that, and retold it to their own generation. For individuals to stand up against the grinding windmills of conformity and speak the truth.

Journal for Douglass

Gregory Alcala
English 48A
Journal for Douglass
October 13th, 2009

Quote:
“Death soon ended what little we could have while she lived, and with it her hardship and suffering.”-quoted from The Norton Anthology: American Literature, 7th Edition Vol. B
Summary:
Douglass is speaking about his mother in this quote. Douglass could not have known much about his mother because he was taken away from her when he was still very young. Douglass was told of her death and took the news “with the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.” He couldn’t have felt any other way with the very infrequent and brief meeting he had with his mother. His mother did not tell him who his father was. He heard whispers about who people thought it was but nothing solid. The separation of mother and son at Douglass’s early age prevented him for feeling deeper grief for the loss of his mother. Douglass wanted to show readers how this was common for slaves to be separated from their children, but he does not know the reason for doing this other then cruelty towards slaves.

Quote:
“Frederick Douglass sought to embody three keys for success in life:
Believe in yourself.
Take advantage of every opportunity.
Use the power of spoken and written language to effect positive change for yourself and society.” -quoted from the Biography of Frederick Douglass (http://www.frederickdouglass.org/douglass_bio.html)
Summary:
Douglass did believe in changing your life for the better by writing. His autobiographies showed a first hand experience of the extreme harsh and mistreatment of slaves. Douglass met hardships even as a free man in the North. He would write about those experiences also. Douglass proved to have a strong character when dealing with the oppression and set backs. If Douglass had a weaker character, he probably wouldn’t have published or been a public speaker. Both of which helped many people become antislavery.

Response:
Douglass’s writing showed American a first person view of slavery. Douglass became an speaker for African-American and women’s rights. His name is now famous among in American history because he was a educated slave who became a free man and still strived to change America into a better place.

Gregory Alcala
English 48A
Journal for Poe
October 8th, 2009

Quote:
“…with a utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium…” -quoted from The Norton Anthology: American Literature, 7th Edition Vol. B
Summary:
This quote is from the opening of Poe’s more famous work, The Fall of the House of Usher. His language is more eloquent then I am use to reading were today the style of writing is not accustomed. The more literature I read from further back in history becomes more and more rich that expands my vocabulary. This quote is setting the mood and atmosphere around the House of Usher. The reader finds out the darkness that is inside the house but it also settling around the house and darkening the lake surrounding the house. The dark and depressing mood surrounding the house could not be expanded to anyone and draws a comparison to set it a realistic term.

Quote:
“The historical Edgar Allan Poe has appeared as a fictionalized character, often representing the "mad genius" or "tormented artist" and exploiting his personal struggles.” -quote from Neimeyer, Mark. "Poe and Popular Culture", The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe. Cambridge University Press, 2002

Summary:
Edgar Allan Poe has been characterized as the dark poet. The mood of much of his popular writing have a Gothic tone throughout. When thinking of Poe or mentioning his work to others the general idea of the macabre comes to the front of one's mind. I've seen cartoon versions of The Raven aired on TV during Halloween which seems to be very appropriate.

Response:
The name of Edgar Allan Poe is know to all English students. His stories are share with the season of Halloween in America. That is how I first heard the story of The Tell Tale Heart and The Raven. Poe's writing have been adapted to film and other genres to reach many audiences. The story of his life only makes his works interesting to people how might even know a faction of it.

Journal for Hawthorne

Gregory Alcala
English 48A
Journal for Hawthorne
October 5th, 2009

Quote:
“When Mr. Hooper came, the first thing that their eyes rested on was the same horrible veil, which had added a deeper gloom to the funeral…” -quoted from The Norton Anthology: American Literature, 7th Edition Vol. B
Summary:
Hawthorne keep the image of the veiled faced minister in the forefront. He reminded the reader of the weight that the simple piece of black cloth that only covered Mr. Hooper’s face changed his character completely. The town that once so him as the leader of his flock of worshipers now treated him as a pariah. Even though it pained Mr. Hooper to see this drastic change in the way the town’s people reacted to his visage he did not remove the veil. Even when Elizabeth plead with him to hold the veil aside only once. It was a self appointed penance that Mr. Hooper had placed upon himself. Through his strong character he never removed the veil and to remove all doubt that anyone saw his face Hawthorne wrote that even ‘the lawless wind’ did not swipe the veil aside even once.

Quote:
“I am always so dazzled and bewildered with the richness, the depth, the ... jewels of beauty in his productions that I am always looking forward to a second reading where I can ponder and muse and fully take in the miraculous wealth of thoughts.” -quoted from the Journal of Sophia Hawthorne [Nathaniel Hawthorne‘s wife], January, 14th, 1951. Berg Collection NY Public Library
Summary:
This quote is from the private journal of Sophia, Nathaniel’s wife, but it is not spoken with spousal pride. Most of his writings was greatly appreciated with some less acclaimed work, like most writers. Sophia counted herself among his other fans. The work of The Minister’s Black Veil did take me a couple reads before I could under the meaning of the veil. Sophia must have done the same thing as I did before she could see the lesson Mr. Hooper declared before the people surrounding his deathbed.

Response:
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s verbiage is profound yet does not drive me back. It did take me a couple complete reads of the story before I could understand the choice of words. Hawthorne was friends with Melville at one time, and like Melville, Hawthorne drive from real life to help inspire him for the story of The Minister’s Black Veil. Great artists often inspire each other. Nathaniel Hawthorne is quoted to saying “Easy reading is damn hard writing.” The style of writing Hawthorne did for this piece of literature is now seen as a classical part of American history.

Journal for Rebecca Harding Davis

Gregory Alcala
English 48A
Journal for Davis
October 1st, 2009

Quote:
“…laired by day in dens of drunkenness and infamy; breathing from infancy to death an air saturated with fog and grease and soot, vileness for soul and body.” -quoted from The Norton Anthology: American Literature, 7th Edition Vol. B
Summary:
Davis had created a extremely vivid image of the industrial city through her choice of words. The speaker in Life in the Iron-Mills talks about the muddy river water filled with boats and barrages. The image is clear of the inhabitants of this town. A very real image is painted for the reader. Davis is showing the reader how the land has changed from the town turning into an industrial city. The people the narrator of this story also talks about how the change of the landscape effects the people. Drunk people staggering through the streets beneath the window of the narrator. The image of a sky that has lost it’s blue hue and is now dark and cloudy with no promise of rain. A town can change, both it’s people and the nature surround it by the industrial change.

Quote:
“When “Life in the Iron-Mills” appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1861 it was immediately recognized as a pioneering achievement, a story that captured a new subject for American literature—the grim lives of the industrial workers in the nation’s mills and factories.” -quoted from the Cengage Learning Online Study Center (http://college.cengage.com/english/lauter/heath/4e/students/author_pages/early_nineteenth/davis_re.html)
Summary:
Readers immediately understand the underlining message in the story Davies was writing about. The major change of America from country living farming communities to cities growing and factories and mills jobs becoming more common. The pictures of fields of crops and clean rivers would be replaced by the grayish hues of billowing smoke rising from dark bricked building. The descriptive realism of Davis’s work can create the mental image in anyone’s mind. Even to a country farmer that has not seen the change of the landscape that might creep out to the edge of his town. Middle and lower classes would see this change affect them the most. They would still be performing hard labor but with different tools and in different environments.

Response:
I had no problem understand what Davis was trying to show me as the reader. A clear image of this fictional town was created. Many details from the distant view of the river and the people walking and some staggering from being drunk. The hard etched lines on the workers’ faces and dirty clothes of the factory workers. Even the canary in the story seemed to be crying for the lust green nature it had be torn from. I really enjoy this work by Davis. I’m a visual learner and with this highly descriptive choice of words I can see the image writing about. I hope her writing style of realism is something I will be able to emulate even if it is only in my eyes.