Extra Credit Blog

The story of Sissy is very much like the story of Ellen Montgomery in The Wide Wide World, only the big and overwhelming difference is their genders. Both Sissy and Ellen spend much of their time at home and their closest companions are their moms, although Sissy doesn't seem to have quite the attachment that Ellen possesses. I find it interesting that both stories incorporate dress making as a vital aspect of the plots. Sissy makes Margie lovely dresses in order to show his love for her and almost as a bribe to keep her around because he enjoys her so much. Ellen must go to the store in order to get marino to have a new dress that will suit her for her future. I find the following passage interesting because it shows how Ellen's mom, who is wise of the necessities of a young girl, knows the necessity of her having a good dress. Ellen says, "...don't be in the least bit worried about my clothes. You know how little I think or care for them" and Ellen's mother responds with a smile and then "presently resumed her anxious look out the window" (Warner 36). The vitality of little girls having nice dresses is stressed because having these things was necessary if a girl was one day to find a husband. Sissy, although seemingly less interested in preparing Margie for her future, still stresses having nice dresses and seems to be living vicariously through Margie. He is a boy yet he enjoys dresses, having grown up dressed like a girl, yet being a boy he does not have to have nice dresses to secure his future or liklihood of getting married in the future.
Should it matter so much that Sissy is a boy while Ellen is a girl? It did in the 19th century for sure, with their strict and separate expectations for girls and boys. Us as readers in the 21st century can look on the text and maybe be more accepting of Sissy because there are more publicly feminine men. I think of Sissy as Clint off of the show What Not to Wear, and Sissy grows up to be a milliner. The idea of a "boy-milliner" was "striking" (Kellogg 564) yet Sissy lived a very successful life and eventually got married. It's interesting to note that the dresses that both Sissy and Ellen were so concerned with helped both of them fulfill the expectations of their different genders. Ellen's dress allowed her to eventually get married, a necessity of girls at the time to secure their future. Sissy's concern with dresses turned into a way for him to make money, allowing him to get married and have a family because his dresses allowed him to fulfill the financial duty that men have to their family.

Parenthood in "The Luck of Roaring Camp"

I think there is a message about children and parenthood that is being taught in "The Luck of Roaring Camp". The story takes the phrase "It takes a village to raise a child" literally as a whole camp of rough guys find themselves in charge of a young life. The aspect of the community working together to provide for the baby's needs suggests that society should as well, provide for the needs of the young, no matter if they belong to you or not.

Another aspect of parenthood I found interesting was the change that came over the rough, criminal-type guys at Roaring Camp. The presence of a new innocent life and the responsibility that comes with being in charge of this life completely transformed every individual and the camp as a whole. Kentuck turned from the grimiest guy in the camp to a clean cut man who "thereafter appeared regularly every afternoon in a clean shirt..." (Harte 536). It shows the impact of having a child on parents. I know many instances of people completely turning their world around from immoral to moral after having a baby because they know they must teach the baby to be good from their example. Having a baby present is the best incentive anyone could have to give up their bad ways for the child's sake. Having a child makes a parent forget about just themselves and put all attention on someone else. We should all act as if we are responsible of those in need and as helpless as this baby, even if we are not blood related. If everyone helped one another and acted as if the innocent and impressionable eyes of a baby were always watching our actions then the world would be a better place.

The Reader's Approach to Short Stories vs Novels

I’m relieved that we’re starting to read short stories, not just because school is getting more and more hectic but also so we can read the whole story, not just excerpt, so we can get the whole effect of the work and analyze it in its entirety. In reading the previous excerpts from novels I’ve felt like I was only scratching the surface of what the work is all about and all the ideas and character development that takes place. In long novels there is a long time and many pages for us as readers to figure everything and all the characters out. We as readers become attached to the characters because we spend more time learning about how they act in their life as the plot unfolds. In short stories it seems like we don’t have time to learn about complex characters in depth and analyze their characteristics. Instead, it seems like we are told directly how the characters are and we are meant to trust the narrator in his or her analysis moreso than in long stories where we have more experience with the characters to judge for ourselves. For example, in “Desiree’s Baby” Desiree’s personality is summed up in one sentence, “For the girl grew to be beautiful and genle, affectionate and sincere, -- the idol of Valmonde” (Chopin 517). The reader is left with no choice but to agree and depend upon the author and the narrator’s opinion on the matter as little other detail is given concerning her character.

So when I read short stories I feel like I don’t have to analyze characters as much but at the same time I have to analyze the wording of the narrator more. Since every word counts, there is little fluff and mostly everything is meaningful and should be analyzed. I find myself reading lines and phrasing over and over again to better understand what exactly the author wants me as a reader to understand or the idea I am supposed to take from the words. I’m not necessarily reading too differently, I’m still going through the work at about the same pace with maybe a few more notes in the margins than I had in the novel excerpts, but I find that I am analyzing the wording and small details mentioned in the short story far more than in the novels because they must be included because they are significant.

Little Lord Fauntleroy- male vs. female authorship

When it comes to authorship, it really shouldn’t make much of a difference if an author is male or female because it doesn’t change the actual text or the ideas being put forth through the text. Although the story is still the same, our analysis of the literature may change with information of whether the author it a girl or a boy. I think we all get in our mind what the author’s sex is based on how the story is written and what it is about. Women tend to write more about relationships, love stories, and things women could relate to while men seem to write more action and heroic tales. That is the stereotype at least, and some of the works we have written fall under these categories, like Washington Irving, a male, writing “Rip Van Winkle” about a crazy adventure of waking up after 20 years of sleeping and “The Wide Wide World” being written by Susan Warner, a woman, which is about domestic life and involves many emotions and a whole lot of crying. We have come to expect these different writing styles by men and women, and so it screws us up and we don’t know exactly what to think of writings that are exceptions to this general rule. It makes me think of Nicolas Sparks that writes all the love novels like The Notebook. It’s not that guys cannot write great love stories, it’s just more uncommon. Out of the works we’ve read I think the second half of “A Whisper in the Dark” seems like something that a man would be more apt to write but Louisa May Alcott is a woman.

In Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Little Lord Fauntleroy, I got the impression that the author was a girl by the wording like “he was so beautiful to look at that he was quite a picture” (Burnett 445). I didn’t picture a male talking about a little boy and describing him as “beautiful,” so it didn’t surprise me too much that Burnett was a woman. Ceddie seems a little girly to me too, with his long hair and clothes, and it seems less likely that a male would have made a boy character like this.

I think the main thing that changes when we find out that an author is male or female is our expectations of what the story will be about. I think that’s one reason why a man might go under a woman’s name or vice versa during this time period. People want to read a domestic fiction written by a woman who would seem to have more experience with the home life they are writing about while a man would have more experience about the outside world and people would be interested in what adventures they could come up with based on that experience. If we can’t tell if it’s a girl or a boy writing the story then there seems to be an even playing field where the author has no expectations they are set under and they can write what they want. The audience might not trust the work as much, however, because they would not have the additional information that is helpful in analyzing the literature.

Country vs. City business in Tom Sawyer

In order to encourage Tom to memorize his bible verses, Mary gives him a knife as a reward. “True, the knife would not cut anything, but it was a “sure-enough” Barlow and there was inconceivable grandeur in that—though where the Western boys ever got the idea that such a weapon could possibly be counterfeited to its injury, is an imposing mystery…” (Twain 427). This passage reminded me of the ignorance of country boys as far as money and possessions goes. They would not know a real knife from a fake knife, just as Frank, in Ragged Dick, couldn’t tell that a “silver pitcher worth twenty dollars” (Alger 376) in reality “aint worth sixpence” (Alger 377).

I can just imagine Tom or any other country boys going to the city and being scammed. That’s not to say that Tom isn’t witty and good at playing people. He’s clearly good at getting little treasures like bible verse tickets and doorknobs from his friends, so he is skillful economically in that way, but Tom does not have the city street smarts that Dick has. While both boys have a way of reading people and making business, Dick is a boy living in a real and harsh world of hunger and the danger associated with living on the streets. Dick knows the value of products and how to make real money while Tom, although the same age, is in a kid’s world where all his needs are provided for and his business transactions for little treasures does little for Tom but gives him a few moments of enjoyment and bragging rights among his friends.

For both Dick and Tom, wealth is acquired with the intention of having a good time with the wealth in mind. Because money is scarce and the boys in the country don’t have fun places or things to spend the money on like theaters and cigarettes, it is of little importance to have actual money. To a little boy in the country, being rich and popular meant having cool things like a dead rat on a string. The overall idea expressed about boys is that they should use all resources they can get their hands on to have fun. Girls were encouraged to buy things they would use to enhance their future, like Ellen in the Wide Wide World, while it seems to be acceptable for boys to live for the day and spend their wealth in foolish but fun ways.

Boys vs. Girls- Ragged Dick

It’s amazing how different the social expectations are between boys and girls. In today’s society it seems like we generally have the same expectations for girls and boys. They’re supposed to be good and mind their parents and go to school and play nice with each other. In the 19th century boys were expected to either go to school and learn a trade or work. It’s like they were being trained from early on to fulfill their economic duty to their family while the girls were being trained to be the perfect house wives. This perhaps says a lot about the 19th century society and how hard it was to prosper in that time. Boys and girls had to be trained early to fulfill their roles as adults while today, for the most part, we get to enjoy our childhood, learn a little, and eventually take on the responsibilities we will have as adults.

There was one big difference I found in the depictions and expectations of boys and girls that stuck out to me. There seems to be a double standard when it comes to boys. Girls are expected to act perfect and godly, while boys are encouraged to be good, but then are not severely looked down upon when their flaws are clearly visible. Horatio Alger depicts Dick as a “frank and straightforward” (Alger 342) boy who also lies, makes up stories, and tells “a wrong direction to honest old gentlemen unused to the city” (Alger 339) for the fun of it. Dick is also very business savvy but is then “careless of his earnings” (340). He blows the money he makes on gambling and entertainment instead of saving it for his next meal or to get ahead in life. Think of the shame a woman would have if she carelessly frivoled away money for cigars and movie theatres. Although no one is perfect, it is clearly more acceptable for boys to show their faults, in part because being a little bad is cool, which gives guys more power than just being good.

Another thing is that while boys are encouraged to show ambition in their life, as far as a career goes, women were only encouraged to do the housework required of them. The only way a woman could be ambitious and try to better her life was through having an advantageous marriage. The independence of little boys shows how their future is really in their hands while it seems that girls must rely on their family and the hope for a rich husband in order to get by.

Mental Insanity in A Whisper in the Dark

I was very surprised when insanity was thrown into the second part of A Whisper in the Dark because it so greatly differed from the first part. Sybil appears to be a very mentally sane girl, who acted much as a young teenage girl would, even if she is vain and giddy. She showed off her social competency through her ability to play men off one another. By inserting this girl who has the wealth and the whole world at her fingertips into an insane asylum the text changes from a romantic fiction into a horror story. The concept of insanity is scary and the descriptions of Sybil’s desolate setting are unpleasant as she describes the “hours of unspeakable suffering, which aged [her] more than years” (Alcott 235). We see the beauty Sybil was so proud of and used as a means of manipulation turn into an ugly “melancholy wreck of [her] former self” (Alcott 236). We pity Sybil and her misfortune but mental health was not well understood in that day and it held many negative connotations, as it does now to some extent as well. The general belief seemed to be “death of the body was far more preferable than that of the mind” (Alcott 236). Sybil was ashamed that she may be going crazy and the readers were as well uneasy about it.

The concept of insanity seems to put the readers on our guard and gives the entire novel a suspicious and scary feel. Especially since the work is written in first person, it makes us distrustful of the narrator of the story and with that makes us question what is really going on. I realized she might really be going crazy when she saw her mother dead (although she did not know that was her mother at the time) and she says, “An awesome fancy that is was myself assailed me… I recalled legends of spirits returning to behold the bodies they had left” (Alcott 237). I knew that this was an extremely strange thought and that the only way this could be true was if this story was a sci-fi, which it clearly isn’t. The fantastical story she made in her mind convinced me that she was not all completely there and therefore made me doubt the truth to the rest of the narration.

As far as the mother/daughter relationship goes, it is crazy how similar Sybil was to her mom. She looked the same, had the same hair, and was placed in a mental ward where she acted the same by pacing back and forth. It really takes the concept of “like mother like daughter” to a whole new level. Perhaps it sheds light on the concept of mental illnesses and how they can be passed down from mother to daughter through genes, or how a mother wants her offspring to not have the same problems as herself. Although Sybil’s mom did not know it was her daughter she was helping escape at the time, she still sacrificed herself to help her so Sybil would not have to live a life as desolate as herself, which shows a mother’s love.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom’s Cabin goes against many of the theories we’ve learned about Children’s literature. Children in children’s literature are usually seen as the hope for a better future. The books read to children are meaning to raise them with morals and values in order to better the country’s future. Slavery complicated this idea, however, because in depicting black children there is no hope in their future. When talking about an African American child in Uncle Tom’s Cabin it is always out of pity for the hardships and risk of being sold away from loved ones that the children will most likely have to endure. Aunt Chloe tells the baby playing on Uncle Tom’s knee, “Ay, crow away, poor creature!... ye’ll live to see yer husband sold or mebbe be sold yerself” (Stowe 293-294). While stuck in a hopeless situation, the new generation is just a reminder of the system of slavery they and their offspring and stuck in.

Stowe is clearly meaning to evoke sympathy and pity for the African Americans of that time and discourage the support for the slavery system. She does this through depicting a world that is not “good” in any way but in need of many changes in order to uphold the good Christian standing of the time. In The Wide, Wide World and The Lamplighter "good" is depicted through the hope in the future of the individual as well as the country. Ellen was taken care of by her mom and given what she needed to survive and Gerty was taken in by Uncle True and was able to change her life around from a desolate girl out on the streets to eventually a well-raised lady. The only hope Eliza has in saving her boy is getting him to Canada. Stowe is showing the problems in our society and country when America is no longer a place of hope for a better future. Our country was seemingly unfixable, and hence the only way to have a good life was to flee to another country that would uphold good Christian values in their laws. The people depicted as "good" are the one's who disregard the nation's laws for God's laws. Mary says, "I don't know anything about politics, but I can read my Bible... and that Bible I mean to follow" (Stowe 275). In the 19th century literature we've read anything Christian is considered good, and by making the Christian characters against slavery Stowe is attempting to swing the public opinion to think this way.

Crazy Coincidences in The Hidden Hand

One of the things that struck me while reading The Hidden Hand was the crazy coincidences and chance meetings that take place. Old Hurricane just happened to be called to the deathbed of Granny Grewell, who in her past just happened to end up taking care of Capitola, who just happened to be good friends with Herbert Graceson, who just happened to be Old Hurricane's nephew. And Herbert Graceson just happen to refer to a "poor widow" who took care of him who just happened to be Old Hurricane's abandoned wife, Marah Rocke. I promise I'm going to stop saying the words "just happened to" but I could go on and on about the how intricately all the relationships are interrelated. It makes you wonder why Southworth would want to interrelate the characters so much. To a point it makes the story interesting and keeps readers attention, but the coincidences almost reach a ridiculous level.

The plot involves many coincidences as well that move the story along. It’s very odd that out of all the little children in New York it was Capitola dressed as a boy that helped Old Hurricane with his bag. Then it is very strange that Old Hurricane goes to the police station “to set the police upon the search” (173) for Capitola the same day at the same time that Capitola was picked up for wearing boy’s clothing. The coincidence just seemed to expedite the process of finding the girl and moving the story forward. When Herbert Graceson just happens to come back from being out to see and ends up running into Old Hurricane and Capitola at the same restaurant Herbert expresses his surprise when he says, “I am determined not to be surprised at anything that happens, being perfectly clear in my own mind that this is all nothing but a dream” (184). By this point I wasn’t terribly surprised at the crazy coincidence because I had accepted that the story is not very realistic.

Since the work was written for periodicals and was published by chapter perhaps the situational coincidences and unrealistic connections make for an interested audience who are eager to learn where the story will go. I think past a certain point it makes the story seem generic and unrealistic, but the story is a mystery and perhaps meant to be strange and improbable in order to add to its charm.

The Lamplighter: Anna, the modern girl VS. Gerty

One of the main differences I found between Anna and Gerty was that Anna is encouraged to better herself for her own personal reasons while Gerty was encouraged to change to be accepted in society. Girls today are now encouraged to be themselves and be original. Anna’s advice is “Don’t really think about like what you have to do for people to like you …You probably want people to like you for who you are.” In our society, if someone doesn’t like you it is their problem. In contrast, in the 19th century girls were encouraged to be good and behave a certain way in order to be loved, as is demonstrated when Emily says to Gerty, “But you can be good… and then everybody will love you” (Cummins 141).

Girls are depicted as seeking balance in life both today and in the 19th century. Anna sought balance through yoga and freeing her mind from her troubles. Gerty tried to repress her angry and aggressive ways in her attempt at balance. Her methods of coping with stress were fairly different though. While Anna makes a funny face while doing the lion’s pose in yoga, Gerty throws rocks at windows and relieves herself “free to cry as loud as she pleased” (Cummins 147). Gerty does not release herself in a socially acceptable way and in both today and the 19th century it is encouraged for girls to be calm and well mannered even during stressful times.

I can laugh at the thought of Gerty on Amy Poehler’s show demonstrating her technique for balance by screaming though the streets. Gerty tells Emily “I do hate ‘em” (Cummins 148) as she talks through her life and the anger she holds within her, so I could see Girty talking to Amy Poehler on the show all about how she hates Nan Grant, but maybe how she is trying to be good and follow God’s example of forgiveness in order for her to be good to get to go to heaven. In response to the question “what advice would you give to girls” I could see Gerty answering something along the lines of “Be a good girl and do what you are told and people will love you, even if you are as ugly as me.”

The meaning I see behind the modern girl compared with Gerty is that growing up was and will always be a battle with finding oneself. It is a process of bettering oneself through experience and learning restraint. Growing up is about fixing personal weaknesses and overcoming negative aspects of life in order to become the woman all young girls look up to like Emily.

The Wide, Wide World

“The Wide Wide World” encourages us to view parents as the loving overseers of children. They hold supreme power and must be respected. Ellen says to her mother, “You have the management of me entirely.” Everything the parent does for the child is in the child’s best interest and preparing for the child’s future. Ellen says, “I know you’ll take care of me.” However, I get the impression from the text that the parents might not always know what is truly best for the children. Would boarding school not have been better for Ellen than going to her unknown Aunt’s? Mr. Montgomery in particular seems to have his own selfish agenda in mind as indicated my the last line of the passage: “But Ellen’s off—that’s one good thing—and now I’ll go and engage berth in the England.” Parting with his child was merely something to check off on his checklist of the day.

A father’s role is purely financial. He is meant to work hard so that the children will be able to afford the necessities for a decent future. Mr. Montgomery’s presence is not welcome and Ellen takes no enjoyment in him. He is a symbol of supreme rule and is feared and never crossed or questioned. Both Ellen and her mother have to almost slink around Mr. Montgomery in order to do what they want. When Mrs. Montgomery wants to wake up Ellen all Mr. Montgomery has to say is “I cannot allow it” and she has no choice but to follow his cruel orders.

Ellen expects her father to play as little a role in her life as possible, but to provide for her. She knows she must do whatever he dictates of her and she is too nervous around him to interact much with him. The old man was more of a father to Ellen than Mr. Montgomery. The passage says “Ellen and her protector went forth”, and as a parent’s primary job is to protect and take care of the child, the unknown gentleman better fulfills parental duties by helping Ellen shop than her true father’s incessant absence does.

Mothers are meant to be seen as the primarily caretakers for the children. A mother’s job is to prepare her daughter for her future. Mrs. Montgomery does this by making sure Ellen has every article of clothing and objects for letter writing that she could possibly need. Ellen loves her motherly almost too dearly and expects her to always be there for her and to comfort and converse with her. Her mother is her best friend and essentially her God. “She felt that in earth or in heaven there was nothing so dear [as her mother].”

Five Theories in Analyzing Children and Childhood Literature

First of all, we must realize that it is adults that are writing the literature, and hence adult ideas and perspectives must be taken into account and analyzed more so than the ideas and perspective of children. Children believe whatever they are told to believe, and even if they don’t, they are not the ones writing the stories they will be read. Jacqueline Rose says in “Dependent States” “It will not be an issue here… of what the child wants, but of what the adult desires- desires in the very act of construing the child as the object of its speech.”

Children’s literature is adult content meant to entertain children but serves a larger purpose of getting a point across that children may not be able to understand until they grow up. Many times there is a deeper meaning behind the plots and characters depicted, such as associating Rip Van Winkle’s nagging wife as England ruled by a tyrant woman. Although children would eventually catch on to the deeper meaning of the stories when they grew up, the literature is meant as a guide for Americans of all ages and “offers insight into what Americans wanted of and for their society” (MacLeod).

Another theory for analyzing children and childhood in literature is that adults are trying to manipulate and take advantage of the stage of childhood innocence when young minds can easily be molded and when most children have a desire to please and obey authority figures like their parents and their teachers. It is hard to manipulate people after they are already grown, and so through the stories, adults are sure to inject their ideas of how children and Amerians should act into the new generations. According to “Dependent States” children are “objects of socialization: taught to conform to social expectations.” The idea of being an American was being formed and authors wanted to make sure that all children would grow with a unified sense of how to act and behave in order to promote unity.

Children’s literature was also meant to teach children morals and values. Since America was a shaky new experiment and there was a new sense of great freedom, many believed that morals were key for the new coming generation to have in order for them to carry out social order. If they had no morals, the law would have little affect of them and caos would ensue. According to MacLeod, “All Americans of the period agreed that a high level of individual morality was indispensible if the promise of the nation’s future was to be fulfilled.”

Finally, Children’s literature teaches through examples. They depict stories of good things happening to good little children and bad things happening to those who disobey or lie. “While the fictional children learned from painful experience, readers could be forewarned and spared much misery by listening to their elders in the first place” (MacLeod). This method reminds me of when my mom would tell me if I didn’t wash my hair right after I got out of the pool it’d turn green or if I stuck my hand out of the car window it’d get torn off. It sounds horrible now but I don’t blame my mom for telling me that because she was just looking out for my best interest and the fear made me do what she told me to.

Introduction

Hello everybody :)
I'm Rebecca Oglesby and I’m a freshman psychology major. I'm most recently from Birmingham, Alabama, but have also lived in Idaho, the panhandle of Texas, and Argentina as well. I came to TCU because I wanted to come back to Texas for college. I just felt that TCU was the right size and fit what I was looking for in a college. If I was the Chancellor I would lower the tuition and save all the construction and remodeling of buildings for the breaks when students don't have to see it everyday. I don't know if I can truly put myself in his situation though, because I am biased and only looking at the student’s perspective.

A good teacher is someone who can relate the material to the students and interest them in subjects that were previously misunderstood or considered dull. A good student is a student who puts forth the time and effort to learn what is being taught and to enhance their academic skills.

If I could have dinner with three people it would have to be Gandhi, to learn some of his wisdom, Orlando Bloom, because he’d be nice to look at, and Meme (my grandma), because I admire her sense of humor and her opinions on meaningful matters.

As far as things you should know about me, I have two younger sisters and an older brother, I love to travel, and I enjoy playing volleyball and basketball. I’m a psychology major, so naturally I’m curious to know things about other people. I’d like to learn what people in the class enjoy doing, what different people’s views are on various subjects, and everyone’s background and where they’re from.

I’m taking this course to get the literature credit, but also because I enjoy reading stories. I liked the British novels class I was in last semester, and I feel that American literature will perhaps be more personal and relatable. I do not usually do much reading during the school year besides what is required for my classes, but during breaks and when I get the chance I enjoy reading novels. I enjoy books that are prevalent in pop culture like the Twilight series, but I also enjoy reading classics like Pride and Prejudice and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Beyond what I write for school, I write messages on facebook, texts, and e-mails. I feel that my writing is adequate because I have a lot of experience from previous classes I have taken, but of course I could use improvement in maturing my writing skills and impoving my sentence structure.

I hope to give off the impression that I am a nice, approachable person who puts effort into school and this class in specific. I love the color purple, and of course it fits with this being a blog about an English class at TCU. Perhaps my choice to deck out my blog in TCU décor makes me appear school spirited or relatable (since everyone else shares the same love for the horned frogs), but I hope this blog proves that I will actively participate and put forth effort in this course. I have read, understand, and agree to the terms of the course syllabus.