"An Indian's Looking Glass for the White Man"

Charles So
English 48A
Journal for Apess

Author Quote:
“[God] who will show no favor to outward appearances but will judge righteousness”(1053)

Internet Quote:
“Apess is now celebrated for his ability to combine the perspectives of Native Americans and European Americans and to manipulate the accepted modes of discourse to suit his subversive ends. Scholars have also described Apess's struggle to construct an identity as a Native American living among whites as strikingly contemporary” (found at enotes.com search William Apess)

Summary:
It starts off briefly describing the conditions of a Indian reservations and how the Indians living there have lost their morality. He blames many of the problems on the white man who oversees the reservation, Apess believes they do not care if the “Indians live or die“. William Apess, through his moving narrative brings up the concept of a chosen race by the white people and he suggest that there is no pure or chosen race or ethnicity. He also talks about the inconsistency of white peoples behavior with the words of the bible.

Personal Opinion:
Apess is burning as he reveals the underbelly of American society, for his people the Native Americans and also African Americans (the slaves) are being systematically being murdered or used as labor. Apess talks of a rebellion from such a evil government which reminds me of Frederick Douglass and Henry David Thoreau. However, Apess in many way is more critical he points out the cruel intentions of the white race and try to tell white people how they treat other races, “I would ask you if you would like to be disfranchised from all your rights, merely because your skin white, and for no other crime,”(1054) he is very bold as he talks about the inhumane acts of white people towards who they feel are inferior races.
　

"Rip Van Winkle"

Charles So           
English 48A

Journal for Irving

Author 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, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound” (955)

Internet Quote:

“As literature, as, thus, a unique kind of cultural expression, Irving’s tales and sketches allow us to see the manner in which attitudes, assumptions, and values were imaged in and by the creative act”  (Rip, Ichabod, and the American Imagination by Terence Martin found in http://www.google.scholar.com/)

Summary:

Rip Van Winkle is non ambitious and very lazy, but he has kids and a wife. His wife nags at him about it his contentment for mediocrity and her pestering unnerves him. Winkle is a man who does not like to work or do any type of hard labor. He frequents a club where people talk and gossip about the daily news around the parts. One day fleeing from his wife and work he goes to the top of the Catskill Mountains and meets the ghosts of Hudson and his crew. He ends up drinking with them. He then falls asleep from the drinking and then wakes up 20 years later from his drunken slumber. He then goes back down to the town and finds everything has changed.
Personal Opinion:

It seem the short story was about the peaceful, idealic life of a worry free man who has a nagging wife. There is peacefulness in how Winkle lives his life without any worries and he seems to be happy but his wife always insist he needs to do more. Winkle can be seen as a message of waking up from the rule of England. As Winkle wakes up and goes to town he bring up King George as a testimonial and finds out now that President George Washington is in charge. This can be looked at as a message about the colonies before the revolutionary war. Even though everything has changed Winkle is satisfied with the new present that he awoke to and how everything has turned out. He does not concern himself with anything and he is most happy that his nagging wife has past away and she can not pester him about where he has been that past 20 years.

"Resistance to Civil Government"

Charles So
English 48A
Journal for Thoreau
Oct. 20, 2010

Author Quote:
“That government is best which governs not at all; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have” (1857)

Internet Quote:
“His work is so rich, and so full of the complex contradictions that he explored, that his readers keep reshaping his image to fit their own needs”
By Ann Woodlief www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/thoreau/

Summary:
Henry David Thoreau says that the government should be beneficial for its citizens, for it was meant to work for the citizen. The government now is a machine it now is being manipulated in congress by a few individuals out for their own hidden agendas and Thoreau brings up the Mexican War as one reason because he says, “ the people would not have consented to this measure” (1857). Thoreau wants people to stand up against the government and speak loudly in what they want from their government, there is an appeal for a the conscience of the nation to speak up and shout.

Opinion:
Thoreau is very contentious, he brings up social ideas which seems very controversial and ahead of its time and it might of shocked who ever read it. The suggestion for the citizen to want and expect the government to be a credit to them is very influential, there is great inspirational power as he speaks about the unconstitutional and unconscionable practice of slavery by the nation. Overall there is a strong message for standing up for what you believe in and resistance to the governments machine like ways. 

"Self-Reliance"

Charles So
English 48A
Journal for Emerson
Oct. 18, 2010

Author Quote:
“I hope in these days we have heard the last of conformity and consistency. Let the words be gazetted” (1169)

Internet Quote:
“following Emerson himself, it’s aim is provocation” Cambridge companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson by Joel Porte, Saundra Morris google.scholar: review of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Summary:
In “Self-Reliance,” Ralph Emerson talks about believing in yourself and the unique genius in all people. He writes about the nuances of society that he disapproves of , for instance he believes society can entrap people into mediocre lives. Emerson conveys to the reader not to restrict or judge themselves by societies standard, and that a person should strive for what is true in their heart, so they can be truly triumphant.

Opinion:
Its fascinating how Emerson brings up contemporary artist to show the beauty of being different and unique, yet when he brings up iconic figures of history such as Christ its moving because he puts the idea that such greatness can be attained by anyone if they just go for what they want to do. He brings intense passion to the idea of trusting your feelings and stepping away from the institutional conformities. His writing expresses a welcoming for new and transcending ideas. I feel Emerson was pushing for innovation, for he pleaded for everyone to break away and think outside the box.

"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass"

Charles So
English 48A
Journal for Douglass
Oct. 12, 2010

Author Quote:
“This good spirit was from God, and to him I offer thanksgiving and praise” (2085)

Internet Quote:
“knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom" (wikipedia.org)
　
Summary:
Frederick Douglass describes his emotions on how fortunate he felt, to be chosen, amongst all the other slave children in the plantation. He believes it was a act of destiny by God that he would go to Baltimore to live with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, there he learns that knowledge is the key to his freedom. “Narrative and the Life,” by Douglass is a first hand look at slavery and all its deplorable acts, from control and manipulation the book describes many facets of the system of slavery.

Opinion:
I find it very interesting when Douglass explains the hypocrisy of slavery in the Christian nation, he explains the vile ways in which text from the bible are misused and how the people who supposedly are men of god are but blind to their own sins that they commit. Slavery is sin, Douglass tries to convey that a nation found under Christian beliefs should not allow the enslavement of another human being, Douglass explanation of the slave owners elaborate trap or system that manipulate and control slaves into thinking they are less than human and that they are but animals is very shocking to me as I have known about slavery and the slave owners use of physical brutality in order to control the slave, but I have never thought about mental aspect in controlling a human, the whole brainwashing and breaking down of a man’s soul is outlandish, it can boil the blood.

"The Fall of the House of Usher"

Charles So
English 48A
Journal Poe
Oct.7, 2010


Author Quote:
“I learned, moreover, at intervals, and through broken and equivocal hints, another singular feature of his mental condition”(1556)

Internet Quote:
“A tale of sickness, madness, incest, and the danger of unrestrained creativity, this is among Poe's most popular and critically-examined horror stories”(enotes.com)

Summary:
As the narrator learns more about his mysterious friend, whom he hasn’t seen since their childhood, he learns about the desolate life style in which his friend Roderick Usher has been living. Usher is in a state of enchainment to his house because of his superstitious feelings and his unknown mental condition. As the story flows on, the narrator learns that death of Usher’s twin sister and becomes more entrapped by the house’s ghastly aura, and he himself start to unfold from reality as he starts to have mysterious phenomenon’s.

Opinion:
I was very confused by this one, I thought the story was dark mystery full of suspense. Roderick Usher I feel called the narrator to witness the demise of the Usher’s, Usher knew that his death and the house would soon come so he invited someone dear to him so they can witness and know of the secrets of the house and family.

Oct. 5, 2010 "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Charles So
Eng. 48A
Journal for Hawthorne
Oct. 5, 2010

Author Quote:
"Tremble also at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil? What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape so awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!" (Hawthorne 1320)

Internet Quote:
“The story's macabre tone and repressive early-colonial New England Puritan setting are familiar elements in Hawthorne's fiction, and they serve to underscore the unsettling behavior of the main character and the work's concern with the nature of secret sin and humans' fallen nature”(e.notes.com)
　
Summary:
Father Hooper was incited to say these words by Reverend Clark, who selfishly came to the dying bedside of the Father, in an attempt to reveal the secret behind the black veil. The quote from the dying Father is very eerie as he reveals all the misfortunes that the black veil has put on him and brought out on others. From the beginning of the “parable,” the black veil brings out antipathy from all the people around him because they presume there is something dreadful about it, although Father Hooper is the same in act and demeanor, his black veil brings out the negative imaginations of others which leads to the slow separation between the Father and neighboring people.

Response:
The main theme of “The Minister's Black Veil” can be interpreted by Father Hooper's dying words and who he says it to; Reverend Clark. The Reverend is a great example for the dark nature and actions of people to the unknown such as the black veil. I say this because the Reverend presents himself as being there to show respect to the Father and as a guide of some sort to his death, however the Reverend is there only to find out the secret behind the black veil. As he is denied his true rude nature comes out and Father Hooper lets out his last statement in which I feel he condemns society for the way they have treated him and others alike.