Uncle Tom's Cabin: Complication on what we already know

Uncle Tom’s Cabin completely is different from what we view as “classic” children’s literature. First off we see that the selection we read is not really written for a child to comprehend, and does not have a child as the main character. For example the first sentence of the selection has very intricate words the average child would not understand like, “It is impossible to conceive of a human creature more wholly desolate and forlorn than Eliza, when she turned her footsteps from Uncle Tom’s cabin.” (243) While the first sentence from The Lamplighter is, “It was growing dark in the city.” (79) Stowe’s book is obviously not written to the lower vocabulary level that Cummins’ book is. I find it interesting also that Stowe has primarily adult characters. I feel that Stowe did this for a reason. I bet that Uncle Tom’s Cabin was used to impact the adults and get them to teach what they think about the book to their children.
I know that we talked about how slavery was a topic that would be talked about, but I feel that Stowe is aiming for the older audience to impact the younger audience. I feel that slavery is an important enough of a subject it cannot safely be translated down to the children and still have the same effect. I think that slavery also shows that no matter if you are good or bad, things for the slaves always end up badly. “’Lucy,’ said the trader, ‘your child’s gone; you may as well know it first as last.’” (327) Lucy had been a very good person, obeyed her masters, went with the strangers, and was a good Christian, yet her child get’s stolen. Personally I do not feel that as a good incentive to be a good, obedient Christian. I think that there is a disconnect between Stowe and the other selections we have read because of the point Stowe was trying to make, and the fact that the main lesson wanted to be obtained was a very serious event, and there is no way to make slavery an easy to accept or listen to thing. Stowe obviously did a great job with her writing, but I do not feel that it is necessarily “children’s literature”.

Description and Who Decides the Best?

At the beginning of this course we talked about what the basics of children’s literature were, and what to look for. I found it interesting that this story broke a major one of the rules that we really focused on. We talked about how details and description were basically left out on purpose in children’s literature. We talked about how they did this so that the children would focus on the correct information of the story. In The Hidden Hand we are literally hit with details and description from the first page of our selection. “Hurricane Hall is a large old family mansion, built of dark-red sandstone…surrounded on three sides by a range of steep, gray rocks, spiked with clumps of dark evergreens, and called from its horseshoe form, the Devil’s Hoof,” (151) is the first paragraph we read. Why would E.D.E.N Southworth go against the grain to such a blatant extent? I think that Southworth was hoping to really prove a point and use the details provided to affect the effect of what was taught by helping the reader visualize it. Later on in the text we read a brief description of Marah Rocke’s little house. “You enter by the little wooden gate, pass up the moldering paved walk, between the old, leafless lilac bushes, and pass through the front door right into a large, clean but poor-looking sitting-room and kitchen,” (189) is used before we know the past of Marah Rocke and Old Hurricane. Could the author use these sad details to almost make us feel sorry for Miss Rocke? I think that Southworth wants us to feel sorry for Rocke especially after we find out what the minimal information we are given about her past with Old Hurricane.

I find it interesting that during the time period we are studying there are not many American novels included. I personally have really enjoyed all of the books we have read so far and I think that they are of merit. I would be curious and interested to find out what really makes certain books become part of the list. I see that the ones they choose for the most part have been one’s to cause a change. I think that a major American novel should be based on how it is perceived by society. If we took it more off of what people really think, I bet there would be more novels added to the list.

Balance for the Girls

From the 1800’s to the current time in the 2000’s there have been many changes in regards to girls. Some things have stayed the same in what we expect from all little girls. In today’s society girls are expected to grow up into great women. We expect the girls to be well behaved, have a balanced life, and be happy. The video shows us how the girls in our society today are working to deal with maintaining the balance they need to in their life. Girls today will tend to balance school, sports, social life, relationships, and much more.

In Cummins’s The Lamplighter we see how Gerty would like to have the proper balance in life. Back in this time girls were expected to balance a different set of things. Gerty is expected to be well dressed, act properly, and etc. “’Mrs. Sullivan dressed me all up, and brushed my hair,’” (Page 105) shows how important it was after she got to go home with True to be shown how to be an actual woman since Nan Grant didn’t do it. Gerty had a much rougher upbringing than what one would guess Anna in the video had. Basically our views on girls are basically the same it is just the things they are dealing with are a little different.

If Gerty were on the show I think they would have talked about how she lived with Nan Grant and how terrible the woman was for keeping her around because “she did not care to excited inquiries by trying to dispose of her elsewhere" (Page 81). I think that they would talk about how rough it was especially when Nan Grant basically fried her only friend. Instead of talking to her like she was on the same level and more mature I bet that Amy Pholer would talk down to Gerty just simply because of all that she had gone through. I think that Amy Pholer would not be asking for advice or help, but to help her by giving her any help she thinks she needs. I think that she would again help show that the girls are expected to do the similar things as many years ago, just have different obstacles to handle.

The Parents Role in The Wide, Wide World

In Warner’s The Wide, Wide World we can see the relationship between the parents and children to be very cut and dry. There is no way to miss out on the views from the 19th century on how parenting was to happen. In the part of Warner’s The Wide, Wide World, we see that the mother is the one that is to bring up the children. She works out of the home and is in charge of rearing the children. The father is nowhere to be found, and has no apparent relationship with or really cares for the child. The father shows his complete annoyance with his daughter, Ellen, and we see that Ellen does whatever is necessary to no bother her father. For example, before Ellen and her mother go shopping, we find her reluctant to go into the dining room until her father has completed his meal and moved on. I think that Ellen, despite her excitement for the day’s activities is partially afraid of her father. She does not have the relationship with him that she has with her mother. Also, when it is time for her to leave to go to her aunt’s house, Ellen is hugging her mom and sobbing over losing her mother. When her father comes up the stairs he is merely the bearer of bad news, and he barely even says goodbye to his only daughter.
In this story I do believe that the father is an exaggeration of how most would act with their children. I do agree with what is stated and shown about the mother. It is just natural for a mother to have the paternal instincts to care for the child and bring them up to be little ladies or gentlemen. I wonder if Ellen had been a boy then her father would have paid more attention to her? It works well with the story though for her father to ignore her, because then we see how important her parents are. I think Ellen respects her father, but feels neither love nor affection for him. I mean who could blame the girl. Her father completely ignores her and doesn’t even care that he is taking her mother away from her. I think Ellen doesn’t really expect much from her father, but expects the world from her mother. Showing us the true tie to the mother that the children of the 19th century had.

Constructions of Childhood

When observing childhood literature there are many different theories and ideas that are important to keep in mind when it comes to analyzing what is being said. One theory that can be gathered from “Children’s Literature for a New Nation” by McLeod is that children are always taught a moral lesson. You will tend to see such things as the good always end up with the better outcome, while the bad always receive harsh discipline in what happens. In McLeod’s work it is stated that “they were written to teach, and specifically, to teach morality.” It is plain as black and white. If we think back to simple stories we were told as children I guarantee you can think of at least on with some sort of a moral lesson.
A main idea can be found from Sanchez-Eppler’s work Dependent States: The Child’s Part in Nineteenth-Century American Culture is that the children are important to the society, thus yielding great control. I believe that is why children’s literature is taken so seriously and has such deep meanings. In Sanchez-Eppler’s work it says, “Children can simultaneously and seamlessly function as both objects and subjects of social control, since in their state of dependency it is precisely what they lack that makes them rhetorically efficacious.” They hold the future of the society.
Another thing to keep in mind is that there will be few details. This is done to keep the work able to be identified with many different cultures and areas. I think it is also done to keep the children’s focus on the moral that is the main goal to be learned. In McLeod’s work it says, “No doubt because their purposes were so selective, authors gave scant attention to the settings of their narratives.”
Keeping in mind that in that time period children were just being used to make adults. In Sanchez-Eppler’s work it says, “Children matter then not as selves, but as stages in the process of making an adult identity.” Children were dependent and so they were not considered an actual person.
One last thing to keep in mind is that all of these works are usually written by adults causing them to be written from the viewpoint of what is felt about what happens, not just told what happens. We see plenty of own thoughts on a subject just from the way an author writes his/her story. In McLeod’s work it backs this thought up, “What the fiction speaks of is not so much what happened in the period as what many quite representative middle-class Americans felt about what was happening.” When reading children’s literature there are many different things to keep in mind to make the understanding of what is really being said or taught.

An introduction

I am Effie Bates from the lovely Hill Country of South Texas. I was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, but by the age of nine months I was moved down to Kerrville, Texas. I am currently a first year student at TCU, but transfered in enough hours that technically this semester I could be considered a sophomore. I am a Movement Science Major with the hopes of becoming a physical therapist. I have a great passion for sports. I grew up on the soccer field and in the gym hitting a volleyball around. My father was very involved in my sports careers from coaching me when I was little in the local soccer leagues, to the advice before and after a game I would receive from him. I have been raised a Christian and am one by choice. I have also been raised hunting and fishing. I love the great outdoors and love to spend my free time there. I have grown up in a church down in Fredericksburg, Texas where my grandfather was the pastor. I actually found TCU through a girl who graduated from here that I went to church with. She basically convinced me that I would thrive better here than at Texas A&M which is where I was set on going since about birth. If I was made Chancellor of TCU, I do not believe I would have much to change. I would probably just implement some new traditions and make sure that TCU was well advertised to the high schools all over Texas and even all the other states. I feel a good teacher is someone who cares enough to be willing to help, but also makes the students learn how to do it themselves. A good student is one who strives for perfection but is not afraid of failure. Three things to know about me would be that I am a morning person and very optimistic, I am a Christian, and I am an athlete at heart but not an athlete for TCU. I am taking this course because yes it is required, but it sounded to me like the most interesting out of the literature courses. I hope to gain a further knowledge of how children were viewed back in the nineteenth century and how the authors tended to write. I read for my classes, but unfortunately am very busy outside of class so my outside reading is limited to my Bible. I primarily e-mail and text, I mean I am a teenager. I would say my blog shows I am very lighthearted by the light colors on my page. It shows that I have school spirit seeing as my profile picture is from the bowl game our football team just played in and I was fortunate enough to attend. I show my roots in my introduction and show that I am a true to heart Texas girl. In the class I hope to bring interesting discussions to the table and look at things in all different kinds of perceptions.