american lit

The great migration

1900-70, Lack of economic opportunity in the South led to internal migration from the early 20th Century. 3 million white southerners moved north. However, the Great Internal Migration was primarily the story of African Americans - 70% of migrants were black Americans, hoping to escape segregation, prejudice and economic disadvantage. Many migrants settled in inner cities and worked in stockyards, slaughterhouses, railways, domestic service. They suffered widespread discrimination in housing and employment.

The dust bowl

result of a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s

All foreigners were ignorant people who couldn't speak English. - jims classmates beliefs (my antonia)

All foreigners were ignorant people who couldn't speak English

Charlotte gilman the yellow wallpaper

hostage of the home, There is a sense of death by the end of the story - by confining women to the domestic sphere, we simply confine women to death, intellectual and spiritual

american puritanism

‘A key element of Puritan self-understanding is the Calvinistic principle of predestination, which culminates in the belief of the early colonists that their American settlement is God’s chosen colony.’

told him "to pray every day, and whatever [he] asked for he would get it. But it warn't so. [He] tried it" (8). - Miss Watson (huck finn)

told him "to pray every day, and whatever [he] asked for he would get it. But it warn't so. [He] tried it" (8). - Miss Watson (huck finn)

Pragmatism

• focus on what life is not what it could/should be.

• States that life experience and personal judgement are what actions should be based upon,

• Steinbeck called this 'non-teleological' or 'is' thinking, with a focus for living in the moment, not focusing on distant events.

Pre 1880 - sentimentalism

• popular with women, domestic novels in sentimental style featuring young girl protagonist depending on her moral compass to guide her though an immoral world - frequently leads to marriage.

• most popular american novel of 19th century uncle toms cabin used sentimentality to address evils of slavery (very problematic in current time, stereotypical etc)

• often associated with Christianity and/or forms of Christian benevolence applied to reform movements.

• Much of the reform literature addressed itself to developing a model of citizenship that dovetailed with class mobility, goal of middle-class belonging.

1800-1860 romanticism

• slavery debates, expansion of newspapers and book publishing, industrial revolution 

• changing ideas about the ‘old ways’

• valuing feeling and intuition>reasoning, emotions shape our experience and our knowledge of the world. he imagination is so important because it allows us to express our own individuality. It also allows us to access experiences and knowledge beyond our "rational" minds.

• away from the corruption of civilisation and limits of rational thought and towards integrity of nature and freedom of the imagination, instilled ‘proper’ gender behaviour for men and women.  

• Democracy and freedom, rooted in the American Revolution led to independence from Britain back in 1776, high hopes for the new nation.

• U.S.'s natural landscape—very different from Europe's— influenced writers of this movement  - "The frontier,"

• used symbols to allude to truths or knowledge that exist beyond rationality. Individualism  -  quintessential American value, american romantics - nonconformists. write about individuals tested by circumstance

american renaissance/transcendentalism

• 1840-1860

• true reality is spiritual, kant ideas, idealists, they are part-god, self-reliance, ideas of individualism and being in control of our own lives and fate emerson,

• seeking true beauty in understanding life via nature, poetry, many dark gothic-like short stories,

realism civil war and post war period

• 1855->

• literature that does not idealise people or places, e.g battlefield photography, short stories, objective narrator often from soldiers’ view or a loved one left at home

• does not tell the reader how to interpret the story, dialogue including voices from around the country

• post-war social realism: aiming to resolve specific social problems

• aesthetic realism: art detailing the world as we see it; can be cruel, e.g huckleberry finn twain my antonia, more dialogues from different parts of the country: awakening of women in the south

1861-1865 american civil war

• North (Union) Vs South (Confederacy)

• South wanted to keep Slaves, North against it

• Abraham Lincoln Emancipated the Slaves in 1863

• Union Victory

regionalism

1865-1915 writing about specific geographical areas, attempt for anthropological and sociological understanding

naturalism

1890-1950 more intensified version of realism, exposing the unpleasant and shocking aspects of life, nihilism, determinism: man’s life determined by external forces beyond control, collapse of the american dream in line with agrarian myth collapsing, struggle of the individual to adapt to nature and industrialism, still however, some faith in society

1900-1950 modern american period

darwin: survival of the fittest ideas, marx ideas: how money and class structures control a nation, freud: power of the subconscious, technological developments, US a superpower nation, rise of youth culture in high-school education, affected by WW1+2 and the great depression, high rates of immigration, e.g the great gatsby, grapes of wrath

1920 harlem renaissance

mass african-american migration to northern urban centres, more access to media and publishing after moving to north, superficial stereotypes revealed to be complex characters

Antebellum Period

The time period before the Civil War during which there were many reforms, including the establishment of free (tax-supported) public schools, improving the treatment of the mentally ill, controlling/abolishing the sale of alcohol, winning equal legal/political rights for women, and abolishing slavery.

Reconstruction Period

The period after the Civil War in which the states formerly part of the Confederacy were brought back into the United States. Measures aimed to integrate and encourage better opportunities for black people

American Revolution

This political revolution began with the Declaration of Independence in 1776 where American colonists sought to balance the power between government and the people and protect the rights of citizens in a democracy.

13th Amendment (1865)

amendment that abolished slavery throughout the entire U.S. with no compensation for slaveowners

19th Amendment (1920)

Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1920) extended the right to vote to women in federal or state elections.

Equal Rights Amendment

A constitutional amendment originally introduced in Congress in 1923 and passed by Congress in 1972, stating that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."

Reservations Policy

Started in the 19th century where many tribes were forces to relocate onto small portions of their former land, and open up the remaining land for white settlement.

Red Scare (1919-1920)

Brief period of mass anti-communist paranoia in the U.S., during which a number of legislatures passed anti-red statutes that often violated the right to free speech.

American Industrial Revolution

• Reached America by 1800s and boomed after the Civil War (1861-1865)

• Economy more based around factory system, improved transportation helped reduce movement prices

• Increased immigration. Women's rights, higher education, public education, and other ideas of individual rights became more prominent

• Groundwork for social commerce came from two important court cases. People felt safer to invest.

emegerncy Quota Act of 1921

• The emergency act restricted the number of immigrants to 357,000 per year, and also set down an immigration quota by which only 3 per cent of the total population of any ethnic group already in the USA in 1910, could be admitted to America after 1921.

First Wave of Immigration

• 1607-1830

• With the exception of the enslaved Africans, the first wave of immigrants were a fairly homogeneous group: most white Protestants from north-western Europe

• no restrictions or requirements for immigration.

• rapidly expanding country needed labour, so new immigrants poses little threat to American workers

The Second Wave:

• 1830s - 1880s

• Primarily Irish and German: Most Irish immigrants settled in Eastern cities / Most German immigrants settled on farms and in the cities of the Midwest and North-East.

• Differed from the existing Anglo-American society in religion and culture.

• For the first time, immigrant groups experienced widespread hostility and organised opposition.

Nativism

The ideology favouring those born in America and opposing immigrants

Reasons for increased immigration

• European Strife: war, famine, revolution and industrialisation

• Irish potato famine of 1847 cut the Irish population in half through starvation and emigration; many Germans left in search of economic opportunities; Scandinavian and Chinese immigrants also arrived in large numbers due to poverty and war

• America had a growing reputation as a safe haven for immigrants and a land of opportunity

The Third Wave:

• 1890s-1920s

• By 1900, 80% of immigrants were arriving from Southern and Eastern Europe - Most settled in cities, in poor urban areas, among others of their own ethnic group

• dramatic change from 1880, mostly north-western Europe

• large backlash accused immigrants of taking jobs away from 'native' Americans and even of being racially inferior to those from north-western Europe (the theory of Nordic supremacy)

The End of the Third Wave: closing the Gates

• European economic collapse after World War 1 lead to another surge in immigration to the US.

• Xenophobia grew as a result of the Bolshevik. Revolution in Russia and the anarchist bombings in 1919 → contributed to 'The Red Scare' of 1919-20.

• Foreigners increasingly seen as a threat to US jobs.

• Ku Klux Klan grew, opposing rights of African-Americans and Catholics and Jews.

The Eighteenth Century Slave Trade

• By 1808, an estimated 800,000 Africans were brought to America as slaves.

• The 1790 census recorded that one in five Americans were slaves.

• After the War of Independence, in 1776, the Constitution tacitly acknowledged the institution of slavery, counting each slave as three-firths of a person

There was nothing but land; not a country at all, but the material out of which countries are made.( my Antonia)

There was nothing but land; not a country at all, but the material out of which countries are made.

He wanted us to know they were not beggars in the old country… He left Bohemia with more than a thousand dollars in savings (my Antonia)

He wanted us to know they were not beggars in the old country… He left Bohemia with more than a thousand dollars in savings

a body never knows what traits poverty might bring out in 'em. It makes a woman grasping to see her children want for things - grandmother to jim about antonia (my Antonia)

a body never knows what traits poverty might bring out in 'em. It makes a woman grasping to see her children want for things

Antonia ate so noisily now, like a man,

Antonia ate so noisily now, like a man,

I was something that lay under the sun and felt it, like the pumpkins, and I did not want to be anything more. I was entirely happy. (my Antonia)

I was something that lay under the sun and felt it, like the pumpkins, and I did not want to be anything more. I was entirely happy.

I like to be like a man (my Antonia)

I like to be like a man

I wanted to show them our red plush furniture, and the trumpet blowing cherubs (my Antonia)

I wanted to show them our red plush furniture, and the trumpet blowing cherubs

'scantily clad' 'she was accused of making Ole Benson lose the little sense he had- and that at an age when she should still have been in pinafores (my Antonia)

'scantily clad' 'she was accused of making Ole Benson lose the little sense he had- and that at an age when she should still have been in pinafores

The older girls… learned from life, from poverty … been early awakened and made observant by coming at a tender age from an old country to a new(my Antonia)

The older girls… learned from life, from poverty … been early awakened and made observant by coming at a tender age from an old country to a new

you always put a kind of glamour over them. The trouble with you, Jim, is that you're a romantic. (my Antonia)

you always put a kind of glamour over them. The trouble with you, Jim, is that you're a romantic.

There it was, heroic in size, a picture writing on the sun. Even while we whispered about it, our vision disappeared (my Antonia)

There it was, heroic in size, a picture writing on the sun. Even while we whispered about it, our vision disappeared (human relationship with the land and nature, harmonious)

She was so quietly conventionalized by city clothes that I might have passed her on the street without seeing her (my Antonia)

She was so quietly conventionalized by city clothes that I might have passed her on the street without seeing her

the old pasture land was now being broken up into wheatfields and cornfields, the red grass was disappearing, and the whole face of the country was changing (my Antonia)

the old pasture land was now being broken up into wheatfields and cornfields, the red grass was disappearing, and the whole face of the country was changing

Antonia, that had so much good in her, had come home disgraced (my Antonia, failed engagement, abandoned while pregnant)

Antonia, that had so much good in her, had come home disgraced

I did not want to find her aged and broken: (my Antonia)

I did not want to find her aged and broken:

"If I'd just had a mother so I could say Mother Mother" (Quentin)

"If I'd just had a mother so I could say Mother Mother" (Quentin)

symbol of benjys birthday for the compson family (sound and the fury)

the ways that the family is stuck in continual unhappiness. His birthdays pass each year - but he never develops mentally past the age of three.

"Jason going to be rich man." Versh said. "He holding his money all the time." (sound and fury)

"Jason going to be rich man."…."He holding his money all the time." (sound and fury)

Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and a body ain’t got no business doing wrong when he ain’t ignorant and knows better.” (tom Sawyer to huck Finn)

Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and a body ain’t got no business doing wrong when he ain’t ignorant and knows better.” (tom Sawyer to huck Finn)

'I said, Why couldn't it have been me and not her who is unvirgin' (Quentin on caddy)

'I said, Why couldn't it have been me and not her who is unvirgin' (Quentin on caddy)

"You git me that money tomorrow--I want it" (15). (pap, huck Finn)

"You git me that money tomorrow--I want it" (15). (pap, huck Finn)

" I's a free man, en I couldn't ever ben free ef it hadn' ben for Huck; (Jim, huck Finn)

" I's a free man, en I couldn't ever ben free ef it hadn' ben for Huck; (Jim, huck Finn)

so cool and fresh, and sweet to smell, on account of the woods and the flowers...and the song-birds. (huck Finn)

so cool and fresh, and sweet to smell, on account of the woods and the flowers...and the song-birds.

If there's one thing in the world I'm fond of, [...] it's my personal independence (portrait of a lady)

If there's one thing in the world I'm fond of, [...] it's my personal independence

There's no such thing as an isolated man or woman; (portrait of a lady

There's no such thing as an isolated man or woman;

The peril for you is that you live too much in the world of your own dreams. You're not enough in contact with reality (portrait of a lady)

The peril for you is that you live too much in the world of your own dreams. You're not enough in contact with reality

I don't wish to be a mere sheep in the flock;I wish to choose my own fate and know something of human affairs (portrait of a lady)

I don't wish to be a mere sheep in the flock;I wish to choose my own fate and know something of human affairs

you always feel trapped biologically

you always feel trapped biologically (henrys response to Catherine when she asked if he felt trapped, finding out about her pregnancy)

"It is in defeat that we become Christian." (Frederic, farewell to arms)

"It is in defeat that we become Christian." (Frederic, farewell to arms)

"There isn't any me. I'm you. Don't make a separate me." (Catherine to Frederic)

"There isn't any me. I'm you. Don't make a separate me." (Catherine to Frederic)

"This is a rotten game we play, isn't it?" (Catherine about love and avoiding the war, beginning)

"This is a rotten game we play, isn't it?" (Catherine about love and avoiding the war, beginning)

"Sometimes I see you in the rain, dead" (Catherine to Frederic)

"Sometimes I see you in the rain, dead" (Catherine to Frederic)

"I'll do what you want and say what you want and then I'll be a great success, won't I?" (Catherine to Frederic)

"I'll do what you want and say what you want and then I'll be a great success, won't I?" (Catherine to Frederic)

" That is not love. That is only passion and lust. When you love, you wish to do things for. You wish to sacrifice for." (the priest to frederic)

"That is not love. That is only passion and lust. When you love, you wish to do things for. You wish to sacrifice for." (the priest to frederic)

"There is nothing worse than war... What is defeat? You go home." (passing to ambulance drivers, farewell to arms)

"There is nothing worse than war... What is defeat? You go home." (passing to ambulance drivers, farewell to arms)

"We think. We read. We are peasants. We are mechanics. But even the peasants know better than to believe in a war." (passing, farewell to arms)

"We think. We read. We are peasants. We are mechanics. But even the peasants know better than to believe in a war." (passing, farewell to arms)

American Indian removal act

1830

economic recession

1890s

closure of the frontier

1890

Gilded age

1865-1902, satirical term by mark twain, ‘the glossy superficiality and greed of contemporary america’

Progressive era

1897 – 1920, wanted to establish a more transparent and accountable government which would work to improve U.S. society. These reformers favored such policies as civil service reform, food safety laws, and increased political rights for women and U.S. workers.

Prohibition era

1920-33

Great depression

1930s

Ww1

1914-8

Ww2

1939-45

Mayflower compact 1620

miniature constitution, starting point of democratic self image

America as a paradise

• greco , roman, mediaeval texts depicted america as a utopia

• Columbus’ first reports made the new world sound like an earthly paradise

American frontier

Old West/ Wild West: geography, history, culture associated with American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial settlements in the early 17th century and ended with the admission of the last few contiguous western territories as states in 1912.

Transcendentalism

core belief in inherent goodness of people and nature, society/institutions corrupt the purity of the individual, best when self reliant. 

Manifest destiny

the belief that America occupies a special place among the countries of the world, God given right to the land

Concept of a noble savage

a stock character who is uncorrupted by civilization. As such, the "noble" savage symbolizes the innate goodness and moral superiority of a primitive people living in harmony with Nature

assembly line

pioneered by ford in 1910s

Conspicuous consumption, veblen

the consumer practice of buying and using goods of a higher quality, price, or in greater quantity than practical

Social realism

subgenre of realism that aims to depict everyday life as truthfully as possible and to create social commentary. The focus is often on the working class and social injustice

Protean self, Lifton

fluid and many sided personality.  ‘We have been evolving a sense of self appropriate to the restlessness and flux of our time’.

Individualism, emerson

Who so would be a man must be a nonconformist

Struggle to establish a distinctively ‘American’ literature

In the absence of traditional social structures… Americans fostered their sense of belonging to the nation

America ‘had little longstanding heritage to help it make sense of itself’

imitation of european culture/art/society

Alan houston, Franklin’s autobiography

reinforces the popular conception of franklin as ‘the prophet of the american dream: if you work hard and play by the rules, then you will succeed’

Harriet Jacobs

To modern readers, jacobs narrative is a deeply moving account of a woman’s determination to resist oppression.depicts the uniquely powerless situation of women slaves and demonstrates her strategies of resistance

intends his readers to recognise the inconsistency between the words ‘american’ and ‘slave’. There are in the world no such men as self made men. That term implies an individual independence of past and present which can never exist

Douglass

Wharton was sceptical about the nouveau riche class

their motivations, tastes and opinions, faddish hedonism of the 1920s

Metaphors of home have also had a particularly powerful currency in american rhetoric

Metaphors of home have also had a particularly powerful currency in american rhetoric

Steinbeck draws on his own experience as a depression-era journalist

• documenting with moralising urgency the appalling conditions facing the nomadic people travelling to california in hope of a better life.

• picks apart the wilful optimism of the pioneer, and questions the limits of individualism

• The characters are criticised for their ignorance as well as celebrated for their stamina’

explores tension between north and south, Huckleberry fin 1884- nostalgic tale of childhood, ‘a multi-layered analysis of American culture and America’s racial problems’.sociolect

Mark twain

Horatio alger, the american dream

rags to riches, ragged dick 1860s,  illustrated the nation's most popular myth in the late nineteenth century that anyone could improve their social position through determination and hard work. Said the acquisition of wealth depends on yourself

"I could fly a plane if I had a chance..." Bigger

"I could fly a plane if I had a chance..." Bigger

"You got a good job now. You ought to work hard and keep it and try to make a man out of yourself... you got your chance now." (mama, native son)

"You got a good job now. You ought to work hard and keep it and try to make a man out of yourself... you got your chance now."