A very common thread I’ve seen run through many of the poems we’ve studied this semester is British Nationalism and Social Darwinism, this is seen a lot in Victorian Era poetry; a good example of this is in The Charge of the Light Brigade. The poem discusses a battle in which 600 men charged into battle accidentally at a false send off and lost their lives. Most people would see this as an embarrassment to history or their military, but as discussed in class the British public saw this as a noble death. “Honour the charge they made?/Honour the Light Brigade,/Noble six hundred!”, this at first seems odd when people begin to look at British history and such, why would people be proud of a fight in which 600 lost their lives on an accident, but when you look at similar wars that have taken place in American history and the way in which people still hold onto them with a sense of pride you can understand why British people held this battle in such high regard.

A good example of this is the Civil War and the way in which people in the southern states still hold the war in such a high regard even after all this time. Very recently we’ve seen southern states fight over trying to keep statues of generals from the Civil War up as a monument to the war that was fought. But this has been criticized as racist by many communities and has incited a feud online. 

Another war that is held in high regard to Americans that, in my personal opinion shouldn’t be held in a high regard, is that of the Iraq war. This war has caused mass racism against those who practice the Islam faith, and a pride in all the battles fought and the lives that were taken unfairly by this war. In my own personal opinion, this war shouldn’t be celebrated and it should be one we look at and try and learn from our mistakes, but it is one that is looked at not only in history but in modern politics and criticizing it leads to mass anger among people as you should honor the American lives that were lost but ignore the lives of the innocent people also lost and the people whose home was invaded as well. This isn’t something Americans should take pride in, we are in part instigators of this, but criticizing it has people infuriated and calling those who criticize it un-American and starting fights. This is similar to that of The Charge of the Light Brigade, as it was a battle in which people lost their lives and is an ugly scar in British history, but yet it is still held in such a high regard, that the battle should be celebrated instead of a cautionary tale to new soldiers on what not to do. But still we both look at past battles that aren’t noble and treat them as if they are noble and honorable.

Nick Schenken

Professor Traver

English 277

8 May 2020

Gothic Fiction in Relation to Northanger Abbey

            As we have learned through this unit, Gothic fiction emerged from Romanticism, which was one of the popular styles of writing for English literature throughout the 19^th century. Due to the Gothic literary movement’s origins, Gothic literature shares many of the same qualities as Romanticism such as a major focus of these texts being on emotions and imagination. Although traditional Romantic-style texts can discuss upbeat topics as well as dreary ones, it differs from Gothic fiction in the sense that Gothic fictions primary focus is on these dreary events going so far as to dive into stories which focus on horror, death, and decay.

            Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, which falls into the gothic fiction realm, actually differs from other well-known Gothic works such as Edgar Allen Poe’s, “The Raven”, and Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, in the sense that it actually acts as a brilliant parody of gothic fiction. Throughout the novel, Austen satirizes this genre by including several scenes which build up and have a production of suspense that is very similar to more traditional Gothic texts, but instead of revealing a horrific scene or something scary, Austen disrupts this suspense at its climax by showing that there wasn’t actually anything to be worried about in the first place and that they were freaking out for nothing. A great example of this shown in the novel is seen when the primary heroine of the novel, Catherine, finally goes to unlock a cabinet that is painted as being extremely mysterious where she excepts to find something horrific and disturbing inside, but only ends up finding a bunch of laundry bills.

            However, despite Northanger Abbey being a parody of its own genre, I believe that Jane Austen actually wanted to use this story as a way of biting on the criticism that was being displayed again Gothic fiction at that time and through the characters of this novel, she expertly displays the ways in which she feels Gothic fiction should not be read. Once again, using the example of Catherine, Austen portrays Catherine as somebody who speaks in volumes about her love for Gothic texts such as Ann Radcliffe’s, The Mysteries of Udolpho, but despite her love for these texts, as I believe Austen argues, she is reading these texts all wrong. Austen, in this novel is trying to point out that a reader of a Gothic novel should not state they wish they could spend their whole life submerged in this text as Catherine ever-so humorously admits, because if a Gothic novels is to properly fall within the guidelines of Gothic fiction, there should nothing desirable about human nature and life in general that is capable of being found in these texts.

            In conclusion, I think that although Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen may indeed be a parody of Gothic fiction, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a diss on the Gothic genre. On the contrary, it works to offer a guideline of sorts about how Gothic fiction should be read and interpreted. If you are able to look at Austen’s novel from this perspective, I think it is safe to say that Northanger Abbey actually encourages its audience to read more works of literature within the Gothic realm and in no way discourages readers to stop reading Gothic fiction.

Nick Schenken

Professor Traver

English 277

5 May 2020

“The Adventures of the Speckled Band” and it’s Relation to Realism

            Realism within the Victorian Era is characterized by its aim to create a new style of literature that celebrates the ordinary details of everyday life and a deeper focus on the individual all in a more simplistic manner, when compared to its literary opponent, Romanticism. The short story, “The Adventures of the Speckled Band”, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle both utilizes and challenges many aspects of Victorian realism while following Sherlock Holmes and Watson’s journey to solve a mystery, brought to their attention by Helen Stoner, the worried twin sister of Julia Stoner whom was murdered fairly early on in the story. While Doyle does utilize some aspects of realism, the story overall appears to be a reaction against the realism movement and challenges its characteristics throughout the entirety of the story.

            Doyle borrows traits from realism in a few ways. Firstly, he creates a world where a distinct difference is present between economic and social classes showing the difference between how Dr. Roylott is seen and how the gypsies are seen. Another way I feel that Doyle uses realism is by creating many comedic moments throughout the story which displays the ways in which we use comedic breaks in our daily conversations in the real world.

            More commonly found in the story; however, are signs of Doyle challenging Victorian realism. This is most obviously displayed through the character of Doctor Sherlock Holmes. Holmes seemingly has almost a superhuman ability to pick up art situations in a manner that is extremely uncommon and unrealistic. All the while, we as the reader partner up with Holmes’ partner Watson as we carefully try and figure out what Holmes already knows. Another way that Doyle challenges realism is by developing a mystery for Watson and Holmes to solve that is extremely unlikely and unique. Finally, we see a challenging of realism through the character of Doctor Grimesby Roylott. Although Roylott displays very realistic aspects of greed and how this greed can motivate someone to go as far as to kill one’s own stepdaughters for capital gain, Roylott’s character is unrealistic in the sense that he owns all of these exotic animals and is able to control certain animals, like the swamp adder snake.

            Although, certain aspects of Victorian realism make an appearance in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”, it is my belief that it is Doyle’s willingness to challenge the boundaries of realism that make this story so impressive and allows it to still be widely read today. In other words, if Doyle were not willing to go against some of the boundaries of realism, this story would quite frankly never have been able to come to fruition.   

Nick Schenken

Professor Traver

English 277

7 May 2020

Final Blog Post

            If I were to teach one literary work form this semester and only one, I would choose to teach Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem, “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison”. Due to this texts form, its use of fairly easily understandable vocabular along with its meaning, I feel that this text would be suitable to be taught within an eighth-grade English class.

            I believe that it is important to teach literary works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, because he was an extremely influential human-being within the literary realm and Romantic movement throughout the late 1700’s and the early 1800’s in English society. Not only was he a poet, publishing widely celebrated poems like, “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison”(1797), “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”(1797-8), and “Frost at Midnight”(1798), but he was also a successful literary critic, philosopher, and theologian.

            I would like to teach, “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison”, to my imaginary class of eighth-graders, because I feel that it informers its readers of a very important message about mental health and the importance of recognizing the beauty of your own situation. The speaker within this poem, whom is likely to be Coleridge himself, begins the poems feeling down about the fact that he is forced to sit underneath this lime-tree due to an ongoing injury feeling left out while his friends go on adventure of sorts throughout the country-side. The poem takes a turn when the speaker realizes that there is plenty of beauty around him where he lies and he reflects on his current situation and begins to appreciate that his situation isn’t so bad after all if he just switches his mindset and start to focuses on the silver-lining of being stuck underneath this lime tree.

            In an era where anxiety and mental illness is on the rise, I think the lessons found with this poem could be extremely helpful for eighth-graders to recognize as they are preparing to leave the world they had become so comfortable with in middle school and move on to the often scary and confusing world of high school. I think there may also be value in explaining to my students that Samuel Taylor Coleridge was believed to have also suffer from anxiety and depression throughout his life. By recognizing this fact and showing the ways in which he attempted to overcome this suffering that he had experienced for so long shown within the hopefulness of this poem, I think students could then realize that they too are capable of overcoming anxiety and depression if they are currently facing these oppressive forces or if they ever do face these things later in life.

            If I were given the opportunity to teach one of the pieces, we have read this semester I would teach Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Speckled Band.” I would teach this story at a college level. I would choose this particular text because Sherlock Holms’ adventures are intellectual, interesting and fun. Readers are taken through mysteries in a way that is not typical of most mystery novels in the 21^st century. In the 21^st century, mystery novels are heavy on everything being directed by the police. Doyle’s stories are directed by a man who has little to no connection to the police. Sherlock plays by his own rules and is an incredibly smart man. Doyle tells Sherlock’s stories in a way that keeps the reader wanting to know the truth, but also learning deductive reasoning to solve the mystery before the end of the story. Doyle’s story is also filled with dramatic elements.           

            Teaching Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” would be interesting because Sherlock Holms stories are not widely taught except in excerpts. I have also loved Sherlock Holms stories, although this story was this first one, I had actually read completely. I think students would be more inclined to actually read assigned texts if they are as fascinating and fun as “The Adventure of the Speckled Band.” And I am not saying that what we read this semester was not fascinating. There was some that were not that fascinating to me and a lot of it had to do with pacing and certain topics. I am a very visual reader so, teaching Sherlock Holms would be fun to teach, especially if the class I taught was more focused on early 20^th century era. The pace of “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” may have a slow pace, but it kept me engaged until the end. I think that teaching this story would also be fun because Doyle is one of those authors that not everyone gets the chance or takes the chance to read. This is an easy story to start someone off with because it is a stand-alone type of story. You also do not need to know anything about the Sherlock Holms stories to read it. This Sherlock story is simple and straight forward and it gives the reader just a taste of what the Sherlock stories have to offer. This is why I would teach Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” it given the chance.

If I had the opportunity to teach anything from this course to any grade level of my choosing I would teach “Lucy Gray” by William Wordsworth in a High School English Class. I would teach this piece during a unit structured around either poetry or creative writing because I believe it would help my students to better understand what to look for(or put themselves) into a lyrical ballad.

This piece is a strong introductory piece to beginning poets, it shows the importance of form, the use of end rhyme in “A B A B” form, and it is a very obvious example of a lyrical ballad because lyrical ballads often reveal some sort of a lesson through a given incident. For example, in “Lucy Gray,” Lucy is a very young child who gets lost and supposedly dies. This is a very universal fear that can be understood by all walks of life: the loss of an innocent, young loved one. When showing this to my students, they would be able to see what message this poem was trying to reveal because they would feel the grief and sadness behind the disappearance of little Lucy Gray.

Because this poem uses the easy to follow “A B A B” rhyme form and has only four lines per stanza it is a wonderful poem for beginners to practice reading because it very easy to follow along with the rhythm of the poem. I think this poem uses very beautiful imagery that can help show my students the importance of intentional language use. For example, the third stanza references a “Fawn at play” and “Hare upon the Green” which shed light on innocent creatures that are found in nature, therefore referring to Lucy Gray as small and innocent just like a fawn or hare. I would want my students to draw an illustration based off of the poem because that would require them to truly focus on the imagery and the language used in the poem.

This piece would be a good exercise for students to read before going on the read the following poem “Nutting.” For students that are new to poetry, “Nutting” could be more difficult to read because it is not broken up into smaller stanzas like in “Lucy Gray” and there are far less end stops. “Nutting” does not carry the same “A B A B” rhyming pattern so students would have to be able to decipher the intended rhythm of the poem.

In preparing for a classroom of collegiate undergraduates in a Gothic Literature course, lower division, I would put a heavy focus upon this novel during a midway between the classical Gothic Literature and the transition into the 20th century thinking, using it as a segway of ideas. My reason for choosing this goes beyond just that it’s an exemplary tale of christian values in the Victorian era, a good example of Gothic fiction, a good example of Victorian Realism, but because it’s alluring for students. It’s a read they often hear about, they can watch plays, and there’s plenty of Sparknotes or likewise for it. The novel, as well, taps into that key thing that literature is meant to do: question the world or make observations about it. Without even realizing, the students would enjoy the novel (hopefully) while learning about a perspective on good and evil; what that means to a Christian of the 19th century. I would spend at least three weeks on it, going over Robert Louis Stevenson’s work in general and reading the text, and during the last week, discuss how it pertains to Gothic Literature broadly and how it pertains to evolving ideas in science and theology.

I think most important about designing a program that they could follow easily, I’d make sure to incorporate both the text and the play. Perhaps we’d watch a play in the class and then we’d discuss it online with each other (required, but not graded–meaning: no points for doing it, loss of set participation points for not). I’d guide them by first focusing on Victorian Realism. What is it? What did it aim to do? Then we’d look at excerpts from Gothic fiction, like excerpts from Monk and Anne Rice novels and from Castle of Otronto and others. I’d have them, at the end, then, write up a page–or two or three if they’d like–and share with another person with a designated focus. I’d have them choose either to analyze good or evil, and then, pairing them or dividing the class up in groups appropriate for the good.V.evil thing, have them combine their papers as a single argument of the text.

The paper combination thing is the most important part of it. Because the text deals with evil within goodness and goodness within evil, it’d be interesting to see the dichotomy merged into a single paper, however they’d like to tackle the problem. It’s dicy because of the group project aspect, but that’s why I’d lessen the points total from that portion by making it another participation project–less stressful and focused on the aspect of learning. The learning process, then, is more about finding a stance and then using another stance to craft a new stance alternate from the one they initiated.

Over the course of the semester, we have read a lot of different stories, poems, novellas, etc. One thing that became extremely clear to me was that no matter what time in history we were looking at, there always seemed to be some kind of discrimination against women. This was especially apparent during the romanticism era.

The story where this type of discrimination became overwhelmingly apparent was in Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. The parts that seemed to draw my attention to the discrimination against women was the social rules that females, such as Catherine Morland, were forced to follow if they wanted to meet a man worthy of marriage. During balls young women were required to have an escort. This is why Catherine had Mrs. Allen accompany her to the first ball in Bath. Further, young women like Catherine could not speak to others, especially not men, unless they were properly introduced by their chaperone. Any woman who failed to do this was harshly gossiped about had her prospects of finding a respectable husband damaged.

To make the discrimination even more apparent women who spent time with multiple men, even if it was just a short amount of time were labeled as floozies and were almost guaranteed to end up without a man such as was the case with Isabella Thorpe. Men on the other hand did not need escorts and could talk to whomever they wanted without judgement from others. Nor did they have to worry about spending too much time with one woman or spending time with multiple women. If they got tired of the woman or no longer had interest in her men could start fresh with someone new and no one would even raise an eyebrow.

This reminded me a lot of the double standards amongst men and women today. If a woman talks to too many guys she is labeled as “a slut”. If a man does this then he gets patted on the back by his friends. Even women attribute this behavior in men as “guys being guys” while looking scornfully at other women who do the same. Although this behavior does not hurt a woman’s chance of finding a significant other as much as it did during the time when Northanger Abbey was published it can still cause men to lose interest. It is shocking that this type of discrimination of women is still present in the world over two hundred years after Northanger Abbey was published.  

If I had the opportunity to teach any piece of literature from this course, it would be Hearts and Flowers by Tomson Highway. It is a beautifully written story that tackles a lot of big issues and themes within its few pages that would make for thought provoking discussions and study in a high school classroom. In addition, it gives a voice to Native Americans whose lives and experiences rarely make it onto high school syllabi. I would choose to teach this piece in a high school English class for many reasons which include the themes and questions it tackles, and the multitude of literary devices students could study and learn from.

Hearts and Flowers doesn’t shy away from issues of racial discrimination which are important themes to explore as experiences like the main character David Daylight’s may resonate with students, making this story very relevant today. In addition, the fact that this story is set in 1960 can serve to remind a class that racial discrimination was still apart of government laws into our very recent history, and discriminatory practices are still apart of our present. Often literature dealing with racial discrimination is set in the far past, making it seem like a distant problem when in reality it is a very real issue. Hearts and Flowers not only explores issues of discrimination, but challenges such line of thinking by asking readers the question: what makes us human? This is a complex, thought provoking question and having students explore this and its possible answers can create for interesting and impactful classroom discussions.

In addition to discussions on themes, Hearts and Flowers is an excellent story to teach students how to identify and analyze the literary devices Highway uses throughout the story. Imagery, juxtaposition, and point of view are some of the many tools Highway uses. Many activities and lessons could be structured around analyzing the choices Highway makes, why he does it, and the impact these choices have on the reader and the over all story.

If given the opportunity to teach anything from this course, my first choice would be Hearts and Flowers by Tomson Highway. It is a valuable work for high school students to read for many reasons. It addresses relevant themes that are important to address in the classroom and relate back to the real world. It is also a excellent work for students to learn about literary devices and how to identify and analyze them. This story really resonated with me and I would be honored to have the opportunity to teach this in a classroom one day.

If I had the opportunity to teach any piece of literature from this course, I would choose to teach the selection from Decolonizing the Mind, by Ngugi Wa Thiong’o.  Britain’s colonial empire was quite extensive, and their culture pervasive, disrupting the life and culture of millions of people over decades of rule. I think that the colonial enterprise of Britain and the ideology that came up with it continues to shape and have influence in many previous colonies. There are stories that have been buried with those people and cultures, and rich heritages that deserve to be preserved and maintained after such brutal degradation. Decolonizing the Mind is a great start to better understand the effects of colonial rule, and a way to branch off into other literature. I would imagine this would be best done in a high school classroom, although I would hope such topics had been brought up previously, due to the possibility of more mature content as a discussion of this type might lead to.

In the piece, Wa Thiong’o writes about the importance and nuance of language and how culture and identity are tied to language. The language of Gikuyu had a “suggestive power well beyond the immediate and lexical meaning,” it was nuanced and strong, the language of a community, of work, of life. The author goes into detail about the humiliation brought on by the superiority of the British, with English mastery becoming the most important attribute in one’s studies, and African languages becoming subservient. It’s important for students to understand the importance of language as part of colonial enterprise and learn from first-hand sources what life was like under British rule. It is a part of history well-known, but not necessarily well understood or understood outside of colonial administrators’ accounts.

I think it would be best to teach this piece in tandem with other accounts, juxtaposing different people’s experiences and ways of life, even including historical fiction. I particularly think reading some of the work of Chinua Achebe would be beneficial here, to further round out the discussion of colonialization. In order to fully understand where we are today, we must look to the past, recognizing that such harmful ideologies are not dead, but renamed. Students should be given the tools to think on a more global level, empathize, acknowledge the pain, and hopefully, help create the path to a better future. I think that being a teacher holds a certain responsibility to teach future generations about terrible events and periods in order to have perspective. I think it would be helpful to teach this piece in particular because it has anecdotal components, making the reader connect to the author, as well as mentioning themes on a greater scale, in the vein of a personal essay. It engages critical thinking skills and may help students better comprehend the topics and history brought up in such a piece. All in all, Decolonizing the Mind is a well-thought out piece that would greatly benefit discussion.