Author: Ava Cargan

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When reading the story, “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, I found that there was a little bit of irony. I thought that the narrator’s perspective was fun to read (for lack of a better way to phrase it) and I thought that he had a lot of interesting thoughts that we got to hear through the writing. At the beginning of the reading I began to highlight quotes in which the narrator was describing himself as a person, and later when reading the story, was finding a little bit of irony.

The narrator was a lawyer who was running a law practice and in the very beginning he said that he was an unambitious lawyer (1470). Initially, he had 3 workers helping him in the office and he decided he still needed more help, resulting in him hiring Bartleby. At the beginning, Bartleby seemed ambitious and was producing a lot of work, which was funny to me as the lawyer he was working under had stated himself to be unambitious. The narrator had also pointed out Bartleby’s ambitions saying, “”I always deemed him the victim of two evil powers — ambition and indigestion,” (pg 1472). However, when Bartleby stopped working as much and was “preferring not to do things”, the lawyer wanted him to begin working hard again; which I understood better as wanting to reinstate Bartleby’s ambitions, even while he claimed he was unambitious as a practicing lawyer. 

In addition to wanting to reinstate ambitions, I found it slightly humorous to read about him having conversations trying to get Bartleby to begin working again. One of the very first quotes that I highlighted was when the narrator said, “I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with proud conviction that the easiest way of life is best,” (pg 1460). This quote I thought about a lot when reading conversations between Bartleby and the narrator, as when you think about it, it was easier for Bartleby not to write/do his work, and the narrator had stated he thought the easiest way of life was best. 

Overall, I thought that this story was fun to read, and I found myself finding the conversations between the narrator and Bartleby more funny to read rather than frustrating (the narrator had also stated that he would seldom get frustrated, although when reading the text it seemed to me that he was very often frustrated with Bartleby). But when reading I enjoyed finding little parts of the text, that to me, seemed to have some underlaying irony. 

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I found that the Introduction to “The Scarlet Letter” to be particularly interesting because of its mentions and connections to things that Emerson talked about in his essays. There was specific talk about humans and nature that are interesting to compare to Emerson’s works. 

On page 437 part of a passage says, “[…] nor does nature adorn the human ruin with blossoms of new beauty.” Reading this sentence I thought of Emerson’s ideas of nature and its connection to a spiritual world. The idea behind the quote that nature is not able to make “human ruin” more attractive with a blossom of new beauty. Emerson talks a lot about connecting with nature and viewing nature in a progressive way. When discussing that he wishes to indicate the position of nature in regard to man he says, “nature is so pervaded with human life, that there is something of humanity in all,” (pg 205). Comparing and contrasting these two quotes, the Introduction to the Scarlet Letter takes a less progressive approach to nature, and separates in from human beings in a way that’s opposite of Emerson’s description of nature and humans being intertwined. Emerson makes the statement that, “the world proceeds from the same spirit of the body of man,” (pg 205). The points that Emerson make about nature are more progressive than the thoughts of The Custom House. 

Additionally, another quote which I found interesting was on page 440 when it says, “Nature, –except it were human nature, –the nature that is developed in earth and sky, was, in one sense, hidden from me; and all the imaginative delight, wherewith it had been spiritualized, passed away out of my mind.” This is interesting compared to Emerson discussing the ways that he was a “lover of uncontained and immortal beauty and how he talks about the spiritualization of nature as something that he is incredibly in tune with and is on his mind more so than the narrator describing nature/earth as being hidden from him. 

Another interesting quote to compare to the works of Emerson was on page 448 when it says, “for a man who felt it to be the best definition of happiness to live through the whole range of his faculties and sensibilities.” Emerson portrayed the message that people must believe in their intuition. He wanted people to follow their conscience, relating to the idea that for the best definition of happiness someone should rely on himself for sensibility.

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On page 1230 Fredrick Douglass says, “What had I done, what had my parents done, that such a life as this should be mine?” Douglass did nothing to deserve the treatment that he received, especially the treatment that he outlined about being whipped and physically mistreated. He even says on page 1197, “How I escaped death, I do not know.” While Douglass survived unimaginable pain and the worst experiences possible, he also talks about his escape (pg 1202) where he discusses his escape, making distance through the woods, and ignoring the calls and threats from Covey demanding that he return. He was in an extremely trying situation, as he said in his writing.

On page 1221, Douglass says, “We now began to feel a degree of safety, and to prepare ourselves for the duties and responsibilities for a life of freedom.” This quote sparked my thinking about what “a life of freedom” would look for Douglass at this point in history, he says he worked and became known to the anti-slavery world (pg 1224), but I wanted to dig more into what the treatment of a freedman would look like, even in the anti-slavery world, to get a better understanding of Douglass’s life experiences.

An NPS source (linked below) said that even while the north opposed slavery, they often still did not want Black people/freed slaves migrating up north. This was because they had a fear that having Black people available to do labor would cut into White wage earning. To discourage Black people from coming to the north, there were “Black laws” which that denied Black people citizenship, suffrage, and property rights. This information provides facts that lead me to the conclusion that even after Douglass’s escape and entering into an “anti-slave world”, he still was not being welcomed into that space.

• https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/chapter-1-race-slavery-and-freedom-northern-unfreedom.htm#:~:text=Although%20Northerners%20had%20distaste%20for,blacks%20migrating%20into%20Northern%20cities.

Furthermore, a Library of Congress source (linked below) outlines the general treatment of freedmen. Black people faced great challenges due to lack of resources such as money and education. For Douglass, he had the resource of being able to read and write. The source says many freedmen struggled to develop lives because of hostile attitudes from White people. In this source provides a quote from Houston Hartsfield Holloway, “”…we colored people did not know how to be free and the white people did not know how to have a free colored person about them.” This source is important to think about how freedom would have been defined for a freedmen, and how it is different from the definition that we immediately think of upon hearing the work freedom. The work of Fredrick Douglass is able to give us historical context that can help us refine what freedom would have looked like at this point in history.

• https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/civil-war-and-reconstruction-1861-1877/freedmen/#:~:text=Hundreds%20of%20thousands%20of%20African,other%20resources%2C%20such%20as%20money.

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One of the quotes that caught my attention while reading Douglass was on page 1185 when it said, “if you teach that [censored] (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave.” This quote made me really think about the power that words and literature have. I understood this quote as it saying that Douglass would have too much power if he was able to read, and restricting his literacy was a way of oppression, given the power that words have. Another part of this quote that I really thought about was the language used, that I personally censored in my retyping of the quote. Using a word as strong as that slur says a lot about how Mr. Auld viewed Douglass’s worth as a person, and is important to look at when analyzing Douglass and others treatment under the Auld’s. 

Prior to chapter 1, there was a quote from Wendell Phillips that I thought also brought an emphasis to how important words are. On page 1170, it reads “after all, I shall read your book with trembling for you.” This quote bring attention to the empathy that reading experiences can evoke. I thought this also connected with the quote I talked about at the top of the blog post where it insinuated that Douglass would be too powerful if he had the ability to read. Words have so much power when reading them that if Douglass had been given a further ability to talk about his experience, it would have given him more ability than his masters wanted him to have. 

Another section of the reading that I thought emphasized the importance of language was on pages 1176-1177 when it talks about songs and it reads, “I have sometimes thought that the mere hearing of those songs would do more to impress some minds with the horrible character of slavery[…]” Thinking about songs historical significance, especially the significance of songs to slaves. These forms of writing were combined with music to bring African Americans together and give them a forum in which they could express the effects that they were feeling as a result of their trauma. 

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In the reading from Poe, The Raven, we see a poetic piece of writing. In our last discussion about Poe, we discussed his idolization of poets and how they connect material thoughts to the spiritual world. After reading The Raven, I googled the meaning of ravens and I found results such as ravens being prophetic whisperers offering insight, and the symbols of ravens intertwine with human imagination, loss, and omen. Most importantly, I found a result saying that a talking raven, in addition to prophecy, act as a connection from the material world to the spiritual world. Given our last discussion about Poe and claiming that they were God’s and offering a connection from material thoughts and the material world to spiritual thoughts in a more spiritual setting; bringing forward abstract ideas to make people think outside of their immediate material surroundings.

In this poem, the idea of the talking bird brought me to a place where I was questioning the symbolism of the bird, as talking birds is something we don’t see in our surrounding world. Finding the meaning of ravens to be prophets makes the connection to a spiritual world and the talking raven to be a symbolism/a voice of God. This raven, being a fictional being/idea, was bringing the connection between the material world and the narrator to the spiritual world of a God. It also makes me believe that Poe as a writer views himself as a poetic God, speaking to people to bring them to a spiritual world and acting as a prophet himself. 

These are sources I was looking at when looking at the symbolism of ravens:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_ravens#:~:text=Because%20of%20its%20black%20plumage,with%20the%20world%20of%20spirits
• https://a-z-animals.com/blog/raven-spirit-animal-symbolism-meaning/#:~:text=com%2FPiotr%20Krzeslak-,The%20raven%20symbolizes%20prophecy%2C%20insight%2C%20transformation%2C%20and%20intelligence.,and%20stillness%20over%20constant%20movement.
• https://www.thornandclaw.com/blogs/news/raven-meaning-symbolism#:~:text=Ravens%20often%20represent%20ancient%20wisdom,symbols%20intertwine%20with%20human%20imagination.

In another addition to this blog post, on page 679 it says “‘Not altogether a fool,’ said G — “but then he’s a poet, which I take to be only one remove from a fool.'” This part was so interesting to read given Poe’s past descriptions of poets as God’s and symbolizing them as prophets, and then includes a narrator that refers to poets as fools in another story. 

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Last week I attended sample lectures for professors who were looking to come work in the Literature department to give student feedback to the hiring committee. In my first sample lecture, we looked at a text by Ralph Ellison The Invisible Man which was published in 1952. Here is a link to the free version of the text if you want to look at it: https://www.are.na/block/13323900. In the very beginning of the text it says, “I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe,” and when reading The Tell-Tale Heart, I was immediately taken back to when I was analyzing this text in the lecture. 

Within the first pages of the Invisible Man he describes a violent interaction with a man (this can be found on page 4 of the PDF) and his realization that the man could not see him, and was later described as mugged in the newspapers. In Poe’s description of being haunted by a ghost (which I would like to acknowledge the invisible man is not a ghost). Poe was being haunted by someone that he could see saying that he saw a “pale blue eye” which he believed he was being haunted by, in this same page he states that he was never wronged by the man who was haunting him but he could not see. This contrasts with the invisible man who was not able to be seen, and had wronged the man that he had interacted with on the street. 

The Invisible Man text began by stating that he wasn’t a ghost that was haunting, but in the text he also describes living in dark corners of basements, and “living in a hole in the ground”. The book starts by setting the ground work that he is not a haunting ghost, however, while I was reading The Tell-Tale Heart, all I could think about was the sections of the Invisible Man that we had explored in the lecture. I encourage you to take a look at the prologue of the link that I put above for the book and further read the similarities and differences between that text and Poe’s story. I liked analyzing the stories and seeing how they compared to each other and how they were very similar but also very different at the exact same time. 

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There were a lot of points that Emerson made in both of the essays that we read that I want to talk about but the first is Emerson’s mentions of science across the poems. In The Divinity School Address, on page 226 he says, “By it, is the universe made safe and habitable, not by science or power.” Personally, I am a firm believer in science so this sentence immediately caught my eye, I marked it as something that I wanted to review later on, but then later when reading I marked another sentence mentioning science on page 257, “This day shall be better than my birth-day: then I became an animal: now I am invited into the science of the real.” This sentence stuck out to me because I immediately thought of the other mention of science and I was questioning if Emerson’s points. He says that the universe is not made safe and habitable by science, but then later says that he is being invited into the science of the real. I want to know more about what Emerson considers to be “the science of the real”, or as I am interpreting that statement, “real science”. I want to explore the connections between Emerson’s ideas of science and the universe. 

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At Hamilton I am an environmental studies and literature double major and found that Emerson’s work grasped my attention and appealed to both sides of my interests. Emerson discusses nature in a very intimate way in his writing, and on page 203 states “I only wish to indicate the true position of nature in regard to man. Emerson discusses nature in a very intimate way in his writing and mentions “the connection between nature and the affections of the soul,” on page 222. In addition in the work, he says that nature theory should be approached in a somewhat progressive way, and for the time that this essay was written, I think that he demonstrates a progressive view of nature. 

When reading the essay, I took Emerson as an Earth centered person, meaning a point of view in which nature and people are interconnected. The quote that truly represents his Earth centered approach is on page 205, reading, “nature is so pervaded with human life, that there is something of humanity in all…” On this same page he also states, “the world proceeds from the same spirit of the body of man.” These two quotes from his work represent his view of the interconnectedness of nature and man as her says they proceed from the same spirit. He also stated on page 199, “in their view, man and nature are indissolubly joined,” this is representation of a progressive view and also connects to the other views of nature that Emerson shared. He says that humans are learning from nature, and that we learn more than we can communicate, but I think in this work he is doing a great job of communicating the ways that he is personally learning and being shaped by nature. He says that he is a, “lover of uncontained and immortal beauty,” (183) which is an example of his unconditional love for nature that he describes, whether out right or in between the lines of his writing. The work that he did was interesting because I haven’t engaged with 19th century thoughts on nature, but his writing was an ode to his appreciation for nature and its beauty.