Modern Short Story Blog

One thing that remains constant in American Literature is its constant critique of American society and values.  The Scarlet Letter was critical of some of the Puritanical ideals and values Americans hold, Walden and Thoreau believed in independence from government and self-reliance, Great Gatsby showed the sins and victims of the Roaring 20's, Death of a Salesman critiqued the classic American Dream, writers and poets in the Harlem Renaissance wrote in part to support civil rights, and many short stories today expose the consumerism culture or poke fun of the participation trophy generation.  In short, American literature has always striven to improve America by exposing the parts of our culture that need improving.  However, despite this common goal between writers of critiquing society, the biggest change is that the tone of the literature has changed from a positive outlook to a more pessimistic view.  Scarlet Letter, although Hester Prynne is put through a lot of hardships, ends on a positive note with her redemption.  Whereas in Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman, the "heroes" both end up dying with little retribution for them.  This shift in the tone of literature reflects the idea that America, while seen as so great, has many fundamental problems in its society.

American Values in The Great Gatsby

The American Dream (the non-satirized, non-caricature version around in the early 20th century) is about obtaining freedom.  That has been one of American's earliest ideals, and complete freedom-to not be burdened by any trials, debts, or hardship-was most commonly achieved through wealth.  Fitzgerald seems to say through the Great Gatsby that after people achieve this American Dream and don't bow to anyone else's whim, they keep looking for wealth, to the point where they have license-the ability to do almost anything with little repercussions.  Fitzgerald uses both Tom and Gatsby to show how their wealth grants them license:  Tom takes a mistress and often cheats on his wife with other women without consequence.  He even breaks Myrtle's nose.  Gatsby throws parties with alcohol in prohibition era and even while he was speeding through New York all he had to do was show a policeman his name to not face charges.  Fitzgerald's message is that the American Dream isn't about earning enough money to achieve freedom, but rather is about the chase for the unattainable goal of infinite wealth to achieve complete license.

New vs True Womanhood

Women's submission and men's overarching control was deeply ingrained in many parts of society, and required a gradual process to change the public opinion of what womanhood was.  In the so called 'Cult of True Womanhood', "women were imprisoned in the home or private sphere, a servant tending to the needs of the family" and "religious piety and submission...[were both] borne of and a part of the ideology."  This idea of female submissive extended to both the home and religion, which were almost the entirety of daily life for women in that era.  The doctor and husband in "The Yellow Wallpaper" 'reflects men's disparaging attitudes.  His Rest cure calls for complete rest, coerced feeding and isolation."  Additionally, he did not let her write, causing her to only write in secret when he was not present, akin to "Gilman's struggle to throw off the constraints of patriarchal society in order to be able to write.'  Gilman's story was one of many that challenged patriarchal ideologies and helped redefine what Womanhood meant, changing it from dependence on men to freedom and independence.

Hester Prynne's Appearance and Character

In the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses the outer appearances to tell the reader about the inner character of certain figures in the book.  Hawthorne describes Hester Prynne as "tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale.  She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam; and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes" (Hawthorne 31, 32).  Because Hester is described as the standard for beauty, (i.e tall, long black hair, symmetrical face) Hawthorne is keying the reader in that she is also the standard for morality.  She is also described as "more ladylike, in the antique interpretation of the term, than as she issued from the prison" (Hawthorne 32).  Hester is beautiful and keeps her high moral standard despite the conditions that she was in for many months.  Hawthorne shows through his physical descriptions of her how even though the Puritan society marks Hester as impure and sinful, she has a high moral standard.

Group Stigmatization

When I was a freshman I took AP AB Calculus, which is a higher level than typical for high school freshman.  Many of the people I befriended at Sage were high-achieving students, some of whom wished that they were in calc instead of Accel Algebra II or Accel Pre-Calc.  When people learned about what class I was taking I became "That kid who is in calculus."  People would start bringing it up all the time, and I started getting pretty uncomfortable mentioning it.  It got to the point where I would start telling people I took math rather than calculus because it felt too much like bragging.  I think the label affected me in a slightly negative way; it made me feel like I had done something wrong by taking an advanced class that interested and engaged me.

Self-Reliance

"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till" (Emerson 1).  

I think that this passage is significant because it really summarizes what life is about; relying on others before you is not good for self improvement.  If you focus on what others do, you lose focus on what you can do.  The phrase 'envy is ignorance' it signifies that coveting what others have is a way to keep yourself from learning your potential.   He uses the metaphor of working the soil for food as improving your own position through work and reaping the rewards like one would reap crops.  I like this passage because it summarizes the main point of his essay and provides a good philosophy for life.

Ben Franklin's Values

I think that Moderation is the easiest value to follow.  Ben Franklin defines Moderation as not holding grudges/resenting injuries and avoiding the extremes of emotion.  It is similar to Temperance of the mind.  I don't hold grudges or really hate anyone.  The strongest negative feelings I have towards others is annoyance and even then, I don't lash out at anyone for annoyance.  When someone does something bad to me I try not to let it affect other parts of my life and generally brush it off or confront the person if it is bothering me a lot.  On the other side of the extreme, I don't develop strong positive feelings for anyone very quickly and I don't have a lot of relationships that are based off really strong feelings.  Only my family and close friends get that kind of affection, and that has been built up over a long period of time.  Overall, avoiding the extremes of emotions seems very easy to me and I have good emotional control, so Moderation is easy.

I think Industry is the hardest value to follow.  Ben Franklin defines Industry as working efficiently and not wasting any time, losing all unnecessary actions.  I struggle with this in a lot of different ways, the foremost being school work.  Oftentimes while working I'll get distracted or I'll not finish something I need to do.  Instead of working, I'll browse social media or talk to my friends.  In addition to not working efficiently on work I'll lose focus when listening to lectures or presentations, and my note taking often becomes less and less detailed as class goes on.  I also have some problems keeping up my focus in workouts and giving my all till the end of it.  All in all the virtue of Industry gives me a lot of problems.