Sissy vs "The American Boy"

Sissy is a unique story unlike any of our previous readings, that challenges the our previous concept of the “American boy” and the “American girl.” Kellogg uses Sissy to merge the division between the roles of boys and girls in early literature. Sissy engaged in activities that were previously reserved solely for women of the time period and represents a hybrid character that strays from the norm of 19th century literature. He possessed a girl's taste and delicacy and skill combined with a boy's physical strength and hardihood" (Kellogg 546). This idea is a complete contrast to the bold and adventurous characters we see in Tom Sawyer and Ragged Dick. Sissy would never accompany Dick on a night of whiskey drinking at The Old Bowery Theatre or go along with Tom in deceiving Aunt Polly.

In both Tom Sawyer and Sissy, our protagonist was raised without the presence of a fatherly figure, but each character handles this adversity differently. Sissy was focused on pleasing his mother and maintaining a close and loving relationship with her. On the contrary mischievous Tom views his motherly figure, Aunt Polly, as the disciplinarian and tries his hardest to defy her authority.

Throughout the story others accept Sissy for who he is even though he is so far from a typical boy in many respects. Kellogg uses language that illustrates Sissy as a kindhearted, gentle boy that is accepted by others despite his differences. This story conveys an underlying message encouraging people to be open to others rather than reject them for their differences.

Short Stories

I definitely have enjoyed reading these short stories much more than the longer pieces we have read previously. Not only because of the short length but also because they are more open to the reader’s interpretation. I have to take a new approach when reading these short stories as opposed to a longer text. When reading stories like these I am forced to pay close attention to every word, being so brief, the author uses every word for a reason and if you do not pay close enough attention to the language you could easily misinterpret what is actually going on. On the other hand, In lengthier novels there is a greater amount of description and I am able to speed through the text skimming over some words while still maintaining a clear understanding of what is actually happening in the story.

In Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper and Chopin’s Desiree’s Baby, I was forced to examine the author’s every word carefully to understand what was actually going on in each short story. Lines like this one from The Yellow Wallpaper “I would not say this to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper." (Gilman 505) This quote is consistent with the idea we discussed in class that the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper was actually dead the entire story and narrating the story as a ghost. “I lie here on this great immovable bed—it is nailed down” (509) This quotation leads us to believe that she is already dead or buried alive in a coffin maybe and is another supporting example of how subtle and careful word choices in short stories can completely change the meaning of the text to something deeper.

Tom Sawyer

I feel that Mark Twain’s novel Tom Sawyer is a contradiction of Horatio Alger’s Ragged Dick, in the sense that each are focused on the lives of two very different 19th century boys and touch on different ways these characters achieve what they want. Ragged Dick is a story saturated with the theme that hard work and honesty will lead you to success and the “American Dream.” This is true in many cases, but in Twain’s Tom Sawyer this idea of achievement is contested through Tom’s actions. Tom represents someone with little education and knowledge that is able to achieve his goals with seasoned people skills and his natural street smarts, like many in the contemporary business world.
“Say. Jim, I’ll fetch the water if you’ll whitewasl some.
Can’t, Tom. Ole Missis, she tole me I goe to go an’ git dis water an’ not stop foolin’ roun’ wid anybody. She say she spec’ Tom goin to ax me to whitewash, an’ so she tole me to go ‘long an’ ‘tend to my own business-she ‘lowed she’d ‘tend to de whitewashin’.”
“Oh, never you mind what she said, Jim. That’s the way she always talks. Gimme the bucket- I won’t be gone only a minute. She won’t ever know.” (13).
Tom has mastered the art of manipulation and is able to pawn off his duties on others for his own gain at another’s expense. Despite his trickery and unethical means of completing his tasks, we can help but love Tom. Another example of his keen business skills is on page 17 when Tom is able to convince passing kids into not only doing his chores for him but also cons his way into profiting from them as well. Even though we see Tom as the epitome of laziness, his witty people skills got him what he wanted time and time again. This new idea is a direct contradiction to Ragged Dick’s diligent work ethic and proves a point that people can achieve their goals by simply possessing strong people skills and being business savvy vs. the depiction of the hard working success story we saw in Ragged Dick. I feel that that Twain’s concept has a lot of truth behind it and is very evident in today’s business world.

Ragged Dick

The texts we have covered up to this point have been focused on addressing the issues pertaining to young woman of the 19th century. In these stories Sybil, Ellen, and Gerty all shared similar characteristics and were depicted as emotional, well mannered, domesticated and submissive young women; acting as a medium through which the author can influence the behavior of young women of the time period. In Ragged Dick for the first time we have a portrayal of a young man of the 19th century, the differences between the young men and women of the time are drastic. Dick is illustrated as a young funny, carefree, honest boy who enjoys gambling, smoking, and drinking; all things that were unheard of thus far in our 19th century literature.

As we discussed in class recently, Alger Is known for writing “rags to riches” stories. Ragged Dick is no exception, through Dick, Alger illustrates the idea that no matter your socio-economic status you can achieve the “American Dream” through honesty and hard work. This type of success story is something that we have yet to see in our other readings and was a refreshing change from the previous dark and emotional texts we have covered.

This idea of an honest, hard working man and a submissive, domesticated woman says a lot about 19th century society as a whole. The emphasis of these very clear and identifiable characteristics of both men and women in our stories shows exactly how a household of the time should be operated. Also, Ragged Dick shows us how men were potentially perceived as the dominant party in relationships in the sense that Dick is able to engage in “bad “ things such as smoking, drinking, gambling and no one raises a brow, whereas if any of our female characters were to partake in these activities they would be harshly criticized.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Throughout each of the stories we have read so far there have been clear reoccurring themes that each of the stories in common. We’ve seen the authors in each of these stories use the children in these pieces as an example or a guide for all children of the time, almost acting as the acceptable standard for children’s behavior of the specific period. These children serve as a medium through which the author can spread his or her ideals concerning morals, ethics and the qualities it takes to be a good person. In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe does not as clearly convey this message or make an attempt to teach the American youth. This story revolving around as horrid a subject as slavery did indeed complicate things and made making the connection between this reading the others we have already covered a difficult task. But I think that within this story there is a underlying positive message, it is simply not as evident as in previous readings. Throughout or previous texts one of the reoccurring themes has been the idea that some kind strangers have been a source of support and help for our trouble children. This theme is illustrated in Uncle Tom’s Cabin through the generous and dangerous actions of the individuals risking everything in trying to help runaway slaves in their pursuit of freedom

The Lamplighter

The video clip we watched of nine-year-old Anna on Amy Poehler’s show illustrates the differences in young women’s’ culture from the 1800’s to present as well as a few similarities between the young TV guest Anna and Gerty from The Lamplighter.

In the video clip Anna is faced with the question of whether she preferred butterflies or rainbows, two items most modern young girls are fond of. If the roles were reversed and Gerty appeared on the Amy Poehler show In place of Anna, I feel that she would be stumped when fielding a response because she has never had the opportunity to truly be a kid and enjoy rainbows and butterflies as other young American girls were. She was never able to make the connection with childish ideas like these in her young age. Instead Gerty spent day and night slaving away for Nan Grant and praying for a meal.

When asked what advice she would give to girls about being themselves, Anna responded, “Don’t really think about what you have to do for people to like you or to have more friends you probably want people to like you for who you are.” I feel that this quote is illustrated in The Lamplighter through the close relationship between Gerty and Emily (pg. 61). Gerty, up until she met Emily, had no real close friend like connection with anyone. “Glad!’ said Miss Emily, “O yes! So glad you can’t see me! - because now perhaps you’ll love me” replied Gerty (pg. 62) Emily was the first person that did not judge Gerty by her ragged appearance like the rest of the world had so harshly done, but for you she was and her personality something completely new to Gerry.

In the video Anna explains that in yoga if you are not flexible enough for a position, “try your best and try harder.” In a lot of real life situations the same can be said, this is the same advice Emily passes along to Gerty when she is struggling with her battle with whether or not she is a “good” person on pg 63 of the text. “Do you think I can be good?” said Gerty. “Yes if you try.” replied Emily. “I will try,” said Gerty.

Intro

My name is Phillip Halliday and I am from San Antonio, Texas. I am currently a junior Advertising/Public Relations Major here at TCU with a Business minor. I have one sister, who will be graduating high school next year and most likely attending TCU in the fall. I love being outside any chance I get and spend nearly every free moment of the fall hunting in south texas. Im also a music fanatic, San Antonio Spurs fan, and fly fishing enthusiast.

From my high school in san antonio a large number of kids attend TCU every year, so my interest in the university began through word of mouth. To be completely honest I was dead set on going to Texas A&M but I never made it off of the wait list. I was somewhat disappointed when I had to go with my second choice, TCU, but looking back I feel that I could not have made a better decision.

I am looking forward to getting to know everyone through this course, in the classroom and through our various blogging assignments. Also, Im looking forward to becoming familiar with the work of many of the key american writers. I chose this class over all of the other english courses because I had no previous knowledge concerning the history of american literature and it is something that I find very interesting.

Other than books and reading assignments from different classes, I also enjoy reading during my free time. I am currently reading "Asegai" By Wilbur Smith. My dad introduced me to the Wilbur Smith series and his captivating adventures have had me hooked since.

In school, my writing is mostly limited to my english related classes and the hundreds of text messages i send every week. Writing essays in the past is something I have always dreaded, but I feel like this blogging assignment will be a cool new alternative to long research papers. Writing has never been my strongest asset but it is definitely something that I have been working on to improve.

My blog is going to be pretty chill and laid back, I plan on really personalizing my blog so that my classmates can get a chance to get to know me. Im excited to start begin this project and Im eager to get to know my classmates and take in all of their ideas.