Chopin's view on Racism

In “Desiree’s Child,” Kate Chopin makes her views about racism well known through a metaphor and diction. Chopin first conveys her message about racism and Armand through diction when she uses the metaphor that “the very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him in his dealings with the slaves.” Chopin makes a loud and clear statement about the evilness of Armand and his racism by comparing him to Satan in a metaphor. Chopin conveys Armand and his racism as so terrible that he could be the devil himself.

Chopin also uses diction and word choice to convey her message about racism. On page 361, Desiree calls for Armand in a voice “which must have stabbed him, if he was human.” By questioning whether or not Armand is human, Chopin clearly states that she views racism as something that is far less than human almost bestial. Chopin uses diction to purport her disdainful view of racism once again when Armand is reading the letter from Valmonde, “in silence he ran his cold eyes over the written words.” By describing Armand’s eyes as cold, Chopin also portrays racism as cold and unfeeling. Chopin also uses the word white as a symbol for purity in order to portray the ridiculousness of Armand’s racism and views on blacks. Armand is so racist that when he finds out that he is descended from Negro blood, he says to Desiree, “‘the child is not white; it means that you are not white.’” Armand obviously knows that Desiree and his child are really white, but he says they are not white, because he is using the word white as a metaphor. Through Armand’s eyes white means pure, so through his point of view the child is not white, because the child has Negro blood. This definition also classifies Desiree as “not white” as well, because she has reproduced with someone with Negro descent; thus, making her impure as well. This definition of the word white confuses Desiree, and this confusion conveys Chopin’s view that racism is senseless and confusing; furthermore, the fact that Armand is said to have been in love with Desiree and then loses the love because of the fact that he is descended from a former slave, further purports the ridiculousness of racism.

Pa as a Symbol for Southerners, Ex-confederates, and Plantation Owners after the Emancipation Proclamation

In his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses Huck’s father, Pa, to represent some southerner’s sentiments towards reconstruction after the civil war.
In chapter six of the novel, Pa purports southern sentiments when he rants about the government taking Huck away from him: “Call this a govment! Why, just look at it and see what it’s like. Here’s the law a-standing ready to take a man’s son away from him-a man’s own son, which he has had all the trouble and all the anxiety and all the expense of raising. Yes, just as that man has got that son raised at last, and ready to go to work and begin to do suthin’ for him and give him a rest, the law up and goes for him. And they call that govment! In this passage, Twain compares Pa to an angry slave master who has lost his slave (Huck) to emancipation. All the trouble and anxiety which Pa has had raising Huck, is much like the price that the plantation owner has paid for the services of the slave. Pa also represents the southern sentiment when he complains about Judge Thatcher taking his six thousand dollars and putting him up in a cabin. This is the same kind of argument which plantation owners made to the United States government. The southerners would have been void of their slaves, their source of free labor, and After the emancipation proclamation plantation owners probably felt like the government was leaving them high and dry, which is just like Pa without his son Huck. Twain conveys the southern attitude again when Pa complains about blacks voting during the Election Day. After the 15th amendment gave African-Americans the right to vote, there was a large amount of dissention towards the government from southerners and ex-confederates.
Viewing Pa as a symbol for southerners and ex-confederates also portrays Mark Twain’s attitude towards these ex-confederates. In the novel, Pa is an antagonistic character, the town drunk. Since Pa is a drunk who beats Huck, one could make the argument that Mark Twain did not think very highly of southerners and ex-slave owners.

Pa as a Symbol for Southerners, Ex-confederates, and Plantation Owners after the Emancipation Proclamation

In his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses Huck’s father, Pa, to represent some southerner’s sentiments towards reconstruction after the civil war.
In chapter six of the novel, Pa purports southern sentiments when he rants about the government taking Huck away from him: “Call this a govment! Why, just look at it and see what it’s like. Here’s the law a-standing ready to take a man’s son away from him-a man’s own son, which he has had all the trouble and all the anxiety and all the expense of raising. Yes, just as that man has got that son raised at last, and ready to go to work and begin to do suthin’ for him and give him a rest, the law up and goes for him. And they call that govment! In this passage, Twain compares Pa to an angry slave master who has lost his slave (Huck) to emancipation. All the trouble and anxiety which Pa has had raising Huck, is much like the price that the plantation owner has paid for the services of the slave. Pa also represents the southern sentiment when he complains about Judge Thatcher taking his six thousand dollars and putting him up in a cabin. This is the same kind of argument which plantation owners made to the United States government. The southerners would have been void of their slaves, their source of free labor, and After the emancipation proclamation plantation owners probably felt like the government was leaving them high and dry, which is just like Pa without his son Huck. Twain conveys the southern attitude again when Pa complains about blacks voting during the Election Day. After the 15th amendment gave African-Americans the right to vote, there was a large amount of dissention towards the government from southerners and ex-confederates.
Viewing Pa as a symbol for southerners and ex-confederates also portrays Mark Twain’s attitude towards these ex-confederates. In the novel, Pa is an antagonistic character, the town drunk. Since Pa is a drunk who beats Huck, one could make the argument that Mark Twain did not think very highly of southerners and ex-slave owners.

Dickinson's extended metaphor

“Revolution is the Pod” contains an extended metaphor represented directly by the title. Dickinson uses the image of a blooming flower/plant to represent the revolution of the Civil War. In the poem, the flower represents the revolution, the color of the flower represents the inspiration of the revolution, and the Winds of Will represents the initiation of the revolution. Dickinson represents the revolutionary south as enclosed inside the flower pod before the Civil War began, in bloom when the Civil War occurred, and dead and colorless after the Civil War ended.
In this poem, Dickinson uses color as a symbol of the drive behind the Confederacy. Through the emphasis she places on the color of the flower, Dickinson conveys the message that because of a lack of drive and passion (the presence of color in the flower), the revolution (flower) has died: “But except it’s Russet Base/ Every Summer be/ The Entomber of itself,/ So of Liberty.” In this stanza, the blooming of the flower is both its rise and demise, because eventually the color goes away; Dickinson uses this image of the flower blooming with color and dying colorless to convey the message that the Confederate revolution was destined to end eventually, because the confederacy’s passion was destined to die. In light of this analogy, it is prudent to suggest that the Union symbolizes time in this metaphor, because the flower died when the summer ended or when its time was up. Dickinson uses this metaphor to express her sentiments that she never believed the confederation had a chance even in the beginning, because time was eventually going to cause it to die.
The last stanza shows the confederacy as an inactive flower on the stalk. Dickinson uses color to represent the confederacy as dead and without hope: “All it’s Purple fled.” It is interesting that Dickinson uses purple as the absent color in the dead flower, because purple is traditionally known as a royal color, which conveys the message that any kind of foothold the Confederates had gained is now stripped away.

Comments on Anne's Blog

Sorry I didn't post this on your blog, Anne, I had trouble accessing your site.

From Anne's Blog:

"Whitman’s perspective in “Beat! Beat! Drums!” speaks to everyone in the nation and does not use illusions to describe the influence the war has on the union. In Timrod’s “The Cotton Boll,” the cotton ball is linked to the earth (from which it came) and a bird pulls the narrator up into the sky to view the confederacy. This view is difficult for the reader to understand since it challenges normal perception of the world. It is more easily understood by the reader in Whitman’s poem that the sound the drums beat at the heart of everyone in the nation, including the dead. “Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses.” "

Although I originally interpreted Whitman’s view of war as menacing and interrupting to peace of the nation’s people, I can also see the side of the argument which places Whitman more on the supportive side of the war. When Whitman contrasts the beating of the drums and the blowing of the horns with the images of the peace and progress of everyday life, his attitude could also be suggesting that this is a time for war instead of peace. Through Anne’s reading that the drums beat at every heart of the nation I can concede to a Whitman who is supportive of this war: A Whitman who realizes that the time for war is now.

Whitman's View of the War

Walt Whitman displays his disdain for the civil war in his poem “BEAT! BEAT! DRUMS!,” through his acerbic tone. Whitman establishes this tone through the repeated reference to the drums and the bugles: “Beat! beat! drums—blow! bugles! blow!” This reference is followed by images of interrupted peace and progression in each paragraph. By using this pattern, Whitman establishes his sarcastic/irritated tone. Whitman begins by sarcastically enticing the sound of the drums and the bugles, which represents the civil war, to come “through the windows—through doors—burst like a ruthless force, “and then he conveys his disdain for the war through the images of the solemn church, the scholar who is studying, the bridegroom who is not able to enjoy his bride, and the farmer who cannot plow his field. By including these images directly after mentioning the drums and the horns, Whitman points out how much turmoil the war actually causes. Whitman proceeds to bring the drums and bugles back up at the end of each stanza, conceding to the inevitability of the war: “So fierce your whirr and pound your drums—so shrill you bugles blow.” Whitman’s acceptance of the war punctuates Whitman’s sarcastic tone with a hint of helplessness, which shows the inevitability of the war.
Whitman’s diction throughout the poem also contributes to his disdain towards war. Whitman uses such tangible diction to conceptualize war as loud and abnoxious. The words beat and blow presents a tangible sound which conveys the annoying disturbance these instruments actually cause. By using the drums and the horn to be a metaphor for the war, Whitman properly conveys his belief that the war is loud and obnoxious, much like the drums and the horns. Whitman also uses emotionally-wrenching diction to contrast the disturbance of war to convey his contemptuous tone. For example, Whitman uses the solemn church, the peaceful farmer, the timid, the weeper, or prayer in order to present the good things which are forced to a halt during times of war.
Civil War Historian Mark Neely is somewhat correct when he says that Walt Whitman does not portray the Emancipation Proclamation in his poem. Neely is not totally correct, because although he does not directly represent the Emancipation, Whitman does vicariously convey his feelings towards the emancipation in his poem, “BEAT! BEAT! DRUM!” In the poem, Whitman does not directly make any reference to slavery or even the Union for that matter. Instead, by focusing on the disturbance and uproar the war causes, Whitman trivializes the causes of the civil war. In the Poem, whether consciously or unconsciously, Whitman conveys feelings about the emancipation indirectly when he says, “Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering his grain.” This quote is critical to deciding whether or not Whitman portrays any sort of feelings towards the Emancipation Proclamation, because he does not mention anything about a slave when he talks about the farmer gathering his grain. Traditionally, slaves would most likely gather the grain for their master. Whether Whitman excluded any information about a slave intentionally or unintentionally, this quote still conveys the message that the Emancipation Proclamation is not the largest issue, especially in the midst of the entire disturbance of the war.
Whitman differs from Timrod in his overall stance towards the civil war, because Whitman finds the war distracting and annoying, while Timrod is patriotic and hopeful of a Confederacy victory. Timrod ends “The Cotton Boll” with the belief that the confederacy will grant the Union mercy when the beat them in battle, “mercy; and we shall grant it, and dictate the lenient future of his fate.”
Whitman’s poem is really an extension of George Moses Horton’s poem “The Spectator of the Battle of Belmont.” The spectators of the Battle of Belmont realize the horror of the civil war and they learn that there is not anything romantic about it: “Betray’d by the vestige of blood in their gore.” Whitman is almost like one of the spectators of the Battle of Belmont who has been enlightened to the idea that this war is a atrocious thing and has further analyzed what he has seen. Through his diction, metaphors, imagery, and stanza structure, Whitman portrays the message that the war is not about the Union or emancipation, but about how terrible it is for the people of America in general.

Melville's Message

Melville uses Captain Amasa Delano to portray antebellum societies’ underestimation of African-American slaves. In "Benito Cereno," Captain Delano believes that Captain Don Benito has conspired to murder him, when in actuality; the slaves have overthrown Spanish control of the boat. The evidence for this overthrow is overwhelming. For example, Delano notices as he doles out water that there is no distinction between the amount and elderly white man receives and the amount a young black boy receives. This equality should spark some kind of curiosity about why there is a lack of propriety between the whites and the slaves. Another peculiarity which should spark Delano’s curiosity is the slaves who sharpen axes continuously without restraint. This extensive trust that Captain Benito has put in the slaves should suggest that Captain Benito may not be in control. In the midst of this evidence, Delano fails to realize what is really happening on the ship, because he wouldn’t ever expect the Negroes to be able to accomplish such a feat. Thus, Melville uses Delano to express the possible problems associated with the antebellum societies’ nonchalant attitude towards Negroes. Nevertheless, Melville does not point his finger at Delano for failing to recognize the situation, but he uses this to exalt the chief antagonist of the story, Babo. Babo essentially holds the façade together by acting as a dedicated servant in order to monitor Don Benito’s interaction with Delano. Babo gives such as stellar performance as a dedicated slave, that Delano even jokingly suggests that he would like to buy Babo from Benito. The court hearing elaborates further on Babo and his intelligent action as the chief mutineer. For example, when the ship approaches the harbor which they expected to be empty but holds Delano’s boat as well, Babo is quick to cover the skeleton on deck with a sheet and disguise it as a repair and fabricate the story about how they have reached their current situation. Babo is also responsible for keeping their façade under cover for so long. For example, Babo coincidently cuts Don Benito right when Captain Delano is inquiring about the amount of time it took for them to get to the harbor; which would have revealed the mutiny. Essentially, Melville uses Babo as a symbol for potential African-American leadership and intelligence, because in the story, Babo outsmarts two white captains who are both unable to do anything about the situation due to Babo’s intervention. Through Babo, Melville suggests that the antebellum society would do well not to underestimate African-Americans.