Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
A depressing time, Many years for an older, gentler, Jeffersonian, agrarian America that was
receding quickly. (A constant is much of American literature...the yearning for a more golden
pastoral past)
Open disgust and silent dismay by writers like Twain and Melville
The Whitman approach = a vision of The People a sublime and serious religious
democracy Against so much individualism he spoke of the adhesiveness of love
Beginning of the estrangement of the artist from commercial society.
Literary Marketplace
Development of a national literature of great abundance and variety, New themes, forms,
subjects, regions, authors, audiences, etc.
Main forms: Realism, Naturalism, Regionalism
The notion of just what defines an American:
Industrial markers, rural poor, business leaders, middle and upper class urban dwellers, vagrants,
prostitutes, unheroic soldiers
Other social groups wanted to be heard included African Americans, Native Americans,
Immigrant groups...
The rise in newspaper
two magnates:
Joseph Pulitzer
William Randolph Hearst
Writers who started out as journalists include: Whitman, Bierce, Twain, Crane. Became
authors after.
Magazine Harpers New Monthly Magazine (1851)
Scribners Monthly (1870)
Atlantic Monthly (1857)
Many writers published in these journals and magazines. Written press not only interested in
international, political and economic issued but also note some published translations of
European authors like Tolstoy, Ibsen, Chejv and Zola.
The realistic international art story = the interplay between historical forces and aesthetic
developments. Case work: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.
American writers in this vein include Twain, Wharton, James and Howells.
Americans mixed in the vernacular, ordinary discourse and impressionistic subjectivity.
American characters created or depicted include:
The vernacular boy hero (Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn) the American girl , the middle-class
family, the businessman.
These writers charted the course for whats still referred to as modern
Forms of Realism
European, English and American from roughly 1830-1900
Aim: record life as it was and not as it ought to be.
Most famous theoretician on realism at the time was William Dean Howells (1837-1929)
Nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material
Characters as representative of ordinary people
Henry James and Edith Wharton = works are less about middle-class people than about
characters psychological and moral interiors.
Twain and James = an interpretation of the real rather than the real thing itself.
Twain = the vernacular tradition, people from ordinary walks of life.
Huckleberry Finn = the beginning of a truly American Style.
James later moves from realistic fiction to more metaphorical representations.
Naturalism
Similar to realism but introduces characters from the fringes and depths of society. A characters
fate is determined by heredity, a sordid environment and just plain bad luck.
American naturalistic include: Crane, Dreiser, London and Frank Norris.
Philosophical and scientific background:
Darwin: On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of man (1871)
Humans evolve from lower forms of life.
Turns into social Darwinism (human ability to adapt. Herbert Spencer.
Determinism and Zola: Heredity, environment
Frank Norris characters must be common but what happens to them is anything but common
Naturalism = a depiction of lower classes under the pressures of biology, environment and other
material forces.
Regionalism
Another expression of the realist impulse, the desire to preserve a record of distinctive lifestyles
before industrialization. A response to the rapid growth of magazines and press bringing a larger,
mostly female reading public springboard for many women writers of the age.
Local color the urge to immortalize a places natural social linguistic features. capture a
particular time and place.
The western started out as regional style
closing of the frontiers with the urbanization, unprecedented immigration , the rise in the
unequally distributed national wealth, revised concepts of human nature and destiny, the
pervasive spread of mechanical and organizational technologies
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
A powerful voice for democracy and bold innovator in verse form - the poet of the body
Individualist voice I celebrate Myself
Life
Central event = Leaves of Grass ( 1855) constantly revised throughout lifetime ( 6 times)
Book identified also with US history and American people. A language experiment that
paralleled the Us experiment in democracy.
Youth and literary apprenticeship
Long Island father avid reader and patriot, Mother Quaker.
1830 Leaves school to work
1835 apprentice printer 1836-38 school teacher but unhappy
1842-45 journalist in NYC publishes novels, involved in politics.
1845-48 editor in Brooklyn
1848 goes to New Orleans, opens his mind and horizons.
1848 joins free soils movement (anti-slavery)
1855 self-publication of Leaves of Grass in July (July 4th) includes Song of Myself I sing the
Body Electric and The Sleepers
10 page introduction on poetic and political principles.
grass is grass but it also slang for print samples that printers wrote themselves but then threw
away. Leaves are leaves but also stand for pages and/or bundles of paper: Leaves of Grass.
Influence of the Bible (always constant in Whitman) All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like
the flower of the fieldsurely the people are grass (Isaiah 40:6)
Whitman = poet prophet
The beauty of the body, the fleshiness of human life = the root experience of democracy and
humanity.
Poet of the body and poet of the soul (mixture of the material body and the common people, the
grass previously neglected by poets)
Writes three anonymous reviews of the book praising it.
Book praised by Emerson in a private letter the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that
America has yet contributed I greet you at the beginning of a great career
1856 publishes book again using Emersons quote (without permission) blurb
1857 back to journalism, poetry wont pay bills but keeps up self-image as poet of democracy
Doubts about sexuality, deep and disturbing affair with another man. Whitman was gay.
1860 3rd edition visits Emerson, still full of doubts and despair (see As I ebb'd with the Ocean
of Life)
1861-65 = Civil War = Spiritual and moral center of Whitmans life. Returns to journalism, visits
wounded brother George in 1862, marks with Lincoln Administration as a wound dresser in
Washington D.C. at a war hospital 1862-64
1865 Death of Lincoln, extremely upsetting for Whitman ( see When Lilacs last in the Dooryard
Bloomed)
1867 4th edition of Leaves
1870 5th edition
1873 suffers stroke, death of mother, has to live with brother, no more original writing,
constantly making friends with young men, never fully recovers, physical and creative strength
diminishing.. (Camden new house)
1874-1880 travels around America and Canada,
1881 Final meeting with Emerson 1882 visited by Oscar Wilde, 1888 paralytic stroke.
1891 final edition (6th) of Leaves
1892 death in Camden on March 26
A backward glance o'er travel'd roads...articulate and faithfully express in literary or poetic
form...my own physical, emotional, moral, intellectual and aesthetic personality in the midst of
the...momentous spirit and facts of current America
The Body
The body politic has it foundation in the politicized body. If life and soul are sacred, the human
body is sacred Slaves, prostitutes, dullfaced inmigrants are all equally spaced.
Sexual electricity the body electric constant references to sexuality (the urge to procreate)
The Land
Early influences of Long Island, the sea informative stamps, on his character
Brooklyn and NYC America's first urban poet
A sort of combination of the rural coast line and the big city
Humanity = distinct from nature
Humanity= continues with nature
Culture
The city, the Bible, Emerson, (self-reliance, the American scholar, the poet) Opera
A secular priest and prophet, mystical experience of oneness with nature. Whitman also
fascinated by photography (new upcoming art form)
LEAVES OF GRASS
Changed the face of poetry
Free verse, repetition of words and sounds to create a web-like form.
Abandons traditional diction, uses the languages of everyday life.
Subject matter normally outside the traditional scope of poetry including low topics like the
human body, sexuality, life in the streets.
Song of Myself
Masterpiece and longest poem
Experimentation in form and style, development of a fluid persona embodying the self within a
democratic union.
Celebration of a mystical experience that emerges spirituality with the experience of sexuality
and the body.
Use of catalogues of images and expanded vignettes (the web-like forms)
Exploration of the limits of human knowledge and language
Experiment at all levels:
Level of phrase, me and stanza = no limits, phrase itself determines length and indicate shifts in
topic, perspective or voice. Reads almost like prose.
Whole text = blends genres of epic and lyric
1. Fuses the function of bardic poet and the hero who is I. The personal
involvement characteristic of lyric poetry. The bard = the bearer of culture. Involved in
everyday things.
Epic poetry of arms and the man I sing (Virgil)
...Sing Muse... (Milton)
1872. In 1872 (or possibly in 1873), Dickinson makes the acquaintance of Massachusetts
Supreme Court Judge Otis Phillips Lord. They exchange numerous letters over the years.
scholars speculate that the two may have become romantically involved after the death of Otiss
wife in 1877.
Jun 16, 1874. Dickinsons father, Edward, dies of a stroke in Boston at the age of 71. he is
buried in Amherst. Emily Dickinson does not attend her fathers services, listening to the funeral
instead from her room upstairs.
Nov 14, 1882. Dickinsons mother, Emily Norcross Dickinson, dies. Her death relieves Emily,
who had spent much of the last 30 years caring for her bedridden mother.
1883. Gilbert Dickinson, William and Susans son and Emilys favorite nephew, dies of typhoid
fever.
Mar. 1884. Dickinsons most important attachment, Judge Otis Phillips Lord, dies.
May 15, 1886. Emily Dickinson dies of Brights Disease - a kidney ailment now known as
nephritis. After her coffin is carried - per her instructions- through fields of buttercups, she is
buried in West Cemetery in Amherst.
1890. Dickinsons sister, Lavinia, discovers hundreds of Emilys unpublished poems in her desk
after her death. they are published together for the first time four years after Emilys death and
become wildly successful, going through eleven printings in two years.
Poetry
Poetry very compact, generally written in quatrains. (Many church hymns were written in the
same style)
Punctuation? As many theories as scholars studying it.
Syntax is totally free (compactness)
A dash (-) generally indicates something is missing
Capital letters? Your theory may be as good as another
Slant rhyme (not exact) but sometimes
accident.
1859 He became a fully licensed riverboat pilot.
1861 The Civil War broke out, ending riverboat travel. After a brief stint as a soldier, he
journeyed to Carson City, Nevada with his brother, Orion.
1862 He explored Nevada and California.
1865 "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog"was published, and brought him recognition.
1866 He was sent to Hawaii as a correspondent. He wrote travel letters, and lectured on his
experiences when he returned to California.
1867 He traveled through Europe and the Holy Land, sending travel letters along the way. His
journey also provided material for "The Innocents Abroad," which would become his first
published book.
1869 He became engaged to Olivia Langdon of Elmira, New York on February 4. His first book,
"The Innocents Abroad," was published.
1870 He married Olivia Langdon on February 2, 1870. A son, Langdon, was born November 7,
but he died in infancy.
1872 A daughter, Susy, was born on March 19. "Roughing It" was published.
1873 "The Guilded Age" was published.
1874 A daughter, Clara, was born on June 8.
1876 "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" was published.
1878 He traveled through Europe with his family.
1880 A daughter, Jean, was born on July 26. "A Tramp Abroad" was published.
1882 "The Prince and the Pauper" was published.
1883 "Life on the Mississippi" was published.
1885 "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published.
1889 "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" was published.
1890 His mother died.
1891 He traveled through Europe with his family.
1892 "Extracts from Adam's Diary" was published.
1894 "Pudd'nhead Wilson" was published.
1895 He filed for bankruptcy. His daughter, Susy, died of meningitis on August 18.
1896 "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc" was published.
1897 "Following the Equator" was published.
1900 "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories" was published.
1901 He received an honorary doctorate from Yale University.
1902 He received an honorary doctorate from University of Missouri.
1903 He sailed for Florence, Italy with Olivia.
1904 His wife, Olivia, died in Florence on June 5, and he returned to New York.
1905 "Extracts from Eve's Diary" was published.
906 "What is Man" was published.
1907 He received an honorary degree from Oxford.
1909 His daughter, Clara, married Ossip Gabrilowitsch at Stormfield, on October 6. His
daughter, Jean, died on December 24.
1910 He died on April 21. He was buried in his wifes familys plot, in Woodlawn Cemetery, in
Elmira, New York.
1962 "Letters from Earth" was published.
THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
Comprehension questions
CHAPTER 1
1. What point of view is the story written in?
In 1st person narrator = Huck is the narrator
2. How did Huck become wealthy and how much money does he have?
Tom and Huck found the money that the robbers hid in the cave, and it make them rich. Theyve
get six thousand dollars apiece - all gold.
3. Is Huck superstitious? Explain.
Yes, but not a lot ( see notes on the book)
4. Who does Huck live with?
The widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson
CHAPTER 2
1. Who is Jim?
Mis Watsons nigger = a slave
2. What trick does Tom play on Jim? What does this say about Tom?
He slipped Jims hat off his head and hug it on a limb right over him, and jim stirred a little. Tom
is a prankster and a bit of a scoundrel.
3. What story does Jim tell to explain Toms trick?
It was the witches
4. What is Tom Sawyers Gang?
A group of boys who want to rob people on the road and killed then. Tom says everything must
be done according to the book of rules. (Tom has read every boys book in the world it seems)
CHAPTER 3
1. How does Huck feel about prayer?
The Widow Douglas and Miss Watson are trying to sivilize Huck. One thing is with prayer
There ain't nothing in it something about providence that Huck doesnt understand but he
does understand about being good to people.
2. What kind of father was Pap Finn?
Pap is drunk and abusive
3. How effective is Tom Sawyers Gang?
Not really effective at all. They dont really hurt anybody. Huck finds it rather silly in the end.
CHAPTER 4
1. How does Huck know he will have a bad day?
He spilt some salt
2. What does Huck think about school?
At first he hated it but then he could stand it.
3. What does Huck do with his property? Why?
He gives the money to Judge Thatcher for safekeeping. He thinks his father will steal it.
4. Who does Huck go to in order to ask about his future?
Jim
CHAPTER 7
1. What does Huck find?
A canoe
2. How does Huck escape?
He stages his own murder and disappearance An elaborate a plan as Tom Sawyer might think
of
3. Where does Huck go?
Jacksons Island
CHAPTER 8
1. Who else is on the island? Why?
Jim. He thinks that Miss Watson is going to sell him for $ 800
2. What other superstitions are we introduced to?
(See notes on the book)
CHAPTER 9
1. Where do Huck and Jim find shelter?
A cavern
2. What are some of the things they find that are useful?
A raft
CHAPTER 10
1. What does Huck do that brings bad luck? What happens?
Huck wanted to tease Jim with a snakeskin and leaves the skin next to Jim while he sleeps.
Another snake comes (attracted the skin) and bites Jim. Bad luck.
2. What does Huck decide to do when he gets bored?
To visit the shore and see what he can find out
3. What does Huck wear?
A girls dress
4. Who does Huck see?
A forty year old woman
CHAPTER 11
1. What information does the woman provide?
(See notes on the book)
2. Who is suspected of killing Huck?
Huck is dead and they think that Jim has escaped because hes the murder
3. Does Huck fool the woman?
No, she realizes he is a boy
4. What advice does the woman give?
If you are going to pretend to be a girl do it right. If you get into trouble ask for Mrs Judith
Loftus and Ill help you
CHAPTER 12
1. What do Jim and Huck do to modify the raft?
They leave the island. They hide the raft, then Jim builds a wigwam (type of Native AMerican
Shelter) on it
2. What do they see on the river? How do Huck and Jims opinions differ?
Towns, other boats, etc Stealing or borrowing. They see a wreck. Huck wants to explore it.
Jim doesnt
3. What does Huck witness?
On the wreck two men are going to kill another one but how?
4. What happens to the raft?
The raft is gone. It breaks lose and disappears
CHAPTER 13
1. How do Huck and Jim get off the steamboat?
They steal it
2. What do Huck and Jim find?
The raft
3. What story does Huck tell the watchman? Why?
(See notes on the book) Because he wants to save the men on the steamboat. Otherwise, they will
drown. Now was the 1st time that I began to worry
4. What happens to the crashed steamboat? How does Huck feel about this?
It sinks away. he feels bad but only a little. His conscience is clean.
CHAPTER 14
1. Jim and Huck argue about King Solomon. Who is King Solomon? What are Jim
and Hucks differing opinions?
(See notes on the book)
2. Jim and Huck also argue about languages. What is each of their positions on
language?
(See notes on the book)
CHAPTER 15
1. What is the weather like? Why is this problematic?
Foggy. They had an accident and they get separated. They cannot see they are trying to find the
Ohio River.
2. What lie does Huck tell Jim?
CHAPTER 16
1. As Huck and Jim get closer to Cairo, Huck starts to think. What is his problem?
That he should turn Jim in
2. What does Jim say he will do when he is free?
Buy his family
3. Why wont the two men help Huck?
They think his father got the smallpox
4. What is the conflict of Hucks conscience?
The ambiguous nature of right and wrong...when it is a he? are they necessary?
5. What happens to the raft?
It gets smashed by a boat
CHAPTER 17
1. Who does Huck stay with?
The Grangerfords
2. Who do they dislike?
the Shepherdsons
3. Who is Buck?
The Grangerfords son
4. Who is Emmeline Grangerford? What did she do that Huck finds interesting?
The dead daughter of this family. She wrote poetry about all the dead people when she was alive
but none is writing to her death.
CHAPTER 18
1. What is Col. Grangerford like?
(See notes on the book)
2. How would you describe the Grangerfords?
(See notes on the book)
3. What is a feud? (*)
Argument or hostility within a family
CHAPTER 20
1. How does Huck explain Jim to the men?
(See notes on the book)
2. Where are the towns people?
Listening to the preacher
3. What does the King do involving the townspeople? What is the result of this?
The king tells them hes a poor pirate. The town shallows his story and they take up a collection
4. What does the Duke do to protect Jim and allow daytime travel?
They make up a phony bill ( a paper that says hes a fugitive slave and that they are returning
him to New Orleans for the recompense.
CHAPTER 21
1. Why do Huck, the King, and the Duke go into town?
To perform ROmeo and Juliet and Hamlets soliloquy
2. Who is Boggs? Sherburn? What does Sherburn do to upset the townspeople?
A drunken man of the town. A colonel. He kills Boggs.
CHAPTER 22
1. What does Sherburn say to the mob? How do they react?
That they are cowards. The crowd washed back and broke all apart and went tearing off every
which way
2. What trick is played at the circus?
(See notes on the book)
3. What statement does the Duke put on the sign to draw a crowd to the show?
Ladies and Children not admitted (See also notes on the book)
CHAPTER 23
1. Is the statement successful in drawing a crowd?
Yes.
2. What is ironic about the outcome of the show?
the men are angry because they think its too short and they consider it comedy not tragedy
3. What happens on the third night of the show?
They dont appear and just take the money and run
4. What is Jims opinion of the King and Duke?
That they are rapscallions
5. What story does Jim tell about his daughter?
How she died.
CHAPTER 24
1. What is the Dukes solution to leaving Jim tied up on the raft?
Dressed him like King Lear
2. Who are the King and Duke pretending to be? Why?
Peter Wilks brothers. To inherit the mans state.
CHAPTER 25
1. Are they successful in their deception of the townspeople?
Yes.
2. What is wrong with the sack of money? How do the King and Duke react and
what is their solution to this problem?
3. What do they decide to do with the money?
They hid the money
4. Who does not believe them?
The doctor
5. What does Mary Jane do with the money?
She give it to them
CHAPTER 26
1. Why does Huck begin to feel bad for deceiving the sisters?
2. What does Huck decide to do?
To steal the money
3. What is the King and Dukes plan?
CHAPTER 27
1. Where does the money end up?
work?
2. How does the real brother try to expose the frauds? Is he successful?
Not yet
2. What happens between the King and Duke?
To run away
3. What goes wrong with their plan?
Jim is gone
4. Huck has two choices. What are they and what does he decide to do?
To leave the paper that he wrote to guide Miss Watson where Jim is or broke it . He broke it.
CHAPTER 32
1. Where does Huck go?
Phelps house
2. Who does he pretend to be?
Tom Sawyer
CHAPTER 33
1. Who does Huck meet on the road?
Tom Sawyer
2. Who does Tom pretend to be?
CHAPTER 35
1. What is escaping properly?
2. What do you think about this?
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
1. How do Aunt Sally and Uncle Silas explain the missing items?
Rat-holes?
2. What do Tom and Huck do to antagonize Aunt Sally?
CHAPTER 38
1. What else does Jim need to properly escape?
2. What do Tom and Huck steal?
a rock
3. What dos Tom think will give Jim glory?
CHAPTER 41
1. Who does Huck accidentally run into? What does he tell him?
He gets free
2. What does Tom give Jim and why?
Tom gives Jim 40 dollars for being prisoner for us so patient and doing it so good.
3. What happened to Pap Finn?
Hes dead. Is the dead man that the found in the house.
4. What will happen to Huck?
He is going to be adopted and sivilize by Aunt Sally.
Other things to think about while reading Huckleberry Finn (Look at the questions on the
handout)
1.
Why does Twain explain his use of dialects at the beginning of the book? What attitudes
about language is he satirizing? How does the use of dialects contribute to the
characterization and tone of the book?
2. What are the different influences Huck wants to escape at the beginning of the novel?
3.
Why is this novel considered the greatest coming of age story in American literature?
What makes Huck an archetypal, or almost mythic, American hero? Would you classify
the novel as a children's book? Why or why not?
4.
How do Tom Sawyer's attitudes and methods compare with Huck's? How is Tom an
influence on Huck all through the middle of the novel when he is not present?
5.
What are Huck's experiences of and attitudes toward superstitions, the supernatural, and
established religion?
6.
What do the towns along the Mississippi have in common? How do Huck's town
experiences compare with life on the raft?
7.
How does Huck perceive and relate to nature?
8.
What is the significance of Huck's response to the beautiful women, the mother figures,
and the various families he encounters? Consider his responses to individuals in relation to
the examples of exaggerated and false sentimentality in the novel. How is he affected by
his drunken and neglectful father?
9. How do you perceive Huck as a storyteller? What kinds of stories does he tell people in
the novel and why? What is the effect of hearing the story entirely from his point of view
and in his language? What ideas does Twain seem to convey toward the relationship
between storytelling and lying? Why does Huck sometimes lie during his adventures?
10. How many burlesques or parodies can you find of different character types, social
institutions, traditional beliefs and attitudes, literary and historical traditions, etc.?
11. Why does Huck think he'll go to hell for helping Jim escape? What are his attitudes
toward slavery, slave-stealing, and crimes such as stealing? What different moral forces
within Huck are struggling with each other?
12. Why is Huckleberry Finn usually near the top of lists of books that have been banned or
censored in America? What do you think about the content that some people consider
objectionable?
13. Why does Huck go along with the frauds of the King and Duke, and the Evasion plans
devised by Tom? What does he learn from these experiences? What do we learn from
watching Huck experience them?
14. Is the ending of the novel (the "rescue" of Jim from the Phelpses) appropriate? Is it
plausible? Is it anticlimactic? Does it fit the rest of the book? Do Huck and Jim lose
dignity by their participation in Tom's schemes? Why has the ending created such
controversy among readers and critics of this novel?
15. In what ways is this novel particularly American? What attitudes toward Europe,
European civilization, and the past does Twain express?
History
Started 1876 in Connecticut
Finished 1884 (not such an easy book to write, was writing other things at the same time)
Also pertains to Twains richest period as a writer and celebrity.
Controversial novel from the beginnings. Enthusiastic reception later on but in England was praised as
The Great American Novel
First banking: a library in Concord , Massachusetts. unhealthy because of its language, rejection of
sivilization etc the banning boosted sales.
1900 = very popular work in America
1990 -1925 = gradually became more popular than Tom Sawyer as Twains best work: Not only the great
American novel it is America
5 Twain shows he is unable to abandon the genteel tradition. (Good deeds and actions. Books
should display morals. The idea here is the critic believes that Twain sanctions the slavery
issue)
Huck and Jim seek freedom from social constraint not the burden of individual sin and guilt.
Their creed = secular. Through the symbols (the raft, the South, steamboats) we reach a truth
the ending obscures: the quest cannot succeed due to a failure of nerve.
Counter attack on Marx by James Cox (1966)
1 Hucks rebellion against slavery is not the main issue of the novel. The real target of satire = all
forms of pretentious morality.
2 Huck journey is a flight from tyranny, not a quest toward freedom.
3 Huck is not a rebel but just a boy looking for an easy way out of a tight place.
4 In the end, even Tom comes off as bad as the King and the Duke.
5 The real rebellion of the book = an attack upon the conscience. (Think of all the references
Huck makes to his conscience). Conscience does make cowards of us all
Another view: Richard Hill (1991). Critics against the novel have a moral and political agenda.
Tom = an unpopular figure in modern academia but is an unchallenged authority on literature
that boys enjoy.
A book for children should not be over interpreted or over-intellectualized.
II. Controversy over Race:
Does H.F. reinforce racist attitudes?
Yes. Julius Lester (1984)
Huck Finn evokes something poignant and real in the American psyche, something dangerously,
fatally seductive.
The novel is immoral in its major premises. It demeans blacks and insults history.
Hucks mistreatment and abuse by Pap is not the same as the abuse of the system of slavery.
Jim = no integrity of his own, childlike person, similar to Tom and the rest of the gang. Why
doesnt he just escape to Illinois? Why do they keep going further and further south into slave
territory?
Story is not credible at all. More of a fantasy for white people. See the doctor scene at the end of
chapter 42.
Shows the archetypal good nigger, faithful not speaking, not causing trouble. A character who
lacks dignity and respect.
Tom only agrees to free Jim because he already knows that Jim has been freed.
Miss Watsons freeing of Jim = a fairy tale for whites.
Jim is mistreated at the end and not shown the respect he deserves.
Does this mean the book should be banned? No but the racist and antiracist message should be
studied as well.
The book is also a study in the psyche of the White American male:
Civilization and decency = women
Freedom = old clothes, doing what one wants.
Novel = puerile, the eternal boy for whom growth, maturity and responsibility are enemies. The
eternal adolescent.
Novel = fails as moral literature
Freedom? The only freedom in the novel is freedom from restraint and responsibility. An
adolescent view of life with a nostalgia for paradise that never was. (Constant in American
literature). American Adam who has lost paradise
Novel shows Twains contempt for humanity disguised as satire, as humor
Novel is not racist. Justin Kaplan (1984).
Book constantly banned for the N (nigger) word and another reasons.
Twain also said he wrote for the masses. Translated into many languages. Millions of copies in
existence.
Book shaped the style and vision of virtually every American writer: Anderson, Dreiser,
Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Salinger, Bellow, Hemingway
In other words its a book for the cultivated or Head as well as a book for the uncultivated
or the Belly ad Members.
Why constantly banned?
1 Goes against genteel tradition by using unrefined language, a shiftless (sin recursos) lowclass boy for narrator and subject matter.
Twain on the novel in 1904 A sound heart and a doomed conscience come into collision and
conscience suffers defeat.
Huck and Jim show mutual respect and love. It is an affront to ban this book on moral purposes.
Novel = a matchless satire on racism, bigotry and property rights in human beings.
Huck displays more truthfulness than any adult in his society. You cant pray a lie.
Truth telling = frequently brutal and painful realism.
Society = a nightmare of bigotry, violence, exploitation, greed and ignorance.
White population of the Mississippi valley is portrayed critically = swindlers (timadores),
drunkards (borrachos), rapscallions (sinvergenzas) etc.
Only weapon for human race against this = laughter but this requires sense and courage.
Kaplan suggests that perhaps the entire controversy regarding the novel is the very nature of
humor as defined and used by Twain.
Peaches Henry 1992 Race and Censorship (African American woman)
Book as a racial problem
The enormous emotional freight attached to the word nigger is horrible for African
Americans.
Nigger = racist terror, degradation, slavery, etc
The novel shows perpetuation of racial stereotypes and the use of black minstrelsy (19 th
century) shows about blacks but with white actors in blackface imitating blacks.)
Jim = stereotypical, superstitious darky.
But others disagree.
Ralph Ellison (African American writer of the 1950s Jims humanity transcends the mask.
Jim is not used to poke fun at whites. Twains depiction of Jim is an ironic attempt to transcend
the very prejudices that dissidents accuse him of portraying.
Regarding the debate on its aptness as a book to be studied in schools, it should be banned. Why?
Because Jr. High School and early High School students do not possess the critical perception to
successfully negotiate the satire present in the novel. A better book for 11th and 12th graders.
Earl F. Biden talks about Kembles original illustrations for H.F., which were sanctioned by
Twain himself. Book = Racists
Shelley Fisher Fishkin was Huck Black?
Hucks language as the crowning achievement of Twain but where did it come from?
Twain said Huck was based on Tom Blankenship, poor white son of town drunk and general
pariah. He was the envy of all respectable boys for freedom. But was he really the model for
Hucks voice?
1874 Sociable Jimmy 1874, short sketch by Twain of a young black boy that he had met.
Maybe the true source of Hucks voice
III. The Controversy over gender and Sexuality
Are Twains politics progressive, regressive or beside the point? Remember what Twain himself
says at the beginning of H.F. Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be
presented person find a frond in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be
slot
Nancy A. Walker Women and Virtue in H. F.
Secondary role of women, generally not allowed much participation. American literature is
basically male.
The dream of the escape to freedom= peculiarly American and identifiably masculine
Resistance to sivilizing and heading out for the territory = masculine desires. I Toms most
well now, and got his bullet around his neck on a watch-guard for a match, and is always seeing
what time it is (...)
The exploitation of the land = the exploitation of women
Huck Finn embodies a basic tension between male and female values and roles. Women are
portrayed as stereotypes.
Hucks maturity at the end of the novel = limited. Why?
Honesty, compassion, sense of duty and sivilization are female virtues not male. Huck reflects
them to light out for the territory
According to Mary Ellen Good , Mark Twain = incapable of creating realistic female characters.
All are wooden and unrealistic
Women are portrayed as reformers
Rank of women:
The Widow Douglas= widow (previously married)
Aunt Sally Phelps = married
Miss Watson = unmarried
Miss Watson seems to get the worst treatment in the book due to her marital status. Portrayed as
a spinster/old maid (both old derogatory terms) Huck refers to her as poor old woman but does
feel guilty about stealing her nigger Jim.
The Widow Douglas = a more gentle reformer. huck does not resent her. Responds well to her
kindness. Learns from her how to respect Jim.
Hucks male role models are Tom and Pap . When Huck flees it is from Pap and not Widow
Douglas
Aunt Sally Phelps = 3rd reformer but basically ineffective in causing Huck to change his
behaviour. Hard to take seriously Hucks feel of being sivilized by her. She is more a comic
figure.
Mrs Judith Loftus and Mary Jane Wilks = better formed characters, more than just stereotypes.
Huck admires their courage and intelligence.
After meeting Mrs. Judith Loftus Huck will never try to be a girl again will only take on the roles
of masculinity.
Mary jane Wilks = a bit of the damsel in distress and is a romantic figure but Huck admires her
greatly and would pray for her if he could. Huck kerans the idea of self-sacrifice from her. She
seems to lack the sentimentality of some of the other female characters.
At the end Huck rejects the female virtues he has struggled so hard to obtain.
Reading Gender in H. F. Myra Jehlen
Culture, society, and history, define gender, not nature.
H.F. = a mans book about a boy. The story of an adolescent who undergoes a series of trials on
the rocky road to adulthood (Bildungsroman of coming of age stroy)
Book= central work i the American tradition
A work that articulates and helps to define dominant values and ways of seeing the world.
Greatness of the book = champions the autonomy of the individual Hucks way of overcoming
the particularities of class and generation.
But the novel also reaffirms category and role. huck becomes a man of integrity, but by not being
feminine and being anti-feminine.
The scene with Mrs. Judith Loftus may use the disguise of femininity? Why does Huck call
himself Sarah Williams? scene is there only to ridicule femininity.
At the end of the chapter, when Huck says they are after us Huck is able to identify with Jim
(uses us mistreated slave like mistreated female. (women in general) and says us Huck sees
in the displacement of his gender identity a new social identity in which he questions the other
conventions of his culture for more radically than before
Leslie Fiedler Come back to the Raft Ag in, Huck, Honey (1984)
The Negro and the homosexual
Male camaraderie of the locker room, the baseball park, the poker game, the fishing trip have
homoerotic overtones.
The regressiveness of American life, the nostalgia for the infantile. Mythic America = boyhood.
Book that are juvenile classics include H.F. books by James Fenimore Cooper and Moby Dick.
Often referred to as boys books Why? the idea of chaste male love as the ultimate emotional
experience.
Natty Bumppo and Chingachgook
Ismael and Queequeg
Huck and Jim
A fall into carnal love has not yet been discovered. These three also clearly celebrate the mutual
love of a white man a colored)
Ideal love= a national myth of masculine love
The negro as homoerotic lover blends in with the myth of running the great river down to the
sea.
The dark-skinned beloved will take us, we reassure ourselves, when we have been cut off, or
have cut ourselves off from others, without rancor or the insult of forgiveness, he will fold us in
his arms, saying Honey, he will comfort us as if our offense to him were long ago remitted ,
were never truly real
Colored man = victim but the outrage is meaningless in the fall of love
The white man always dreams of his acceptance at the breast of he has most utterly offended
A dream so sentimental, so outrageous, so desperate that in redeems our concept of boyhood
from nostalgia to tragedy
Christopher Looby on Innocent Homosexuality
H.F. shows a type of innocent homosexuality that displays the archetypal image of a loving
male interracial couple.
3. THE AMERICAN REALISM
Henry James (1843 - 1916)
Life
1843. Henry James was born on 15 April at Washington Place, New York City. His
grandfather was one of the first American millionaires. Father a theologian and philosopher.
Js brother William became psychologist and author of Varieties of Religious Experience.
1845-55. Childhood in Albany (State capital) and New York City, plus travelling in Europe.
1855-58. Attends schools in Geneva, London, and Paris, and is privately tutored.
1858. Family settles in Newport, Rhode Island.
1859. At scientific school in Geneva. Studies German in Bonn.
1861. American civil war begins James develops a bad back. Studies art briefly.
1862-63. Spends a year studying Law at Harvard.
1864. Family settles in Boston, then Cambridge. James starts writing and publishing
1916. Given Order of Merit. Falls in love with a Swedish sailor, and dies thinking he is
Napoleon. Ashes buried in Cambridge (MA).
1976. Commemorative tablet unveiled in Poets Corner of Westminster Abbey.
DAISY MILLER
Comprehension questions
PART I
1. Where does the story take place and what kinds of people go there?
Vevey, in Switzerland. The place is full of American travellers, German waiters, Russian princess
2. Who is Winterbourne and how would you describe him?
Winterbourne is an American, a student, amigable fellow and universally liked.
3. What is the nature of the conversation with the little urchin?
The himp of sugar and difference between Europe and America
4. Describe the American girl. Describe her from Winterbournes point of view.
American girl = strikingly , admirably pretty. Ladys face not exactly expressive she had a spirit
of her own. Disposed towards conversation. Coquette.
5. What is her attitude towards Europe?
Daisys attitude = Europe hotels very good, Europe is perfectly sweet towards Europe
6. What is she particularly fond of?
Fond of Society
7. How does Winterbourne react to her?
Winterbourne was amused perplexe. Dishabituated to the American tone.
8. What is his opinion of American girls?
That American girls = exceedingly innocent and others were not Daisy = American flirt
9. Where do he and Daisy decide to go?
Castle of Chillon / Chteau de Chillon
PART II
10. What does Mrs. Costello think of the Miller family? Why?
They are very common She doesnt like them, because the Millers treat their countries as a
gentleman, another remember of the family.
11. What is her advice regarding Daisy Miller?
Not middle with little American girls that are uncultivated
12. How does Daisy react to when she discovers Winterbournes aunt doe not want to
meet her
Laughing
13. How does Mrs. Miller surprise Winterbourne?
She used a different type of maternity.
14. Why is he so puzzled by Daisys behavior?
15. Why does she say he is horrid?
Because Winterbourne says he cant go with her to Rome and that he would go back to Geneva
Harper's Magazine, December 1878: Daisy Miller is an impossible daughter, who regards her
mother as a cipher, and who, besides, is an inscrutable combination of audacity and innocence,
elegance and vulgarity. A young person of bad manners.
HJ himself in an August 1880 letter: Poor little Daisy Miller was, as I understand her, above all
things innocent. It was not to make a scandal, or because she took pleasure in a scandal, that she
went on with Giovanelli. She never took the measure really of the scandal she produced, and had
no means of doing so: she was too ignorant, too irreflective, too little versed in the proportions of
things. She was a flirt, a perfectly superficial and unmalicious one....I did not mean to suggest
that she was playing off Giovanelli against Winterbourne--for she was too innocent for that.
1.
In what ways does James use his international theme (see p. 466) in this novel? What
contrasts or oppositions does he draw between European and American characters and
ideals? What rules are implied here for the behavior of young girls and married women in
each culture?
2.
To what extent is Daisy responsible for her own fate, and to what extent is she an
innocent crushed beneath a corrupt civilization? Discuss Daisys character in detail. Did
you find her a sympathetic character or an irritating one? What points of European
civilization does she fail to understand?
3. James uses language carefully in this novella as in all his works; certain words (pretty)
and images (flowers, for example) are repeated with variations throughout. Choose a few
of the most important examples that you have seen in this work and present them to the
class.
4. In what way might it be said that this is Winterbournes story rather than Daisys? What
do we learn about him in the course of the story? Is he responsible for her death? Look
closely at the ways in which he assesses her and interpretsor misinterpretsher
language and behavior.
5. James uses places and place names carefully in this work. Discuss the significance of the
various places alluded to here, such as the gardens, the Castle of Chillon, the Palace of
the Caesars, the Colosseum, St. Peters, and so on.
6. Two of the most crucial words in this story are innocent and intimate, especially
because the characters define them in various ways and apply them to Daisys relations
with others. Find the places in which these words are used and discuss the ways in which
these loaded terms help to create tension (and misunderstandings) in the story.
7. Several of the secondary characters play an important role in Daisy Miller, among
them Randolph, Mr. Giovanelli, and three American ladies: Mrs. Costello, Mrs. Miller,
and Mrs. Walker. Explain the function of each character in the story.
8. The theme of illness is significant here; explain its function in the story.
9. In Daisy Miller: A Study, Does James follow the precepts of realism and of art as he
describes them in The Art of Fiction?
10. What does it mean to be an American in this story?
The names :
* Daisy
Innocent, audacity, whimsical, childish, reckless, vulgar, flirt, silly
A beautiful flower that blossoms but soon dies
* Winterbourne
Stiff, hypocritical, earnest, prudent, misogynist, well-educated, frozen, dead-like, wintertime,
arrogant
* Mr. Costello (the Chillon Castle scene)
Insufferable, haughty, a social snob, arrogant
* Mrs Walker = always sitting
snobbish, social butterfly, whimsical arrogant
* Mr. Giovanelli
Fortune hunter, very polite, very well-dressed not very wealthy, an artist,
*Mrs. Miller
Stupid, blind, doesnt seem to realize what is going on A careless mother
*Randolph = spoiled kid
America is the best, Europe is horrible ( He is 9 years old!)
Some other cases of symbolism
Roman fever = malaria but also the reputation for fast and loose attraction felt sometimes by
American ( ?) women for Roman men as well as the romantic appeal of the city itself.
fever = to go crazy
The Collosseum = place of sacrifice, slowdown death (confrontation between winterbourne and
Giovanelli)
Winterbourne = old world (though American he is tainted by too many years in Europe)
Daisy = New World
Mrs Walkers Victoria (carriage) = wealth and security? Daisy rejects it
Parasol = flimsy like Daisy herself, also hides Daisy from Winterbournes gaze..
Daisy Miller as A study but of what?
James of the CHaracters?
Winterbourne of Daisy?
Mrs Walker studies European society
Europeans study Americans
Winterbourne is studying in Geneva studying a euphemism for courting???
Who is the victim? Winterbourne or Daisy?
Level of reading: social,moral, psychological
Winterbourne = unreliable narrator, confused about Daisy. Daisy is confused about Europe
Everyone is confused about Daisy and misjudge her..
Daisy Miller = the prototype of the International Theme that James explored in later novels
like Portrait of a Lady , The Ambassadors, The Golden Bonel (Leon Edel)
James and the International Theme
The identification with the High Renaissance and the presence of Italy in many early novels
James = first American cosmopolitan writer. The New World = morality healthier than the old
but the tension between the two is constant.
Daisy Miller is involved in this theme in a deep and tragic manner cynical attitude about the
relations between European men and American women: seems that both systems of morality are
fatal. The classic story of innocence and experience. James himself got his morality from New
England but his aesthetic condition (true culture, true civilization) from Europe.
The American Girl
Constant figure in James work. A complex character, eager for experience but unable by fear or
anxiousness for selfhood to achieve it.
Art = feminine
American men have little to do with civilization
James = artist, James is an embroiderer, the American girl is the embroidery
James had an early identification with the feminine mind. Comes from childhood relationship
with mother.
James = many feminine portraits. Considered the great feminine novelist. Women are not a
distinct species from men and have peculiar problems and are capable of all human possibilities.
The American Girl = shows the struggle of the individual to protect own integrity and freedom
against violation by the world and in conflict with an establish order.
A moral spontaneity as the primary symbol of the positive aspects of the American character
America = innocence
Europe= experience
Sexlessness
Does Daisy ever recognize the sexual implications of her flirtatious behaviour? Does she
perceive her own sexuality?
The American girl whose free spirit brings her into trouble in the old world.. (some see the
influence of James's cousin Minny Temple who died of TB at the age of 25)
Lisa Johnson Daisy Miller as Comboy Feminist
Debate on good or bad, innocent or wild? Daisy is a contrary girl according to Winterbourne.
Feminist embrace the notion of contrariness
Daisy = a counter - narrative of American womanhood as defined by freedom despite social
restraints.
Daisy = hold and good and also self-reliant (also part of being American) She breaks social
demands rather than bending to them. The important thing is not the strain encountered in the
1871
1873
1874
1879
Oscar's cotton business fails, and the Chopins move to Cloutierville, Louisiana.
Lelia Chopin born.
1882
1884
1885
1888
1889
1890
1891
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1904
August 18--Kate visits the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and suffers from a
stroke. She dies two days later.
THE AWAKENING
Comprehension questions
CHAPTER 1
Describe Lonce Pontellier.
He could speak a little Spanish. Had the privilege of quitting their society when they ceased to be
entertaining. Wore eye-glasses. A man of forty, of medium height and rather slender build. His
hair was brown and straight, parted on one side. His beard was neatly and closely trimmed.
What does he think of his wife? How do you know?
A valuable piece of personal property.
Who is his wife with? Who is he?
Robert Lebrun. He is Madame Lebruns son
Is there any indication that there are problems between Lonce and his wife?
Yes, the reaction of Mr. Pontellier
CHAPTER 2
Describe Edna Pontellier.
Her eyes were quick and bright; they were yellowish brown, about the color of her hair. She had
a way of turning them swiftly upon an object and holding them there as if lost in some inward
maze of contemplation or thought. She was rather handsome than beautiful- Her manner was
engaging.
What kind of person is Robert Lebrun?
Is a merchant in mercantile house of New Orleans
What do we learn about the two of them?
They are good position in social status
CHAPTER 3
Does Lonces arrival tell us anything about the type of person he is?
Yes, he is selfish
What is the effect of this on Edna? Why? What does she hear in the background?
Terrible, she is sad, crying. An old owl hooting and the voice of the sea.
What kind of gift does she receive from her husband? What do you think it might mean?
Money and a box with delicious food and fruits. Gift = power
CHAPTER 4
How is Edna different from other women?
She is not a mother-woman
Describe Adle Ratignolle. How is she different from Edna?
She is beautiful, she is said to be the embodiment of everywomaly grace and charm
What are creoles? Is Edna comfortable with them? Why/why not?
From colonies of France . No, they felt like a large family absence of prudery
What kind of book was being read? How does Edna behave with it?
Sexual book? Kamasutra? . She felt to read it in secret and solitude
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 8
Why does Madame Ratignolle tell Robert to leave Edna alone?
Because she might get the flirting serious
What is his reply?
Why shouldnt she take him seriously?
Who are the two lovers and the lady in black? Is this the first time they appear?
Vacationers. No, they were at the beach
What kind of sound is repeated in this chapter? Why?
clatter, clatter, bang!
CHAPTER 9
Who is Mademoiselle Reisz? How is she different?
An old woman who plays the piano. She is not married and she is an artist.
How does her playing affect Edna?
She feels passion, longing
CHAPTER 10
What is Edna thinking about Robert?
She becomes obsessed with this man
The sea is mentioned once again. What is said about it?
The sea was quiet now, and swelled lazily in broad billows that melted into one another and did
not break except upon the beach in little foamy crests that coiled back like slow, white serpents:
How does Edna feel while swimming?
Metaphor. A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if some power of significant import had been
given her to control the working of her body and her soul. She grew daring and reckless,
overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before.
( To sink or swim)
What is mentioned about the date?
Twenty-eighth of August. At the hour of midnight, and if the moon is shining a spirit that has
haunted these shores for ages rises up from the Gulf. The spirit seeks some one mortal worthy to
hold him company, worthy of being exalted for a few hours into realms of the semi-celestials.
CHAPTER 11
Describe what happens between Edna and her husband? How does she feel?
She does not want to go to bed and her husband just stands there smoking a cigar. She feels like
she is awakening gradually from a dream
CHAPTER 12 (*) important
Do you notice any difference in Ednas attitude?
Yes,
What does she do regarding Robert?
She sent for Robert. She never had did that before
How does she feel when they are together?
Free
Who else is constantly in the background?
The lovers and the lady in black
What does Robert propose?
To go to Grande Terre the next day
CHAPTER 13
How does Edna feel while at church?
Drowsiness, her head began to ache
Where does she go to rest?
Madame Antoines cot
How does she feel when she wakes up?
Hungry
CHAPTER 14
How does Lonce react to Ednas absence?
Indifferent
Why is she happy?
Because she spent the whole day with Robert
CHAPTER 15
Why does Robert leave at this point?
He is getting very nervous about this woman and goes to Mexico to do some business
How does Edna react?
Freaks out
CHAPTER 16
How does Edna spend her time after Robert leaves?
Swimming and going out with Madame Ratingnolle
What does she tell Madame Ratingnolle?
That she would never sacrifice herself for her children
What does Mademoiselle Reiz tell her?
Robert flriting with a Spanish girl with Margarita
CHAPTER 17
How does the setting change?
Back in the city , South Louisiana
How does Lonce feel about his home?
Very fond of his home, possession
How does Edna change her old activities?
She was not wearing the usual Tuesday reception gown, ordinary house dress. She went out.
How does her husband react to her new attitude?
He leaves.
What does Edna do after her husband leaves?
She rips off her wedding ring and breaks a vase
CHAPTER 18
Why does Edna go to Madame Ratinnolles?
She feels depress
How does she feel when she leaves? Why?
Depressed rather than soothed. Lifes delirium
CHAPTER 19
What does her husband think of her painting?
Noneses
How does she feel about her own work?
She is becoming a different self
CHAPTER 20
What story does Edna tell at the end of the chapter? What does the doctor think about it?
She tells the story of a woman who paddled away with her lover one night and never come back.
The doctor hopes that this man who had made Edna fell in love with is not Arobin
CHAPTER 24
How does Edna react to her sisters wedding?
She does not want to go to the wedding
Are there any similarities between Lonce and Ednas father?
Yes, authority = patriarchal
How does she feel about her husband? Why do you think she acts this way?
Sentimental
Where are her children and how does she feel about this?
In Iberville. Self- reliance ( Emerson)
CHAPTER 25
Describe Alce Arobin.
How does the relationship between Alce and Edna develop?
What does she think about Robert and her husband?
CHAPTER 26
Does Edna change her feelings toward Arobin?
What is the nature of her conversation with Mademoiselle Reisz?
What decision has she made? Why?
What does she learn about Roberts plans and how does he feel about it?
What does she write in the letter to her husband?
CHAPTER 27
What happens between Edna and Arobin and how does she feel?
CHAPTER 28
Why is Edna not happy about her night with Arobin?
CHAPTER 29
What does Edna pack to take with her?
How does Edna appear as a different person?
CHAPTER 30
Chopin = a fuller and more convincing picture of physical attraction and contact than any other
serious shaping her life
Chopin concentrates mainly on biological aspects of women's situation not the socio-economic
forces shaping her life
A direct and honest portrayal of the violations of societys arbitrary scale of morals
Heroines are not sinners, no moralistic platitudes, no apology. Remember what Chopin herself
said
Edna portrayed as a person with free will
The Awakening = spiritual independence in general and a realization of the nature of reality in
particular
American writers = represent the will to renew American literature and to shock the public
The Ending of the Novel
According to many its the wrong one (George M. Spangler, 1970)
Characterization = inconsistent
Edna = diminished
Having overcome so much in the way of frustration. Edna is destroyed by so little
A complex psychological novel is converted into a commonplace sentimental one
The novel = a failure of nerve
to wander in abysses of solitude. All along the white beach, up and down, there was no living
thing in sight. A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling
disabled down, down to the water.
Edna had found her old bathing suit still hanging, faded, upon its accustomed peg.
She put it on, leaving her clothing in the bath-house. But when she was there beside the sea,
absolutely alone, she cast the unpleasant, pricking garments from her, and for the first time in her
life she stood naked in the open air, at the mercy of the sun, the breeze that beat upon her, and the
waves that invited her.
How strange and awful it seemed to stand naked under the sky! how delicious! She felt like
some new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had never known.
The foamy wavelets curled up to her white feet, and coiled like serpents about her ankles. She
walked out. The water was chill, but she walked on. The water was deep, but she lifted her white
body and reached out with a long, sweeping stroke. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding
the body in its soft, close embrace.
She went on and on. She remembered the night she swam far out, and recalled the terror that
seized her at the fear of being unable to regain the shore. She did not look back now, but went on
and on, thinking of the blue-grass meadow that she had traversed when a little child, believing
that it had no beginning and no end.
Her arms and legs were growing tired.
She thought of Leonce and the children. They were a part of her life. But they need not have
thought that they could possess her, body and soul. How Mademoiselle Reisz would have
laughed, perhaps sneered, if she knew! "And you call yourself an artist! What pretensions,
Madame! The artist must possess the courageous soul that dares and defies."
Exhaustion was pressing upon and overpowering her.
"Good-bybecause I love you." He did not know; he did not understand. He would never
understand. Perhaps Doctor Mandelet would have understood if she had seen himbut it was
too late; the shore was far behind her, and her strength was gone.
She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again. Edna
heard her father's voice and her sister Margaret's. She heard the barking of an old dog that was
chained to the sycamore tree. The spurs of the cavalry officer clanged as he walked across the
porch. There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air.