In
English 241 we learned what America is through the lenses of literature. We
could notice repeatedly the influence that Literature had throughout American
History in imperative moments of changes. The first writings of genuine literature
defined the new society that was being formed in this land; the literature of
the romantics that helped to fight slavery, the Declaration of independence
that helped The United States to have freedom from its former colonists, among
many more examples. American, as we know, is famous for being a country of
freedom, we learned although, that this freedom did not come lightly and it is
still a work in process.
One of the most engaging and interesting subjects we
learned in this class was the impact of the Romanticism on insightful
progressive movements. We learned that part of the Romantic Political plan was
inclined to believe that by helping others to experience life to its best, they
would learn how to feel as others do, and learn how to have more sacrificial
lives by putting others before themselves. This way of thinking led them to
engage in profound causes and progressive movements as women’s suffrage, the fight
for Native American Rights, and the fight to end slavery. They gave the first
steps towards freedom.
We have been given a special attention to slavery; we
brought up a delicate subject that still affects us, black market slavery, and
the discussions about this subject gave me a bigger perspective on our
contribution to this evil. I learned that our alienation to great matters of
our society does not excuse us from its guilt. We learned that those involved
with abolitionism and suffrage used literature as one of their most powerful weapons
to defend their campaign, bringing more and more people to believe in what they
believed , which was initially supported by only a few.
The readings of J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, gave me a
closer perspective of the slavery issue. As in my country, Brazil, we did not
have the civil war that United States had, to give freedom to the slaves, it
has been hard for me to understand so many culture differences that unfolded between
the white Americans and the African Americans after the war of the North
against the South and all the baggage that many still carry from it. I admit being far from understanding why in
Brazil there is not so much separation and contrast as here, although, literature
has helped me to better understand the tension created before the civil war period
and reading detailed essays about the subject has helped me to start grasping
some answers to my restless questions. It still makes me profoundly sad to
remember when 4 years ago I did not feel welcomed to the first American church
I visited for being the only white person in the temple, all the surprised
starring eyes, not necessarily of condemnation, I believe just surprised eyes .
I also remember walking in a store that according to my host mother “I was not
suppose to go to” just because I am white, nothing that I had control of, or
that I could had stopped from happening, and I remember replying to her :“what does
that have to do with anything, why they don’t like me just because I am white?”,
three years later I heard my husband say
that his friend received a scholarship just because he was one of the few white
students of his College, I cried, all those times. I could not believe how one
of the most powerful, modern, revolutionary nations in the world had such
contrasts, I could not understand as I could not judge for I did not know its
story. In any way I mean to justify any prejudice that might still remain, it
disgusts me; I just want to understand this country’s people, and its story.
Studying the origins of America has helped me to
understand America today, who they are, where they came from. We learned how
Thoreau’s and Emerson’s writings, with the purpose to bridge the gap between
the people of his society and nature around them, influenced the idea of having
parks (something United States is really well known for, nowadays) and the beginning
of the environmentalist conscious that we, still today, seek for.
Another idea that is deeply related to America,
consumerism, was foreshadowed in the writings of Jefferson and Franklin, who tried
to make their contemporaries aware of how debt can be a type of slavery, truth which
has helped lead this country to its current recession. Another writer whose idea is still applicable
was Thoreau’s, who believed that happiness was not to obtain material
wealth but to live simply and enjoy nature and the world around you and the
people in it, those ideas helped me to see the signs that were given by those
scholars of the current individualist America.
Lastly, we came to understand that the Declaration of
Independence was strategically written to give a bad impression of the British
Government of King George, by detailing his innumerous despotic and totalitarian
acts , to justify their rebellion and, most importantly, their declaration of independence.
As we can see, literature leaves us the blueprint of a
society, bringing us inside of the minds of those that cannot speak for their
people anymore, those that greatly impacted their generation bringing
transformation. Literature gives us the opportunity to learn about ourselves,
the mistakes we have passed and the solutions that have been forgotten or delayed.
We are products and makers, the beginning and the end, we are reading history
and making history, so we should remember that one of the most powerful weapons
used by our ancestors to fight for justice was the word, ideas spelled by
powerful words; I do believe though that the real power it is not in the word
but in its echo.
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