Mark Twain Blog Posting

Rich Hoggan
English 48B
Mark Twain Blog Posting

It was a novel that I read in high school, a novel that I didn't really understand. It was a book that had bad words and a white kid running around with a run away slave. It was a story that took place in the south; the novel in question is Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain -- a story widely considered to be Twain's seminal piece. Yet while this might be the case, it's also the novel that garners the most attention from schools around the country for being controversial and fanning the flames of hatred as it were. The line is already drawn in the sand between those who literally place the novel on a pedestal and those who would rather it's pages make kindling for a book burning. The argument being made as to the "educational quality" of the novel has just as much argumentative capacity as debating the planetary status of Pluto by those who call themselves scientists. In other words, it's completely subjective.

In the introduction to Twain's work we read, "In recent years the racial (and racist) implications of every aspect of the novel have been the subject of critical debate, as have questions about the racial beliefs of the author (102). It's the idea that Twain was insinuating something other than simply keeping to the English style of the time that has created such a harsh debate as to the "usefulness" of such novel. Now that I am learning about literature from a college perspective, I can understand what it means to an author in keeping with the literary and even vernacular styles of the times. I know that these details make or break the story and this is precisely the reason why Twain included such details in his own work. But at the same time, I also can't agree with the fact that just because some people become literary scholars, hip hop artists, or the like feel as though that "changes" or makes any different the use of such derogatory and destructive words. Having endured four years of high school, such words flow just as freely as water into the ocean. We also tarnish what it means to be American, to fight for equality, to fight for civil rights when we consider any acceptable form of such words other than in keeping with the historical and literary significance of our past. To avoid the ugly face of hypocrisy, we don't have to like the word and most people don't' but we do have to accept that it seeped its way into our history and language as a country and is a part of many literary works of the times.

Taken from a news article on the matter, Gregory Roberts reports on the matter by interviewing Beatrice Clark who says "'It's not just a word,' said Clark, the guardian for her granddaughter. Both are African American. 'It carries with it the blood of our ancestors. They were called this word while they were lynched; they were called this word while they were hung from the big magnolia tree. That word, in the history of America, has always been a degrading word toward African Americans. When they were brought to America, they were never thought of as man beings in the first place, and this word was something to call a thing that wasn't human. So that's what they bring into the classroom to talk about. I just think it's utterly unconscionable that a school would think it's acceptable" (Seattle PI Local - 'Huck Finn' a masterpiece -- or an insult). I personally feel that it's worse for kids to be calling each other such a name like it's "hello" than to be shooting at each other. While the prospect of violence leaves little to be desired as acceptable either, the point to be made is that using such a word in such a meaningless way is like loading bullets in a gun and pulling the trigger.

To draw this posting to a close, the argument will still continue long after we leave English 48B, long after we enter into our perspective majors, long after we forget about the fact that we ever read the novel in the first place, but the argument still rages. Because the argument still rages, and because it has become a part of our country historically, it has become a part of us -- society as a whole. And as we attempt to find a resolution, we must do our due diligence in remembering that the words that we exchange as a society always have a meaning to someone.

Edith Wharton Post

Rich Hoggan
English 48B
Edith Wharton Blog Posting



Edith Wharton was an author who experienced life in a similar manner to Henry James in that she lived and went to school in Europe. The idea that she had similar experiences to James growing up lends license to the fact that she wrote similarly to James as well. In the introduction to Edith Wharton's work we read, "It is small wonder, then, that her work, like Henry James's, deals with what she described as the tragic psychic and moral effects on its members of a frivolous society under pressure" (829). While this quote covers the work of James', it also relates to the Wharton's characters.

Just having read "The Other Two," it's obvious that Mr. Waythorn suffers adverse effects from dealing with his wife's previous husbands. These "effects" become the social consequence of not dealing with one's past as they should. It even seems as though Mrs. Waythorn pushes away and ignores the fact that her ex-husband wishes to see his daughter. At the end of the story, these social consequences -- effects -- become extremely apparent in the fact that Mrs. Waythorn barely notices her daughter's father siting in the same room as everyone else. It could even be argued that she has a "what are you doing here" kind of attitude with him.

Found on her profile page on online-literature.com, we read "While in Paris, Wharton met journalist Morton Fullerton, who would become a close friend and was instrumental in getting some of her works published in France. They also had an affair that lasted three years. Teddy had a mistress and had been embezzling funds from Edith to support her. They were divorced in 1913" (online-literature.com - Wharton). This piece of information also demonstrates that Wharton experienced her own "social consequences" in that she was cheated on while married to Morton Fullerton, a French journalist. Knowing this, we can also assume that Wharton would have included pieces of her own life in her writing -- a throwback to Mrs. Waythorn potentially.

Understanding Wharton's writing as well as her own life gives us the ability to understand where her writing comes from and the social consequences that are evident within it. But this can be put into better perspective when Wharton writes "Her best friends would have preferred to see her remain in the role of the injured wife, which was as becoming to her as crepe to a rosy complexion" (831). Mrs. Waythorn's friends would rather she have not attempted to remarry and maintain the attitude that she doesn't need to marry but Mrs. Waythorn obviously didn't think the same way. The social consequences at this point could take the form of Mrs. Waythorn pursuing what she wishes while her friends take the sidelines expecting different results.

To sum up, it would appear that Wharton is simply writing for entertainment value or for exposing the scandal that existed and still exists in "high class" society but is writing to expose the effects of not handling one's personal life properly, especially when attempting to do so integrated with another person.

Rich Hoggan
English 48B
02-10-11
Muir Journal Posting

John Muir -- the man who single-handedly pushed for numerous state and federal parks through out California -- is a man who cares for nature like his own family as such Muir didn't appreciate seeing the woodlands around Lake Tahoe turned into pastures for cattle. Worse yet, Muir witnessed a horrific scene as he was making his way back to Lake Tahoe. In his book, Tahoe Beneath The Surface, Scott Lankford writes, "Such, then, was the scene which an aging and heartsick Muir now confronted from the window of his rolling railroad carriage as it approached Truckee: save for the hydraulic mining and mercury based ore refining practiced on the Western slope of the Sierra -- which Muir also witness -- no landscape in all of America had been as systematically raped, abandoned, and destroyed as the Lake Tahoe basin in the late 1800's: hardly a welcome sight for a famous naturalist on his first summer vacation in almost a decade" (149).

If you were to read the entire chapter on Muir you would understand just how deeply he cared about nature. This site to him must have been shocking if not appalling to watch as he was helplessly stuck on the train only able to witness the destruction taking place before his eyes. It's almost like watching your favorite city transform into something you no longer recognize. In this case you could argue that Muir's city was Lake Tahoe, it's massive trees its sky scrapers. For the most part, Lake Tahoe has been the center of many attempts to transform it. The first settlers did the hard work of removing it's native people's from the land, and then came the big four who wanted to transform Lake Tahoe into a system of railroads in order to facilitate cross-country travel. Now while I don't consider it barbaric to bring cross-country travel to the West coast by means of a mountain route, the barbaric part of this transformation came at the expense of the Chinese. And finally the transformation is coming in the form of those who wish to turn Lake Tahoe into a tourist destination for the rich which is coming at the expense of vast redwood forests.

Taken from a profile page on ecotopia.org, we read "…perhaps the greatest tribute ever given to Muir took place in a private conversion between two great contemporary mountaineers. Galen Rowell once asked Rheinhold Messner why the greatest mountains and valleys of the Alps are so highly developed, why they have hotels, funicular railways, and veritable cities washing up against sites that, in America, are maintained relatively unencumbered by development. Messner explained the difference in three words. He said, You had Muir." (ecotopia.org - John Muir). If you think about it, John Muir treated Lake Tahoe as a family and as a result protected Lake Tahoe. And once the only caregiver died and was no longer able to protect and care for Lake Tahoe, not much could be done to stop its destruction or at least transformation.

Looking at the environment of Lake Tahoe, it's a terrific place to be. I remember always enjoying the drive up to Lake Tahoe just to see the water fall as we made our way up the mountain. This is probably why I enjoy doing long exposure photography of water as well. But being able to enjoy such sites means having to thank those who systematically fought to protect something younger and subsequently future generations could enjoy especially Muir. For without Muir, Lake Tahoe would almost indefinitely be a different place today.

Rich Hoggan
Engish 48B
02-01-11
Mary Hunter Austin Journal Posting

Just by looking at her Wikipedia picture you can tell Mary Hunter Austin had an analytical set of eyes on the world -- a set of eyes seemingly lacking of trust. In her short story, "The Walking Woman," Austin writes of the woman in question by saying "On the mere evidence of her way of life she was cracked; not quite broken, but unserviceable" (889). This quote doesn't seem to be about Mrs. Walker as the Walking Woman was most fondly called in the story but about Austin herself. Austin had a rough childhood and lost her father at a young age and before that had lost her sister as well. If we are to consider this quote as being about Austin herself, it would appear that she considered herself to be broken but at the same time still capable of communication which I believe came in the form of her writing. It also seems as though her best form of communication occurred in her writings as seems to be the case with creative types for we communicate better knowing only the paper knows our inmost thoughts.

What could also be gleaned from her stories is that Austin was what could be considered an "eco-feminist" in that she believed women were more closely related to the Earth than men. I think this ideal of hers comes from living through a period where women were not given many rights nor the license to creativity as we might remember from Gilman's writings. Taken from her profile page on answers.com, "In 1912, she published what many believed was her best novel, A Woman of Genius. This work, which featured some autobiographical elements, was about women having to choose between marriage and career. As in many of her books about women, Austin also explored how and why women were subjugated by men. This early feminist novel led to Austin later being embraced by the women's movement of the 1970's" (answer.com - Mary Hunter Austin).

Austin's outlook on society seems to be mirrored in her story "The Walking Woman" because there are some similarities between Mrs. Walker and Austin, but at the same time, Austin's other literary works played a more pivotal role in society. One such novel, as was as just mentioned, A woman of Genius, played a pivotal role in her understanding of society around her specifically man's treatment of women. This novel took a feminist stance on society thus giving cause to the women's movement that would later engulf society much like the civil rights movement only a decade earlier. Similarly, Austin had an approach much like Gilman in that both used autobiographical elements in their works, yet Gilman spoke more so about personal experience while Austin wrote on the idea of women having to choose between two lives, marriage and career.

A point to be made here is that it's in the choices we make that we end up living our lives. Austin wrote on women having to choose between work and home but at the same time that was their choice. It's almost as though Austin wished all women chose career over marriage almost like that would put a stop to the social abuses they faced. When in reality the majority of the social issues women faced were faced in the work place not in the home. I think we are dealing with a perceived notion in terms of women's role in society or lack there of depending on your own views more so than the need to make choices. That said, we can't give license to the actions of society at the time as the prejudice that took place was and still is an issue.