The First Thanksgiving- Library Research

The First Thanksgiving Dinner

Since the holiday season is in full swing, and we just returned from a lovely Thanksgiving break, I decided to do my library research on The First Thanksgiving Dinner By Clifford Howard’s “ The Ladies’ Home Journal” (1889-1907). It is crazy to think that in the autumn of 1621, in this new mysterious land of Plymouth, the Pilgrim’s celebrated the first Thanksgiving. .  Did the Pilgrim’s know during their Thanksgiving that they were starting a tradition and creating a holiday that would be celebrated for hundreds of years?   

 The Pilgrims landed in Plymouth in December of 1620. It was a hard first winter for the brave men, women, and children who took the journey on the Mayflower. The elements were against them and many were struck with illness and starvation due to insufficient food- “within the next three months forty-six of their number- nearly one half of the entire party- perished. The undying faith of the Pilgrims is what got those who remained, through the winter, and come spring they were able to regain their strength and go on with their work and their purpose.

“ALWAYS ready to acknowledge the mercies of God the Pilgrims looked upon their life during the ensuing months as a happy and prosperous one”. The Pilgrims were grateful and thankful for surviving the harsh winter, and they were thankful that with the spring God had brought them happy and prosperous months. The Pilgrims were so thankful that the Governor “appointed a feast of Thanksgiving”. “Gunners were sent into the woods for wild turkeys, which abounded there in great numbers; kitchens were made ready for preparing the feast… while a messenger was dispatched to invite Massasoit, the chief of the friendly tribe, to attend the celebration.” I always wondered why turkey was such a tradition in a thanksgiving meal, because they were plentiful in the woods of Plymouth seems reason enough to me.   Also, The first Thanksgiving lasted not only on that Thursday in November but also the two succeeding days. At first I was a little upset that that part of the first Thanksgiving tradition didn’t carry over, but then I realized that every day is a day to give thanks which is exactly the point that the Pilgrims were trying to make (and there are always left overs). “Generations to come shall look back to this hour and these scenes of agonizing trial, this day of small things, and say: ‘Here was our beginning as a people. These were our fathers. Through their trials we inherit our blessing.’” So I guess to answer my above question, the Pilgrims did somehow know that their first Thanksgiving would be the start of a tradition that would go on for hundreds of years where people would celebrate their thanks for there is so much to be thankful for.

            My favorite part of Thanksgiving, minus the gathering of family and friends, is the tradition. For example, it is tradition in my family for my mom and I to cook special dishes from both sides of the family. Each year my mom and I cook homemade noodles in honor of my Mamaw, my dad’s mom. We also bake two pies, a peanut butter pie and a sugar cream pie, in honor of my mom’s parents. My mom and I also cook our very own dishes that have become staples in our family’s traditional Thanksgiving meal over the years. There were so many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and there are so many reasons to be thankful each day.

·      What are some of your family traditions?

·      Do you celebrate with friends or with your extended family?

Source:

http://search.proquest.com/americanperiodicals/docview/137012479/13AA5D9B9606AFA0625/1?accountid=7090

Desiree's Baby- Kate Chopin

Desiree’s Baby

By: Kate Chopin

            I found Chopin’s short story to be fascinating. In the 1900’s there was a lot of prejudice and hatred towards people of the African American race, and these people served as slaves. In this time period, even if you were born both Caucasian and African American, you were considered to be black and not white. However, those who were biracial and adopted the pale skin and European features rather than African features, they were better able to integrate and blend into “white society” if they so chose to. This seemed to be the case Armand as we learn in the twist ending of the story.

            The story begins with Desiree and her baby and Madame Valmdonde, who went to visit them. Desiree is married to Armand who was a rather wealthy man who was a slave owner on a plantation.  He loved Desiree and was proud to give her his name; he seemed to be even more proud that she gave him a boy to carry on his great name. Desiree said that their marriage and the baby had brought out a good side to her husband, he hadn’t gotten angry or punished the slaves since the birth of his son.

            Later there is a terrible change in Armand’s mood; he avoided Desiree’s presence and he avoided their son. Desiree was afraid to confront Armand, and I don’t blame her because he seems pretty harsh. One day when she is watching one of the slave boys fan her baby, she has a frightening realization- her child resembles the slave boy. “’Armand’’’…. look at our child. What does it mean? Tell me…. ‘It means,’ he answered lightly, ‘that the child is not white; it means that you are not white’” (1617).  This scene took me by surprise, how are they just now noticing that their child is not white? Has their son not always resembled the slave children?

            Desiree tries to defend herself, and basically tells Armand that it is ridiculous that he would think she is not white. She says she is paler than he is and that her eyes are grey. When Desiree gets the offer to go to Valmonde, Armand willingly lets her and their baby go. He has the slaves build a large bonfire in which he proceeds to burn all of Desiree’s things- her dresses, embroideries and fancy things, letters written from her etc. With the stash of letters from Desiree, he found a letter written from his deceased mother- “She was thanking God for the blessings of her husband’s love: - so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery” (1619).

            I love this quote for it serves as the ultimate twist in the story. All this time while Armand is a slaveholder and then accusing his wife of being black and making their baby black, while little does he know that his deceased mother was black, which means he is in fact black. Armand had sent his wife and baby away assuming that she was the culprit of giving their baby African blood when really he was the contributor. Oh the irony! His whole life he has been against and punishing his own kind. What do you think Armand will do now that he knows this bit of information? Do you think he will ask for his wife and son to come back? Will he free his slaves? Or is he too prideful and arrogant to admit to any of it and is in denial that he too is in fact black? 

The Luck of Roaring Camp- Bret Harte

The Luck of Roaring Camp

By: Bret Harte

            I found “The Luck of Roaring Camp” to be an incredibly depressing story. I was not expecting that ending in the slightest. The story takes place in the 1850s and it starts out talking about this camp that is run down and dirty and full of men except for one woman- Cherokee Sal. There is a commotion at the camp because Cherokee Sal is in labor. The men had never heard or seen anything like it; they all anxiously waited outside of her cabin. Cherokee Sal suffered and passed away while laboring a baby boy. “..a sharp, querulous cry, - a cry unlike anything heard before in the camp. The pines stopped moaning, the river ceased to rush, and the fire to crackle. It seems as if Nature had stopped to listen too” (1486). I found this quote to be both foreshadowing a symbolic. Nature stopped and there seemed to be a moment of silence as Cherokee Sal left the world and her baby boy entered the world. The loss of her life lead to new life through the birth of her son and change for her son and the camp. Her son grows to love and be one with nature, which is, why this quote is a bit foreshadowing.

            The story goes on as the men offer little trinkets and presents to the baby.

 They buried Cherokee Sal on the hillside and her life was celebrated and then there was turmoil over who is going to adopt the orphan and raise him as their own. Stumpy stepped up to the plate and volunteered to take the boy in. Though Stumpy became his parent, the whole camp helped out. The saying does go that it takes a village to raise a baby, and that is exactly what the roaring camp did. I really thought that Kentuck was going to take on raising the boy since he was so affected by the baby grabbing his finger when he first met him; Kentuck looked at his finger for a long time and seemed perplexed that the baby had chosen him and chosen to grab his finger; it is later evident that this is foreshadowing.

            The baby brought about positive changes in the camp. The camp agreed on naming the boy Thomas Luck or Tommy Luck, and he really did become “The Luck” of the camp. Stumpy installed a new and stricter policy on personal cleanliness. “Again Stumpy imposed a kind of quarantine upon those who aspired to the honor and privilege of holding The Luck” (1489). Stumpy wanted to protect Tommy Luck from everything and everyone. Stumpy also changed the noise level near Tommy, there was to be no shouting or yelling within hearing distance of the baby. The baby was one with nature, “Surrounded by playthings such as never child out of fairyland had before, it is to be hoped that Tommy was content” (1490). It was thought that the boy was thriving and happy.

            The North Fork leapt over the bank and took the roaring camp with it. Stumpy’s home was gone and so was everyone who lived in it. A rescue boat later found an older man and a baby; it was Kentuck and Tommy Luck. The baby that Kentuck held was dead and Kentuck was told by the others that he too was dying- “’he’s a-taking me with him. Tell the boys I’ve got The Luck with me now’”; (1491). Once again Tommy Luck, “The Luck” of the village chose Kentuck to die along side him the same way that he seemed to choose Kentuck as a caregiver though Stumpy took on the role permanently.

            I liked how the baby represented the luck of the camp and the luck of all the men in the camp. With the baby came great change in the camp and it brought all of the men together for better or for worse.

Discussion Questions:

·      Did you find the story to be depressing?

·      Did you catch on to all of the foreshadowing?

·      What do you think Cherokee Sal was doing at this men’s camp anyway?

Diaries of Adam and Eve- Mark Twain

Diaries of Adam and Eve

By Mark Twain

            I found the Diaries of Adam and Eve to be interesting. Twain has an unordinary account on the classic biblical story of Adam and Eve. I found it to be ingenious for him to tell the story in a diary format from the opposing perspectives of both Adam and Eve. The diary entries are kept light and playful and they allow gender differences to be distinguished.

            In Adam’s first diary entry, I thought it was interesting how when he and Eve first met or rather saw each other; he was not as intrigued with her as she was with him. He states that he is not used to company and yet he still would rather not have any company- “I wish it would stay with the other animals”. Though Adam is lonely, he seems to prefer it that way.

Eve’s first diary entry describes her being afraid of Adam at first. She explains that she is afraid he is going to chase her and possibly try to kill her. I thought this was funny because she ends up chasing him up a tree. Eve chasing Adam up a tree was what I thought was a nice rendition of the game of cat and mouse that men and women or girl and boys who like each other often play. This was a coy way for Twain to start developing their relationship.

            As the story goes on, Adam describes becoming annoyed with Eve for naming everything. He is annoyed that she needs to have a name and explanation for everything, and he feels that once she names something it is set and stone. Eve believes she is taking a burden off of Adam’s shoulders by naming everything; she thinks that he is perhaps uneducated or unable to name things and she would rather do it so as to not cause him any embarrassment. Eve wants to please Adam, it she is kind and caring which attributes to many qualities of the female gender. Eve also is persistent with her efforts to make Adam like her and accept her company which can also correlate to females today as many of them are persistent in their efforts to obtain the affection of males. I also found it very fitting that Eve seemed to analyze Adam’s every move; just as most females do now. It seems that when any of my friends go on dates with males of their interest, they come home and they discuss every word that was said and they even analyze their body language as if it were all encoded to mean something, some secret message that the boy wanted to say but wouldn’t outright say. It is silly, but most females do it and in most cases all of the body language and words said between them and the boy don’t correlate with anything we came up with when we were analyzing them.  

            Eve encounters the snake, which represents evil Satan, who tells her to eat the apples though Adam advised her not too. As any strong woman would, she ignored his advice and listens to the snake and ate them and in fact brought the apples to Adam as a kind gesture to feed him. Though it was against his principle, he too ate the apples. Since they ate the apples, Adam lost his property and they now have to work to live in the Garden of Eden. Adam finally admits enjoying Eve’s company and says he would be lonely without her. Do you think that Adam learned to tolerate Eve or that he did like her all along but did not want to follow his feelings?

            The last diary entries by both Adam and Eve recall their time in the Garden of Eden and of their relationship. Eve describes, “The Garden is lost, but I have found him, and am content. He loves me as well as he can; I love him with all the strength of my passionate nature, as is appropriate to my nature.” This quote really stood out to me and got me to thinking if loving someone with all of their nature is truly only appropriate to the female gender? I think not. Do you think that Eve loved Adam more than he loved her? Do you think that she put more into the relationship and valued the relationship more than he did? Why or why not?

            I love that Eve goes on describing that she doesn’t know why she loves him. It is not due to his belongings or his accomplishments or even his lack of such things. She has no distinct or single reason why she loves him. I agree with her that love is unexplainable. We don’t really know or understand why we love people, we just do. For whatever reasons, we love people and people either love us back or we don’t. I find it nearly impossible to explain love due to its many forms and differences. Love is love and I love that!

           

Emily Dickinson Poetry

“Success is Counted Sweetest”

            At first, I struggled reading Dickinson’s poetry, not because her poems are long; actually they are rather short, but because of the powerful and strong messages she is able to get across in so few words. It took me multiple times of reading her poetry to get use to her style and better understand what she is saying. In “Success is Counted Sweetest”, Dickinson points out that those who don’t know of success are the ones who desire it the most. She inquires that those who have never had such triumph, or tasted the “nectar” are those who “need” it the most. In the final stanza Dickinson writes “As he defeated-dying- On whose forbidden ear The distant strains of triumph Burst agonized and clear”! According to Dickinson the defeated dying man knows triumph and victory better than the actual victors just by witnessing it on the other side.

 I am not so sure I completely agree with all of Dickinson is saying, though I find her perspective to be eye opening and interesting.  I feel that once you have been victorious, you continue wanting to be victorious, it is almost like greed in a way, as opposed to someone who has never been victorious, they don’t seem to know the difference or have expectations to live up to or titles to defend. Dickinson’s viewpoint fascinates me because I have never really thought about how much mankind tends to want and desire the things that we don’t have or have never experienced such as success or victory and those who have never experienced these things tend to appreciate it more if and when they are victorious or successful.

“This World is not Conclusion”

I was perplexed by this poem. I was unsure exactly what Dickinson was talking about. At first I thought she was talking about another species like life on Mars or something because of the line “A Species stands beyond”. After rereading the poem a few times, I later decided that Dickinson is talking about religion. Dickinson starts off by saying, “ This World is not conclusion” which I interpreted as meaning there is eternal life after death. She describes faith as being “Invisible, as music- But positive, as Sound”. God is someone who isn’t seen but someone that is known and undeniable, he is baffling and there is no philosophy for faith. “To guess it, puzzles scholars- To gain it, Men have borne” Faith and God are not things to be questioned; they are just believed to be true and to be known. It is evident that Dickinson has faith and believes in life after death, which isn’t seen but still able to be understood. At the end of the poem, Dickinson talks about how it is possible even for preachers to be unsure, and no matter how many Hallelujahs roll, preachers cannot point people in the direction of faith, it is just something that they believe and follow or they don’t. The last line “Narcotics cannot still the Tooth That nibbles at the soul-“ I interpreted this line as preachers can preach from the bible “offer narcotics” but it may not still their doubts of faith and eternal life, the same way that it may not convince those to whom they preach.

I found it interesting that Dickinson is in a way questioning faith. She seems to say that faith and eternal life is not something that can be proved rather it is something that one must believe. Though many have doubts and there is no way to calm those doubts and fears, preachers will continue to preach and followers of God will continue to follow and believe what they are going to believe.

Discussion Questions:

·      Did you find Dickinson’s poetry difficult to read or understand? Explain.

·      Do you agree with Dickinson in her ideas about religion and faith?

·      What was your favorite Dickinson poem to read and why?

Facing West From California's Shores- Walt Whitman

Facing West From California’s Shores

By: Walt Whitman

            I chose to analyze “Facing West from California’s Shores” based off the title because I am from California so I knew this poem would somewhat strike a note with me and remind me of home. I enjoy Whitman’s writing mainly because he wrote about real life issues and about democracy and the urban world.

            “Facing West from California’s Shores” starts out by addressing the unknown world that is still to be discovered and the westward expansion. The next lines “I, a child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity, the land of migrations, look afar.” In this line, Whitman is addressing everyone, young and old and the house of maternity I believe is a reference to how America and westward expansion is a place for “rebirth” and a place to start over. The west is seen as a place of opportunities.

            “Look off of my Western Sea, the circle almost circled;” is Whitman describing the world and how it is a sphere, everything continuous and connected. He then proceeds to name different Asian countries and discuss how joyous he is to return “home” to America, a land that had been unfound for so long. Whitman brings up a question in the last line “(But where is what I started for so long ago? And why is it yet unfounded?)”. In this last line Whitman is recognizing that America and the west have been here as long as all of the other countries, so why or how did it go so long being vacant and undiscovered? This poses a great question, one I myself have pondered also.

            When the world was one mass, and all the countries were connected as Pangea and then eventually split, how is it that North America was so late in being discover. I understand why the west of North America was so late to being discovered, because once America was discovered on the east coast, it took time for people to travel west and discover all that America could offer. But why so long for America itself to be discovered? We all know of Columbus’s journey, but is that truly how America was founded? Whitman touches on these questions, what are your thoughts?