Yares of Black Mountain

I thought that there were so many different things being thrown at the reader that we were not really used to in comparison to the other texts that we have been reading. What I felt more to be more interesting than others was the difference of character attitudes that we saw in this text. For example, for the first time our main character is not a child, but rather a mother in desperate need of hope not only fro herself, but also for her sick son. I also enjoyed how Mrs. Cook came across to the reader as being stuck up and better than the people that she was surrounded by at the time. Clearly we, the reader, were not supposed to particularly like her character because she was sort of a 'Debbie downer' character so to say.

I was fascinated by Mrs. Cook's character because of the drastic change we see from her attitude and the New York life style compared to the people we met in Ragged Dick. She holds her nose high in the air, and believes that the south and mountaineers are just despicable and only want to take her money," “They think you have money. These Southerners are impoverished by the war, and they have an idea that every Northern traveler is overloaded with wealth, and is fair game” (249). Mrs. Cook is not like any other woman character that we have come across...for starters she actually works and has a regular job. Secondly, we never hear her speak of her family back in New York. This is uncommon for women in this time era simply because they strived on family, good girls and God.

Mrs. Denby is our main character in this text and fr the frist time we do not have a child as our main character, but rather a mother and her extremely ill son near his death. We learn that Mrs. Denby is a widow and lost her husband and is in search of something in order to help her son get better because he is all that she has left. This is also different from what we are used to reading because from the beginning of the text we are saddened for for her because she could not help herself and simply had no control over the awful recent inccidents occuring in her life. However, through everything she seems to remain a positive hope for herself and her son, and is oddly comforted by her new surroundings that are far from the inner city streets of New York. She enjoys the company of those that are taking notice to her,"It is just as though I were coming among old friends” (249).

Davis takes two characters and places them in a srrounding that they are both unfamiliar with and ties in so many messages that are unspoken of throughout the text. I believe that this was doen because of the bittnerness of the war that had happened, and to show a different side of the south and their 'southern hospitality.' One could argue that the characters of Mrs. Cook and Mrs. Denby represent the North and South after the war, and that Davis wanted to open the ideas of a different side of the South rather than the viscious 'slave owner's' that most of the North believed them to be. I am still slightly taken aback by this text because it caught me off guard adn knocked me off me feet while reading it.

Boys and Girls in American Literature

In 19th century American Literature when we read about young girls we think of innocence, maturity, pleasing their peers and commonly will some how God will tie in with their story. However, when thinking of little boys we see liars, gamblers smokers and no parental control what so ever. It is as though boys and girls are complete opposites of one another.

When we first started reading about young girls the 'ideal' girl to be is simple: Ellen Montgomery. She is the cookie cutter American daughter of her time because she was only concerned with pleasing her mother, never dared to show her weakness in front of her father, and wanted to grow closer to God. Her favorite activity everyday was making her mother toast. From the text that we read we can only assume that Ellen is a very ' do as you are told ' child, and never dared to act out. Also, you notice that she has no friends of her own that she plays with, but only her mother. 

Raged Dick was by far one of my favorite characters thus far because he was so interesting and kept me wondering what sort of crazy nonsense he would be getting himself into next. none the less he was also not exactly the model young boy that you hoped to have of your own one day,"I am afraid that he swore sometimes, ad now and then he played tricks upon unsophisticated boys from the country, or gave a wrong direction to honest old gentleman unused to the city." (page 255). He has such a care free spirit that you wish you had the guts to attain. He does not have parents, a warm bed to sleep in, but is always in a upbeat mood. However, we also see the crazy life of a 14 year old boy that lives in a city alone, "It is not uncommon to see a little boy, too young to be out of his mother's sight, smoking with all the apparent satisfaction o a veteran smoker." ( page 257). 

What I enjoyed that we touched on in class was how in this text we see  lot of the text relate to important historical figures and landmarks as well. " This coat belonged to General Washington...when he died he told his widder to give it to some smart young feller that hadn't got none of his own; so she gave them to me." (page 254). When thinking of General Washington we think of a leader, an honest man that played an important key role into our nation becoming what it is today. in my opinion, i believe that the reason there are historical figures spread throughout the text is because the author is wanting young boys to become interested in leaders. This could strike a boys curiosity in school and hence more young boy become educated. 

Overall, boys and girls differ very much in 19th century literature and there are no common grounds on which they share anything. 

A Whisper In The Dark

This is the first time we see a text that deals with insanity, and women being held against their own will. We picture a much darker lifestyle one filled with sorrow, hate, betrayal and lies. First of all, I found it very awkward with how close Sybil and her Uncle were. The relationship between the two of them was extremely inappropriate and at times I felt that Sybil only showed her Uncle affection to see if she could get a rise out of Guy, which of course she did. However, the relationship between Sybil and Guy is very noticeable, and it is as though she is like a little school girl with a crush on a classmate. "Twilight found me in bravest attire, with Guy's heather in my hair, listening for his step,and longing to run and meet him when he came." (pg 225) It seems as though Sybil is holding back her affection for him and not wanting to fully admit that she is interested in him. However, she shows a conniving side as well,"... then followed the whim that now possessed me, for I wanted to try my power over them both." (pg 226) This startled me a little because it is the fist time we are shown a possessive side of her, and possibly her 'darker' side.

The concept of the insane asylum in this text is full on intimidating. Sybil had found out that she was supposed to marry Guy, and wanted to rebel against that and showed her affection for her Uncle. Yet, then she flip flops and changes her mind altogether and throws an enormous fit and shuts out the world until she is ready to leave. However, she is drugged and taken to insane asylum where we are introduced to a very important character that Sybil has never met; her mother. what struck me as odd was that when Sybil wanted to learn more of her mother her Uncle made it seem as though she was already dead,"Where is she buried, Uncle? It may be foolish, but I should like to see my mother's grave." As we continue to read on we learn her mother is buried right in front of her at the asylum which brought me back to a line that her Uncle said earlier;" You shall someday, Sybil," ( talking about her mother's grave) and a curious change came over my uncle's face as he averted it. Also, we learn that Sybil's mother realizes that it is her daughter that has been captured and is now in the same situation as she is, but she does not want Sybil to lead the same depressing life that she has for so long. She sends her warnings various times, and here we see an entirely different type of relationship between mother and daughter for the 19th century. At first, it threw me off my path because I could not understand the strange warnings that were sent to Sybil, but near the end of the text it became clear that her mother wanted her to escape at the only chance she would be given. This was the strongest part of the text in my opinion because for so long we are expected to believe that Sybil no longer has a living parent, but surprisingly all of a sudden we discover her mother has been locked up and proclaimed insane. Over the years, she admits that being locked up has caused to come to the mental state that she is in, but still understanding she needs to do anything and everything she possibly can to help her daughter. Their relationship is one of life and death sacrifice and the ultimate love a mother has for her daughter that she has been forced to keep away from for so many years. I enjoyed seeing this side of literature in the 19th century. It open my mind a lot and caused me to think outside of the box so to say, and understand the different types of relationships that can develop between a mother and a daughter that have been forced away from one another for years.