19th Century Periodicles

Searching through the library’s periodicals was a new experience for me. After finding some help, I found that there are many volumes of popular 19^th century periodicals that I could pick up and read. I was pleased that I could actually pick up the volumes and read through them rather than searching and reading them on the internet. One of the first periodicals I picked up was Vogue. This periodical had more pictures than the other periodicals I looked at. Vogue also had a primary emphasis on fashion in its articles that wasn’t particularly entertaining to me. However it was interesting to see how some aspects of fashion have dramatically changed over the course or time. It was also striking to see how some of the techniques used to promote fashion advertisement are still used today. 

After quickly looking through a volume of Vogue, I searched for some other periodicals and I found the Atlantic Monthly. The articles were bound in a book and the volume that I looked at was from July 30, 1872. The Atlantic had a wide range of articles pertaining to political science, the economy, foreign affairs, science, and the arts. I found that the language used in the Atlantic was not hard to read but the articles were much longer than articles I personally read. One of the Articles that I read was The Poet at the Breakfast Table. This article read like an essay to me and was a story about an old master and his student. The old master was always busy conducting experiments with bacteria. The old master was interested to see how long it takes to kill bacteria under boiling water. This seemed funny to me because I could not see someone taking time to conduct an experiment over something that I would deem as common knowledge today. This also made me think about how far science has come since the 1800’s. Technology and information has increased so much since that time and it makes me wonder what the medical field will be like fifty years from now. The student in the essay seemed to act like the narrator of the story explaining how busy the old master was and how important his work was to him. The student seemed fascinated by the master’s work and wanted to know more about it without disturbing the old master. I felt like I could relate to the student because often times I really want to know how people in the physical therapy world work with patients and asses injuries. However, I also don’t want to feel like I am getting in the way of their work. Either way, this was one of my favorite articles because it was something I could relate to instead of one of the informational articles like Jefferson Governor of Virginia.  This article talked primarily about Jefferson’s journey to become governor and the people that helped him along the way. This article definitely was relevant for the time and I’m sure I would have enjoyed this article much more if I would have been present when this history was taking place.  

Much of the arts and political science articles did not interest me much but the science ones did. I came across an article directly titled Science and read through what the scientific gossip was of June in 1872. The article talked about research done pertaining to solar spots, the aurora borealis, and the positions of several of the planets. The article talked about cholera epidemics having correlations with sun spots. The basic premise was that the progress of cholera may be influenced by effects wrought upon the earth’s atmosphere by sun’s changes. The article noted specific points of disease on the earth relative to the amount of sunlight they get (i.e. Africa). This was interesting to me because I like to read information pertaining to health and how we can protect or increase our health status. This article reminded me of an article I read about sunscreen and its effects on the skin a few weeks ago. Basically the article talked about how certain chemicals found in sunscreen can essentially cause cancer in the skin if applied too often. Even though the sunscreen article and the cholera article where not directly related, I enjoyed reading about how certain elements in our everyday life impact our health. I think it’s good to know up and coming information on health and how we can protect ourselves so that we can live high quality of life.

The next part of the science article talked about Alcohol and whether it is heat producing and whether or not it is really a food. The article defines a food as any substance which supports life by undergoing chemical transformation with the body and by becoming incorporated with the tissues. This immediately struck my attention because alcohol is relevant to college life and the activities students choose to participate in. Much of the articles in the Atlantic that I enjoyed reading had direct applicability or relevance to my own life. This also was interesting to me because I was curious to know what researches back then concluded about alcohol being a food or not. The article talks about experiments made on rabbits to see if alcohol leaves the body unchanged or if a significant amount of the alcohol stays in the system. Ultimately the researches were at conflict with their conclusions but significant amount of evidence showed that alcohol was eliminated from the rabbit in a changed form (i.e. Aldehyde) and the rest stayed inside the body. This article was once again interesting to me because I found its information worthwhile. I love to look up studies pertaining to sports science and I had just read an article about the effect of alcohol on endurance performance. The Atlantic article gave me an insight to how researchers conducted experiments back then and how research in science has evolved today.

I feel like the subscribers of the Atlantic were people looking to increase their knowledge of the world around them. I also feel like writers such as Mark Twain helped popularize the magazine and also used the magazine to launch their own careers. I found that the longer articles were the ones pertaining to political science and other literary works. These works seemed to be the topics of interest at the time because of their multiple occurrences in the magazine. I probably would not read the majority of the information in the Atlantic if I lived at the time because these are not my main topics of interest. However, there were some very interesting articles that made me think about how people lived and wrote in the nineteenth century. I don’t think it would be so bad to live in a print based world because reading would open up plenty of doors to new ideas and discoveries.

Desiree's Baby

Chopin’s Desiree’s Baby seemed similar to much of the works we have read regarding racism and slavery. However, this story definitely made me think about how we view racism today and how this discrimination is still evident in our everyday lives. Chopin’s story was a great vehicle for communicating strong themes that I thought were powerful. I like how Chopin uses suspense with the unfolding of the parent’s true colors. This added more meaning to the irony in the story and made me truly reflect on Chopin’s message. Some of the themes that stood out to me were that we should never be too quick to judge someone along with pride and prejudice.

I once had a speech teacher who told us that we all judge people and regardless of how hard we try to look at people objectively and equally, we are all culprits in judging people. He then told us that when someone was giving a speech that we should immediately get all the judging out of our system so that we could listen to what the person had to say. At the time my teacher told me this it definitely made sense and was helpful when others were giving a speech. However, it also made me question why we judge people and just because we all do it doesn’t make it right. I like how Chopin uses racism to support this theme of judgment because it was so prevalent during the time and it still permeates into our society today. One of the things that I do that helps me with judgment is reflecting on how I would react in someone else’s shoes. I have found this to be humbling and insightful. I feel like Armand did this when he found out he was of black decent but his pride and vanity kept him from doing the right thing. I feel like this was humiliating for Armand because the people he had cursed where exactly like him.

 I think that it is incredible how evil we can treat one another on the premise of one’s race and stature. This story also reminded me of a study we looked at in psychology. Researchers at Stanford took a group of people and separated them into two groups, one having the title of prisoners and the other having the title of prison guards. Within a matter of days the two groups started to act according to their “titles” and the prison guards started to have authority over the prisoners to the point where it was oppressive. This oppression became so powerful that the researchers had to terminate the study after two weeks. Situations like this show how strongly we cling to titles in our life. The title of being either white or black during times of slavery said everything about who you regardless of what kind of person you where. It doesn’t mention specifically what Desiree’s race is in the book but we do know that she is disowned because of evidence of her baby being partly black. Desiree seemed like a loving wife and an even greater mother to her child. She had no reason to be treated the way she was. However, according to the laws of prejudice Armand has every reason to abandon her and the child.

Chopin’s story really brings into light how incredibly ridiculous racism is and the irony of Armand’s true color supports her point even further. The question that I am left still asking myself after reading this story is why do we continue treat people that our different than us inferiorly? I’m guessing it is most likely a mixture of many things and even though we don’t think it is as big an issue today, I still see it evident in all realms of life from how we pick our leaders to how we pick our friends.

Twain and Adam & Eve

Journalism in Tennessee was a comical short story explaining biased tendencies in a small town. The exaggerations in this story definitely made the message easier to understand and also added more entertainment to the reading. Twain talks about his move to Tennessee for better health and how he seeks a job as an editor. I like how Twain vividly describes his workplace and chief editor. He talks about the room’s design and how it was filled with papers and a box of cigar stubs. Twain then describes in detail his chief editor by telling the reader how he was sitting, his facial expression, even how he was smoking his cigar. These descriptions helped me see Twain inside his new work environment and told me a lot about his chief editor.

I feel like Twain’s chief editor is much like the feared english teacher in that he completely belittles Twain’s writing. I personally have never had an experience where someone was as harsh as Twain’s editor, but I have definitely known people who have had these experiences.  I feel like Twain had done a good job on his writing of the railroad and the chief editor was the one at fault with his corrections. I feel like the small town wanted hear a different story than what Twain telling. A small town where everyone knows everybody sets itself up for heated emotions because of how close everyone is. Twain definitely exaggerates these emotions by having the towns people shoot at him and throw grenades down the chimney. However, these exaggerations add humor to the story and show how ridiculously people react to the press. Even when the chief editor corrects Twain’s paper, another town’s person throws a brick through the window and initiates conflict about a past article. The story continues with absurd violence and gunfights in the shop ending with multiple wounds on Twains part.

            The story ends with Twain talking about how he is not cut out to receive these kind of afflictions for his writing. He makes the comment that he moved to Tennessee for his health but now he has to move away for the same reason. These exaggerations show how brutal people can be to journalism. I feel that this topic is especially relevant to everyone’s opinions on the election. People don’t like to agree with people that have different opinions from them. Everyone seems to have the right answer and if we don’t hear the story we want to hear, massive uproar occurs. However, I also feel like journalists expect opposition to their writing because they know not everyone is going to agree with what they write. I feel like maybe Twain had had too much opposition to his writing and this story’s exaggerations communicated that clearly. I don’t blame Twain for moving away from Tennessee. I feel like I could only take so much scrutiny before I needed to get away as well.  

            The Diary of Adam and Eve was a different take on the biblical version that I have heard. I liked the dialogue between Adam and Eve because it showed their thoughts and how they felt about each other. This story made Adam and Eve seem like normal people that have normal tasks and issues. Adam had to name the animals and he got tired of Eves talking while Eve tries to make conversation with Adam and help him out with naming the animals.

            I liked how the story followed the original biblical outline but had different twist on each outcome. When Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit, the story talks about how the animals start eating each other and everything is in chaos. This painted a picture for me and I could imagine Adam riding his horse and then trying to take refuge from the tigers that attack him. After this point I thought the story was going to end in sadness and suffering like the normal story does. However, I liked how eating of the fruit brought Adam and Eve closer together. Adam comments how he now sees Eve as a good companion and that it would be a sad day when he could no longer hear her talk. Eve does the same thing by saying that she is simply in love with Adam and she needs no explanation for it. Even though the story eventually ends with old age and death, I like how the story emphasized the importance of human relationships. We are all powerfully connected to one another and this connection brings out the best of us. I feel like this is important and I am glad that this version of Adam and Eve capitalized on the relationship between the two individuals and not just the Fall.  

The Tell-Tale Heart

Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart was one of the few short stories that I have actually read before this class. Poe’s writing is fun to read and his dark plots always seem to keep me intrigued. Considering how talented Poe is at writing tales of terror, I figured he would have an interest in this specific genre. However, after reading some of his biography I found that his main motivation for writing these stories was because they made the most money. This was a bit disheartening to me because I enjoy reading works that the writer is passionate about. Nevertheless, I find it remarkable that Poe is able to write about things that he is not particularly interested in and is still produce some of the most popular works today.    

            Poe does a great job describing why he wants to kill the old man. He doesn’t have a good reason for his actions but he goes into this vivid detail about the old man’s eye. The eye being Poe’s justification for the killing makes the story all the creepier. He describes the eye as being “the eye of a vulture--a pale blue eye, with film over it.” This certainly painted a picture for me and the depiction of the old man almost seemed as terrorizing as Poe’s character.

            Poe does a great job at building suspense throughout this story by putting the reader in the story itself. Poe talks about how he thrust his head into the old man’s room and says, “Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in!” This kind of language makes me feel like I am standing outside the doorway watching him lurk into the room. A good portion of the story seemed to be set on building suspense in the reader. Poe does this by describing every detail of his moves into the room. He comments on how he opens the lantern that only “a single dim ray, like the thread of the spider shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.” I felt like I could see Poe doing this and the fact that he is so cautious continued to build suspense in me. Poe then quickly spikes the suspense by using dialogue that sounds nervous and aroused. Right before he kills the man he comments on how the heart kept beating louder and louder that it should burst out of his chest. This description does a good job at making the reader feel the emotions of the character. I felt like I was living in the same scene as Poe.  

            After Poe kills the old man the reader goes under the impression that Poe is now satisfied with his deed. He does this by describing how cunningly he disposes of the body which adds a large element of terror to the story. Poe continues to paint a picture when he describes how he dismembered the body and hid it under the floor boards. This description of the murder shows how insane Poe’s character actually is. This is ironic though because throughout the whole story, Poe goes into vivid detail to defend his character’s sanity. I liked this contrast between Poe’s actions and beliefs because it made for a better horror story.

            Toward the end of the story Poe describes how powerful the human conscience is. Poe’s character cannot hide the body from the police any longer and digs up the floor boards when he is suspected of nothing. I feel like this is a natural human tendency when we do something we are not supposed to do. Whenever I do something that I’m not proud of I definitely feel feelings of guilt and regret. I can’t imagine how some people live with the guilt of committing a major crime like murder. The beating heart that Poe imagines reinforces how strong the human mind is. This story reminded me of how our emotions and actions are directly affected by the thoughts we think. I feel that it is important to choose what we think about wisely so that we don’t have hearts beating in our heads as well.