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American Lit I
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Terms and People to Know
The Enlightenment (crucial for understanding this work)

Irony: A subtly humorous perception of inconsistency, in which an apparently straightforward statement or event is undermined by its context so as to give it a very different significance. In various forms, irony appears in many kinds of literature, from the tragedy of Sophocles to the novels of Jane Austen and Henry James , but is especially important in satire , as in Voltaire and Swift. At its simplest, in verbal irony , it involves a discrepancy between what is said and what is really meant, as in its crude form, sarcasm; for the figures of speech exploiting this discrepancy, see antiphrasis, litotes, meiosis . The more sustained structural irony in literature involves the use of a naïve or deluded hero or unreliable narrator , whose view of the world differs widely from the true circumstances recognized by the author and readers; literary irony thus flatters its readers' intelligence at the expense of a character (or fictional narrator). A similar sense of detached superiority is achieved by dramatic irony , in which the audience knows more about a character's situation than the character does, foreseeing an outcome contrary to the character's expectations, and thus ascribing a sharply different sense to some of the character's own statements; in tragedies, this is called tragic irony . The term cosmic irony is sometimes used to denote a view of people as the dupes of a cruelly mocking Fate, as in the novels of Thomas Hardy . A writer whose works are characterized by an ironic tone may be called an ironist . For a fuller account, consult Claire Colebrook , Irony ( 2003 ).

"irony." The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Ed. Chris Baldick. Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Web. 27 January 2010.

Satire: A mode of writing that exposes the failings of individuals, institutions, or societies to ridicule and scorn. Satire is often an incidental element in literary works that may not be wholly satirical, especially in comedy . Its tone may vary from tolerant amusement, as in the verse satires of the Roman poet Horace , to bitter indignation, as in the verse of Juvenal and the prose of Jonathan Swift (see juvenalian ). Various forms of literature may be satirical, from the plays of Ben Jonson or of Molière and the poetry of Chaucer or Byron to the prose writings of Rabelais and Voltaire . The models of Roman satire , especially the verse satires of Horace and Juvenal, inspired some important imitations by Boileau , Pope , and Johnson in the greatest period of satire --the 17th and 18th centuries--when writers could appeal to a shared sense of normal conduct from which vice and folly were seen to stray. In this classical tradition, an important form is 'formal' or 'direct' satire , in which the writer directly addresses the reader (or recipient of a verse letter) with satiric comment. The alternative form of 'indirect' satire usually found in plays and novels allows us to draw our own conclusions from the actions of the characters, as for example in the novels of Evelyn Waugh or Chinua Achebe . See also lampoon . For a range of introductory accounts, consult Ruben Quintero (ed.), A Companion to Satire ( 2006 ).

"satire."  The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Ed. Chris Baldick. Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Web. 27 January 2010.

Life
Read intro in textbook, and, of course, the assigned readings.

Of his last 33 years alive, only 7 were spent in America .

Times
For a brief overview, see the following:

Overview: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin . Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them . Joyce Moss and George Wilson. Vol. 1: Ancient Times to the American and French Revolutions (Prehistory-1790s) .  Detroit: Gale, 1997.  From Literature Resource Center.

Change from Puritans

Jefferson 's letter to Pierre S. Du Pont de Nemours, April 24, 1816.
"I believe with you that morality, compassion, generosity, are innate elements of the human constitution" (qtd. in Meyers, Calweti, Kern 273)

"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day" (qtd. in Meyers, Calweti, Kern 273)

Definition of the Enlightenment André Morellet: "It is this ardor for knowledge, this activity of mind which does not wish to leave an effect without seeking the cause, a phenomenon without explanation, an assertion without proof, an objection without a reply, an error without combating it, an evil without seeking the remedy, a possible good without seeking to obtain it; it is this general movement of minds which has marked the eighteenth century and which will constitute its glory forever" (qtd. in Aldridge).

Class Discussion

•  What are "errata" to Franklin ? -- mistakes. What would Rowlandson have called these? Why did he choose that word?

Benjamin Franklin "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America " [1784]

• I'll ask the obvious question: How is his description of Native Americans different from Rowlandson?
• How is his style different from Rowlandson?
• How does the develop his argument?
• How does his argument reflect the thinking of the Enlightenment? How does it reflect, for example, the philosophy of Rousseau?

from The Autobiography (538) [published in 1818-1868]

• Another obvious question: why open with the letters?
• What doesn't Franklin let others know he is the driving force behind the subscription library -- and what is a subscription library (589)?

Religion

• What are his religious views? (590 -- esp. 591 "make us. . . good Citizens")
• Why does he have such an open view of religion?
• On his list of Virtues, what do you make of 12 and 13? Particularly, his use of the word "Rarely" and his pairing of Jesus and Socrates (592)?
• What does he link party politics to? RELIGION -- CREEDS. How is his view of religion different and similar to the Puritans?
• What does he want his religious society called? SOCIETY OF THE FREE AND EASY What are the connotations of this name?What did he hope would be the result of this society? How does it differ from the Puritans
• In the paragraph on "moral Perfection" (591), what does he not call his . . . uh . . . vices? SINS. Why?
• Why include the incident about Hemphill the plagiarist preacher?
• How does he show a distance from religion? (609)
• What do you make of his list of virtues?
• What is "venery"? (592) What's surprising about his discussion of this?
• Note who he wants to imitate? (Jesus and Socrates 592)
• Where are most of his quotes from? Cf. (594)
• Meeting house he made open to all dominations (607) -- and on 609, again, he stresses openness and tolerance.

His character/beliefs/connection to other ideas of the period

•  How is "Sinners in the hand of an Angry God" similar to Rev. Whitefield's ( Franklin 607)?

• How does his list of items avoid the appearance of being anal?
• What does the following quote suggest about his outlook: "I determined endeavoring to cure myself"? Consider also his many plans for self-improvement.
• How could some have accused him of manipulation? 589, 599, 600, **605. What would be Franklin 's response? USING REASON
• The repetition of "Good" on page 600 suggests what English philosopher of the same period?
• Why such emphasis on business? 601 "the Means of procuring Wealth" . cf. Candide "'I have only twenty acres,' replied the old man; 'I and my children cultivate them; our labour preserves us form three great evils -- weariness, vice, and want" (86).
• Why include comment about helping rear and set up his nephew in the printing business?
• Myth of self made man: 586, 590. Why is this so important to Franklin ? Is it still apparent today?

Politics/government

• What is his emphasis on politics on page 600? What should politics do?
• How does one of the writers of our Constitution feel about the free press?

Style

• What seems to be his main purpose here?
• Note his word choice: words that suggest practicality: "604 "serviceable" 602 "Use"

Power of the pen and oratory

• What connection does Franklin make b/t words and action?
• Why include the passage about Whitefield's asking for money to be sent to Georgia (608)?

Proto-Feminism?

1. How does he feel about the "women question"? 602 -- How does he hedge his bet? 603

Reform

1. How would he like to reform education? 604

Group Questions

1. How do his works fit with the ideas of his period (the Enlightenment)?
2. The scholar Gordon Wood argues that Franklin

   remained firmly rooted in the traditional eighteenth-century world of restraining one's inner desires and feelings in order to be civil and get along. He never thought that his characteristic behavior -- his artful posing, his role playing, his many masks, his refusal to reveal his inner self--was anything other than what the cultivated and sociable eighteenth century admired" (Wood 16).

   How is this belief reflected in the readings?
3. How does he distance himself from the Puritans -- or, how is he not like a Puritan? Make a quick list of ways and find quotes to support them.
4. How are Enlightenment values, as expressed (or critiqued) in the work of Franklin, prevalent in our society today?

Images From the Past

Links

Link to Franklin graphic essay by Maria Kalman

Quotes from Critics

"Quintessentially a work of the eighteenth century, the memoirs reflect the American need to define its national in terms of its urban character. While physical nature plays only a minor role in the book, the Autobiography may be the fullest American expression of urban pastorialism before 1820 because it validates the ideal in a uniquely significant way. Instead of teeming gardens fused with urban forms, the memoirs present a hero and a milieu which unite rural and urban values thorough a social pattern of individual and communal fulfillment" (Machor 110)

Shuffleton, Frank "American Enlightenment." Teaching the Literatures of Early America . Ed. Carla Mulford. New York : MLA, 1999. 155-169. Print.

"we need to conceptualize the Enlightenment so as to reaffirm what Horkheimer and Adorno characterizes as 'the dialectical link between enlightenment and domination, and the dual relationship of progress to cruelty and liberation" (Shuffleton 156)

"The Enlightenment dialectic between domination and emancipation, knowledge and freedom, perhaps most clearly reveals itself in American writers through three strategies: first, the often difficult and conflicted move to value the humanity, the subjectivity, of those who are 'other' than the assumed norm of European males, particularly women, Native Americans, and African Americans; second, the creation of the so-called public sphere, in which the 'critical reasoning of private persons on political issues' ushered in new forms of life on every level (Habermas 29); finally, the critique of reason itself, the process of self-examination that made the Enlightenment the first scene of restless modernity" (Shuffleton 157)

North American Review 1818 (Conservative magazine representing the voice of old New England )

"'The groundwork of his character, during this period, was bad; and the moral qualities, which contributed to his rise, were of a worldly and very profitable kind' (qtd. in Wood 5).

"No one has stood for that promise of getting ahead better than Franklin . Schools in the nineteenth century began using his Autobiography to teach moral lessons to students. Many people seemed to know his writings as well as they knew the Bible. It is not surprising that the book Davy Crockett had with him when he died at the Alamo was not the Bible but Franklin 's Autobiography (Wood 3)

"Indeed, one might more easily describe him as the least American and the most European of the nation's early leaders. He was undoubtedly the most cosmopolitan and the most urbane of that group of leaders who brought about the Revolution. He hobnobbed with lords and aristocrats in Britain and the rest of Europe [. . . .] No other American, even Jefferson, knew more Europeans or was more celebrated abroad in more countries than Franklin " (Wood 9)

 © 2009 David Bordelon