Henry David Thoreau

Vince Tang

English 48A

Journal for H. D. Thoreau

October 27, 2011

Reading Quote:

“…and he has voluntarily chosen to be an agent of the government. How shall he ever know well what he is and does as an officer of the government, or as a man, until he is obliged to consider whether he shall treat me… as a neighbor and well-disposed man, or as a maniac and disturber of the peace…” (1864).

 Research Quote:

“No essay in Thoreau’s canon more powerfully exemplifies his independence than ‘Resistance to Civil Government’…” (1856).

Summary of Reading Quote:

Thoreau is essentially saying that a government employee, blind of his lawful duty and humanity, will remain so until he crosses a decision between governmental laws and moral righteousness.

Response:

What should we make of the peace officers on the streets of our current “Occupy” protesting sites? Surely they must understand that they are part of “the 99 percent”. Their decision to defend the government laws written by man suggests that they are merely “…marching in admirable order… against their common sense and consciences…” (1858). Shadowed by their lawful duty, the government officials loses sight of their conscience and takes action with guns, and gas, and mace, and tasers, and batons. The turmoil of our social and economic position is clearly in need of restructuring and the peace officers can support the protesting demonstrations by laying down their arms or as Thoreau puts it, “…resign your office” (1865). It is morally right to promote social and economic equality. When the officers resign, they learn to “…be men first, and subjects afterward” (1858). If they do not resign, then the peace officers become the opposing force to the peaceful protesters.

However, do we not seek their assistance when someone robs us of our personal property or threatens our lives? Do we not conform to government laws in our everyday lives; the laws our taxes pay for them to defend? We apparently need government officials such as police officers to maintain the system. It would be anarchy without a government. As we have seen with violent protestors, not everyone reacts to situations peacefully. Perhaps the officers at the “Occupy” protesting sites deserve both sympathy and appreciation. Sympathy because they are sacrificing their moral righteousness to sustain our society and appreciation because they allow others to freely demonstrate social and economic inequality.

The way it works; the way society and government function as a whole I cannot say, but the way it is I fully accept and appreciate. I believe Thoreau would share my position because he says, “I do not wish to quarrel with any man or nation… the government does not concern me much, and I shall bestow the fewest possible thoughts on it” (1870).

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Vince Tang
English 48A
Journal for R. W. Emerson
October 25, 2011

Reading Quote:

“They measure their esteem of each other, by what each has, and not by what each is” (1179).

Research Quote:

“Ralph Waldo Emerson is arguably the most influential American writer of the nineteenth century…” (1106).

Summary of Reading Quote:

Emerson is saying that some people gage the value of each other based on their personal property rather than their natural traits.

Response:

Emerson reminds us not to measure someone by his financial wealth but to focus on the personal qualities of that person. The recent passing of Apple Corporation’s co-founder Steve Jobs came to mind when I read this. As an avid i-Tunes user, I could not help but feel a sense of sorrow for our loss of the innovator; a person I knew nothing about. The reason was clearly because he represented the i-Tunes that I was so deeply connected to. The death of Jobs triggered my curiosity of his personal life. After clicking through several online articles, I noticed all of them focused on his career and mentioned little to nothing about him as a person; was he friendly, or goofy, or short tempered. Who was Steve Jobs? Almost three weeks later and occasional searches, I have yet to discover if he was a caring father or a loving husband. Perhaps this is how society influences us to perceive people. The media helps us remember him as a successful innovator rather than the quality of him as a person. Would people have shown so much sympathy for him if he was abusive to his family or was a raging alcoholic outside of work? Regardless of how successful he was, probably not. This confirms that we should measure someone by how genuine he is and not by his wealth. It is the influence of society that stray us away from ourselves and our perception of people. With influential writings such as Emerson’s Self-Reliance, “…a cultivated man becomes ashamed of his property, ashamed of what he has, out of new respect for his being” (1179).

Frederick Douglass

Vince Tang
English 48A
Journal for F. Douglass
October 18, 2011

Reading Quote:

“I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason” (2116).

Research Quote:

“…in the moments following the speech, the twenty-three-year-old fugitive slave ‘felt a degree of freedom’ and, just as important, realized he had discovered his vocation” (2060).

Summary of Reading Quote:

Keeping a slave ignorant of moral values, denying him any opportunity to think for himself, and destroying his rational thoughts will turn him into a mindless but satisfied slave.

Response:

Some slave owners act as though they are a pure soul from heaven deserving the right to re-create God’s creation of man. God created man with moral values, individual thoughts, and the ability to reason. To blind someone of all this through intense labor and physical abuse in order to distract them from realizing their natural traits as human beings and lead them to believe that their sole existence is to serve their masters without question; to do all this to a slave is to re-create his human existence. Without the natural abilities to know what is right and what is wrong or make rational decisions, the slave becomes a loyal subject to his master and faithfully fulfills his orders to avoid punishment. This is similar to a Christian serving Christ. A faithful Christian does not question the Almighty but devotes himself to the Lord as his Shepherd in order to avoid eternal damnation. The difference is that a Christian religiously serves the Divine while a slave mindlessly serves another man. Christian or not, slave owners purchase their human properties expecting loyal labor by making them contented slaves.

Not all slaves accept their sole existence as a servant of another man. Douglass turned his meaningless life of slavery into “…the most influential African American leader of the nineteenth century and as one of the greatest orators of the age” (2061). It is through the power of language that leads him to his reputation. Learning to read materials such as Sheridan’s speeches opened his eyes to human rights. He was now discovering moral values through his own perspective. Without the distractions of extreme labor and abuse, Douglass was able to contemplate on his readings and devise reasonable strategies for a life of freedom. Learning to write helped the abolitionist communicate his anti-slavery message through personal experience. The power of language essentially gave the determined Douglass a purpose in life; a determination to abolish slavery.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Vince Tang
English 48A
Journal for N. Hawthorne
October 11, 2011



Reading Quote:

"Know, then, this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever...This dismal shade must separate me from the world..." (1316).

Research Quote:

"Hawthorne not only makes reader do their own interpretative work but also shows how interpretation is often a form of self-expression" (1272).

Summary of Reading Quote:

Mr. Hooper feels obligated to wear the veil. This veil represents something that creates a separation between him and the world.

Response:

The interpretation of the black veil depends on the perspective and approach of the interpreter. The story does not directly explain what it symbolizes but there are hints of Mr. Hooper’s interpretation and the people’s interpretation. More importantly, the author encourages us to form our own opinion on the meaning of the black veil.

The contrasting interpretation of this veil between Mr. Hooper and the people appears to be that the reverend uses it to represent something holy. For instance, we often slip into the shadows of the truth when we have some sin to hide. Mr. Hooper understands that he is a mortal sinner and uses the veil as a holy piece to symbolize his acceptance. As a minister of God, the reverend feels that it is his duty to openly identify himself as a sinner but, nonetheless, a preacher of God. The people, on the other hand, appear to see the veil as some dreadful darkness. Although they know Mr. Hooper quite well, they find a discomfort in speaking to someone they cannot fully see. It is natural for us to fear or question the unknown such as the reactions of the people around the presence of Mr. Hooper and his mysterious veil. Perhaps they feel he has some dark secret to hide. Perhaps they feel he sees their dark secrets.

Perhaps another interpretation of the black veil is that Mr. Hooper’s obligation to wear it is to strengthen the relationship between God and the people. The reverend’s veil symbolizes a sacred piece that conceals the physical image of his mortal existence. With this sacred veil obscuring his mortal image, he becomes a source of connection from earth to heaven. In fact, the minister “…became a man of awful power, over souls that were in agony for sin” (1318). 

Hawthorne’s short story focuses around interpretations of the minister’s black veil. With the opinions of the characters and leaving the answer unknown, the author allows us to interpret the story as we see it.

Rebecca Harding Davis

Vince Tang
English 48A
Journal for R. H. Davis
October 6, 2011

Reading Quote:

“If I had the making of men, these men who do the lowest part of the world’s work should be machines,-nothing more,-hands” (2610).

Research Quote:

“The historical importance of ‘Life in the Iron-Mills’ is partly as a record of the underside of American industrial prosperity, but what finally matters is that the story is an overwhelming reading experience that refuses to provide easy answers to the social problems it so powerfully delineates” (2599).

Summary of Reading Quote:

Davis’s quote is saying that the only worth to the men of the lowly work is their labor.

Response:

The reading quote is a dialogue from the character Kirby, one of the mill owners. The quote is the most inhumane words ever crafted. It directly exemplifies the greed in capitalism. How can someone step into the inferno of an iron mill and feel no sympathy for the workers? Moreover, speak of them as though they do not breathe the flames fume, feel the fires heat, hear the grueling grinds, taste the ashes on their tongues; refer to them as senseless human beings. It is obvious that the social class of the mill workers is much lower than Kirby. Nonetheless, they are people with physical senses and emotions capable of interacting and making decisions in the world. The only difference between the mill owner Kirby and the mill workers is the output of their function in life. Aside from that, they all have the same natural human characteristics.

In Lies My Teacher Told Me, James W. Loewen mentions “…that opportunity is not equal in America…” (205). This creates a significant impact on the social classes. Loewen’s statement is especially true in the era that Life in the Iron-Mills is based on. The characters cannot simply pack up their cars and move to a more promising community, or they cannot search for jobs on the internet as we do with our modern technology. The characters in Davis’s story, as well as the people in the reality of the American industrial revolution, are often born, raised, work, and simply live within their social class. This is agreed by Loewen when he says that “…most Americans die in the same social class in which they were born…” (210).

The descriptive power of Davis’s language touches her readers through their sympathy and compassion for the characters in the story. Davis’s realistic portrayal of the upper and lower classes of Americans during the industrial revolution delivers a perspective of the lower class. It is no wonder that the 1861 publishing of Life in the Iron-Mills was so well recognized.