Author: scarney20

Cold Mountain and The Awakening are both in similar time frames within American history but they are very different in their overall messages. The Awakening is from Edna’s perspective of her growing independence in a society where woman are supposed to idolize their husbands and take care of the children. Cold Mountain focuses on Inman who is a rogue Confederate soldier in his travels home to Ada but Ada manages the traditional society in a different way than Edna. Much like Edna, Ada grew up training to be the perfect lady. When Ada’s father died, she was left with a decision but it didn’t seem like she has a choice. One of her main options was to return to Richmond and marry a man she didn’t love. She refused to fall into the pattern but she also didn’t know how to run a farm to be successful. Edna was in a marriage with a husband and even kids that she didn’t love. She loved someone else but due to the American society in the 1800s, there was seemingly no chance of happiness to her. That was the difference between her and Ada. Ada worked. Though she didn’t have any legal connections or children and she was saved when Ruby came to help her on the farm but she didn’t falter within the long days of physical work. Edna was selfish in her decisions including taking her own life and leaving her children. But they both showed resilience for a time. They showed a strength to find independence of their own that so many women entrapped in society at the time couldn’t begin to fathom.

One theme we noticed in Grapes of Wrath is the prevalence of some men leaving their families in stressful times. We could also notice this trend in Cold Mountain during the Civil War. Many men deserted the war because it seemed like a hopeless cause. The Confederates even responded by sending out groups of men called the Guard to track down the deserters by any means necessary. Then, during the Great Depression, some men would begin to think their families are better without them: “We ain’t never gonna know if he’s alive or dead. Never gonna know. An’ Connie sneakin’ away. I didn’t give em’ brain room before, but now they’re a flockin’ back” (221). Ma felt her family falling apart. They may never know what will come of Noah and Connie. Noah didn’t feel needed or helpful in their journey and Connie couldn’t take the pressure of having a family of his own in such hard times. Families in Cold Mountain may have felt the same. Some men who ran away from the war might have never returned to their families afraid of the shame of deserting on top of their own guilt. Within two of the darkest parts of US history, many men had to face the chance of letting their families down whether it’s staying with their family or running away from the hardship.

Within this time period of the Civil War in Cold Mountain, I noticed a similarity of their situation and ours in present time. Although people are not fighting and killing on purpose there is instead a deadly virus, and there is still a sense of loss of lives that both points in time along with the loss of past lives. During the Civil War, people were afraid to leave their town in fear of getting caught in the middle of a war and now people can’t leave their homes for a different reason out of their control. In the midst of catastrophes like these, we can begin to fear the future. Ada and Ruby explore this idea after hearing of an unlucky and deadly run in with the Home Guard: “the world might better be viewed as such a place of threat and fear that the only consonant attitude one could maintain was gloom, or whether one should strive for light and cheer even though a dark-fisted hand seemed poised ready to strike at any moment” (149). It is easy to fall into a constant state of worry and negativity within such a time of uncertainty but there is also the option to live on in hope of better times. You just need to take on one day at a time: “[Inman] had long since decided there was little usefulness in speculating much on what a day will bring. It led a person to the equal error of being either dreadful or hopeful. Neither in his experience served to ease your mind” (213). There is no reason to dwell on one mistake or unfortunate experience because life will carry on and better times will come so sometimes it is better to let life be thrown at you while you’re ready.

Although we don’t directly see war as the readers, Frazier illustrates the brutal conditions of war through Inman’s flashbacks and stories. The Civil War was fought in close quarters due to the lower quality of weapons so “since all they had to do was loft the shells fifty feet to where the Federals milled about like pen of shoats waiting for the hammer between the eyes… It was war of the most antique form, as if hundreds of men were put into a cave, shoulder to shoulder and told to kill each other” (124). Frazier demonstrates how war can make a man barbaric. There was no mercy shown for it was men who may have gone to fight for something bigger but they may turn to fight with the natural, animal-like instinct to stay alive. Inman himself struggles throughout the novel of the effects war has had on him “He had grown so used to seeing death, walking among the dead, sleeping among them, numbering himself calmly among the near-dead, that it seemed no longer dark and mysterious” (180). He voices his concern of Ada accepting him for who he is now. He was a civilian. Now he barely takes an extra thought to killing someone brutally if it means it results in his own survival. He has seen and done things people would never want to go through and he doesn’t know if there is any notion for going back to his past self. But throughout his journey on Cold Mountain, he has shown a sense of compassion in all of his acts of kindness so although he may be haunted by his actions and the war, I think he will be able to return to a peaceful life.

Soon after the Civil war, there were a few acts implemented to encourage the spread of pioneers to the west such as the Kinkaid Act, the Enlarged Homestead, and the Homestead Act of 1862 which gave settlers with 160 acres of land. This along with Manifest Destiny and the rise of wheat prices during World War 1 caused an increase in farming in the US. Though these new farmers faced catastrophe when the wheat prices dramatically decreased when the US fell into the Great Depression and the drought of 1931 exposed the over-plowed farmland and the extra soil led to huge dust storms. Living within a constant flow of dust, it is estimated that hundreds to thousands of people died to “dust pneumonia” where dust built up in their lungs.

440,000 people from Oklahoma alone, like the Joads, migrated to escape the desolate Dust Bowl and approximately half of those from Oklahoma moved to California in hope of settling within its agriculturally rich lands. Migrants from the American Southwest was given the nickname “Okie” and was looked down upon in California since the “Okies” were taking what little amount of jobs there were left. After a few attempts to improve the situation in the West, it wasn’t until the government started the Civil Conservation Corps (CCC) which not only provided three-million men with work but they dug ditches, planted trees, built reservoirs. In their efforts they helped water conservation, reduce the chances of floods and prevent further soil erosion.

History.com Editors. “Dust Bowl.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Oct. 2009

Trimarchi, Maria. “What Caused the Dust Bowl?” HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 27 Jan. 2020

Among the many themes that Charles Frazier explores, he uses the main characters’, Inman and Ada’s relationship along with other stories to demonstrate courtship during the Civil War era. In the beginning of the novel Ada considers her options and one of them is to get married to pretty much survive. With her independent nature, she doesn’t want to fall into a marriage without love and she grew bored of earlier suitors though “all of society stood at attention to watch [young women’s’] progress toward marriage as if the primary moral force of the universe were focused in that direction” (49). To be accepted in society you must marry well and whether there was love in the relationship was mostly luck. When Inman showed an interest in Ada, she had built herself a shield between her childhood with her father and a life anew with a husband and to her Inman was another boring suitor though she began to realize Inman was more than a suitor.

Men are also under similar pressure to choose a wife in order to start a family and carry on their families’ trade. Odell, a fellow traveler who Inman comes across shares his story of forbidden love. He fell in love with his family’s black housemaid though he was already married. When it came to the appropriate time for him to marry, he was given a wide selection of other major planter’s daughters near their own plantation. He chose the women who was “beautiful in a transparent way… though once he got the heaps of crinolines off her, there seemed to be nothing left” (131) which led him astray towards the housewife. Marriage was almost a state of business at the time, and although a loving relationship would be desirable it was never expected and rarely found.

In Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain, he portrays a certain view of the world’s way of creating fate. Within Inman’s stories of the deadly Civil War and gloomy passage home through Cold Mountain, Inman begins to think that there’s not much he can do in his fate. While he is in the hospital he recounts a few of the battles he wishes to never relive but he doesn’t know if he can help that: “It was simple enough to tell fortunes if a man dedicated himself to the idea that time is a path leading nowhere but a place of deep and persistent threat… if a thing like Fredericksburg was to be used as a marker… we’ll be eating one another raw” (16). Frazier ultimately shows what war can do to a man. Inman seemed at least content in the flashbacks in the village with Ada but war has shown him what humans are capable of doing to each other and he has lost hope in the world. He never chose to go to war and it has changed him. I think he realizes how much more brutal and violent he is and part of it is due to his underlining anger that he doesn’t believe that whatever he does, he won’t have an effect on his fate. Though further through his trek home, the readers can see how his heart is what leading him without him knowing. He repeatedly helps people because he knows that is the right thing to do and he still has the strong determination to get home to Ada. I think he wants to defy the world of “random sweepings” (18) who’s aim is to drag you down and he will do anything to prove himself stronger than the world’s dreadful version of his destiny.

In Nathanael West’s novel Day of the Locust, he captures a certain perspective of human’s behaviors that can arrive within life in search of acceptance. Throughout his intriguing novel in America’s well-known Hollywood, the readers can feel a sense of escapism, and a longing for affection and success within the characters. It seems as though they are looking for not only acceptance in society but acceptance of one’s self. 

The society West portrays with their constant rush towards stardom could be a craving to escape the desolate scene of America after its downfall in 1929-1933. The people in California seem to be trying to make something out of their new lives: “The fat lady in the yachting cap was going shopping, not boating: the man in the Norfolk jacket and Tyrolean hat was returning not from a mountain, but an insurance office” (2). They all want to become a person different than themselves. Many, like Faye Greene, look for opportunities in the pictures which is the perfect chance to escape the dark reality of America’s recovery from almost complete destruction. They not only become a different person to act out a different life to escape the aftermath of the Depression but they use that character to find a stronger role in Hollywood’s cutthroat race towards fame. 

There seemed to be a certain emphasis of a desire for affection in Day of the Locust. In the beginning of the novel, right away he lays out Faye’s thought of love. In her mind she couldn’t love just any man. She insisted that “she could only love a handsome man and would only let a wealthy man love her” (9). Since Tod does not fit into either category, he could only be considered a friend. Secondly, there was Tod’s and the other mens’ constant desire for Faye. Other than just the physical aspect, I believe they searched for any kind of connection within the black and white of the Hollywood scene. In Hollywood, people always have their eyes for fame and money and the idea of being with a woman like Faye gave them a certain satisfaction when the men themselves might not be able to be the perfect Hollywood success story. 

Along with a search for affection, the people within the Hollywood society also tend to resemble robots always looking for success. Toward the end of the novel Tod began to notice a “strange thing about [Faye’s] gestures and expressions was that they didn’t really illustrate what she was saying… It was as though her body recognized how foolish her words were and tried to excite her hearers into being uncritical” (103). Within Faye’s struggles to become a successful actress she learned how to capture an audience. Though she took it another step into real life. She grew so accustomed to putting on a show in order to receive praise that she is always striving for fame even in her own house. Like her own father she “seemed to enjoy suffering… Like many people [s]he only enjoyed the sort that was self-inflicted” (63). All some people want is recognition and they will do whatever they can for it, even if it involves breaking down their own dignity because to them, success in the only way to fit in their idea of society.

Overall, Nathanael West displays a certain culture and way of life that some people choose to lead. It may not apply to everyone but when people experience loss or a never ending struggle in life, they can begin to act desperately even if it means turning into someone new. They might turn their whole life around to not just ‘make it’ in a society where expectations can be extremely high already but know that they can achieve self worth.

Throughout the novel, Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck touches on the lingering prospect of prison. Immediately, we are introduced to Tom Joad with his brand new clothing he received when leaving being released from prison as one of his most prominent features. His shapeless and creased clothes bore a strong contrast against the colorless and run-down town. Later on we learn that new clothes are not the only accommodations available in prison that most men wouldn’t have in the outside world. Tom told Casy about a man who returned to prison after breaking parole: “A guy ast him why he bust his parole… “Well hell,’ he says. ‘They got no conveniences at my old man’s place. Got no ‘electric lights, got no shower baths… He says it makes him lonesome out there in the open havin’ to think what to do next” (27). Men during the Great Depression may see prison has a safe haven. They don’t have to worry where their next meal will come from and they even have the luxury of bathing every day. We see that for ourselves when Casy turns himself in instead of Tom at the Hooverville. He knew that the Joads needed Tom as a leader and he would be cared for without worry in prison. Tom has even mentioned that he wouldn’t mind going back to prison if it wasn’t for his family so Casy took his place hoping for relief and possibly a way to repay the Joads and find his direction in life.

“The women came out of the houses to stand beside their men – to feel whether this time the men would break… Women and children knew deep in themselves that no misfortune was too great to bear if their men were whole” (4). Throughout the novel, Steinbeck shows the roles of women and children next to the husbands and fathers within their families. During the Great Depression, everyone needed to fend for themselves and their own family. Men were seen as the protectors and providers and the women and children were intended to follow in their path.Women had the responsibility of cooking and taking care of the children while their husbands handled financial responsibilities. Steinbeck though also portrayed how the mothers of the family can often be the glue to the whole family. For example Ma, in the Joad family is their rock. They look to her for comfort within all of their troubles. Maybe not all women of families have her same sense of power but Ma has a large say in their decisions. No matter the situation, Ma wants to keep the family at all costs. Ma refuses to leave when Tom offers to stay back with the preacher when one of their cars break down so the family can keep moving. The men saw it as the best option but she knew that staying together is key to getting through their troubles. Families need a backbone and she is theirs. Families need each other make it through such a dark time in history.