The Yares of the Black Mountains

What stood out to me the most in Rebecca Harding Davis's The Yares of the Black Mountains were the references to nature and religion. As I will discuss tomorrow in my lead respondent, I discovered a strong parallelism between the mention of the environment and the mention of God. Between pages 254-256 lots of imagery is used to describe the scenery of the beautiful Southern Appalachian Mountains. The widow, who is from New York is not used to such beauty and clarity in the environment. She begins comparing her relationship to nature to her relationship with God. On page 255 Davis writes, "She did not know the name of  plant or tree or bird, but she felt the friendliness and welcome of the hills, just as she used to comforted and lifted nearer to God by distant church music, although she could not hear a word of the hymn." Here I can see the unknown of nature compared to the unknown of religion. The widow doesn't know much about the environment because she has not seen much of it but she is moved by what she feels. Similar to how she feels about God, she mentions that even though she couldn't hear the words of the hymns she was still moved by it. It's obvious that she finds hope and comfort in nature, also that she views it as powerful, which is why she is bringing her only son, all she has left, to the mountains to be cured from his illness.

There are many more significant references throughout the story, but you will have to stay tuned until tomorrow to hear the rest!!!

Ragged Dick

The representations of young girls in nineteenth century literature are the complete opposite of young boys.  As we’ve seen in our previous readings this semester, young girls tend to inherit the same qualities as their mothers. Usually this entails being neat, proper, polite, innocent, religious, and all things deemed appropriate. In Horatio Alger’s, Ragged Dick, we see a young boy as the main character for the first time. Dick is a fourteen year old boy living on the streets of New York as A “Boot Black” AKA a vagabond. Although he lives a lifestyle that was very much frowned upon by people of that time period, Dick finds a way to win over the hearts of everyone he meets. Alger even considers Dick a hero at some points in the story. As he states on page 258, "He was above doing anything mean or dishonorable. He would not steal cheat, or cheat, or impose upon younger boys, but was frank and straight-forward, manly and self reliant." Here, Alger is glorifying all of Ragged Dick's valuable qualities. The fact that this representation of a homeless boy who is irresponsible can be seen as a hero is proof that standards for men were not as high as they were for women in the nineteenth century. Young boys did not have as many obligations as young girls did when it came to reputations and expectations. I'm sure the boy's opinion about this time period, looking back, would be much different than the girls. For instance, on of the female characters we read about would probably remember this time as a time of discipline, instruction, and working towards eventually getting married and becoming a housewife. Ragged Dick would probably look back and think, "Oh I was such a young independent boy, I learned so much from the streets, ahhh the good old days."

The Whisperer in the Dark

In the beginning, “A Whisper in the Dark” seems to follow basically the same premise of the other texts we’ve read in class; we are introduced to a young girl facing some sort of family struggle. As the story goes on, however, it takes some ugly, twisted turns. Each of the characters: Sybil, Guy, and the creepy uncle, all seem to have some sort of personal issues. As we discussed in class, Sybil and her uncle have a strange relationship, as do Sybil and Guy, this and the ordeal with the money scandal makes things even more difficult. To top this complicated situation, Sybil’s uncle has her put away in a mental asylum for refusing to marry him. As stated by Sybil in the text when she realizes what her uncle has done, “for my uncle’s inexplicable movements filled me with alarm.” (Page 239.) From this point on, the story has a very dark feel to it. We see Sybil being tortured and forced into insanity from the harsh treatment she receives at the mental institution. We also see another turning point while she is detained. A woman who lives above Sybil in the institution tries reaching out to help her. Repeatedly in the night Sybil is haunted by the woman’s voice who is trying to save her and whispers “Find it! For God’s sake before it is too late!” (Page 241.) The woman even loses her life trying to save Sybil. She finally realizes what all the whispering was about when she finds the lock of hair around the dog’s neck containing the warning which reads in the last line, “I implore you to leave this house before it is too late.” (page 244.) Ultimately Sybil is saved because she obeys the note and flees at the right moment. Sybil has always had a yearning for her dead mother, and has never found a replacement to fill that void in her life, until this woman costs everything to save her. I think this was the real “coming of age” moment In Sybil’s life, realizing someone cared for her and that she was offered a second chance in life. It does seem sort of odd to picture a mental patient as a motherly figure, but I think to Sybil it is actually her mother using the woman to save her. This is definitely not our typical mother daughter relationship of the nineteenth century, but I’m sure Louisa May Alcott gained a lot of respect for portraying a more challenging idea of this type of relationship.