The first paper assigned to Humanities Core students for the quarter dealt with the use of Civil War images and representations of the war itself. We were required to visually analyze a Civil War image of our choice and explain how and why that image represented the war in the way that it did.
During my research process,
I had a brief moment of panic due to my inability to find a proper image followed
by a secondary source. The fact that I also had not written a visual analysis essay in my entire existence added onto my anxiety. However, with the guidelines provided by my section
Professor and through the Humanities Core Course, I managed to eventually find
both after browsing endlessly for them. After constantly looking for an image
and its citation, I stumbled upon and found the image “A Soldier’s Dream of
Home” on the Humanities Core Course’s “Image Gallery” link. After familiarizing
with the image and its content and purpose at the time, I began to embark on
finding the secondary source. I clicked on the links embedded in the “The
Writing Process and Student Learning Goals” PDF and discovered databases that
would grant me access to scholarly articles. Initially, I was lost in the sense
that I did not have experience with databases and was clueless on how to search
for material.
I looked at my image and began brain storming key words that
would hopefully load up useful content to support it. I attempted to type in
phrases such as “union soldiers in the civil war”, “homesickness in the civil
war,” “sentimental domesticity”, “Currier and Ives”, etcetera. The key phrase
that allowed me to find a great secondary source was “homesickness in the
civil war”. That secondary source was none other than the article “Dying of Nostalgia: Homesickness in the Union Army during the Civil
War” written by David Anderson. Anderson is a lecturer in the American Studies Program at Swansea
University in Wales and is a graduate of the University of Dundee in Scotland. Currently,
he is completing a study regarding post Reconstruction era plantation
reminiscences. His article was published as a PDF on a database known as
Project Muse provided by UCI. Anderson’s source discusses homesickness and the dynamics
of Nostalgia among the Union Soldiers in the Civil War. There is a central
focus on how soldiers associated home with love, family, and comfort. The
article additionally provides justifications as to why they felt homesick or
nostalgic and how it was their reality at the time.
Anderson's source was vital when writing my essay for various reasons. It aided in bringing clarity on why the soldiers felt cases of nostalgic and what they associated with home. He defines home and gives it a comforting connotation therefore making it uncomplicated to connect the concepts of sentimental domesticity and reality. Being sentimental towards their home and longing to return to familiar grounds had become their reality in the war. I referenced most of his article to support the concept of sentimental domesticity along with the studies made in the article to validate the concept. Overall, the secondary source I managed to get my hands on was essential and made the writing process of this writing assignment much simpler.
Most importantly, It brought relief of having to write this paper.
Source Images
http://picturinghistory.gc.cuny.edu/?p=916
http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2013/07/fear-and-anxiety-shutterstock_104556128-617x416.jpg
http://www.therapyinmontreal.com/Portals/238135/images/anxiety-treatment.jpg
Upon reading the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,
An American Slave, and discussing it in lecture and with peers in this course, we all realized something Douglass did in his novel. He tended to “silence” people and leave out certain
aspects of his experiences from his audiences. Professor Fahs and Professor MacMillan pointed out that perhaps because of this omission,
Douglass was unable to exactly put into words what he truly experienced, after all, it is indeed hard to write down all of the details of traumatic experiences we encounter. Aside from all the speculations, perhaps Douglass used the method of omission to shape and focus his story on the larger goal:
reveal the horrific truths of slavery and help abolish the cruelty. Douglass
believed that through his credibility as a slave and experiences he surmounted, he
ultimately had the opportunity to tell his tales and shock the American public with what was really going on with slavery. Once the public knew of the treatment that was projected onto slaves there would be a potential chance to halt any further practice of the cruelty. Moreover, Douglass focused his novel primarily on slavery. He could not afford
to distract his audiences through personal matter or reveal any significant
people who provided “illegal” assistance for both his and their safety.
Slavery was introduced to America due to the failure of the eighteenth century indentured servitude system (a labor system established amongst the British colonies in North America). Young people, mainly poor British and German people, who desired to go to the New World had to pay through labor on land. This resulted in endless debts and a failure in the system. They went to new extents to solve their financial problems by choosing to enslave Africans and have them do endless labor in order to bring income and ultimately pay their debts. Therefore, they “justified” the idea of enslavement and purpose of working for
white supremacy. Through the easy enslavement and manipulation, slaves were
perceived by whites as naïve, ignorant, and incapable of having a proper education. Furthermore, African
Americans were denied education to prevent them from realizing that slavery was not a natural state of life and ultimately revolting from white supremacy. Douglass resisted and learned to the alphabet while living in the Hugh Auld's household for seven years. Mrs. Auld tutored him but soon stopped as she later became hardened and cruel. However, Douglass's education did not stop there. With his prior knowledge of the alphabet, he was determined to read and write. He accomplished literacy by giving bread to poor little boys in exchange for reading lessons. As a result, he learned to successfully write and was determined to acknowledge their help. However, he decided to exclude
their names in order to prevent their punishments but still gave them credit for their useful
teachings. This is why omission at the time was crucial for both Douglass and for the sake of protecting lives.
Additional
silences Douglass made were that of his personal life and slaves whom were
affiliated and a part of the Underground Railroad. Mentioning that type of information would pave a way of punishments and potential deaths for those that were involved. As far as his personal life,
he mentioned that he had a wife but left out their relationship and marital process. Perhaps including personal experience and love affairs would distract readers and stride his audience away
from the harsher reality at that time. After all, Douglass's main objective was to tell primarily the details of slavery rather than entertain his readers on his marriage. Ultimately, the silences and omissions helped to shape the genre of the book as strictly a
narrative on the horrors of
enslavement.
After
reading his narrative, I was left with several curiosities and questions that
begged to be answered. Some of them are: How was your relationship with your
wife? Are there any other experiences that you chose to leave out and why? Do
you feel accomplished?
Source Image(s)
http://loc.gov/exhibits/books-that-shaped-america/1800-1850/Assets/ba0017_enlarge.jpg
http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/files/2014/11/Marriage.jpg
