Journal for Muir (Tahoe- E.C.)

Francesca Cricchio
Journal for Muir
English 48
March, 2011

“So here’s what reading John Muir for the first time had taught me: that you can start over again. Repeatedly. Season after season, year after year. Even decade after decade.” (145)

“As a wilderness explorer, he is renowned for his exciting adventures in California's Sierra Nevada, among Alaska's glaciers, and world wide travels in search of nature's beauty. As a writer, he taught the people of his time and ours the importance of experiencing and protecting our natural heritage. His writings contributed greatly to the creation of Yosemite, Sequoia, Mount Rainier, Petrified Forest, and Grand Canyon National Parks.” (Bio of Muir from Sierra Club. org)

The Chapter “John Muir” from Tahoe Beneath the Surface talks about John Muir, a man who fell madly in love with Tahoe. His love for Tahoe, and nature itself, was evident in his literature, and when Tahoe faced destruction, Muir himself felt emotional breakdowns as described in Tahoe- “Muir’s normally voluminous daily journal entries shrank to the size of a few broken, spare, brittle sentences” (149). This lack of passion came as a result of the destruction of flatland across Tahoe. The chapter discusses his tireless effort to preserve Tahoe’s natural environment, and the overall achievements in Muir’s lifetime.

After reading this chapter I understood how Muir could be know for his regional writing. It is clear how much he loved Tahoe, and this love is evident in his work. “This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round Earth rolls” (145). This everlasting sunrise and sunset and eternalness with nature is a direct transference to Muir’s everlasting passion for Tahoe and nature. When you read his work, you can feel his emotional pull to the land. Such a strong influence, Tahoe became the core of Muir, and thanks to his valiant efforts, we have national parks that have survived capitalism to this very day.

Journal for Kingston (Tahoe- E.C.)

Francesca Cricchio
Journal for Kingston- Tahoe
English 48
March,2011

“Describing the process of setting explosive charges on sheer granite face, Kingston writes of ‘cliffs, sheer drops under impossible overhangs’ where the men ‘lowered one another down in wicker baskets made stronger by the lucky words they had painted on four sides.’”(229)

"China Men is a voyage itself, to China and back. It will come to be regarded as one of the classic American works on the experience of immigration...a work of enormous power, feeling and understanding." (Regarding China Men by Los Angeles Herald Examiner).

The chapter “Maxine Hong Kingston” from Tahoe Beneath the Surface tells the tale of chinese influence in the creation of the railroads of the West. Much of the chapter is dedicated to describing the civil injustices chinese immigrants faced by whites. In Kingston’s story, China Men, the dangerous construction of the rail roads is described (with much help from her grandfathers real-life stories). Each day was a gamble with life and death. The immigrants hung from cliffs, ran from tumbling boulders, and lit massive pieces of dynamite.

This chapter was extremely hard to read because the civil injustice towards the Chines of the time was appalling. The “economic blackmail” (227) was unjust. The little money they earned slaving away on the railroads was almost taken back immediately due to unfair taxing, making it almost impossible to escape poverty. On a daily basis they had to worry about whether or not they were going to live! The didn’t even get to experience the sweet emotions of life because they were so consumed with the fear of not making through a day of work. And why did they deserve this torment? All they wanted to do was provide for their family. Or life out the American dream. But they were taken advantage of...and the very men who preached this dream. The most heart wrenching part of the chapter was when I read about the backfire of “The Heathen Chinee”. Bret Harte, who wanted to stop brutality against chinese immigrants, got the wrong response when he wrote this poem. His attempt was to use sarcasm by depicting a false stereotype of the “common chinese man”, but instead American readers took his poem literally, and the stereotype of a man with long braided hair and swindling characteristics became the mascot for Chinese culture. His effort failed tremendously and set Chines immigrants back even further.

:(

Journal for Cahan (E.C.)

Francesca Cricchio
Journal for Cahan
English 48B
March, 2011

“Flora pictured a clean-shaven, high-hatted, spectacled gentleman jumping out of a buggy, and the image became a fixture in her mind” (765).

“As a journalist and fiction writer, Abraham Cahan explored the social, cultural, and spiritual tensions of the Eastern European Jewish immigrant experience in New York. His sensitive treatment of the dual identities of Jewishness and Americanism, and of issues of accommodation and acculturation, made him an influential spokesperson for his community.” (Bio of Cahan from American passages).

The Imported Bridegroom is a story of a Jewish family living in New York city. Flora, is a dreamer who stands out from the rest of society because of her fixation on sophistication and hopefulness that she will marry a doctor and become a member of upper-class society. Flora’s father, Asriel, values religion and tradition. He travels to his homeland to find a husband for Flora, and comes back with Shaya. Flora is still adamant on marrying a doctor and rejects Shaya. Shaya then engulfs himself in American intellect, and that is when Flora becomes interested. By this point Asriel has developed a disdain for Shaya because of his rejection of native tradition, and constant reading of controversial books. This is enough to make Asriel ban Flora from marrying Shaya, but the two elope anyway. Afterwards, Flora realizes that Shaya’s new Americanized intellect is far beyond her own, and she feels left behind.

I found this story to be very funny because it seems that neither of the main characters can get what they want! Flora spent her days dreaming of a perfect man who could provide for her a lifestyle of the pristine. She is unsatisfied with Shaya in the beginning because he is not sophisticated enough. When she finally does have an attraction towards him, she is quickly disappointed when she realizes that her new husband is intellectually advanced in comparison to her. Asriel is also unsatisfied when his daughter first shoots down his very expensive bridegroom, and only marries him after Asriel tells her not to! (lol) It seemed to be a lose, lose situation that was full of irony from chapter to chapter. This un-satisfaction can be a symbol for a larger theme, which is, Americanization and its negative consequences.

Journal for W. E. B. Du Bois (E.C.)

Francesca Cricchio
Journal for Du Bois
English 48B
March, 2011

“Freedom, too, the long-sought, we still seek,- the freedom of life and limb, the freedom to work and think, the freedom to love and aspire. Work, culture, liberty,- all these we need, not singly but together, not sucessively, but together, each growing and aiding each, and all striving for that vaster ideal that swims before the Negro people, the ideal of human brotherhood, gained through the unifying ideal of Race” (900).

“Although Du Bois had originally believed that social science could provide the knowledge to solve the race problem, he gradually came to the conclusion that in a climate of virulent racism, expressed in such evils as lynching, peonage, disfranchisement, Jim Crow segregation laws, and race riots, social change could be accomplished only through agitation and protest. In this view, he clashed with the most influential black leader of the period, Booker T. Washington, who, preaching a philosophy of accommodation, urged blacks to accept discrimination for the time being and elevate themselves through hard work and economic gain, thus winning the respect of the whites.” (Biography of Du Bois from Biography.com).

This is a piece of African American literature that addresses the problem of the “color line” (894) Du Bois also talks about “double-consciousness” which is “looking at ones self through the eyes of others”. This theory became an important term when relating to race in America. In Du Bois’ text, he argues against Booker T. Washington’s approach to race relations. Du Bois thinks that Washington is too accepting of segregation between races and argues that the focus should be on equality, the right to vote, and education of youth. Du Bois’ proposal of race advancement differs from Washington’s preachings because it strives for more than material success. He preaches ideals that concentrate on African American equality with the rest of the world.

What Du Bois hypothesized was inspiring because it was beyond the ideals of the time. Many African American advocates back then were focusing on gaining any right, but Du Bois was different because “settling” was not in his vocabulary. He was aware of his difference with the rest of society, and he used his individuality to his advantage by becoming a role model for African Americans. He was privileged when he was younger and got a higher education and this knowledge he obtained helped him view that world in a different way. He got to experience life of the elite and instead of staying in that society with no opposition, he preached to the lower-class and fought to give all African Americans the same opportunities he received. His theory was that this could be accomplished by choosing a select amount of individuals who would be educated to the fullest, and then use their education to become liaisons for race relations, as well as equal contributors to society as a whole. I admire his dedication to conquering equal rights, and his willingness to stand out amongst the rest of the world.