Introductory Reflective Essay

May 2, 2007

Dear Class,

My 2007 spring semester here at Clemson University has flown by quite fast. I feel that I have gotten a lot accomplished this semester however. One thing I did this semester that I have never done before is take an online course. English 214 was the first online course that I have ever taken and I must say that it has been quite enjoyable. I am emerging from this class with a greater and deeper knowledge of American literature and the people responsible for contributing to it. This course covered everything from Native Americans and early Settlers of our nation up until the publishing of the Tennessee Williams’ play, “A Streetcar Named Desire” in the 1940’s.

The early days of this course dealt mainly with the Settlers, Native Americans and even how they related to one another. I especially enjoyed reading about the Native Americans and their folk lore in particular. The tale “How America Was Discovered” is a tale told by the Seneca storyteller and tribesman Handsome Lake. This story really highlights how the Native Americans feel that the Settlers completely invaded their space. The American Settlers were intrigued by the “wealth, position and power” (Handsome Lake 364) that the Americas seemed to offer them. As a result, of course, they settled and displaced thousands of Native Americans.

Progressing into the nineteenth century, the focus of the course shifted from the Native Americans to Natives of America that produced essays, poetry and other media forms using ideas such as transcendentalism. At this time, the topic of the women’s rights began to emerge from behind the cloud of the past hot topics of Native American and African American rights. Sarah Margaret Fuller is a transcendentalist author that refused to allow her “social and political radicalism” to simply be “smoothed away” (Fuller 727). During our class discussion on transcendentalism, my group was assigned the topic of “social action and reform.” After submitting my own individual response, I came across Ashley Goldberg’s letter 1 response . The final question posed by Ms. Goldberg in her first letter, “Do you think that Fuller's education and relationship with her father had a deep impact on her beliefs?” was one that got me thinking. In my Transcendentalism Discussion Letter 2 I further pondered this question. If Fuller’s father did not allow her to receive the privileged education she received, I do believe Fuller would not have fought so hard for women’s rights. Basically, if Fuller never realized what many women were missing out on, she would not have cared so much about it. Many transcendentalist authors did indeed only discuss the issues that they were exposed to most.

Edgar Allen Poe is a very famous American poet that we began to discuss in late February. We completed numerous assignments on Poe, but my favorite one was the Creative Response that I completed on Poe. For this assignment I chose to write a poem about the famous Poe character “Lenore.” “An Ode to Lenore” is a poem that I chose in order “to elaborate on the pain and loneliness that the narrator experiences as a result of Lenore’s death” (Poe Creative Response). I also included a piece of media in my response. I entitled my media “An Ode to Lenore” as well. The image really embodies the distance that Poe feels from Lenore. The darkened background also highlights the mystery that surrounds this woman.

The Susan Glaspell play “Trifles” is a play that involves solving the mysterious death of small town farmer Mr. Wright. The assigned excerpt of the play deals with the discovery of who murdered Mr. Wright. Ironically, this was not discovered by the sheriff or the young lawyer in the play, but by two women: the sheriff’s wife and Mr. Wright’s neighbor. The two women discovered that Mrs. Wright, who was often oppressed by her husband, killed Mr. Wright. Susan Glaspell is an author of a more modern period and you can feel the emergence of women’s rights in the poem. I can see this in the solving of the murder mystery. As I discussed in my response, “I also found it very interesting how the women did not want to “rat out” Mrs. Wright, so to speak, by telling the Sheriff about the strangled bird they found. I can only assume that they felt sorry for her and wanted to protect a fellow female” (Glaspell Individual Analysis).

One of the most drama-filled assignments of the semester was not even a reading. The Page/Stage to Screen assignment involved watching plays on DVD or VHS and responding to them in an appropriate manner. I was lucky, having read the play I chose to watch before. For my Page/Stage assignment I chose to discuss the classic 1959 play “A Raisin in the Sun.” “A Raisin in the Sun” deals with racism and segregation in the midst of the movements towards ending these two injustices. The Younger family is a close-knit family that has inherited a large life insurance check from the death of the family patriarch. With the money, the Youngers decide to move into an upper-class, predominantly white neighborhood in their native Chicago. Other issues encountered in the play include pregnancy, unwanted marriage, theft and deception. At the end of play, as the Youngers are leaving their cramped apartment to move into their new home, their future is uncertain but viewers may rest assured because they have one another. The passion to have a good life of the Youngers is highlighted in the media clip I included with my response.

The final reading for this English course was the memorable fictional Tennessee Williams play “A Streetcar Named Desire.” This play is "a play that is filled with a fiery atmosphere that consists of passion, rage, joy, and sorrow among other things" (Streetcar Letter 1). The assignments for this play focused on the scenes and sounds of the play. For my Streetcar Letter 1, I discussed the sounds in “A Streetcar Named Desire.” The file of sounds that accompanied the assignment helped me to deepen my appreciation for Williams’ play. I listened to the file numerous times and noticed the repetition of the Ella Fitzgerald song, “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” To me, this song highlights the control that Stanley has over his wife, Stella. I enjoyed reading Jason Cowan’s response to my letter. I posed the question of whether or not Stella could break free from this “Paper Moon” relationship with Stanley and Mr. Cowan’s response was a response that has a lot of validity in my opinion:

“Sometimes an outsider can see a controlling relationship and wonder why a woman can let a man control her so much. An outsider may be taken completely aback by such a relationship. However, sometimes people are blinded by love. They love someone so much and let that person get away with anything. Thus, I feel that it will be extremely hard for Stella to break away from Stanley. As long as she continues to love him and let him treat her the same way, nothing is going to change” (Jason Cowan Streetcar Letter 2).

Mr. Cowan’s response also fits into the mood of the song. The relationship between Stanley and Stella, unfortunate as it may be, is unlikely to end. This is even more likely because Stella has now given birth to Stanley’s child and, in the end of the play, Stella’s closest relative, her sister Blanche, is committed to an asylum.

Throughout this English 214 course I have enjoyed working on the various assignments whether it was alone or in a group. The feedback I received from other class members also helped to enrich my understanding of many of the covered works. This class has been quite enjoyable and beneficial to my college experience.

Best Wishes,

-Meghan Joseph