The Serpent within the Modern Garden of Eden

Francis Espiritu

ENGL 48B

Zitkala-Sa Journal

Author Quote: "Judewin had told me of the great tree where grew red, red apples; and how we could reach out our hands and pick all the red apples we could eat. I had never seen apple trees. I had never tasted more than a dozen red applies in my life; and when I heard of the orchards of the East, I was eager to roam among them. The missionaries smiled into my eyes, and patted my head. i wondered how mother could say such hard words against them. (Zitkala Sa 1112)

Internet Source: Bonnin/Zitkala-Sa was born and raised on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota by her mother, Ellen Simmons, whose Yankton-Nakota name was Taté Iyòhiwin (Every Wind or Reaches for the Wind). Her father was a white man named Felker, about whom little was known. Zitkala-Sa lived a traditional lifestyle until the age of eight when she left her reservation to attend Whites Manual Labor Institute, a Quaker mission school in Wabash, Indiana. She went on to study for a time at Earlham College in Indiana and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. (Wikipedia; Zitkala Sa)

Summary: Zitkala Sa wanted to go with the missionaries to the East in order to study. She wanted to be able to go not only to study but to eat all the apples she wanted. To her, apples were rare, and if anything, a delicacy. By going East, she would not only be able to receive an education, but would be able to indulge in all of the apples she could possibly dream of eating.

Personal Opinion: With how I see it, the red apples serve as the forbidden fruit that was in the Garden of Eden. In a sense Zitkala Sa herself could be seen as Eve, while Judewin and the Missionaries could be seen as the Serpent. The irony in that is the fact that the Missionaries wanted to take Zitkala Sa and "tempt" her with education and all the red apples she possibly wanted. It is as if they themselves were going against the very religion they teach and corrupt "Eve" in her Garden of Eden, the reservation she lived on. However is it truly wrong to become educated, and possibly help one's people in the future? Because knowledge is truly power, but by going to get educated, could that possibly make someone a sell out? Yet if it were not for this education, we would not have known Zitkala Sa's story. So in a sense, as much as her mother opposed the "temptation" of the red apples, if she had not taken the temptation, then her story would be lost in history. In a sense, sometimes temptation can sometimes be a good thing.

Stuck between two worlds

Francis Espiritu

ENGL 48B

W.E.B Du Bois Journal

Author Quote: "With other black boys the strife was not so fiercely sunny: their youth shrunk into tasteless sycophancy, or into silent hatred of the pale world about them and mocking distrust of everything white; or wasted itself in a bitter cry. Why did God make me an outcast and a stranger in mine own house?" (Du Bois 896)

Internet Quote: "During his time in Atlanta, he also saw the overwhelmingly rural agricultural areas of Georgia, where most blacks worked on others' land as laborers andsharecroppers. Reflecting on their lives was part of what he expressed in The Souls of Black Folk, a meditation on the problems of race in American culture, which he defined as the problem of the twentieth century." (Wikipedia; W.E.B DuBois)

Summary: Du Bois grew up in the North and lived a privileged life and was able to receive a fine education. In this passage he said that it was rare for an African American boy to live such a privileged life, yet at the same time he felt cursed. For he was not like the rest of the African American boys at the time. He stated that most African American boys grew up knowing they were less than the white man, and all they could do was cater to the Caucasian individuals by "sucking up" to them or being a sycophant. Even if he did not grow up experiencing that, he felt different and left out from the African Americans in society by not being able to share the same struggle they were going through.

Personal Opinion: Du Bois has the right to say that he did not belong with the rest of African American society. Yet in a sense when he stated that the other African American boys' lives were engulfed with "sycophancy" I think that doesn't just go with them, but with all minority groups as a whole. The worst part is, that the same type of sycophancy is seen around today. Yet it isn't just minority groups but the Caucasian population as a whole. People tend to be sycophants when they are around their superiors, police officers, or when they are outnumbered by another group of people. See, everyone is prone to being stricken by sycophancy at least once in their lives, it is inevitable. But from what Du Bois is saying, the difference is that African American people tend to be more prone to it. It is a possibility that despite growing up privileged, he wanted to be able to belong. Nothing hurts more than being different, and unable to find a niche. Even if he was African American who grew up privileged, he was unable to be fully accepted by white society. If anything, he was not able to be accepted by the African American society as well because they would view him as a "sellout" or an "Uncle Tom". Sadly, even today this is a struggle that many people go through. We see various people of different ethnicities trying to hold on to what ethnic culture they may have, as well as trying to be accepted into American society. When we look around, we see a lot of Asians grasping the "Hip-Hop culture" that is seen as predominantly African American. So despite the fact DuBois was a stranger in his own home, he was not alone; for even today, many people feel like they do not belong with their own culture. That is why before I myself did not even know if I was truly American or Filipino; I was stuck in between the two. Yet I was able to learn more about myself and my culture and finally accepted the fact that I was not Asian or American, but I was the hyphen that brings together the phrase "Asian-American".

Nocturnal

Francis Espiritu

ENGL 48B

Charlotte Perkins Gilman Journal

Author Quote: "I'm feeling ever so much better! I don't sleep much at night, for it is so interesting to watch developments; but I sleep a good deal in the daytime. In the daytime it is tiresome and perplexing." (Gilman 816)

Internet Quote: "The story is about a woman who suffers from mental illness after three months of being closeted in a room by her husband for the sake of her health. She becomes obsessed with the room's revolting yellow wallpaper. Gilman wrote this story to change people's minds about the role of women in society, illustrating how women's lack of autonomy is detrimental to their mental, emotional, and even physical wellbeing. The narrator in the story must do as her husband, who is also her doctor, demands, although the treatment he prescribes contrasts directly with what she truly needs — mental stimulation and the freedom to escape the monotony of the room to which she is confined. The Yellow Wallpaper was essentially a response to the doctor who had tried to cure her of her depression through a "rest cure", Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, and she sent him a copy of the story." (Wikipedia; Charlotte Perkins Gilman)

Summary: The narrator of the story who is confined in the attic of this summer house seems to be a nocturnal person. She seems to look for more signs of the woman in the wallpaper in the evening as if hoping to find some kind of sign or message that she seems to be trying to get across. However, I think the more time the woman spends in the room the closer she arrives to becoming "hysterical".

Personal Opinion: I think that the longer the woman spends in the room, the more hysterical she becomes. If anything I think that the reason why the woman goes crazy is because of her husband's idea to send her away to this summer house to get better, yet the exact opposite happens. Instead of getting better, she becomes worse, and ultimately becomes crazy. Yet I do not think that the woman herself was hysterical from the beginning, if anything it was as if it were a self fulfilling prophecy where in time she became hysterical thinking that everything would be okay. Yet at the same time, I think the woman that she sees in the wallpaper is a ghost telling her to leave; not because the ghost woman's room is being bothered but she does not want the narrator to end up like her. As we read further into the story we learn that the room in the attic seems to be a kind of room where "hysterical' women were once housed. I think that the woman in the wallpaper does not want the narrator to suffer the same fate, so she is trying to warn her and tell her to leave before it is too late. That is why I think the narrator seems to stay awake at night, not because she is naturally a nocturnal person, but is possibly trying to look for some kind of clue or message the woman in the wallpaper is trying to leave behind.

Seduction within the storm

Francis Espiritu

ENGL 48B

Mary Hunter Austin Journal

Author Quote: "'The wind was stopped and all the earth smelled of dust, and Filon understood very well that what I had done with him i could not have done so well with another. And the look--the look in the eyes--" (Austin 891)

Internet Quote: "Austin and her husband were involved in the local California Water Wars, in which the water of Owens Valley was eventually drained to supply Los Angeles. When their battle was lost, he moved to Death Valley, California, and she moved to Carmel, California. There, she was part of a social circle that includedJack London, Ambrose Bierce, and George Sterling and was one of the founders of the Forest Theater." (Wikipedia; Mary Hunter Austin)

Summary: Even as the walking woman wandered the San Joaquin Valley as a recluse, scavenger, and possible desert woman, she was still human. The fact that she was able to last so long without having to satisfy her sexual desires was amazing. But she describes the moment that she had with the sheep herder she was wandering with at the time as a magnificent moment in life; and for that moment in time, it seemed as if they became one.

Personal Opinion: So I somewhat understand what Chris was saying in class about sandstorms being majestic and possibly tranquil. The walking woman was able to find that tranquility with Filon even during the storm. I personally think that even in times of great pressure or stress, one can still find "peace"; in this case satisfy one's desires. Yet I think that there was more than just sexual desire that was satisfied at this moment. If anything, I believe that the original reason why the walking woman wandered was because she wanted to find peace within her soul. And if anything, the moment Filon had that "look" in his eyes, it was as if his soul had connected with hers, and it could be that was what she was looking for. I don't think that sex could have been the only way to satisfy that need, if anything as long as she had a companion or some kind of "soul mate" then that peace could have been satisfied irregardless. If anything everyone has a kind of "walking woman" within them, and each of us has to figure out how to find that balance or peace for our soul.

Friendship over Heaven

Francis Espiritu

ENGL 48B

Huckleberry Funn Journal

Author Quote: "I was a trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: 'All right, then, I'll go to hell' --and tore it up." (Twain 246)

Internet Quote: Twain wrote a novel that embodies the search for freedom. He wrote during the post-Civil War period when there was an intense white reaction against blacks.Twain took aim squarely against racial prejudice, rising segregation, lynchings, and the generally accepted belief that blacks were sub-human. He "made it clear that Jim was good, deeply loving, human, and anxious for freedom" (Wikipedia; Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

Summary: Jim pretty much writes back to Miss Watson that he knows the whereabouts of her slave Jim. Yet even after writing the letter, he knew that what he did was morally wrong, and going against "Christian" beliefs decided to not send the letter, and ultimately rip it up accepting the fate that he could potentially going to Hell and saving Jim.

Personal Opinion: One would have to know where the fine line between the right thing to do and morality. In that time, returning a runaway slave was seen as the right thing to do, but morally it was completely wrong. The irony I see is that these Southern Whites praised the Bible and lived by it. Yet isn't it stated in the Bible that one must love his fellow neighbor/man? So doesn't that go for African-American's as well? I mean the irony is that you go to Heaven as long as you treat your white brother equally and not African-American's because they are less than human. But from how I see it, isn't it that God loves all people equally? It seems as if the Bible at this time was potentially "white washed" allowing it to abide by the Southern culture. Yet what I see beautiful about this passage is that Huck ultimately chooses friendship over the law; and going as far as accepting the possibility of going to "Hell". If anything, I think the closest thing to Hell he would go through would be the consequences he would face for helping an escaped slave. Yet the legitimate Hell he would have faced was knowing that his friend was not free and was being tortured by his old master; and with that I do not think that Huck would choose that Hell. If anything, mental anguish is the worst and it is something even I would not want to go through. Physical pain can only linger for so long, but mental anguish is eternal.

Twain in Tahoe

Francis Espiritu

ENGL 48B

Tahoe Twain Journal

Author Quote: "Given his own earlier pro-Confederate service as a Missouri militiaman, it really shouldn't be so surprising to learn that in 1863, with the ultimate success of the Union cause itself still deeply divided politically into Copperheads and Union supporters, a young and confused Clemens might easily find himself drawn back toward sympathy with the Southern cause." (Lankford 130)

Internet Source: "Twain was an adamant supporter of abolition and emancipation, even going so far to say “Lincoln's Proclamation ... not only set the black slaves free, but set the white man free also.”^[67] He argued that non-whites did not receive justice in the United States, once saying “I have seen Chinamen abused and maltreated in all the mean, cowardly ways possible to the invention of a degraded nature....but I never saw a Chinaman righted in a court of justice for wrongs thus done to him.”^[68] He paid for at least one black person to attend Yale University Law School and for another black person to attend a southern university to become a minister. (Wikipedia; Mark Twain)

Summary: During the time that California was stuck in between Union and Confederate ideals, it must have truly been difficult for Twain. What made things more difficult was the fact that most, if not all of his family supported the Union; while he probably had sympathy for the South, making him a Copperhead. It isn't the fact that he did not want to agree with his family, but the fact that he was once a militiaman for the Confederate Army.

Personal Opinion: So with Twain being a supporter of Civil Rights and penning "Huckleberry Finn" is it possible that he was trying to gain points as well as make a good name for himself for future generations to remember him by? I do not think so, I mean just because someone fought for the Confederate Army does not make them a bad person. What about the people who were forced to fight for North Korea who were supporters of the South during the Korean War? Just because they fought for the North, does it make them bad? Remember, some of them were forced to fight, and that goes for soldiers in the Confederate army. If Twain had feelings towards the South, it probably was not because he was a staunch supporter, but it could have been sympathy. Like it was stated in the Tahoe book, Twain was not born an anti-racist, he was made into one. The idea could go before the Civil War, Twain could not have been a racist, but was possibly made into one. It's kind of like going off that idea that John Locke had regarding people being neither good or bad, but shaped into that and taking the environment they grow up in into account.

Muir in Tahoe

Francis Espiritu

ENGL 48B

Muir Tahoe Journal

Author Quote: "Then in 1888, Muir's wife, Louie, deeply concerned for her husband's health, finally forced him out of the house for a long-overdue mountain vacation. Soon he found himself traveling in the company of a handful of other naturalists, painters, and literary men, camping and tramping along the shores of Lake Tahoe. More than two decades had elapsed since his first arrival in California, back in 1867. What a difference two decades make." (Lankford 147)

Internet Quote: "Muir threw himself into the preservationist role with great vigor. He envisioned the Yosemite area and the Sierra as pristine lands.^[28] He saw the greatest threat to the Yosemite area and the Sierra to be livestock, especially domestic sheep, calling them "hoofed locusts." In June 1889, the influential associate editor of Century magazine, Robert Underwood Johnson, camped with Muir in Tuolumne Meadows and saw firsthand the damage a large flock of sheep had done to the grassland. Johnson agreed to publish any article Muir wrote on the subject of excluding livestock from the Sierra high country. He also agreed to use his influence to introduce a bill to Congress to make the Yosemite area into a national park, modeled after Yellowstone National Park." (Wikipedia; John Muir)

Summary: Muir began to get sick and tired of living out the same routines day by day. This is why his wife told him to go and take a break from his work and home life, and pursue his dreams out in the wilderness. Had this not happened, then his influences to have national parks created might not have been possible.

Personal Opinion: What I find ironic is that Muir's wife told him to go out into the world in order to get better. Yet isn't it that in order to get better, one must stay inside; since disease, natural disasters, and dangerous individuals lurk out in the free world? Yet despite the irony, I do believe that had Muir not gone outside into the world, not only would he have gotten sick, but the future would have become sick; and the world we live in today might have been drastically different. For one, the national parks we have today such as Yosemite probably would not seem as majestic as it is. Yet even if Muir had not come along, is it possible that there could have been another person just like him who could have influenced Congress into passing legislation to ensure the beauty of national parks for the future? I mean, Theodore Roosevelt lived his life out in the wilderness, and the group of men he took up San Juan Hill in Cuba were called the "Rough Riders" which could seem to be a comparison of his love of roughing it in the wilderness. Yet even with Roosevelt's love of the wilderness, isn't it that Muir's passion influenced him? In the end, I think that even with the irony in Muir getting better by going out and exploring the world, it is truth. It is possible that if we go out and explore not only the world, we will be able to explore ourselves and live outside of the norm and ignore the routines of our quotidian lives. We may not become the next John Muir, but there is inspiration out in the world; and I think that Muir's greatest gift and lasting legacy was not the National parks left behind, but the message of being able to find one's self in the wild. If we can live a little like Muir, the things we could possibly accomplish could be phenomenal.