Revolution: Many Faces, One Goal

Image 1: Hamilton Musical

"The issue on the table: France is on the verge of war with England

And do we provide aid and our troops to our French allies or do we stay out of it?

If we try to fight in every revolution in the world, we never stop

Where do we draw the line?

We signed a treaty with a King whose head is now in a basket

Would you like to take it out and ask it?

“Should we honor our treaty, King Louis’ head?”

“Uh… do whatever you want, I’m super dead.”" - Hamilton soundtrack

Recently I discovered the Hamilton musical soundtrack. Since then, it is almost all I listen to! After actively learning about the American and French Revolutions through the Hamilton musical and other sources, I believe that if there is anything we learn when comparing the American and French Revolutions, it is that revolutions have many faces!

Image 2: French rioters with heads
of political leaders on pikes

In the quote above from Hamilton the musical, George Washington's cabinet is debating whether the USA should come to France's aid as they revolted and approached war with England. It insinuates the drastic difference between the French and American Revolutions, which is that the people of France were not leading, they were rioting, and there's a difference.

Independence Day in America celebrates a day that our leaders signed a document declaring independence. On the other hand, Independence Day in France celebrates the day that mobs attacked Bastille prison and paraded through the streets with the heads of the mayor of Paris and the governor of Bastille on pikes. Of course both revolutions involved a lot of violence, but the structure and organization of the violence are vastly different. While the American revolution was led by specific leaders and had defined goals and plans, the French Revolution was driven by rioting peoples who chopped off the heads of anyone they thought was associated with their oppressors.

But regardless of the differences in structure of these revolutions, one thing they share in common is that both were pushed forward by Enlightenment ideals. "Liberty, equality, and fraternity", which was the motto of the French revolution, perfectly exemplifies the principal ideal of the enlightenment, which is that all men (and women) are born free and equal in rights. The Americans and French fought against oppression of their human rights. They revolted because their laws did not equally favor all citizens under their current governments. The Americans and French went about their revolutions in different ways, but enlightenment ideals are interwoven through all of the actions taken in both wars.

Image 1: https://www.google.com/search?q=hamilton+musical&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS767US767&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiv76OY4pXeAhUum-AKHYUmApkQ_AUIECgD&biw=1242&bih=569#imgrc=puu8nbrr5oVHGM:
Image 2: https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS767US767&biw=1242&bih=569&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=KITLW4nzK8K4ggfrqYqQAw&q=french+head+on+pike&oq=french+head+on+pike&gs_l=img.3..0i8i30.19259.22581..22718...0.0..0.156.2595.1j21......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0j0i67j0i30j0i5i30.0FZDixPXlrQ#imgrc=ZDOUWwDGwQowpM:

Moll Flanders: Paving The Way For Crime Books

"My Favorite Murder" Podcast embroidery

I'm really into true crime. Like REALLY into it. My favorite podcast is "My Favorite Murder" One of my favorite TV shows is Criminal Minds, I'm seriously considering the Zodiac Killer for this year's Halloween costume, I read this book book called Cold Cases: Unsolved Mysteries with one of my roommates and fellow murderinas at night for bedtime stories. When I saw that my category of book was crime, I was stoked.

Moll Flanders bounces from marriage to marriage to affair to discover strange things ie, one of her husbands is her brother etc. She struggles to stay financially stable and bounces around with these different husbands some of whom are frauds, like herself until she decides to create her own financial network. She begins to steal and she's good. In fact, she's legendary. She avoids the police for years and then is eventually caught.

Lofty Goals

The central theme in George Eliot’s novel Middlemarch focuses on young adults and their lofty goals. I cannot honestly say that I see myself as one who, at that age, even had goals, much less lofty ones; rather, I am filled with experience gained by having watched my nine children navigate this difficult time of life.

https://flic.kr/p/2Sxgb1 

My ability to deal with the ups and downs and the heartaches of my children’s young-adult lives has changed dramatically from the first to the last child. For the first few children, when life would let them down, I wore their pain like I would a cozy winter coat. I didn’t see how we would get through the disappointments. By the time I got to about the fifth child, I began to see life’s struggles as normal; almost predictable. And now, as I empathize with the last few children, I feel myself standing at a safe distance––a distance that allows me to see more clearly. I do not wear their problems anymore; therefore, I am much more prepared to actually be of help.

Besides being there in the hard times, a mother needs to be there when her children believe in life and the dreams that are in their hearts. No one wants their lofty goals squashed by anyone, especially their own mother. If your mom doesn't believe in you, who will? I may have knowledge of the sad fact that their lofty goals will not turn out exactly as they hope, but I certainly do not have a crystal ball that tells me what will happen instead.

If I don’t know, and they don’t know, then what is the point of my undying support? The answer is: go along for the ride as though all will turn out as they had hoped and dreamed it would. Does that mean I am deceiving my young, impressionable children? No. On the contrary, it is showing them that every person on this planet takes the same trip: it’s called life. And we are here to go through it together; ups and downs, successes and failures. It all counts. It’s all for the experience. And there never was just one way to do it anyway. 

It's Alive!!!!

Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein tells the story of Dr.Victor Frankenstein as he manages to create life in the form of a horrifying monster and the chaos that comes from it. Even if you haven't read this novel, odds are you're still very familiar with it's story. Whether it's been from watching a movie adaption of the book or read/watching some other form of media where Frankenstein's monster was a character in it, Frankenstein is still well known in the Modern Era.

Frankenstein was first published in 1818, during the Enlightenment Era. During this time, people were trying to write and create stories that were original without having to draw on previous, well-known works. This was also a time where the Horror genre began to rise in popularity, as well as the closely-related Gothic Fiction genre, enabling authors to be even more open with the content they could write about in their books.

Along with what was occurring in the literature world at the time, many people were becoming fascinated with different aspects of science, such as nature and what it is/isn't. Because of this, a novel about someone successfully bringing something to life and the moral implications that it has, had the potential to do exceptionally well, which Frankenstein did.

Keeping Up with the Great Expectations

In the Enlightenment Era, periodicals became more common. At the same time, the novel was on the rise. Charles Dickens used both of these forms of media to create something akin to today's reality television.

Instead of tuning in each week in order to keep up with the Kardashians, people would buy the next periodical to see the next chapter of Dickens' new novel Great Expectations to keep up with Pip and his adventures.

This way of slowly feeding the story to the public changed the face of an already new idea of the novel. It changed the way characters were formed. Because you couldn't read it in one sitting and had to remember the characters without reading for a week, their characteristics and idiosyncrasies had to be particularly memorable.

It also affected the types of stories portrayed. The readers' attention needed to be held over until the next installment. This meant that each short chapter had to end with a slight cliff-hanger.

We see this in today's reality TV even down to the pieces of episodes between commercial breaks, leaving cliff-hangers to keep the audience watching. Just my personal opinion, but having seen an episode of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" for "research", I'd say this form of media has taken a turn for the worse since the Enlightenment.


Image Credit: Vimeo "Keeping Up With the Kardashians"

The Warden's Social Web

The Warden is a tale about clergyman Septimus Harding of an almshouse in Barchester, England during the Victorian era. The story focuses on the social waves ma

de by John Bold, an ambitious and restless young reformer, when he questions the use of the house's charitable income. The funding provides sustenance for the 12 old and poor working men of the almshouse and a comfortable living for its overseer, the warden. Bold sharply attacks the seeming disparity between the charity's allotted funds and the salary of Harding through a lawsuit, and moreover, involves the local press. The gentle and meek warden, his family, his close friends in the clergy, and the general community of Barchester are all influenced greatly by this legal battle. Their responses create a framework through which Anthony Trollope (the author) implicitly criticizes and jests about the foibles of Victorian society. 

The Warden fixates the reader's attention on the clash between conservativism's stability and the raucousness of liberalism-- a potent theme of the 19th century stemming from the Enlightenment. In particular, we see that not all challenges to entrenched social customs are productive and helpful. As the story evolves, Bold's case causes more harm than help to the social well-being of Barchester. While the theme of conservative and liberal clashes is not new, Trollope treatment of the characters puts a spin on things-- instead of the young, up-and-coming "do-gooders" being the heroic protagonists, the aristocratic-like clerical system and its upper-middle class members (i.e. "the people with power and money") are portrayed as the nice guys. Said George Orwell on The Warden, “A time-honored abuse, he [Trollope] held, is frequently less bad than its remedy."

While reading various synopsis on this book, one thought kept coming to mind: "How could this NOT apply to our day?" It's more than a tale about conservatism and liberalism in social strata-- it's about the weaknesses of human nature. Our selfish love of service, our pride, our naivety, and even our complacency-- Trollope elegantly spins it all into 19th century novel. The novel's themes hit home to me; as a young adult growing up in a "conservative" household and living in a "conservative" community with several "liberal" siblings and friends, I can relate to the dynamics created by such juxtapositions within my personal life. I look forward to reading The Warden. I hope that seeing the aforementioned issues play out in the sticky social webs of Victorian England will give me a greater ability heal the stratifications in my own little circle.

Slate-colored Glasses

We all knew a kid in grade school who acted out no matter how many times they got in trouble for it. Voltaire was that kid. By the time he turned twenty-four, he had already been exiled and imprisoned at Bastille for his writing criticizing the church and the government. He pushed back against what he considered oppressive authorities and schools of thought, even pushing against some Enlightenment ideals.

Rational thinking was championed during Voltaire's time, but he even questioned that, wanting people to do more than theorize upon and discuss the issues of the time. Further, a fellow writer, Leibniz, wrote in his Monadology that God made everything happen in the world, so the world was essentially good (a common Enlightenment belief among others, as well). Voltaire believed more pessimistically. He thought the belief that all events were divinely prescribed led people to complacency. He saw injustices in the devastating earthquake in Lisbon and in the seven-year's war in which Europe was involved. How could such tragedies be present in a "perfect world"?

Voltaire was greatly affected by the 1755 earthquake in Lisbon. It inspired
him to write Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne and influenced Candide.

I see this complacency in some modern conversations, especially on the topic of climate change. I've spoken with people who trust the scientific evidence that the climate is deteriorating at a faster-than-usual pace but think we shouldn't do anything about it because whatever happens is "in God's plan." I sympathize with Voltaire; this infuriates me. I understand that it's easier to ignore seemingly unsolvable issues by claiming there is nothing we can do, but it's equally as irresponsible.

Optimism often correlates with happiness and longevity. However, multiple studies have shown that pessimistic people tend to be generally more prepared, for stressors from job interviews to the death of a friend. I suppose it comes down to what we value more: blissful ignorance, like Leibniz, or candid realism, like Voltaire.


Image: Earthquake at Lisbon

The Emperor's New Clothes

The evidence of the might of the British Empire still very much exists today. Although debating that the US of A is the biggest kid on the block is fairly easy, the political structure of our global community is as much based on Victorian influence as it is American prowess. Many of the countries that were previously under the thumb of Britain are now close allies (including the US) and members of the Commonwealth of Nations (excluding the US). The incredible amount of power and control Britain held over the world in the 1700’s is still very easy to see and the fallout of that power even easier to criticize.

And this criticism isn’t new. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is a thinly-veiled satire of the British cultural, economic, and militaristic authority. At first as a surgeon for different naval expeditions and then later a captain, Gulliver, our protagonist, finds himself shipwrecked so many times as to make the reader wonder how he can still convince himself to get into a boat. And after every lost ship, Gulliver manages to find some fantastical society of humans or other creatures that he can learn from and associate himself with.

Each of these new societies is a mirror of some aspect of Britain or human nature. Summarizing the Orwell institute’s Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver’s Travels, Swift uses each of these societies to point out some flaw in British society. Either by likeness or juxtaposition, the exaggerated caricatures that Gulliver meets reflect a trait that Swift feels needs to be improved. These aren’t hidden in any way and in at least one case a part of the book was omitted from publishing so as not to stir up civil contention.

British authority might have defined Johnathan Swift’s day and age, but that didn’t stop him and other writers from pointing out the flaws.

Image credit to: Burns Library, Boston College

Rasselas and the Happy Valley

Rasselas: The Prince of Abissinia is a novel that encapsulates every humans journey of discovery and growth. Written by the great English lexicographer Samuel Johnson in a single week, it stands as a great moral essay on happiness and the meaning of life.

Yosemite - My "Happy Valley"

 Rasselas grows up in a castle, in the middle of Happy Valley, which is described as a paradise. His only task is to grow up to be king. discontent with his life, and searching for happiness, Rasselas begins his journey. Written in a picaresque style, many of the themes of the enlightenment are present. Rasselas attempts to understand his world by observing it, and uses science to build a flying machine. He rejects his need to be king and authority in general, and tries to understand the order and reason of the world he is living in. With a harking back to Plato's cave, Rasselas must leave his happy valley to find the truth of the world around him. I have often felt like there are Happy Valleys which surround us. Mine is Yosemite, a place where I can ignore all the other problems in the world. Brigham Young University students refer to Provo Utah as a happy valley where the real world stays outside, and they can live in a bubble. This is useful for a time, but as the university motto pronounces, they must "enter to learn, go forth to serve" and in the going forth, they truly find themselves.


Photo via <a href="https://www.goodfreephotos.com/">Good Free Photos</a>

Jane Eyre

I've loved literature all my life, and as a result of that, I've heard a thing or two about the Bronte sisters. Somehow, however, I've managed to get to this point without reading a single one of their books. I'm excited to amend that. I've heard a great deal about Jane Eyre, and none of the reports really matched each other. I had no idea what to make of it coming into it, and I was surprised to find such effusive love for the novel within five minutes of looking into its significance.

Promotional image for Theatre Royal Plymouth's Jane Eyre

Based on my limited understanding of the plot, it seemed to me that Jane Eyre was another Pride and Prejudice type book with a healthy dose of Gothic style and characteristics. What I did not expect to find was a quote from Virginia Woolf describing the character of Eyre as ".. an overpowering personality... There is in [her] an untamed ferocity perpetually at war with the accepted order of things which makes [her] desire to create instantly rather than to observe patiently." Apparently, one of the most significant writers in history thought that there was more to this novel than it being just another windswept Regency- Era romance.

In fact, the general consensus, even in just a cursory glance of critical opinion on the text, seems to be that Jane Eyre, the book and the character, exude a sense of  'self' that was thrillingly new for the women of the time. While cogito ergo sum and a pursuit of a new rational order had come to the men, this narrative seems to be regarded as one of the first evidences of the concept and drive for individuality coming to women.

I'm excited to be wrong about this book. If a cursory search can yield such thrilling results, what will deeper perusal uncover?  I have a sneaking suspicion that Eyre asks herself a similar question- I look forward to joining her on that journey.

Photo Credit

A shift in the meta: Dracula as a sign of changing times

It was apparently VERY important that Bram Stoker stayer there once.

In a modern day context, Dracula is one of the most well icons in the current culture, numerous works of fiction have either included him or referenced him at some point. His presence is practically impossible to avoid when even mentioning the word "Vampire" and has become as synonymous with the term as King Arthur with "Knights". Of course, many people also know by now that the real-life Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, was not an actual vampire, but the association is ironclad at this point. I myself knew about "Dracula" long before I ever heard the name "Vlad Tepes", and I have no doubt that for all reading this, it was the same way with you.

"Dracula" was written by Bram Stoker and published in 1897, on the cusp of the 20th century. It was the founder of many Horror tropes still used to this day, and can actually be considered one of the most famous examples of "Zombie Horror" in literature (Albeit intelligent zombies, but the point still stands). It tells the tale of an undead creature in the guise of a man named Count Dracula who seeks to spread his "disease" to all the people of England, and how his efforts are ultimately thwarted by a small group of extraordinary gentlemen (and Mina, she's important too). This story of ordinary people trying their best to thwart a large supernatural creature created a new sub-genre of the trope of "Knight versus Dragon", namely that man who accomplishes with wits and integrity that which required his predecessors divine or magical intervention.

Of course, what exactly does Dracula represent as a symbol (that is the point of this post, right)? As Tanya Pikula points out in her paper "Bram Stoker's Dracula and Late-Victorian Advertising Tactics", Dracula is a social predator, a literal "consumer" of women, and the only women in the novel who get turned by him are those girls who deviate from the Victorian Ideals of the time: Soft-spoken, motherly and submissive to their spouses. To this end, Dracula is "the enabler", the one who leads those astray further off the path. He could also be seen as a literal avatar of the changing times, with promiscuity on the rise and crime emerging from the underground. He was the rockstar of his era, the "Bad Boy" that we see so much in television, and an omen of times to come.

Image Credit: "Bram Stoker Commemorative Plaque" obtained via Wikimedia Commons

Austen's Final Debut

Persuasion, Jane Austen's last novel, was written during the time of the Napoleonic wars which affected the English social and economic circumstances.  The book ties these aspects in with its characters.  The situation of Captain Wentworth, a naval officer who earns a lot of money, demonstrates the “shift in the balance of power” between the aristocracy and middle class, and there’s a thread of nationalism intertwined in Austen’s novel (Cantor).

Austen has a lot to say about the aristocracy.  It isn’t them in and of themselves that she disapproves of but rather that the “aristocratic status was in effect self-justifying" (Cantor).  These perceptions are portrayed through the characters’ and their dialogue.  As in Pride and Prejudice, characters aren’t always who they initially seem to be, which can be good and bad.

Another prevalent theme is marriage and the social circumstances women faced in a patriarchal society.  In current society in many parts of the world, women aren’t limited by social circumstances or marital status; they are free to obtain education, pursue careers, own land, and much more.  There’s a stark contrast between this and the 19^th-century perspective of women.  The famous first sentence of Pride and Prejudice indicates, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”  One of the ideas this statement implies is that social status was tied closely with economic status.

The form and genre of her writing reflect the novels of the 19^th-century in its non-heroic protagonists, less formal tone, everyday content, and personal experience.  Jane Austen drew upon her own personal experience in writing her novels. 

Image Source: Persuasion (via Girl ebooks Blog)

Cantor, Paul A. "A Class Act: Persuasion and the Lingering Death of the Aristocracy." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, edited by Kathy D. Darrow, vol. 222, Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1420097305/LitRC?u=byuprovo&sid=LitRC&xid=5bc9435d. Accessed 19 Oct. 2018. Originally published in Philosophy and Literature, vol. 23, no. 1, Apr. 1999, pp. 127-137.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match

Jane Austen’s novel, Emma, takes place in history during a time known as Regency.  This time period gets its name from when George Augustus Frederick of Wales was appointed Regent to his father King George III. Regency is well-known for impressive architecture and arts, and was also a great time when the wealthy flourished.  There are many characters in Emma, who are all well-to-do, and the ones who are not are somewhat at the mercy of the them that are.  Class structures are very obvious in the novel. The idea is woven throughout the novel as many socially insignificant women are caught up in the allure of money, and go after men in whom they have no love interest.  This was a common practice during this time period, because for some, the only way to gain social status was through marriage.  In fact, there is a point in the book where the protagonist Emma, discourages her friend, Harriet Smith, from marrying her true love because of his lack of wealth and low social status. 

We also get a glimpse into the life of a women living in this time period.  Emma has much going for her; she is intelligent, beautiful, and has a great deal of energy.  However, the extent of her abilities go only as far as playing match-maker for her friends, because at this time, the role of women was seen as somewhat confined. So Emma makes the best use of her abilities that she can as she attempts to guide her friends to their own happily ever after. 

From Past to Present

Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe is set in Medieval England and follows the story of Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe on his quest to assist King Richard reclaim the throne from his brother, Prince John. Written in the early nineteenth century, the book has been scrutinized by many critics as being historically inaccurate and therefore discreditable. A. N. Wilson, who has conducted an in-depth study of Sir Walter Scott's writings, observes, however, that it is a display of the purely fictional character of the novel as well as a nod to the political and social issues that existed during the time that Scott wrote the novel.

I think that the combination of the present and past issues in this book is a very novel idea. The whole idea behind the novel was that the stories being told were new. Unlike the plays and epics of the past eras that depicted historical events or wildly tragic and magical stories, the novel was a way to convey a sense of realism while still creating a story that was fresh. In Ivanhoe we see a blend of these two. While the story is completely fictional, it has ties to real places, people, and events like King Richard and the Crusades, but it also portrays classic fictional characters like Robin Hood and his merry men.

Most people have seen the Disney portrayal of Robin Hood, and last year I was able to visit Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, England. While there is no conclusive evidence to prove the existence of Robin Hood, he has been a part of English legend for centuries. Fortunately I was there in time for the Robin Hood Festival. The experience of exploring Sherwood Forest while there were shops and stops at every turn that made me feel like I was in the middle of Medieval life helps me see why Scott would choose this very distant time period to write about. Exploring themes and traditions of the past—especially ones that are widely debated and even speculated about—open the door to understand history itself while at the same time seeing how history has affected the present.

image credit: public domain images via Wikimedia Commons

A Banned Book by A Banished Man

     The Picture of Dorian Gray was the last novel that Oscar Wilde wrote before being called on trial and banished for the United Kingdom. It was used as evidence against him being amoral and a poor influence on society. The book, therefore, was a very controversial piece for it's time period.

     The story itself focuses on the painting of a famously talented artist who paints a portrait of a young, handsome man who longs to trade places with the portrait. Dorian, the painting's subject, realizes that the painting will never age and will retain its beauty throughout the eternity, while Dorian ages and withers with every passing second. Somehow, Dorian switches his fate with the painting and gains the ability to resist mortality and stops aging altogether. He then proceeds to live life to its full and engages in morally questionable behavior.
     This book, being shunned as immoral and avoided by many of the time period as such, begs a question of society and literature: are there novels that we should not be allowed to read? Surely society had seen some books as evil, but this was a novel. It seems strange to us today, as we are so open to varying morals within our media, whether we like it or not, but for people back in its time the use of this novel as negative evidence against Oscar might have made sense.
     However, even today some artists face such scrutiny from the public eye. Marilyn Manson, a rock musician from the 90's, was blamed by many conservative news anchors for influencing the two teenagers who committed atrocities at Columbine. It was later found that the two were not fans of Manson, and scrutiny on his account decreased.
     The Picture of Dorian Gray and other controversial pieces of literature, be they movies or music, that push the boundaries of our moral conventions might not be for everyone, but would banning them be the right thing to do? Certainly age restrictions and cautionary labels are good, but this book goes to show that too much censorship will stifle the world of literature, and that art will always push against boundaries, for better or for worse.

Picture Source:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiiksXaqZHeAhUN21MKHecjAacQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.star2.com%2Fculture%2F2017%2F10%2F04%2Fdorian-gray-oscar-wilde-ageing-issues%2F&psig=AOvVaw2CUW9YY17G610en6ri9Uxw&ust=1539997979239276

Beneath the Surface

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a chilling story of a dignified respectable man who manages to separate his personality into two, his good side, and his evil side. The story plays with the idea of what happens when man has to much freedom. Dr. Jekyll creates a monster of himself and begins losing control of his humanity because of his experiments.

There is good and evil in all of us. What we choose defines us.

This story is fascinating because it explores freedom, good, evil, and agency. Dr. Jekyll splits himself and becomes two identities, the other being Mr. Hyde. Mr Hyde is the evil, base, carnal, animalistic, and instinctual side of Dr. Jekyll, where Jekyll retains the dignity, goodness, and well mannered behavior expected in a civilized society. This novel tells us the story of this man and what happens to him, and I very much look forward to reading it myself and learning more about it. From my brief research on the book thus far I've had some interesting thoughts.

I feel as though this story can be applied to each and every human. Each one of us has an internal battle that is constant between our conscience and our instinct. In a religious realm we are constantly choosing whether we will follow God, or lower ourselves and follow the Devil. However you choose to view this, we all make constant choices that fuel our good side or our evil side. We have the agency, as autonomous beings, to define our life and what we will be and who we will become. For many, the path of natural desire, instinct, lust, and self servitude is easier and more enticing. For others, the diligent quest of self mastery and goodness is the end goal.

But each of us has moments on both sides. Wether we are seeking evil or seeking good, we still make choices which fuel the other side. We need to be careful as we make our choices. If we let our evil sides have to much freedom, we, like Dr. Jekyll, can lose control and our Mr. Hyde will prevail. We have individual liberty to make our own path and to choose good or choose evil. What is beneath your surface? Dr. Jekyll? Or Mr. Hyde?


https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Strange-Case-of-Dr-Jekyll-and-Mr-Hyde

Figuring Out The Moonstone

               The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is categorized under the detective mystery genre. I am about to begin reading it to better understand the emergence of novels that came from the Enlightenment era. I am under the impression that it is an epistemological book, which means that is it is largely made up of letters from different people, combined to make up a storyline that can be followed.

The clock, the paper, and the writing tools each relate to the
emerging mystery and epistemology genre

I believe this will relate strongly to the Republic of Letters as the mystery is publicized about the stealing of the diamond and rumors begin to flow. I would not be surprised if this book changes a frame of reference. Stories in the enlightenment age were rarely told from a conglomeration of letters. This provides a different form of literature that casts a new light on the way stories can be told. It also relates to this era as the order the letters are written, sent, and received could greatly affect the content of the plot. This relates strongly to the clockwork universe that begins to surface. Timing can make all the difference in the content of the novel. Will it be a chronological list of letters or will it be letters written by observers long after the events have taken place?

This epistemological genre of The Moonstone intrigues me as it relates to a part of my life. I lived for two years in Quebec and Ontario as a volunteer missionary for my church. To remain focused on my work, I would only write an email or letter home to my family once a week to let them know how I was doing and what events had transpired. Many times, we would be helping people to overcome addictions or trials in their lives and I would have the chance to tell my family all about their progress. However, a lot can happen in a week and so the story of my experiences was always progressing as each week would pass. 

This book seems to contain several enlightenment themes. I have learned that this is one of the first mystery books written and I will likely set a precedent for the genre. 

Image credit: Still Life by Mozlase__, licensed under CC 2.0 by Pixaby

Evelina and Her Exciting, Extraordinary, Extremely Exhilarating Life of Leisure

Evelina is the coming of age story of a 18th century "young lady's entrance into the world" and I know all of you just shivered from the exhilaration of such a tale. To be fair, it’s not my favorite genre but it is a rather interesting story.

When you think of young woman entering the world, you probably think of her traveling the world, developing an interesting personality, doing something to benefit society (or at least just her personal society of friends and family), perhaps you think she has to overcome some grand betrayal from a lover and turns into an independent woman who don’t need no man.

A Leisurely Introduction to Leisure...

Well, I haven’t actually started reading the text, but I have instead started with reading the introduction to this particular edition that outlines the social norms and traditions during the century that Burney published Evelina. In my defense, the introduction is the first 60 pages of this edition so I feel justified spending a little time there.

Apparently, as I have learned reading from this section, “entering the world” doesn’t mean any of those things that I listed above. According to Frances Burney and the social tenants of the 18^th century, “a young lady entering the world” means that Evelina leaves her home and walks into town. And while this doesn’t seem rather exciting, it is actually a comment on the how the industry of “leisure” was a huge economic factor in 18^th century England, which, despite this rather long introduction of the role of leisure in Evelina’s world, is rather a brilliant way to guide a novel such as this and follow a young girl's social development. 

Way to go, Frances Burney! You've caught my attention (and I haven't even started reading the actual book yet.) 

Picture Credit: Evelina Starting her Adventure Into Town (Public Domain Image via WikiCommons)