A Whisper in the Dark

In A Whisper in the Dark the concept of insanity is very strange and sudden. This story definitely took a turn I was not expecting. First this manipulative girl is having inappropriate relations with her uncle, and then she is drugged and taken to an insane asylum. As we talked about in class about Gothic literature, Alcott portrays her story as dark and mysterious, mostly in the second part of A Whisper in the Dark.

“Sybil, I am forty-five, you not eighteen, yet you once said you could be very happy with me, if I were always kind to you. I can promise that I will be, for I love you. My darling, you reject the son, will you accept the father?” (Alcott 225). This is when Sybil refuses to marry Guy after she finds out the whole plan. Her Uncle then asks if she would like to be his wife instead. This character who is supposed to be a fatherly figure in Sybil’s life all of a sudden starts inappropriate relations with such a young girl.

The gothic tradition that “things are not what they seem” is really evident as Sybil becomes more and more “ill” in the insane asylum. Since the story is written from the first person point of view it is already a little difficult to decide if we should believe everything Sybil says, or if we need to take everything she says with a grain of salt. “Feeling like a hunted doe, I ran on, but before I had gained a dozen yards my shoeless foot struck a sharp stone, and I fell half stunned upon the wet grass of the wayside bank.” (Alcott 227). When Sybil is running away I just can not help but wonder if she is just being overly dramatic or if she is actually in a bad situation.

Then the concept of insanity becomes very clear when she stops sleeping, cries all the time, and truly starts to go a bit crazy. “My one hope died then, and I resolved to kill myself rather than endure this life another month; for now it grew clear to me that they believed me mad, and death of the body was far more preferable than that of the mind. I think I was a little mad…” (Alcott 236). When this happens I think it makes the message of what she is saying less intense, and I began to focus on the other characters in the story. I thought that their words and actions could perhaps be more truthful than the girl going insane.

Our previous ideas of mother/daughter relationships were changed after reading this story. Mothers were supposed to be the stable, mature figures in the child’s life, and teach them everything they needed to know. Mrs. Montgomery is a good example of this even though she was absent for a lot of Ellen’s life. She taught her as much as she could, while Sybil’s crazy mom is in an insane asylum and can not function at all on her own.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

As I was reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin I was a little shocked by all the subject matter relating to slavery because in all of our previous readings good always prevailed. This story had so many negative connotations and “evil” that I would not find to be popular for any children to read. Stowe goes against all the theories of 19^th century children’s literature that we have discussed like the fact that the stories teach good morals, good always prevails, children are our future, and just the fact that the stories have simple plotlines.

Towards the end of the story the woman named Lucy gets on the boat with her little 10-month-old son. “They won’t want the young ’un on a plantation…then there’s all the bother and expense of raisin’,” said the man (Stowe 325). When Haley and the man are talking about the boy they do not see him as a person, but only as an object, and they discuss whether he is worth the expense to keep him for his labor. This is a huge contrast to the other children, like Ellen who are seen as precious little people who are capable of learning so much.

Stowe portrays the children in Uncle Tom’s Cabin as weak, with no power. Aunt Hagar and her son Albert are about to be sold into slavery and the woman does not want to get separated from the only son she has left. “He an’t gwine to be sold widout me! said the old woman, with passionate eagerness; “he and I goes in a lot together” (Stowe 316). The woman is yelling about staying with her son, and through all this the boy doesn’t say a word. He is fourteen years old and I found it interesting that he couldn’t manage to voice his opinion at all. I think this shows that children truly do not have a say in anything, and adults do not view children as being important in society or there to help shape the future.

We do not get the chance to really see the lives of children outside the institution of slavery. The only glimpse we see is of the Bird family where Eliza goes to try to get help for her and her baby. I believe this is one of the only major times in the story that good somewhat prevails. In such a bad time when slavery is so prevalent, this family tried very hard to help runaway slaves. I think this could have shown children who read this that even when people do bad things, you can still stand for what you believe and do the right thing.

The Hidden Hand

There are two aspects of this novel that I would like to focus on. The ideas that children’s literature in the nineteenth century portrayed no detailed setting and had predictable plotlines were both challenged in The Hidden Hand.

“Beneath that range of rocks, and between it and another range, there was an awful abyss or chasm of cleft, torn and jagged rocks opening, as it were, from the bowels of the earth, in the shape of a mammoth bowl, in the bottom of which, almost invisible from its great depth, seethed and boiled a mass of dark water of what seemed to be a lost river or a subterranean spring” (Southworth 157). This description of Devil’s Punch Bowl clearly paints a picture in your mind of what their surroundings were. Throughout The Hidden Hand Southworth really makes it easy for readers to “see” what she is describing. These specific descriptions are very different from what we have seen in our earlier readings. The other novels let you use your imagination as to what the characters looked like, as well as their environments. We discussed in class how everyone had differing opinions about what Ellen Montgomery looked like, while Capitola is described with “bright black hair, parted in the middle, fell in ringlets each side her blushing cheeks, her dark-gray eyes…” (Southworth 181).

I believe the plotline in The Hidden Hand is more unpredictable than previous novels. Old Hurricane is a major cause of this. He is the “kind stranger” in this story, the role we see repeatedly. While Old Hurricane is a kind man in that he immediately goes to rescue Capitola, his personality is not the usual soft-spoken, sweet old man we have seen before. He is a lot more gruff and harsh on the outside and orders people around, like his slaves at home and the people on the street in New York. “Shut the door, you rascal, or I’ll throw the bootjack at your wooden head” (Southworth 155). No one messes with Major Warfield. Since this was a serial publication, perhaps Southworth made Old Hurricane’s personality like this to make the story a bit more suspenseful making the readers want to come back for more. Every time I began to get frustrated with Old Hurricane when he was being rude his kind heart showed through. “Capitola, I’m an old bachelor; I’ve not the least idea what a young girl requires; all I know is, that you have nothing…So come along with me to one of those Vanity Fairs they call fancy stores and get what you want; I’ll foot the bill” (Southworth 201). Warfield is so generous and wants to help some people that are less fortunate.

The Lamplighter

I do not think that things have changed much in regards to the social expectations of women as well as what women strive to achieve. I think there is still a struggle for women to find their true identities. Although there are many successful well-known businesswomen, there is often controversy for the things women do or say. Women must still fill the motherly, housewife role while working out in the real world.

Since birth Ellen Montgomery was taught how to become a lady, including household chores and the way she was supposed to dress. Gerty began learning a little bit later because of the obvious neglect she faced at such a young age. Mrs. Sullivan teaches Gerty to be a lady and teaches her ways to help out True. “A girl at eight years old can do a great many things…I could teach you to do a great deal that would be useful, and that would help your Uncle True very much. You could sweep the room up every day; you could make the beds, after a fashion, with a little help in turning them; you could set the table, toast the bread, wash the dishes” (Cummins 108). I noticed that both Ellen and Gerty were expected to be able to do household chores not only to be independent to do things on their own, but also to please someone else. This is the same today because girls are usually expected to be able to cook for their husbands or families.

I think one major difference in the way things are now and in the nineteenth century is that women now strive to “be like men”. By that I mean in the working world and that their sole purpose is not just to stay at home and raise the children and help out the husband. They want to be the breadwinners of the family, which challenges the traditional views of families.

The girl in Amy Pohler’s show says “Don’t think about what you have to do for people to like you, you want people to like you for who you are” This really stuck out to me because in the Wide Wide World Mrs. Montgomery tells Ellen “it will be your own fault if she does not love you”(page 34). She does not say to be yourself but rather to be who her Aunt Fortune wants her to be. This same thing happens in The Lamplighter when Emily Graham says, “But you can be good and then everybody will love you” (Cummins 141). At this time I believe that it was very important to please people and fit a certain mold. It was out of the question to be anything but a “good, well behaved woman.

If Gerty were to appear on Amy Pholer’s TV show she would also say that she likes balance in her life. The little girl in the show says “you should try your best and try harder”. That is similar to what Gerty would say because she must keep trying when learning how to do household chores. She makes mistakes a lot or forgets to do things but she keeps trying. Gerty actually compares to this contemporary girl more than I first thought.