Annotations
Class Notes – 11/17/09
Themes in Franklin Evans; how do they show up in Whitman’s other work?
– destruction
– death
– liquor
– going astray
– being lost
– optimism –> despair
– city as dangerous
– tempation
– concern for health, the body
Issues of Genre
– temperance novels
– literature of moral reform
– episodic nature of narrative
– didacticism
Check out our group wire post for current assignments and the Projects Info page on our course blog for descriptions of those assignments.
Class Notes – 11/17/09
Themes in Franklin Evans; how do they show up in Whitman’s other work?
– destruction
– death
– liquor
– going astray
– being lost
– optimism –> despair
– city as dangerous
– tempation
– concern for health, the body
Issues of Genre
– temperance novels
– literature of moral reform
– episodic nature of narrative
– didacticism
Check out our group wire post for current assignments and the Projects Info page on our course blog for descriptions of those assignments.
“One bright cool morning”
One bright cool morning in the autumn of 183-, a country market-wagon, which also performed the office of the stage-coach for those whose means or dispositions were humble enough to be satisfied with its rude accommodations, was standing, with the horse harnessed before it, in front of a village inn, on the Long Island turnpike. As the geography of the reader may be at fault to tell the exact whereabouts of this locality, I may as well say, that Long Island is a part of the State of New York, and stretches out into the Atlantic, just southeastward of the city which is the great emporium of our western world. The most eastern county of the island has many pretty towns and hamlets; the soil is fertile, and the people, though not refined or versed in city life, are very intelligent and hospitable. It was in that eastern county, on the side nearest the sea, that the road ran on which the market-wagon just mentioned was going to traverse. The driver was in the bar-room, taking a glass of liquor.
( Franklin Evans 5 )
“Near one of the ferries”
The place at which our conveyance stopped was in Brooklyn, near one of the ferries that led over to the opposite side if the river. We dismounted; glad enough to be at the end of our journey, and quite tired with its wearisomeness. Our passengers now prepared to go to their several destinations. The antiquary took a little carpet-bag in his hand, and politely bidding us adieu, made his way for the boat near by. Demaine was more lengthy in his arrangements. He had not much more to carry than the antiquary, but he called a porter, and engaged him to take it down to the landing. The country woman, also, hurried away; eager, no doubt, with parental fondness, to see her child.
page 21
“Gossipping Tongues”
“It was evident that something wrong had been done, and weighed heavily on the wretched woman’s mind. Her words, and her strange gestures could not but have a meaning to them. Gossipping [sic] tongues, once started upon such matters, are not easily put to rest; and before long the dark rumor came to Mr. Phillips’s ears, that his kinswoman had been murdered—murdered by her, too, on whom, of all who lived around, he wished an opportunity of showing his dislike.
The overseer, whatever might have been his deficiencies, was a shrewd clear-headed man, and in ferretting out a mystery, had a few equals. In the present instance, his wits were sharpened by a sense of duty toward the dead widow, and a desire for revenge. He worked with sagacity, and allowed no incident to escape him, small or large. As might be expected, he soon discovered enough to make his surmises a positive belief.”
Passage from “Franklin Evans” by Walt Whitman on page103 and paragraph 5.
“Questioning the Reality”
“The occurrences of the night, I may as well confess, taught me to question the reality of many things I after wards saw; and reflect that, though to appearance they were showy, they might prove, upon trial, as coarse as the eating-house waiter, or the blear-eyed actress. I lost also, some of that reverence, and that awkward sense of inferiority, which most country folk, when they take up their abode in this brick-and-pine Babel, so frequently show – and which, by the way, is as amusing to the observers, as it is unfair to themselves.”
-Franklin Evans… Page 33, 3rd Paragraph.. Chapter 5.
“Drowning My Horrible Agony”
It was night. I walked madly and swiftly through the streets, and though the people stared, I recked not of their notice, but kept my way. What would I have given for power to call back but one little year? One moment only, did I think of drowning my horrible agony in drink; but I cursed the very reflection, as it was formed in my soul. Now, I thought upon Mary’s tenderness to me – upon her constant care, and regard, and love; and now the idea of the repayment I had made her, filled my bosom.
As I wended thus heedlessly on with long strides, I came off against the entrance of a tavern which, in times past, I had frequently visited. In the door, talking with a party of companions, stood a form which, in the imperfect light, I thought I recognized. Another moment, he turned, and his face was shone upon by the gas-lamp; I was right in my conjecture – it was Colby. With a sudden revulsion of feeling, I remembered that it was he who had tempted me, and through whose means all my follies and crimes had been committed. I sprang madly toward the place where he stood.
“Devil!” cried I furiously, seizing him by the throat, “you have brought death to one for whom I would willingly have suffered torments forever! It is fitting that you pay the penalty with your own base life. Die! Villain, even on the spot where you started me upon my ruin!”
– (Franklin Evans, 51 )