Nancy Radecker English
161-DL Midterm July
19, 2012
1.
Religion,
morality and religious and moral ideas and attitudes influence American
literature and I will show that because it is what common thread that binds all
Americans together. Our country was
founded on religious beliefs and despite the separation of church and state we
still see “In God We Trust” written on our paper currency and coins. Even if someone has no belief in any
particular God or higher being and thus living as an atheist, they still talk
about it and are surrounded by those that are maybe faithful. The lack of faith
in something doesn’t shield you from religious views, ideas and influences in
your daily life, although you choose not to participate. It surrounds you and
influences those around you. Huckleberry
Finn struggles with religion through the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the author Mark Twain
threads this theme throughout and he makes those that are religious to be not
shown in a good light. Twain sort of mocks religion, rather choosing to have
the characters use their own moral judgment instead, but none the less,
acknowledges religion time and time again. The Widow tries to talk to Huck
about Heaven and Huck sort of acknowledges the conversation and even tells her
that he will think about while he takes a walk, only to tell her that it didn’t
do anything for him and he finds no use in it at all. Twain believes that having a good moral
compass is what you need to get through life and his character of Jim is an
example of that. While on the raft going down the river Jim views the story of
King Solomon the way he sees it, and doesn’t believe it the way the Bible sees
it. Jim uses his common sense and good
judgment instead. It would be almost
impossible for American literature not be equally influenced with religious and
moral ideas as you can’t write about characters without thinking will this
character be influenced by religion or the lack thereof? If the literature is about places around the
world, well how many of them are also influenced by religion for example even
talking about the American Revolution, if you visit a battleground, you are
standing where men fought for the freedom of religion. American Literature writings may not be
completely engulfed with the ideas of religion and good or bad moral beliefs
but cannot completely disregard it because this is what America is all
about.
It
is important that Americans present themselves to the world and each other with
moral ideas and attitudes about religion or the lack of religion, because we
must embrace the fact again that this country was based on the Freedom of
Religion and Freedom of Speech and I will give examples.
America
and its dream of religious freedom is why pilgrims came here in the first
place. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Chapter one, Huck gets bored
with the Widow when she tries to teach him about Moses, but he loses interest
because Moses is dead and he takes “no stock in dead people.” (Twain) . Huck’s lack of religious beliefs is important
because not everyone has to feel that there is a higher power, but yet he is an
American and it shows that he acknowledges how others may feel about religion
but if you are American you can choose not to feel the same way as others. Huck
struggles with the fact that he helps Jim escape slavery when all the time
society tells him that it is right that slaves are simply property. Americans
need to show that even if the majority is in agreement with something but you
feel it is wrong, you must stand up for what is right and speak your mind and
have a good moral compass. In the story
of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
the author Mark Twain shows that as two friends travel down a beautiful,
tranquil river they are surrounded by people in the town that are dishonest,
distrustful, and use their religion to blanket and hide their sins. This is truly what life in American is like,
although the times have changed, there are good people and there are bad people
but the common thread is America and the fact that you have all of these
Freedoms to be able to be who you to choose to be.
In
the end, any piece of American literature whether it is a apparent and in your
face, or subtle and quiet lingering in the background, has religion and
morality threaded throughout the pages.
It is important because it is what America is built on and influenced by
day in and day out. Times change and
religion is tested more and more and is debated and argued and yes I would say
faith is declining but as American’s you have that right to choose not to have
faith. Mark Twain does not seem a big fan of religion and his characters in his
novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
show that religion is acknowledged but does not have practiced to have a good
moral compass.
3.
My
literary and cultural understanding of The
Simpsons and is it worthiness’ of literary and cultural study is that The Simpsons as much as I am not a fan
in every true sense of the word is cultural relevant and significant due to its
overall cross representation of America and our culture. I will show examples of episodes that show
that The Simpsons are worthy of study
and my understanding of how The Simpsons
represent American character and culture.
The Simpsons
firstly, are a typical American family married three children, house, and
family dog, and cat and live in a residential neighborhood. Although Marge
Simpson does not work, she is a good homemaker which may be the only non
typical American family dynamic, since many mothers now have to work outside
the house and earn a paycheck. I believe that the writers chose Marge to be a
stay at home to portray the nostalgic times back in the fifties and sixties
when the father was the bread winner and the mother stayed at home. The audience is made to feel comfy and look
at a time in American history that was important. The character of Homer as the imperfect
father, who doesn’t like his job, but yet gets up and goes in day after day to
earn the daily bread for the family he loves. Bart is the typical teenager who
rebels against rules and authority but when pushed in a moral corner will
usually end up making a good choice.
Lisa who truly is the kid everyone wishes to have, who cares about the
planet, is a good student and loves her family but sometimes can get under your
skin because she is a know-it-all. Lastly Maggie, the little daring who says a
lot for an infant who doesn’t talk audibly, but instead talks using her
actions, her pacifier as her drug of choice rather than Homer’s beer and Bart’s
headphones and Lisa’s saxophone, yes they are all imperfect but none the less a
family. The fact that The Simpsons are depicted in a cartoon
rather than real life actors gives the writers more freedom to parody so many
films, books, news events that have influenced the viewers to help draw them
into the show and thus help them relate to the characters and their many
adventures. The Simpsons are so American and yet no subject is too much to
handle or taboo for the writers so they can cover topics that only people talk
about in private which is much of the appeal to the audience. For example the
episode entitled “Two Cars in every Garage and Three Eyes on every Fish”. The
family is split down the middle when Homer’s boss Mr. Burns runs for governor
to keep his nuclear power plant up and running because of a miserably failed government
inspection. Homer wants to make his boss
happy and so he votes for Mr. Burns and forces his son Bart to wear a shirt
that says “My dad is making me vote for Mr. Burns” and his wife Marge and Lisa
don’t support Mr. Burns but rather an honest, hardworking opponent and the
house divides because of it. It reminds
me of elections that I have voted in, some family members vote one way and
other vote the other way. It becomes one against the other but yet they stuck
it out. Homer’s boss didn’t get elected because well, he was crooked, but it
shows an example of what happens in family during elections. In the same episode the topic of nuclear pollution
is brought up when Bart and Lisa are fishing and catch a fish with three eyes
in a lake that run off from the nuclear plant spills into, the argument on the
safety of nuclear energy is covered in a humorous but yet serious way. As the
government inspector walks through the plant he checks off all of the
violations as Mr. Burns tries to make up excuses and cover up blatant safety
violations and then tries to bribe the inspector with lots and lots of
money. Americans are mixed on the
subject of nuclear safety, so making a parody of this subject brings to the
forefront how much do we really know about it and how do we not know that this
really doesn’t happen? Writing this episode the writers show to the world that
we too have to make sure that our agencies are doing their part to protect
citizens from the dangers of nuclear energy.
The
family values in The Simpsons family
are grossly aggregated in either direction. They love each and that does show,
but in ways again that maybe are not talked about outside the family
circle. The fact that Homer and Marge go
to bed every night together and the enduring way Marge says “Oh Homer” and the
fact that Homer works at a job he hates just to put food on the table are just
a couple of examples. The viewers can relate to those examples in their own
home but the writers add in many other works in film and literature that
viewers hopefully have read or watched to add to those moments. One such example is when Marge gets the part
of Blanch in the episode entitled “A streetcar named Marge” as Marge is
practicing for her role she is supposed to break a bottle but can’t seem to get
the anger out until in the background Homer is “being Homer” and she realizes
how really annoying he is and then she gets angry. Married couples can relate to this because we
sometimes don’t realize what is bugging us about our spouse and what we tend to
overlook about them. At the end of the episode Homer realizes that he needs to
treat Marge nicer because he tells her that the character of Stanley reminds
him of himself. We need to take a step
back sometimes and see how others treat others and make sure that we are not
guilty of not being supportive or nice towards others. The American culture wants to treat others
with respect so while you view this episode you take a step back to think about
your personal contacts and how you treat them.
The residents of Springfield could be our neighbors, viewers probably
relate to more than one of them, making fun of them is just sort of relief
valve. The characters say what we really want to say but don’t because we don’t
want to offend, so we let the cartoon say for us. The
Simpsons make fun of everything even the police department. Marge’s mom who totally doesn’t give her any
compliments or love is a sensitive subject and in American culture we tend to
think that the mother’s are always nurturing but for those that don’t have this
type of relationship, the writers have tackled the issue in a way that you can
see how painful it is but yet Marge continues to be the best she can be despite
of her relationship with her mother. Marge over compensates for her lack of
compassion from her mom and makes sure that she supports her children.
You
can teach all these types of values, ideas and issues in a class room using
books and such but seeing life’s lesson portrayed through cartoon characters
and using many celebrity voices in a humorous way can be just a valuable and
perhaps even better, which is why I believe that the show has been the longest
running American animated program. Since
there is always another new novel or new film or new event The Simpsons will
continue to tackle the tough issues and appeal to viewers and the show should
be studied as a sort of history book of American culture for years to come.
Works Cited
Twain, Mark. "The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn." Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York:
Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1884. 230.
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