Tracing The Evolution of Early American Literature: Historical Survey

Living in a society propelled by growth certainly has its advantages. Today, we are blessed to have the internet. The times of heading off to the library to take out books, and talking with an attendant at a desk for their aid in researching topics rarely happens anymore. Yet, the internet does not discuss everything to do with our history. It does not take into account that writing is a theoretical language of its own. Literature and writing have been communicated for quite a long time and all through various nations and societies. This being said, we can certainly see the great amount of history behind every piece of early ‘American’ literature, and the growth of our society as we know it through other people’s perspectives. This class has brought many themes to light that display features of American literature from all of what we have read. These characteristics include: aspects of religion, alienation and isolation, relationships with nature and society, societal constructs and ideas, and the overall focus on freedom (whether it be the topics of slavery, sexism, or free thinking). These different traits all encompass themselves in one major theme of the journey of being an American. Every author is on a path to not only discover themselves, but to discover key components of their society and the issues and growth that lie within it in order to achieve the ideals that America strives for.

Throughout history, we have seen consistent effort towards improvement (if we look at all the topics previously stated and sum them up), both for the public, and for the government. This constant improvement started from the beginning of our great United States. The American ‘journey’ started with the pilgrims leaving England in 1620. They left their home country in search of greater religious freedom, settled in New England, and engaged in “the first foundation of their government in that place,” as recorded by William Bradford in his writing entitled Of Plymouth Plantation. The life the Pilgrims sought to build was determined, bold, and an attempted improvement on their previous lives in England; these ideas run all throughout Bradford’s history of the colony’s first few years. To continue on the topic of improvement, one author of the 17th century in particular sticks out. Anne Bradstreet opposed the standards of her time by expounding on anything she desired including individual considerations, reflections, feelings, and occasions. Bradstreet was the first to expound on close to home issues, which is her most prominent scholarly commitment in early American writing. This could be viewed as an incredible improvement to writing, and helped impact the movement and voyage taken to achieve current American works. By perusing Bradstreet's work, a reasonable feeling of what Mrs. Bradstreet resembled can be gotten a handle on. She unmistakably expressed her conclusion of the individuals who questioned her composition: “I am obnoxious to each carping tongue, / Who says my hand a needle better fits”. Bradstreet wouldn't surrender her energy for composing regardless of whether it implied conflicting with the conclusions of anybody in her province, including religious pioneers.

Despite the fact that Bradstreet alluded to herself as being offensive, her composed works depict a completely unique Bradstreet. She looks for no reward or popularity for her writings: “Give thyme or parsley wreath, I ask no bays”. Even after her work is published, she is humble and does not look for much if any compensation. She is simply giving her writing to the public. Bradstreet was different than the average writer. She went against the common ideals at the time and quite possibly created a new era for women, starting the idea of the women’s rights movement. Yet another source that serves as an example of America’s growth as a people, is Benjamin Franklin's Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America. Within this essay, Franklin discuss multiple topics and introduces growth to the new American public by attempting to show that the Native American people are civilized as well. Benjamin Franklin seemingly attempted to open people’s eyes and show them that the Native’s were not savages. He says “perhaps, if we examine the manners of different nations with the impartiality, we should find no people so rude, as not to have some remains of rudeness”. The Native Americans were originally described as “savages” or “barbaric” because of their rules and differences between the ‘new’ American generations. Native Americans showed differences in religion, laws, and exceptional amounts of cultural normalities within their own society of common civility, which differed from that of the normal American culture. The Indians were also highly civilized people for the most part. Some Natives were even sent to college because Benjamin Franklin helped remove the blinds off of the ‘new societies’ eyes. For example, he says “if the gentlemen of Virginia will send us a dozen of their (i.e. the Native’s) sons, we will take great care of their education, instruct them in all we know, and make MEN of them”. Franklin continues, saying, “The politeness of these savages in conversation is indeed carried to excess, since it does not permit them to contradict or deny the truth of what is asserted in their presence”. Truly we can see that Benjamin Franklin helped the early growth of society by attempting to show people different cultures and improve our cultural boundaries, making us more diverse as a people. His writings may very well have started new forthcomings of American civilization as we know it. The last document that particularly seems to pinpoint America’s improvements over time, is Emerson’s essay entitled, Nature.

This essay in particular emphasizes ideals of uniqueness which can be found in everyone. Emerson attempted to help people transcend past their early beliefs in science, social practices, and rational thinking. The way in which he attempted to improve society was through his philosophies based off of individual experiences and intuition, which can be found when you are immersed within nature. Emerson claims that in order to find individual truth and freedom, one must take into account their own thoughts and how they interact with society, and nature as a whole. In Nature Emerson writes, “It will not need, when the mind is prepared for study, to search for objects, The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common… We make fables to hide the baldness of the fact and conform it, as we say, to the higher law of the mind”. Emerson attempted to show individuals how to confide in themselves and take into account their own adventures. He was pioneer in discussing individualistic tendencies that our society has become. Ralph Waldo Emerson was attempting to pinpoint people who were practically sheep just following what they were told and not taking into account individual wants. Everyone has different experiences which have created healthy, more free flowing and accepting communities of people in our day to day society. The writing of America has displayed all different forms of improvement and growth. From slavery to racism our society has overcome many difficulties. We have taken leaps and bounds to overcome any adversity and create diversity instead. While there have been many writers and many points made, early American literature has consistently displayed the continuation of development, and an effort to better our country and the world as a whole. Our way of life and country are not characterized by a solitary document. History contains multiple different layers of information such as religion, language, and culture. This can only mean that our country has had a consistent underlying end goal, and that is to extend and join racial and social classes to create a more diverse and well rounded society. The United States now is able to rely upon confidence, self-realization, and independence for all people, which creates unique paths and lifestyle choices for all people. These all are capable due to our history and the growth that our history has shown us.

As we have seen, each writer throughout history has shown different areas of growth in our country. From Franklin and Emerson’s beliefs in individualism, to challenges from intense racial discrimination or sexism, their works remain relevant because they exemplify the resiliency of the American people in all different facets of success and failure. Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America, Nature, Of Plymouth Plantation, are all amazing examples of American Literature simply because each one of them demonstrates the promise of growth and learning throughout history while also displaying remnants of our people’s past. Each author has shown us how to overcome the barriers of race or social class in our society, and we have followed those examples that they have placed for us. As a whole, our country has learned and adapted, becoming a better place to live for diverse crowds. There are still definite hiccups here and there in the modern day world, yet as the test of time shows, our people can overcome most issues and resolve them for the betterment of the world; creating examples for future generations through literature, and experiences.