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American Literature after the civil war.

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posted on Nov, 15 2013 @ 02:16 PM
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I really enjoy American literature and America authors and I'm reading stories now after the civil war and I thought of this question: How does the literature of the period between the civil war and world war one reflect the changes in the roles of individuals (particularly women and minorities) within American culture? what are your thoughts? to me, I think women become more of caregivers and minorities becoming more in the forefront in literature.



posted on Nov, 15 2013 @ 02:38 PM
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reply to post by RobFox
 


I have a book written and published originally in the late 30's to early 40's that chronicles the history of the city of New Orleans through the development of their street system and how these roads were named.

The book is called Frenchmen. Desire. Good Children.
Those are the names of 3 streets here in NOLA.

The tone of the book is interesting when the writer describes the native Choctaw tribe that was initially encountered by the settlers, as well as women and minorities.

What we have to remember, when taken into a historical context, is that the average individual received an education in logic. They were taught civics.
And not everyone got trophies and people were bullied and learned to deal with it.
People actually failed in school and often.
The environment was not at all politically correct, and that is difficult for most people to understand.

We are so heavily indoctrinated by politically correct beliefs that we are now afraid to offend anyone.
That was NOT the case prior to WW2 specifically.

Heck, I have a book published by the US Govt. in 1865 that contains ALL of Lincoln's correspondence as president at the beginning of the war between the states.
He states point blank that he wants to ship the freed slaves to a colony. He suggested Haiti.
His racist attitude is blatant... however-
If you view his writings with a truly historical perspective, then all he saw were freed slaves, nearly all uneducated and illiterate. His motive for shipping the freed slaves to a colony and out of the US was rooted in the financial burden that is created during any mass influx of uneducated and illiterate people.
He states this very thing.
Many were only a few generations removed from being sold by their own people into slavery.
And, regardless of the reason, anyone not an educated white male was, at the time, very different than anyone not an educated white male today.
Vast cultural differences made racism and segregation appreciable to people of the time.

All this is not possible to understand unless we view history with a truly historical perspective.

And as far as women are concerned, they were rarely spoken of in literature.
They had a role and it was very defined and that is how they were viewed.
Characters like Katniss Everdeen were not even close to being in the cultural spectrum regarding the role of women.

Interesting thread.

I really like old books.

S & F.
edit on 15/11/2013 by kyviecaldges because: Because I made a stupid error. That is why we edit.



 
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