Connections Between "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "The Curse of Caste"

Something interesting was brought up in class today that I had not really thought about. That there is a kind of closeness (or certain connections) between the book we are ending the semester with (The Curse of Caste) and our first text this semester (Uncle Tom’s Cabin). Both of the works unlike just about anything we have read between them (With the exception of The Heroic Slave), initially appeared in a weekly newspaper as opposed to a monthly journal of literature and scholarship. Looking at The Christian Recorder on microfilm I found the visual resemblance to The National Era striking, though the latter was by far a larger paper.

This/these simmilarit(ies)y explains a number of things. The first is the difference of The Curse of Caste’s format. The chapters (or more accurately the installments) are not as long as any other works’ because there is not as much space in a weekly paper (even though Uncle Tom’s Cabin’s installments were still lengthy) as in a monthly journal, as the space can be used for information that would not be relevant if put off until a future issue. Another oddity that is shared by both works is a seeming lack of patience in the author to allow the story to slowly and naturally unfold. In James or Twain a new installment or portion’s relevance to the overall story may not be immediately clear, but as time passes it’s connection becomes apparent. Neither Stowe nor Collins seem to have that kind of time (or perhaps more accurately space. Though Collins may have been in ill health for much of the work’s production.) to allow for it to unfold slowly. When they shift from one action or set of characters to another a quick amount of explanative narration accompanies it, so as to keep the readers in the loop and not confused. Another similarity that I found was that I thought that both of these were not as well written as many of the other texts we read this semester (Though this could probably be traced to my disdain for Stowe and the fact that Collins was not a professionally trained writer, that it was not her primary occupation).

History behind "Coeur D'Alene"

I recall that in class the Regional Narrative was described as being characterized by ‘nothing really happening’, which is really good at describing a good chunk of Coeur D’Alene. While I did not find the story particularly interesting, what I did find quite interesting was the history behind it, which we learned today in class. I’m not quite sure why, but I find information and history about labor disputes interesting. Perhaps it’s because they are David and Goliath stories, although in these, Goliath (the company owners) is usually triumphant over the small and weak David (the workers).

I think I also find this interesting because it is something interesting that has happened in our region. Our region is relatively young, compared to most of the country (and the world) so that is probably a part of it. The Pacific Northwest is also not a region that I tend to associate with struggles like this. When one hears about scabs, Pinkerton’s and violent strike one thinks about eastern urban areas such as Chicago or New York, or occurrences such as the Homestead Strike in Pennsylvania (Where the state militia was sent in after the Pinkerton’s failed to squelch hostilities). One (or I don’t at least) tend to associate this kind of behavior with the rural Pacific Northwest. As a result, when I hear about something like the Coeur D’Alene Strike of 1892 or the Centralia Massacre (yet another scene of union related violence in 1919) which happened in our own backyard, I am intrigued and interested.

I also found it really interesting that so close to the 20^th century (8 short years away) there were portions of the west which were still very wild. While not the land filled with cowboys so common in Hollywood’s golden age, it was still a tough and formidable landscape, where hard people had to engage in backbreaking labor to scrape by.

Progress Report

Sources from Text(s)

1. "Dave's just an all-around genius-a genius of the first water, gentlemen; a great scientist running to seed here in this village, a prophet with the kind of honor that prophets generally get at home-for here they don't give a shucks for thier scientifics" (126)

This is when Tom is "talking up" Wilson to the twins. He is in fact mocking his interest in palmistry, and showing the opinions of the townsfolk of Wilson's ideas and explorations. They still believe him to be a "Pudd'nhead", though he is in fact not.

2. "I haven't examined half a dozen gands in the last hal-dozen years; you see, the people got to joking about it, and I stopped to let the talk die down" (127-128)

Wilson is embarressed by the mocking attitudes of the townspeople who are similar to Tom. He ,however, does not see palmistry as a science, but just finds it of interest. So Twain show's his view of palmistry as contrary to many (if not most) of the townspeople.

Historical Source:
Buckley, J.M.. "Palmistry." The Century; a popular quarterly 47(1894): 635-636.

This provides a skeptical account of Palmistry and it's being accepted as 'science'. It was published at the same time (and in the same publication) as Pudd'nhead Wilson so the ideas are contemperary to Twain's.

Critical Source:
Baylen, Joseph O.. "Mark Twain, W. T. Stead and "The Tell-Tale Hands"." American Quarterly 16(1964): 606-612.

This article talks about Twain's interest in palmistry. Specifically an encounter in 1894 (when Puddn'head Wilson was written)