Gender 7/1/14

            There are many sources of power in the world, particularly the power to make people do something they might not want to do. In Joaquim Maria Mchado De Assis’ short story entitled “The Rod of Justice,” several different methods of wielding power are on display. The power of the Church over young seminarians is the issue facing Damiao a the beginning of the story. There is also Damiao’s fear of his father’s power to make him return to the seminary from which he has escaped. The strongest source of power, however, derives from the feminine wiles of Sinha Rita.

            Sinhra Rita, the mistress of Damiao’s godfather, is consumed with her own influence and is “eager to show her power over both her lover and her slaves” (Puchner 911). Rita’s gender is important because she uses her sexuality to establish her power over men. In this case, her relationship with Carneiro, Damiao’s godfather, enables her to exercise power and influence over Carneiro’s father. She sends Carneiro to convince the father to allow Carneiro to drop out of seminary. Though Carneiro is extremely reluctant to carry out his assigned task, Rita’s hold over him is strong enough that he does as she asks (De Assis 914-915).

            Rita wields another kind of power, however, and seems to relish this second type even more than the first. Her authority over her slaves betrays a darker, angrier side to her nature than is seen in her efforts on behalf of Damiao. When one of her slave workers does not complete her task on time, Rita goes after her like an enraged banshee, “her face on fire, her eyes starting from her head, calling for the rod” (916). Though Rita is a female, and therefore limited in what kind of power she might attain overtly, she is certainly obsessed with the power she can wield within the confines of her own little world.

Works Cited

De Assis, Joaquim Maria Machado. “The Rod of Justice.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 911-916. Print.

Puchner, Martin. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. Print.

Marti and Dario 6/21/14

          Walt Whitman is one of the most famous American poets of all time, but his influence reached well beyond the borders of America and even the bounds of the English language. His influence on Latin American Spanish-speaking poets, for example, can be clearly seen in the works of both Jose Marti and Ruben Dario.

            Marti’s “I Am an Honest Man” reads almost like it was written by Whitman himself (when translated). Marti’s use of the first-person narrative style, as well as his exploration of self mirrors closely Whitman’s style and content in the latter’s “Song of Myself.” Like Whitman, who writes “I am the poet of the Soul,” (Whitman 650), Marti writes, “before I die I wish / to fling my verses from my soul,” (Marti 681). In each case, the poet claims to be divulging the contents of the soul through his poetry.

            Likewise, Ruben Dario shows the influences of Whitman in his poetry, especially as it pertains to nature. In “Blazon” Dario admires the beauty of an Olympic swan, comparing the bird to sublime architecture, fine linen and beautiful flowers (Dario 692). In “Song of Myself” we see similar descriptions and appreciation of animals from Whitman, who says he “looks at them long” in admiration (Whitman 651). As Dario described a swan in loving detail, so Whitman paints a picture of a “gigantic beauty of a stallion” (652) in his own poem.

            Imitation is said to be the highest form of flattery, and if that is the case Dario and Marti are engaged in their own brands of hero worship as they emulate Whitman in their own work.

Works Cited

Dario, Ruben. “Blazen.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 692. Print.

Marti, Jose. “I Am An Honest Man.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 681. Print.

Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 648-653. Print.

An Essay On Man 6/14/14

         Mankind has been trying to understand the nature and state of man for just about as long as those concepts have been able to process through the human intellect. Since the 1700’s, when Alexander Pope was wrestling with these issues, we have advanced exponentially. It’s no longer accurate to say that we are “ignorant of the relations of systems and things,” as Pope observed in “An Essay on Man” (Pope 90). For all of our scientific advances, however, mankind has yet to conceive of a rational and ordered way to reconcile some of its deepest rifts in understanding. No concept has been more difficult for society to fully understand than the existence of evil and disorder in what is supposedly a divinely ordered universe.

            In the realm of juxtaposed realities, Pope’s observations are just as valid as anyone tacking the issue in modern society. In this case, Pope seeks not to understand the methods or the reasoning behind the order of the universe, but rather charges his readers to simply accept that there is a higher purpose that cannot be understood. “Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate,” writes Pope. “All but the page prescribed, their present state / From brutes what men, from what spirits know” (92). He goes on to say that mankind should simply wait until God reveals all at death, saying “Hope humbly, then; with trembling pinions soar; / Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore. / What future bliss, he gives not thee to know,” (92). Instead of wrestling with that which cannot be known, Pope suggests, simply live in peace like the Native Americans lived and await God’s revelation in due course.

            There is a certain appeal to the idea of just setting aside questions that seem to have unknowable answers. Pope’s approach certainly suggests a peaceful, worry-free existence. The problem with his approach, however, is that there humans are also imbued with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, including knowledge of the nature of the universe. That thirst is highly unlikely to allow humanity to simply choose not to question the nature of the universe any time soon.

Work Cited

Pope, Alexander. "An Essay On Man." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 90-97. Print.

Montaigne 6/7/14

          A famous saying states that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Well, it’s not just the definition of beauty that is largely subjective and dependent upon the taste of the observer. Barbarism can be just as subjective, as Michel De Montaigne argued against the backdrop of the Renaissance. What fueled Montaigne’s writing was his firm belief that people could not be entirely objective, “unmoved by emotion or circumstance” (Puchner 1649). In fact, he believed that people could not even truly know themselves because they are, essentially, unstable.  

          Montaigne writes, in “Of Cannibals,” that “each man calls barbarism whatever is not his own practice” (Montaigne 1653), meaning that each person has his or her own idea of what is good and proper and judges anything else to be foreign or even wrong. To illustrate his point, he observes that the Greeks call the inhabitants of all foreign nations “barbarians” (1651). For that reason, he states, it is important for people to judge things by way of reason, not by merely accepting the popular opinions of others.  

          Americans need not look as far as Greece to find another (painful) example of the way of thinking that Montaigne warns against. When Europeans came to the “New World” and quickly began consuming resources and staking claim to lands that were not theirs to claim, they labeled the native inhabitants “savages,” another word for barbarians. Yet those so-called savages lived off the land and in harmony with nature for thousands of years before the newcomers started taking away their entire way of life and their very lives. In fact, an outside observer might just conclude that the newcomers were the savages, not the comparatively peaceful natives.

Works Cited

Montaigne, Michel Du. "Of Cannibals." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 1651-1660. Print.

Puchner, Martin. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. Print.