In his novel, The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution, Alfred F. Young approaches, researches, and answers several inquiries surrounding the Boston Tea Party. He has also done extensive research into the life of a participant in the events of December 16, 1773, George Robert Twelves Hewes. Young provides his readers with an in-depth understanding of Hewes and his connection to the Tea Party and the Revolution in order to answer questions even historians did not consider to ask. George Robert Twelves Hewes, the sixth of nine children, grew up in Boston Massachusetts. Many of his earliest, clearest memories are of him defying figures of authority and getting punished for his rebelliousness. He became an orphan at
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In fact, Hewes’s two biographers were the first to include the term “tea party” in the title of their books. Also, when Hewes arrived in Boston in 1835, a reporter who interviewed him included the phrase in his article for the Boston Traveller, but Hewes did not use the phrase. The term “tea party” could have had several meanings for different groups of people. It was first a comedic way of referring to the very serious event in Boston. This allowed people to be on familiar terms with a slightly startling and perplexing event. It was also implied as a parody of the tea ritual associated with the elite. “The term had an [adjustable] quality, for it could serve a [blue-collar] purpose by [mocking] the rich or it could serve a conservative purpose by reducing a revolutionary action to child’s play” (Young 164).
The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution, written by Alfred F. Young, is a book which connects and explains the series of events leading up to the American Revolution and one of its many forgotten participants, George Hewes. Regarding the Boston Tea Party, Young provides responses to some unthought-of questions which, while not important at the time of the war, are thought provoking
In fact, Hewes’s two biographers were the first to include the term “tea party” in the title of their books. Also, when Hewes arrived in Boston in 1835, a reporter who interviewed him included the phrase in his article for the Boston Traveller, but Hewes did not use the phrase. The term “tea party” could have had several meanings for different groups of people. It was first a comedic way of referring to the very serious event in Boston. This allowed people to be on familiar terms with a slightly startling and perplexing event. It was also implied as a parody of the tea ritual associated with the elite. “The term had an [adjustable] quality, for it could serve a [blue-collar] purpose by [mocking] the rich or it could serve a conservative purpose by reducing a revolutionary action to child’s play” (Young 164).
The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution, written by Alfred F. Young, is a book which connects and explains the series of events leading up to the American Revolution and one of its many forgotten participants, George Hewes. Regarding the Boston Tea Party, Young provides responses to some unthought-of questions which, while not important at the time of the war, are thought provoking