The election of America’s arguably most controversial president has caused an uproar of citizens concerned that Donald Trump will ruin America society as we know it. President Trump is not the cause behind America’s flaws because American has always been flawed. “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving and “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe comment on the imperfections of American society by exploring concepts of valuing the individual over group, favoring ignorant decisions over logical ones, and the skewed view of women in everyday life.
During the peak of Romanticism, literature would often have characters who often reject reasoning to mirror the ignorance of the everyday American citizen. The narrator from “The Black Cat” is someone …show more content…
“The Black Cat” shows this through the treatment of the narrator’s wife: “the moodiness of my usual temper increased to hatred of all things and of all mankind; while, from the sudden, frequent, and ungovernable outbursts of a fury to which I now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, alas! was the most usual and the most patient of sufferers” (“The Black Cat” 6). This quote depicts this rarely evident character as someone who is unassertive and compliant as well as someone who is treated as a lesser being. This is a direct presentation of the beliefs of the time where women were viewed as lesser than men and were expected to be uneducated and submissive. It is even apparent towards the end of the story when the wife is killed without even a second thought. In “The Devil and Tom Walker”, Irving introduces his main female character by stating, “Tom's wife was a tall termagant, fierce of temper, loud of tongue, and strong of arm. Her voice was often heard in wordy warfare with her husband; and his face sometimes showed signs that their conflicts were not confined to words” (“The Devil and Tom Walker” 1). Irving takes a different approach here instead making a strong female character that challenged the typical gender roles for women. Instead of being a docile and humble woman, Tom’s wife is short tempered, passionate, and seemingly dominant in her relationship. Through the entire story Washington Irving tends to write characters that go against the grain of society at the time, for example when Tom Walker appears to show a bias against racism. Romantic authors felt the need to comment on the injustices of gender roles due to their beliefs of supporting the individual and supporting human
During the peak of Romanticism, literature would often have characters who often reject reasoning to mirror the ignorance of the everyday American citizen. The narrator from “The Black Cat” is someone …show more content…
“The Black Cat” shows this through the treatment of the narrator’s wife: “the moodiness of my usual temper increased to hatred of all things and of all mankind; while, from the sudden, frequent, and ungovernable outbursts of a fury to which I now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, alas! was the most usual and the most patient of sufferers” (“The Black Cat” 6). This quote depicts this rarely evident character as someone who is unassertive and compliant as well as someone who is treated as a lesser being. This is a direct presentation of the beliefs of the time where women were viewed as lesser than men and were expected to be uneducated and submissive. It is even apparent towards the end of the story when the wife is killed without even a second thought. In “The Devil and Tom Walker”, Irving introduces his main female character by stating, “Tom's wife was a tall termagant, fierce of temper, loud of tongue, and strong of arm. Her voice was often heard in wordy warfare with her husband; and his face sometimes showed signs that their conflicts were not confined to words” (“The Devil and Tom Walker” 1). Irving takes a different approach here instead making a strong female character that challenged the typical gender roles for women. Instead of being a docile and humble woman, Tom’s wife is short tempered, passionate, and seemingly dominant in her relationship. Through the entire story Washington Irving tends to write characters that go against the grain of society at the time, for example when Tom Walker appears to show a bias against racism. Romantic authors felt the need to comment on the injustices of gender roles due to their beliefs of supporting the individual and supporting human