Monday

Emma Lazarus Poem - “The New Colossus” (CIAL 998)

The New Colossus

BY EMMA LAZARUS

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, 

With conquering limbs astride from land to land; 

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand 

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame 

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name 

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand 

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command 

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. 

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she 

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, 

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, 

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. 

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, 

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” 

Questions:

1. Notice that Emma Lazarus begins with an image of what the Statue of Liberty is not like. How does its compare/contrast with the ancient Colossus of Rhodes affect the meaning of the poem? Compare gesture, position, and symbolism.
2. How do the statue’s welcoming words to the oppressed contribute to the American idea of the country as a “melting pot”?
3. Do you see an irony in welcoming the “huddled masses” (l. 11) and “wretched refuse” (l. 12) through the “golden door” (l.14)? Do you think Americans still hold to that welcoming idea today? Why or why not?

Immigration During the Gilded Age - Interactive Keynote

Homework- Read Jacob Riis’ “The Mixed Crowd” (CIAL 869-874), and answer the questions. 

Questions: 

1. In the first paragraph, Jacob Riis writes, “The one thing you shall vainly ask for in chief city of America is a distinctly American community.” Do you find that statement ironic? Do you find it characteristic of our idea of the “melting pot”? 
2. Riis, in paragraphs 2 and 3, describes the “picturesquely autocratic” Irish landlord; in paragraph 5, he states, ‘In justice to the Irish landlord it must be said that like an apt pupil he was merely showing forth the result of the schooling he had received, re-enacting, in his own way, the scheme of the tenements.” What does Riis mean by that last statement? What is his larger point that this example of the Irish serves to support?
3. Riis refers to the “German rag-picker”, the “Italian scavenger”, the “Irish hod carrier”, and the “Chinese coolie” (par. 7-8). Do you read these phrases as stereotypes? Are they offensive? Why or why not? Why has Riis chosen to use these examples?
4. How does Riis characterize the immigrant in paragraph 8? Is this characterization inconsistent or consistent with the previous paragraphs? Explain.
5. Look very carefully at the diction and imagery Riis uses in paragraphs 10-11. How do his rhetorical choices characterize the immigrants’ struggle? How do these choices reflect the relationship between Riis and his likely audience?
6. What do you see as Riis’ purpose in this piece? To what extent do you believe he succeeds in achieving that purpose?
7. What is most striking about the photos that accompany this essay? What argument is Riis making through them?
8. Although Riis did not feature individuals, especially children, in some of his photos, more often he chose to depict a group image. Why? What is the impact of de-emphasizing the individual in these group photographs?
9. In the introduction  to “How the Other Half Lives”, Riis wrote the following:

    “Long ago it was once said that “one half of the world does not know how the other half lives”. That was true then. It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate, of those who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them there and keep its own seat.”

Tuesday

Jacob Riis “How the Other Half LIves”

Questions: 

1. In the first paragraph, Jacob Riis writes, “The one thing you shall vainly ask for in chief city of America is a distinctly American community.” Do you find that statement ironic? Do you find it characteristic of our idea of the “melting pot”? 
2. Riis, in paragraphs 2 and 3, describes the “picturesquely autocratic” Irish landlord; in paragraph 5, he states, ‘In justice to the Irish landlord it must be said that like an apt pupil he was merely showing forth the result of the schooling he had received, re-enacting, in his own way, the scheme of the tenements.” What does Riis mean by that last statement? What is his larger point that this example of the Irish serves to support?
3. Riis refers to the “German rag-picker”, the “Italian scavenger”, the “Irish hod carrier”, and the “Chinese coolie” (par. 7-8). Do you read these phrases as stereotypes? Are they offensive? Why or why not? Why has Riis chosen to use these examples?
4. How does Riis characterize the immigrant in paragraph 8? Is this characterization inconsistent or consistent with the previous paragraphs? Explain.
5. Look very carefully at the diction and imagery Riis uses in paragraphs 10-11. How do his rhetorical choices characterize the immigrants’ struggle? How do these choices reflect the relationship between Riis and his likely audience?
6. What do you see as Riis’ purpose in this piece? To what extent do you believe he succeeds in achieving that purpose?
7. What is most striking about the photos that accompany this essay? What argument is Riis making through them?
8. Although Riis did not feature individuals, especially children, in some of his photos, more often he chose to depict a group image. Why? What is the impact of de-emphasizing the individual in these group photographs?
9. In the introduction  to “How the Other Half Lives”, Riis wrote the following:

    “Long ago it was once said that “one half of the world does not know how the other half lives”. That was true then. It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate, of those who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them there and keep its own seat.”

The Progressive Era - A Call for a Moral Renaissance

Webquest (Schoology) and Discussion

Lloyd's June 1884 essay on the robber barons, "The Lords of Industry."

“We have had an era of material inventions. We now need a renaissance of moral inventions, contrivances to tap the vast currents of moral magnetism flowing uncaught over the face of society.”

Progressive Era Webquest

Homework- Work on web quest.

Wednesday

Work on web quest in class. Due tomorrow!

Homework- Finish webquest.

Thursday

Introduction to the 1920’s and F. Scott Fitzgerald

Begin an active viewing of “Winter Dreams” documentary on Fitzgerald’s life

Discuss the following quote from the Documentary:

“All of us are striving for that golden moment when everything comes together. When money, love, aspiration and success, all of those things that we strive for coalesce or crystallize in just a moment. That’s what we think we want, and we believe that once that point is achieved it will endure. Fitzgerald was too sharp for that. he understood that the moment is evanescent...it doesn’t last. It’s only for that instant, and then it goes away. The important thing is the striving. The important thing is the dreaming.” - James West (Fitzgerald scholar)

“Early Success” - F. Scott Fitzgerald

“The uncertainties of 1919 were over - there seemed little doubt about what was going to happen - America was going on the greatest, gaudiest spree in history and there was going to be plenty to tell about it. The whole golden boom was in the air - its splendid generosities, its outrageous corruptions and the tortuous death struggle of the old America in prohibition. All the stories that came into my head had a touch of disaster in them — the lovely young creatures in my novels went to ruin, the diamond mountains of my short stories blew up, my millionaires were as beautiful and damned as Thomas Hardy's peasants. In life these things hadn't happened yet, but I was pretty sure living wasn't the reckless, careless business -these people thought — this generation just younger than me. For my point of vantage was the dividing line between the two generations, and there I sat — somewhat self-consciously.”

Intro to the Roaring 1920’s:

“As an endless dream it went on; the spirit of the past brooding over a new generation, the chosen youth from the muddled, unchastened world, still fed romantically on the mistakes and half-forgotten dreams of dead statesmen and poets. Here was a new generation, shouting the old cries, learning the old creeds, through a revery of long days and nights; destined finally to go out into that dirty gray turmoil to follow love and pride; a new generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken....” F. Scott Fitzgerald - This Side of Paradise

Homework- Read pages 697-707 in the Textbook .

Thursday

Finish documentary

Understanding Fitzgerald - Keynote Presentation

Homework- Read pages 707-717 in the Textbook .

Friday

Gin, Jazz, and Jay Gatsby cont.

The Conflicts of the 1920’s

"As an endless dream it went on; the spirit of the past brooding over a new generation, the chosen youth from the muddled, unchastened world, still fed romantically on the mistakes and half-forgotten dreams of dead statesmen and poets. Here was a new generation, shouting the old cries, learning the old creeds, through a revery of long days and nights; destined finally to go out into that dirty gray turmoil to follow love and pride; a new generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken...."

•Gin, Jazz, and Jay Gatsby cont.

Urban Culture :

-For the first time in American history, the majority of America’s population resides in the cities

-The middle class, aided by a burgeoning media, begins to dominate America’s tastes and standards

•Consumerism

-Department stores reach their peak, aided by new credit policies that entice middle class Americans to live the lifestyles of the upper classes

-Advertising, girded by recent studies in mass psychology, reorient campaigns around fears of failure and social rejection, and aim to create new markets

Puttin on the Ritz

Have you seen the well-to-do

Up and down park avenue

On that famous thoroughfare

With their noses in the air

High hats and Arrow collars

White spats and lots of dollars

Spending every dime

For a wonderful time

Now, if youre blue

And you dont know where to go to

Why dont you go where fashion sits

Puttin on the ritz

Different types who wear a daycoat

Pants with stripes and cutaway coat

Perfect fits

Puttin on the ritz

Dressed up like a million dollar trooper

Trying hard to look like gary cooper

Super-duper

Come, lets mix where rockefellers

Walk with sticks or umberellas

In their mitts

Puttin on the ritz

------ short instrumental break ------

Tips his hat just like an english chappie

To a lady with a wealthy pappy

Very snappy

Youll declare its simply topping

To be there and hear them swapping

Smart tidbits

Puttin on the ritz

•Popular Culture 

-Even before “talkies” emerge in 1927, movies and their dream imagery take over as the major form of entertainment in America

-A new breed of gossip magazine, exemplified in the radio programs of Walter Winchell, develop the cult of personality and interest in the new, the modern

•The Cult of Personality 

-Freudianism develops the belief that personalities are manufactured, not innate, a twist on the American belief in the self-made individual. Thus, directed by the media, Americans begin to self-consciously make themselves over in the images of the modern celebrity

The American Aristocracy - The Club

The 400

Aided by the social arbiter Ward McAllister, whose life work was the codification and maintenance of the rules of social intercourse, Lina Astor attempted to codify proper behavior and etiquette, which had formerly been a lingua franca among the city's Establishment, as well as determine who was acceptable among the arrivistes for an increasingly heterogeneous city. McAllister once stated that, amongst the vastly rich families of Gilded Age New York, there were only 400 people who could be counted as members of Fashionable Society. He did not, as is commonly written, arrive at this number based on the limitations of Mrs. Astor's New York City ballroom. (McAllister, an Astor cousin by marriage, referred to her as the "Mystic Rose".) Her husband's lack of interest, not only in the social whirl but in Lina herself and their marriage, did not stop but instead fueled her burgeoning social activities, which increased in intensity as her children grew older.

Mrs. Astor was the foremost authority on the Aristocracy of New York in the late nineteenth century. She held ornate and elaborate parties for herself and other members of the elite New York socialite crowd. None was permitted to attend these gatherings without an official calling card from Mrs. Astor herself. Mrs. Astor's social groups were dominated by strong-willed aristocratic females. These social gatherings were dependent on overly conspicuous luxury and publicity. Moreso than the gatherings themselves, importance was highly placed upon the group as the upper-crust of New York's elite. Mrs. Astor and her ladies therefore represented the Aristocratic, or the Old Money, whereas the newly wealthy Vanderbilt family would establish a new wave of New Money. [1]

Mrs. Vanderbilt, as a new member of socialite New York through the copious amounts of money that her family had earned rather than inherited, represented a type of wealth that was abhorrent to Mrs. Astor and her group. For this reason, Mrs. Astor was reluctant to call upon the Vanderbilt girls. As retaliation, Mrs. Vanderbilt, upon the opening of 660 Fifth, invited all members of blue-blooded New York society, except Mrs. Astor and her daughter, Carrie. Carrie, having looked so forward to the event, had had a costume designed weeks in advance, which matched that of several of her friends, who had been invited. Mrs. Astor, being slighted, therefore had no choice but to deliver a calling card to the Vanderbilts to secure her daughter's place at the ball, and to keep herself from being humiliated in not being invited to the event of the year. [2]

In 1883, however, Caroline Astor was forced to formally socially acknowledge Alva Vanderbilt, the first wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt, thereby providing the Vanderbilts, the greatest "new" fortune in New York, entrance into the highest rungs of society. An oft-repeated New York legend has it that Alva Vanderbilt had planned an elaborate costume ball with entertainments given by young society figures for her housewarming, but at the last minute notified young Caroline Astor (Lina's youngest daughter) that she could not participate, because Mrs. Astor had never formally called on Mrs. Vanderbilt. More likely, Mrs. Astor had noted the rising social profile of the Vanderbilt family, led by Alva and Willie, and viewing them as useful allies in her efforts to keep New York society exclusive had called formally on the Vanderbilts prior to Alva's lavish ball which Mrs. Astor herself attended. The Vanderbilts were subsequently invited to Mrs. Astor's annual ball, a formal acknowledgement of their full acceptance into the upper echelon of New York society.

John Singer Sargent
Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler
1893

From the “Off-Shore Pirate” - Fitzgerald

“Half a dozen times they played at private dances at three thousand dollars a night, and it seemed as if these crystallized all his distaste for his mode of livelihood. They took place in clubs and houses that he couldn't have gone into in the daytime. After all, he was merely playing the rôle of the eternal monkey, a sort of sublimated chorus man. He was sick of the very smell of the theatre, of powder and rouge and the chatter of the greenroom, and the patronizing approval of the boxes.” 

Urban vs. Rural

Read “Hicks vs Slicks” the Urban vs Rural confrontation in the 1920’s. 

Homework- Read chapter one in Gatsby.