Caroline Fergusson Gordon Essay Essay Example

Caroline Fergusson Gordon Essay Essay Example Caroline Fergusson Gordon Essay Essay Caroline Fergusson Gordon Essay Essay Essay Topic: A Christmas Carol Caroline Fergusson Gordon ( 1895-1981 ) was a literary critic and a celebrated American novelist. During her mid-thirtiess. her productive in literary plants was vindicated by her being awarded two esteemed literary awards. The first awarding took topographic point in 1932 by the Guggenheim Fellowship. while the second was offered in 1934. and is known as O. Henry Award. This lady was born and brought up in Kentucky. Todd County. Having received her high degree instruction from her father’s Clarksville Classical School in Montgomery. Tennessee. she subsequently graduated in Bethany College in west Virginia. a position that subsequently allowed her to work as a society intelligence author with the Chattanooga Reporter Newspaper. Caroline Gordon got married to Allen Tate. though the matrimony ended up in a divorce. The divorce was still marked with frequent and friendly correspondence between the two. It is during this matrimony that Caroline Gordon converted to Catholicism. It is during this period that Caroline Gordon wrote until she got crippled by a shot that hit her on March 1st 1981 in San Cristobal. Mexico. a topographic point in which she lived during her ulterior old ages. At 85. she passed on two hebdomads subsequently after the subsequent surgical intercession. The authors positions as a Catholic The writer’s positions as a Catholic have non been overtly spelled out. given the fact that the author takes a household that is undergoing day-to-day battles and life’s experiences to convey out the really underpinnings that life portends. This means that there is no manner the author in this book gets to air out her positions that may be kindred to religion. As a affair of fact. it is the normal societal facet of the household that is given the Centre phase in the scene. Therefore. to a layperson or one reading without paying attentiveness to spiritual or religions affairs. the book can easy be dismissed as a strictly secular discourse. However. there is clarity in stating that the book has spiritual undertones. given the fact that it contains hints of religionism. The household that gets to be the mouthpiece of the author is presented as a spiritually minded one. and a Christian 1 for this affair. Traces of these include: the expression of the grace before repasts ; and the observation of the Christian festivals and jubilations such as the Christmas and the Easter. Otherwise. apart from these hintings. there is nil else that is given by the author by which it can be known. the writer’s sentiment towards Catholicism and/ or Christian religion can be constructed. It can be said that the author airs her positions on Catholicism or as a Catholic. if it is to be justly assumed that the author intended for the household to be a Catholic one. and as such. an ideal one. by the virtuousness that it patterns the really deeds that are attendant to the philosophies and tenet of the Catholic church. The ends of the author Similarly. this means that the ends of the author every bit far as faith is concerned. are non explicitly spelled out. On the contrary. the beliefs that the author wants to convey are carried out throughout the essay by Mr. Maury’s household and kinsmen. Therefore. this means that the ideals and sacraments of faith ( or Catholicism ) are clearly fulfilled in household life. Through the portraiture of Mr. Maury’s household life. the subjects of human life ( an of import aspect of Christian or and Catholic anthropology ) are clearly divulged upon. For case. it is through Mr. Maury’s household dealingss with its members that subjects such as success. difficult work. love for one another. bias. aging. dotage. among others are brought to the bow. Carilus ( 2005 ) postulates that since. â€Å"the overall message of Christianity ( of which the Catholic Church is mainstream ) is love. the household can be said to be normal or average† ( 90 ) . While it shows a batch of love and understanding for its household members ( Mr. Maury ) . yet it portrays some incompatibility. courtesy of the fact that it exhibits racial bias against the black race. This is clearly seen by the fact that it refers to this race by utilizing a derogatory word. â€Å"Ni**a† . However. more incompatibility on the side of the writer is besides evidenced by the author. given the fact that she portrays the household as an ideal one. one that allows a black retainer to dine with it on one manus. while on the other manus. the household at times is seen to utilize acerb linguistic communication on the same race it welcomes at the tabular array. The meeting of the subjects From the reading experience. I can non state that the subjects have been clearly met. and particularly if the subject were meant to convey the particulars of Catholicism. This is because. the really patterns that are observed by Mr. Maury’s household cut across all faiths and Christian denominations. As a affair of fact. constructs such as familial love pervade faith such it is about natural to love members of the household. Therefore. there can be no stating that the author is successful in portraying an ideal household in the eyes of the Catholic tradition. Literary devices and subjects that have been used in the essay There are assorted devices and literary accomplishments that have been put to utilize by Caroline Gordon as the writer of the book. Dominant among this is the usage of direct looks or direct address. A direct address that betrays the racial bias in this household is â€Å"†¦You can larn something from these niggers†¦ you merely need to cognize how to manage them well† . This literary device tallies along the full plot line and is usually used by all literary artistes because it usually has an consequence of lighten uping the full narrative. At the same clip. it is through the usage of direct address that the author gets the ability to uncover the attitudes and sensitivities of all the characters presented in the book. The other literary device that Caroline Gordon as the literary artiste uses is flashback. It is through flashback that readers get to larn that Mr. Maury developed complications in his leg when coming from a hunting fling. At the same clip. it is through these flashbacks that it is possible to larn that Maury was in his hey yearss a university professor. and that Mr. Maury was non merely a lover of runing. a effort that he carried out during his leisure clip. but that he was a good huntsman himself as good. All these literary devices are usually used so as to maintain the reader on class with the subject in the plot line ( Weatherford 199 ) . Conflicts between religious and artistic ends There are serious struggles that exist in this Caroline Gordon’s work. These disparities stem and stand on the footing that the author writes with her will flex towards run intoing religious subjects or subjects that are kindred to Catholicism and its instruction in one terminal. In the other terminal. the artiste intends to portray in an expressed mode. the very underpinnings of life. However. given the fact that faith and positive spiritualty has its demands and claims to norms and criterions for the disciples every bit far as lifestyle and address is concerned. it is expected that any author who pledges commitment to spiritualty or a certain faith. maintain up to the criterions and to adhere by the tenet thereof. These struggles are best depicted by the fact that Caroline Gordon desires intensely to uncover the really crisp stabs of the divide and the bias that exists between or / among races. To this consequence. it behooves Caroline Gordon as a Christian and a Catholic for this affair. to utilize strong words such as â€Å"Ni**a† . These words are non merely considered as transporting racial undertones against the black race. but at the same clip. the words are graded as curses and as such. are classified with the â€Å"F† and â€Å"B† words as profanities. A expression at any conventional or standardised lexicons refer to the above phrases as derogatory and tabu words. yet Caroline Gordon uses the â€Å"N† word. Leenhouts ( 2001 ) says that â€Å"although others may wax polemical. stating that Caroline Gordon’s employment of this word is innocently or immorally motivated by the purpose of painting the existent and clear image. yet. critics remain clear of the affair stating that even the Bible. the Holy Book that Christians and Catholics uphold as God’s inspired word anathematizes the dabbling with these words† ( 121 ) . To this consequence. Christians are expected to hold address that is seasoned and graceful. Based on the above affair of linguistic communication art. and decency. the work of Caroline Fergusson Gordon has been found by many as violative on two counts. The first count is that the work is easy passed on by the black race as racialist sentiments. This state of affairs is festered by the fact that Caroline Gordon herself is of the white race. Even the likeability of there being a possibility of Caroline Gordon utilizing the â€Å"N† word immorally to vividly paint racism is brushed off by the black race as a instance of utilizing the cloak of poetic licence to cover maliciousness. On the 2nd count. there are readers who have the leaning to go through on the book as being coarse in linguistic communication on evidences of Christianity ( or Catholicism ) or spiritualty. This because words that are counted as curses are ever associated as debased. immoral and indecent. The opposite consequence on a reader There are bound to be opposite effects on the readers or the general potency readers as a recoil towards the linguistic communication as an artistic device that is put in employment by Caroline Gordon. This recoil is foremost pegged on the fact that there is ever a strong filial inherent aptitude that exists among people of the same race. It is based on this that a racialist slur directed towards a mere person can direct the whole race in the full Earth protesting. The black race is hence likely to eschew the book and to reprobate it as being racially bellicose. Personally. I do non like reading books that contain indecorous and racially polarized undertones. Conversely. it offends as a Christian that a fellow Christian or a Catholic for this affair can utilize derogative words against a fellow brother for whatever ground. This puts off. given the fact that the Earth in its entireness is working towards planetary coherence and integrity. Soon. books such as these have no topographic point in the rational universe. given the fact that they are denied the chances of being school set books. based on the extremely dissentious subject of racism. As a reader who has carried out extended research and group treatment on the book. it is non surprising that I have encountered a figure of people who have given their sentiments against the book. on counts of the derogative term. Although the writer. Caroline Gordon might hold harbored baronial purposes. yet. the usage of the word has evidently put a negative consequence on the readers. and particularly readers who are socially witting. However. it is of import to observe that there are those who acclaim the book as positively stark in nature across all the racial divides. This group posits that it is because of the extremist usage of words that the society is slapped in the face into a province of world that surrounds it. Decision That Caroline Gordon’s work is a work piece that the full universe of literature can showcase is a fact that can non be repudiated. This is more so because beneath the normal defects that shroud the book. the writer. Caroline Gordon shows a batch of accomplishments by demoing the ability to utilize a individual household to reflect on the affairs that underlie human life and religious or Christian or Catholic subjects. Plants cited Carilus. Joseph. Literary unfavorable judgment: A comprehensive usher. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2005. Leenhouts. Anna. History and literature. New York: Prentice Hall. 2002. Weatherford. Doris. American adult females in literature. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 200