America is a Nation of Paradoxes

America as I knew it is a nation built upon a strong moral code and unquestionable patriotism, but I have always been interested in finding out the origins of these understandings and uncovering the truth behind the culture and perspectives that are present in society today. America is a complex web of culture, history and opinions; issues and people within the nation are widely debated and often criticised. Despite the plethora of analysis and criticism of and against America, going into this unit I was excited to learn more, especially about the influences on the great American thinkers.  

In high school I gained a general knowledge of American culture and I understood the ‘founding fathers’ of American literary history through analysing the works of American authors and poets. I had heard the names of Mark Twain and Emily Dickinson; however I never had considered their stories and the external or internal influences that could have shaped their work.

In the first weeks of the semester I was persistently grappling with the concept of transcendentalism. I struggled with understanding the terminology and language despite thoroughly enjoying the readings from Thoreau and Emerson. After my week three tutorial, I decided to reread ‘Nature’, and it all became so clear to me. Reading the essay without the pressure of understanding every concept, rather, just reading it leisurely; all the cogs started turning and never stopped. My favourite weeks were the Native American writer and the modernism lectures, I really enjoyed learning about the Native Americans because it was a group of people I hadn’t really learnt much about before, therefore understanding their true history through stories and poetry, specifically the “Soft Hearted Sioux” really made me empathise with their culture and traditions. Moreover, the modernism topic was very interesting as I had already studied the likes of Virginia Woolf in a comparative study of modernism and post modernism high school; however I valued learning how modernism and the other “isms” in conjunction with the jazz and abstract dada movement shaped a whole time period of visceral thinkers, writers and composers. Indeed, both weeks I could analyse links to Emerson’s thinking, as the sympathies to mother earth and natural values are present in both movements, which makes them even more paramount in the quest to uncover America as a paradox. 

Each tutorial and lecture I would really attempt to understand the concepts but through the less formalised conversations and reflections, I gained genuine understandings and insights. Thus, through grappling with these concepts and topics it was really refreshing to be stimulated once again and engage in a creative and critical way through the blogging system.

I thoroughly enjoyed blogging this semester, and whether I was creating poetry and prose or critically analysing works of great writers and theorists, I felt like I was learning more and more about the contexts they were written in, and what kind of lives the authors lived. For example, the anti-societal sentiment and counter cultural movement that was the BEAT Generation became much clearer to me after I attempted a short story titled Sweet Confectionary, which ironically critiques the values of materialism and consumerism at the time. Moreover, the critical blogs allowed me to delve deeper into the minds and contextual values of key figures in American literature, like Mina Loy and her feminist Manifesto, not only did this blog test my analytical skills, I was able to make a intelligent subjective conclusion about her work. 

This semester has given me the tools to analyse America as a paradox and given me the understanding that there is no need to ‘solve’ it, rather just enjoy the process.