Abstract This paper is a character analysis of Steffler's main character in "The Afterlife of George Cartwright". It focuses on the character's traits of unloving, wild, a corruptor and himself corrupted and how they change within the novel. Cartwright begins as a just young man in the army and becomes what he had always hated, a true corruptor of society.
From the Paper "When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters" (Hemingway, 95). Steffler achieves the creation of a person in the character of George Cartwright by blending numerous personality traits. These traits can be both pleasant, and upsetting, and either creates distance or closeness between Cartwright and the other characters. In order to make the character more realistic Steffler creates a progression in some of these traits, to create the illusion of growth in Cartwright over the span of his lifetime. Paradoxically, everything Cartwright claims to hate he later embodies. This is not entirely of his accord; his early years in the army set up his adult characteristics. His development is from a man of pride and ambition, although rough and rugged, to an uncivilized corruptor of native society. His pride and ambition are spoiled when he realizes that it is wealth that buys you promotions in the army and not skill or hard work. He grows to become the man Steffler portrays as unloving, wild, and as both corrupted and as a corruptor. "
This paper analyzes the issue of slavery by focusing on the perspectives of a black slave woman, Harriet Jacobs and a white male preacher, Peter Cartwright.
Abstract This paper examines the differences in gender, race and social roles in 19th century American society that created the differing viewpoints of both Jacobs and Cartwright in opposing black slavery. In Jacob's autobiography, "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," the author delves into her own personal account of what slavery had been for black women like her. Cartwright's "Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, Backwoods Preacher" illustrates his own perception of slavery through the eyes of a white American male. The writer contends and explains that while both authors were vehemently opposed to slavery, the two had very different opinions as to why slavery should be abolished. For Jacobs, slavery was a detriment to her life because she experienced sexual vulnerability and abuse whereas Cartwright considered the practice wrong due to the moral degeneration that occurred with the proliferation of adultery and unexpected pregnancies among black women slaves by their white masters.
From the Paper "This paper posits that Jacobs and Cartwright's narratives about their opposition and experiences of black slavery reflect that despite their agreement on the detriments of this practice, both have different opinions about the 'wrongness' of black slavery. That is, for Jacobs, black slavery was a detriment to her life because she experienced sexual vulnerability and abuse, while Cartwright considered the practice immoral because of the moral degeneration that occurred with the proliferation of adultery and unexpected pregnancies among black women slaves by white American males. In "Incidents," Jacobs narrated her account of slavery based on her experience as a slave of a family in South Carolina."
Tags: slavery, literature, perception, american, history
Abstract The paper examines Dr. Frederick Cartwright's exploration into the psychological nature of diseases as presented in his work, "Disease and History", and discusses how Cartwright explores many famous diseases and how they came to be such phenomena in history. The paper relates that Cartwright chooses topics that directly affect the brain while he also emphasizes the connection between culture and disease. The paper praises several aspects of the book and asserts that although much its information and research is a few decades old, its philosophical concepts still hold true today.
From the Paper "Doctor Frederick Cartwright began the project that became Disease and History in 1969 in an effort to solve many questions he had on the effect of disease on the passage of history. He worked with history professor Michael Biddis of Cambridge in the production of the book. Cartwright has done extensive research in the area of disease with a uniquely anthropological approach, incorporating his understanding of sociology in his theories about disease in history. Cartwright is now the head of the department of History of Medicine at King's College Hospital in London. The theme of the book can be found in his focus on psychosomatic diseases."
Abstract This six-page undergraduate academic paper examines and analyzes the themes of building or unbuilding personality in English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem, "Ode to the West Wind," and Canadian author and poet John Steffler's first novel, "The Afterlife of George Cartwright.
An examination of three documents from the Antebellum era (1820 to the beginning of the Civil War in 1865), which present the social, as well as legal, perspective that slavery was beneficial.
Abstract This paper summarizes three documents, which explain the social and political feelings of this era. It shows that the first is an article by a prominent doctor, Dr. Samuel Cartwright, entitled, "Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race". It was his purpose to validate the ownership of slaves as a means of providing shelter and industry to a race handicapped to such a degree that it could not prosper on its own. It then explains that the second document is the opinion of Justice Taney in the "Dred Scott v. Sanford" case of 1857. Here, it is legally determined that blacks of the pre-Civil War era do not have the rights of an American citizen. Finally, it discusses the third document, which is a speech presented to the United States Senate on March 4, 1858, by James Henry Hammond, wherein he argues that the black race is a slave race through natural law. All of these documents were written in the belief that slavery was a legitimate social institution based on the inferiority of the black race.
From the Paper "The Southern plantation system was socially and economically dependent on slave labor to continue. The chattel slave was owned and had absolutely no rights, including the right to life, that was not controlled by the owner. The plantation owners did not consider slave labor to be 'free' inasmuch as the care and upkeep of the slaves was their responsibility.
In the 1840's a physician, Samuel Cartwright, created a psychiatric diagnosis called "drapetomania? that was specific to slaves - most notably found among freed slaves. The disorder was characterized by "a partial insensibility of the skin, and so great a hebetude of the intellectual faculties, as to be like a person half asleep, that is with difficulty aroused and kept awake. It differs from every other species of mental disease, as it is accompanied with physical signs or lesions of the body discoverable to the medical observer, which are always present and sufficient to account for the symptoms" (Internet source). The diagnosis is, of course, specific to the times. It was a way that the institute of slavery could be rationalized - by 'blaming the victim' - for the natural reactions to an unnatural situation."
Abstract The game of baseball has been the calling card of American sports almost since its inception as a team game. This paper looks at the history of baseball, from its beginnings as a casual game called rounders, through its establishment as a game with rules by Alexander Cartwright in 1845 until the first official game in 1846 between the "New York Nine" and the "Knickerbockers". The paper discusses the leagues, teams and clubs which grew in response to the growing popularity of the sport. Finally, the paper shows how baseball has evolved and changed within American history.
From the Paper "What Spaulding had to say reminds the American historian that the game became a proving ground for national heroes as it went through changes and developments that coincided with the national agenda and culture. It went through WWII when there were few male players around to play and to fill in the fan base the women's league was started and toured the country to a growing fan base. (AAGPBL website 1996) Baseball went through the civil rights era and could be one of the first places where blacks were publicly integrated with whites. (White 1995) Even today baseball continues to evolve as it begins to change to meet the new fan base of today's America."
Tags: Town, Ball, Abner, Doubleday, Elysian, Field
