Why can't he figure it out?

WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG FOR CAPTAIN DELANO TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IS GOING ON?

He is obviously naive and very trusting. He is liberal minded and wants to
see the best in everyone, even the slaves. That much is obvious from
the text. But he has numerous clues... the gorgon knot, the shaving
incident, and the incident with the two boys! What exactly is Melville
saying about NewEnglanders? :) Well I think that he is commenting on the innocence and naivety of New England as a whole. He is SO bad at reading people! He compliments Babo for being so faithful to his master, yet it turns out that Babo is the mastermind behind a murderous plot.

Here is what I think. Delano is blind to the idea that the blacks on the ship are intellegent. The admiration that Delano voices for Babo and the others is but a shade for the real racism that is rooted within him. He compares Babo to a "shepherd's dog," and the entire group of slaves are Benito's "little black sheep." So he is a racist masked by his liberal, trusting attitude.

Goodman Brown

Young Goodman Brown is set in the middle of Puritan rigidity to show the audience the consequences of such a system of belief. The Young Goodman Brown is obviously going through what the Puritan’s called a “conversion,” and he is seeing all of these people who he thought were truly converted themselves, and who seem to be good Puritan men and women, showing their true colors. Goodman Brown himself is literally walking with the devil toward his own spiritual crisis, passing through trials of the devil until the betrayal of his faith, symbolized by his new wife of the same name, crushes his will to turn the devil away. His faith has, until this critical point, been straightforward, innocent and untested. His young wife’s pink ribbons are a symbol of innocence, and they are discarded just before Brown’s reluctant acceptance of the darkness within himself. Where does Brown’s sin lie? According to the Puritans all men are born with sin. Brown obviously judges everyone that he meets along his journey, whether correctly or not we do not know. But rather than focusing on his own personal sins and problems he focuses on those of others.

When I read this story for the second time I questioned why then his wife Faith is involved in helping him TO sin. This is where I could be stretching it a bit.  The only answer based on what I know of Puritan values is that perhaps Goodman Brown, as a newlywed, was feeling guilty for enjoying the new sexual relationship he had with his wife. I see Faith having a double meaning, as being Brown’s wife, and symbolizing this new relationship to sin and marriage, AND as being used to symbolize his loss of faith and his giving in to this sin. His journey through the woods then symbolizes his fight against these feelings. He finds, then, that he is not the only one to face these troubles. Goody Cloyse seems to a good relationship with the devil herself, and I find it a bit odd that she taught Goodman Brown his “catechism,” as I thought that women were not allowed to teach such things as pertained to the church. And after all, Hawthorne does say, “there was a world of meaning in this simple comment.” Could this mean that Goody Cloyse was adulterous? As well as the other women mentioned in the story?

Meagre's Speech

At several places in this speech there are hints of Warren's interference into the thoughts and words of her character in order to poke fun at the Tories. Meagre does not speak as a Tory would have. He says that he hates the colonists, which is of course realistic as to what a Tory might have said, but he speaks of their stand as "noble," and their efforts as "generous," and sets them up as the defenders of an "injured country" against the "oppressors." The injured country is America, and the oppressors are the British, whom a Tory would support. This speech is unrealistic, no Tory would say those things about the colonists, and that makes the speech humorous.

Also, Warren brings to light with this speech that the Tories are not to be trusted. Meagre speaks of trying to bribe the senate, but the attempt was a failure. Warren is obviously poking fun at the incompetence of this attempt, as well as the attempt of the Tories to deceive the people, who "see through the schemes of our aspiring clan." Meagre even tell his audience that his mind is "venomed."

Byrd's Ignorance

We spoke of the ignorance of Byrd in class on Wednesday, in particular, to what degree he is ignorant, and to what degree he is sarcastic when dealing and speaking about the Native Americans. At the time I agreed with the side of the room which though him much more sarcastic than ignorant. But there are several instances in the text where he displays his ignorance in fine form. When he speaks of the division of labor among Native American families, he scorns the men for being idle. He takes no pains to learn their customs and traditions. He assumes that because in Europe hunting is only for sport, that for the Native Americans it is also a laid back activity. That of course, is not true. The division of labor for the Native Americans was simply different than the homemaker-breadwinner society of the British. The tasks that the Indians saw as feminine were often seen as work for men by the English. The Indian women, termed “poor women” by Byrd, while treasured by their men, were very hard working and provided their families with most of their diet. Hunting and fishing were not “gentlemanly diversions” for the Native Americans, but an important way of life, and a means of substance. Native Americans did not raise livestock, so they needed to hunt and fish in order to have fresh meat for their tables.

He also speaks of the Native women’s custom of sleeping with many men before the time of her marriage. He does understand this custom, but still seems to view it as a heathen practice. So although it seems that Byrd may be trying dispel and make fun of some of the stereotypes that Europeans had concerning the Native Americans, there are definite flaws in his understanding of their customs and ways of life. Ultimately it becomes obvious that he does not understands, and has made no effort to understand why the Indians do things differently, he just chalks it up to their being savage, and not Christian. We read that those Natives who are schooled in Christianity from a young age are sent home, and “immediately relapse into infidelity and barbarianism.” The Indians cannot be both Christian, and keep their customs, in the eyes of Byrd and Europe, so it is a "failure" to convert them, and to teach them.

Edward's Piece

I was very interested by Edward's distinction between the different kinds of spiritual light. Having knowledge from the Father means to "know the truth," as Simon Peter does. Knowledge from the Father is higher than any other, Edwards tells his congregation. There is a definite distinction, for Edwards, between the "light," or knowledge which comes directly from the Father, in the form of revelation, and the light or knowledge that comes from secondary source is very different. We are also informed that God is still responsible for conveying the latter type of knowledge through secondary sources "by the power and influence of natural means."

Edwards also makes an interesting distinction between having a sense of something and holding an opinion about that same thing. He says that a person can have an opinion about something by having knowledge of its existence. However, to possess such knowledge one does not have to have individual experience or even have ever seen the object. To truly have a sense of something, a "sense of the heart," one must have experienced and be able to appreciate what it is. Therefore one can have the opinion that Christ is holy and gracious by knowing the doctrine. But to have discovered "the divine excellency of Christian doctrines", is infinitely better and is the result of the Holy Spirit's divine influence.

By Way of Introduction

HI! My name is Maghen, I am from a little county called Caswell near the border of Virginia. There is no city where I live, in fact we only boast two traffic lights and one McDonalds. I grew up on something you might call a farm, bottlefeeding calves and playing all sorts of sports.

I LOVE Carolina sports, go to every game I can manage, and play intramurals wherever I can fit them in. I also love children and work part-time near RDU in Morrisville at RightTimeKIDS, a drop-in center.

I am taking this course because I love to read, and it supports my English major. I do not really enjoy poetry, but I am looking forward to the prose pieces on our syllabus. See you in class!