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Katy Jendrzey

Cooper

English 5th

16 November 2017

Written in the Signs

In the chaos to structure the new American nation, many different impactful pieces of

literature and historical events spurred out of the 19th century. Transcendental and Gothic

Romantic artistic expression became widespread as a refutation of the traditional religions and

beliefs that were present during the Antebellum time period. Additionally, with the growing

population of citizens in the United States, the need for westward expansion and disapproval of

the Native population created a desire to force tribes such as the Cherokee to be relocated to new

land. Combining elements from Gothic Romanticism and the history of Native Americans, I

developed connections using examples from Poe’s literature and the removal of Native American

tribes with the dominant motif being signs and omens.

The idea of signs and omens is apparent in the removal of indigenous tribes in the early

19th century. Americans repetitively going back on their promises (treaties) forewarned their

eventual betrayal towards the native population. In the 1820s and 1830s, Andrew Jackson

believed that in order to expand westward, the natives would have to give up their land because

of the cultural differences between American society and the indigenous ways of life. For this,

Jackson created the Indian Removal Act of 1830, an ordinance that allowed an exchange to be

made between him and the natives so that he could gain control of nearby land. Jackson began

targeting different indigenous groups to help grow the American nation. He slowly established

negative relations towards many different tribes, showing signs of the harm he would eventually
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cause towards their population. In the Carolinas, the Chickasaw Tribe’s land was “put on sale,

although the Chickasaws were among the few Indian tribes fighting on the side of the

Revolution, and a treaty had been signed with them guaranteeing their land” (Zinn). The

Cherokees were promised protection for fighting alongside the Americans against natives, and

then soon later lost it as America’s want for more land grew. Similar situations occurred for

many different tribes in North America. This endless cycle of betrayal persisted, with new

treaties being made to replace old and violated ones. The constant renewal of treaties became

additional signs that the natives would continue losing land. Native populations began to protest

against the disregard for the treaties, but most did not break their beliefs of non-violence. Finally,

“it was declared that the Creek nation [amongst other tribal nations], by making ‘war’, had

forfeited its treaty rights” finally giving Americans a justification to forcefully evict the native

population (Zinn). Tension between the natives and the Americans resulted in the Trail of Tears,

a pathway taken by the tribes to reach their new given land, run by the government. Death,

illness, depression, and insanity traveled alongside the natives as they unwillingly deserted the

only lands they had ever known. Promises of protection and treaties being repeatedly eradicated

produced symbolism representing signs and omens, seeing as the Americans showing deceitful

actions and values foretold a chance of violence and war towards the natives. This was especially

apparent when the Americans were at war with other native tribes and the Cherokee did not

consider the possibility that they could be targeted alongside them, despite the prejudice towards

the natives being evidently racially influenced. Signs and omens is an underlying element, and in

the case of the relocation of the natives, there was a disregard of the signs that would have

helped natives realize the power that Americans had to overthrow their society. If the natives

would have seen the signs and omens brought on by the American government, they could have
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possibly began fighting back for what was theirs rightfully, or avoided many unfair agreements

and manipulative treaties that they unknowingly accepted.

Some of the most interesting and insightful literary styles came out of the 19th century,

such as Transcendentalist and Gothic writings. These styles were created to go against the

traditional Puritan beliefs. Gothic literature focused on darker themes, and many excerpts contain

symbolism towards signs and omens. One famous author known for his gothic writings was

Edgar Allen Poe. In his short story “The Black Cat”, Poe tells of a man who takes in a black cat

named Pluto that creates all sorts of chaos and instills guilt and eventual insanity in the man. He

kills the cat, his house sets on fire, and the cat begins to haunt his thoughts and motives. The

black cat itself is an obvious superstitious symbol and is used to forewarn the supernatural

occurrences. Weirdly, Pluto does not show any hatred or strangeness while he is still alive. The

speaker’s wife even believes herself that Pluto connects to “the ancient popular notion [that]

regarded all black cats as witches in disguise”, but the speaker chooses to ignore his wife’s input

in favor of the relationship he had with his cat (Poe). The speaker continues to degrade as a

person, as he slowly becomes an alcoholic and lashes out on the cat himself. The superstitious

role that the black cat plays in both this story and old folklore symbolizes the bad omens that

these mythical beliefs can bring onto someone through ignorance. Through the ideas of signs and

omens, this story communicates that following common belief and others’ warnings is necessary

to keep from straying into the dark.

Poe’s poetry also symbolizes the ideas of signs and omens, two famous poems being

“The Raven” and “The Lake”. In “The Raven”, the connections come from the Raven’s

character. The raven represents the harsh and emotional truth in the speaker’s mind, and the

speaker himself represents the unrealistic side of his mind that does not want to accept reality (of
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his love’s death). Poe says that the raven remains seated by the speaker to this day, a reminder of

a still unaccepted death of a loved one, and even claims that the raven has “eyes [that] have all

the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming” (Poe). Connecting the raven to a demon shows the

relationship between truthful omens and a negative reality. The connection between the two can

be made because Poe implies that following reality rather than following common superstition

and belief can ingrain demonic traits in society. This further emphasizes Poe’s viewpoint of

believing in common knowledge and recognizing signs to change your future before it’s too late.

“The Lake” is another example of Poe’s use of signs and omens in literature. The speaker

of the poem is communicating an idea of pleasure through loneliness to the audience as the

overall theme of the poem. The character of the “wave” in The Lake is described as poisonous,

deadly, and the speaker says that “in its gulf [is] a fitting grave” (Poe). By being washed over the

wave, it creates solitude for the speaker and removes any aspect of communication and society.

Through this, Poe is communicating that the wave represents the loneliness in the poem forced

on the speaker. Water is typically a portrayal of rebirth, life, and cleansing, but Poe twists the

meaning of the wave by depicting danger and toxins. At the end of the poem, Poe writes “whose

solitary soul could make / An Eden of that dim lake”. Eden represents finding paradise in

solitude, an allusion to the Garden of Eden, and the speaker knows that where he appreciates

solitude and isolation others feel disgust towards it. Paradise in the Garden of Eden is also a

religious symbol as it refers to being with God and in holiness, but Poe creates an opposite effect

by communicating to the audience that loneliness is paradise as well, and reverses the religious

connotation that comes with the Garden of Eden. The reversal of loneliness connecting with

paradise rather than a connection between community and paradise is Poe’s way of using more

symbolism within his writing to show darker ideas.

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For the artifact portion of my project, I created tarot cards based off characters in Edgar

Allen Poe’s works and ideas behind the Native American removal. I attempted to make them as

accurate as possible by matching the true meaning of each card to figures and events that could

fit each card’s symbolization. I ended up having to change a few of the cards’ meanings because

not all of them perfectly fit the characterization and I wanted more gothic influence. I also had to

lower the amount of cards I made, because a typical deck consists of 78 cards and I wrote

extensive connections and interpretations for each card. I made 13 cards in total, 7 fitting the

history category and 6 in English. Each card has a brief explanation of what the

event/character/idea is, an analysis as to why I connected the subject to the original card, the

symbolization of each card, and what drawing the card means to your future. I created cards that

represented things like superstition as seen in “The Black Cat”, the Wave’s poison from “The

Lake”, the “Fertile Lands” of the Native Americans, and more ideas from the Native American

relocation and Poe’s literary work to fit the meaning of each card. For example, my “Relocation”

card connected to the original High Priestess card because of the natives’ feminization of their

land in the way that the High Priestess card represents the femininity of male personality. My

“Black Cat” card replaced the Wheel of Fortune card in the connection between the superstition

of a black cat and the luck of a wheel of fortune. I decided that tarot cards would be the best

creative option for my project because tarot cards themselves are used to predict the future and

underlying aspects of your life that need awareness, and additionally connect to my signs and

omens motif. It was also really interesting to read up on each card and find a connection through

literature and history. There are more details about each specific card in the written portion of

my artifact.
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Through Gothic literature and the Native American removal, signs and omens are a very

present and hidden aspect of literature, history, and even your everyday life. Signs and omens are

not just about awareness, they’re about how reading into potential foreshadowing can steer you

away from danger, depression, or insanity. In historical events and Gothic writings depicting

signs and omens, it is not just the presence of them but the ignorance of their existence that can

lead someone to stray from tranquility.

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Works Cited

Zinn, Howard. “As Long As Grass Grows Or Water Runs”. A People’s History of the United

States, historyisaweapon, 2009,

http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinnasl7.html.

Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Black Cat”. 1845. Poe Stories, 2017,

https://poestories.com/read/blackcat

———. “The Raven”. 1845. Poetry Foundation, 2017,

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48860/the-raven

———. “The Lake”. 1827. Poetry Archive, 2002,

http://www.poetry-archive.com/p/the_lake.html#