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Dark Side Essay
Dark Side Essay
Dark Side Essay
With The United States progressing and growing in both size and population, many
different ideas and morals grew and were expressed. With this came literary movements such as
Gothic Romanticism. This form of writing expressed certain dark ideals such as rationality vs.
irrationality. Writers like Edgar Allen Poe and Washington Irving used this ideal to express
unknown truths in the world and society. The specific motif of rational vs. irrational was
highlighted in certain aspects of history like the forced movement of Native Americans westward
and its impact on natives’ way of life. We showcased both the historical and literary connection
Ever since the Europeans began settling North America, Native American tribes were
pushed out of their territory and forced to move west. This was only accentuated when the
United States won its independence. Elliot West in his essay on the Indian Removal Act
describes how “between 1810 and 1820 Ohio’s white population grew by more than
two-and-a-half times from around 230,000 persons to 581,000, while Alabama’s swelled by an
astounding 1300 percent, from roughly 9,000 to more than 128,000.” This immense population
growth created a dilemma for the federal government. Prior treaties secured Natives’ rights to
their land, but the United States needed more land for all the new people (West). Washington,
and later Jefferson, solved this issue by deciding to integrate the natives into American culture
(language, way of life, religion, etc.) and all those who could not conform would be pushed to
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move (West). In 1830, President Jackson decided this was not enough (the population was
growing too much and Southern states were pressing for the federal government to do
something) and he passed the Indian Removal Act (West). This act stated that it was “lawful for
the President to exchange any or all... districts [west of the Mississippi]... with any tribe or
nation of Indians now residing within the limits of any of the states or territories.” This is where
the Gothic motif of irrationality versus rationality begins to show up. Native tribes were forced to
make a decision on whether to stay and defend their land or abandon their territory to the whites.
Moving their settlement west of the Mississippi River seemed like an irrational decision to most
tribes; why should they give up the land they had settled first to move to a territory they knew
nothing about? Additionally, most tribes had adopted the whites’ culture (as Washington and
Jefferson had encouraged them to do), so the idea of yet again having to adjust to a new way of
life was absurd. On top of all this, tribes new to the area often ended up fighting with the tribes
that already resided west of the Mississippi (West). Therefore, for most native tribes staying
In Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “The Raven”, the theme of rationality vs. irrationality is
highlighted tremendously. Poe’s development of the raven in the piece signifies a distinct
irrational concept that is continuously questioned. The Raven is about losing a loved one and
having rational vs. irrational thoughts and behaviors. The narrator and the raven create a
relationship that, in the end, makes the narrator go crazy. In the beginning, the narrator has a
rational outlook, but as he starts asking the raven questions and the raven only says “nevermore,”
the narrator slowly begins to exemplify irrational thoughts and qualities. “‘Prophet!’ [say] I,
‘thing of evil—prophet still, if bird or devil! By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God
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we both adore— Tell this soul with sorrow laden if... Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the
angels name Lenore. Quoth the Raven ‘Nevermore’’” (Poe 15-16). This excerpt from “The
Raven” identifies the roles played by the raven and the narrator and that the narrator is creating a
sense of false hope due to the fact that the raven doesn’t say anything other than “nevermore.”
This shows that the narrator makes himself irrational because he asks questions to which he
subconsciously already knows the raven’s answer. This highlights the idea that false hope can
Another literary work where the motif of irrational versus rational is demonstrated is in
Washington Irving’s "The Devil and Tom Walker". In this short story, the character of Tom
Walker decides to make a deal with the devil that will make him a rich man. He has the choice to
not make the deal and continue living his ordinary life (the rational, scientific world that he
knows) or go ahead and make the deal with the devil, who represents the irrational, supernatural
world, and become rich. Although Tom does become one of the most wealthy men in Boston as
a usurer after making the deal, he is driven mad in old age as he fears he will be cursed in the
afterlife. In the end, Tom says “‘The devil take me,... if I have made a farthing!’" because he
refuses to take any more undeserved money from his friend who is struggling financially,
spurring the devil to come (Irving 665). At this point, “The [devil] whisk[s] him like a child into
the saddle, [gives] the horse the lash, and away he [gallops], with Tom on his back, in the midst
of the thunder-storm” (Irving 666). Tom is taken to the irrational world of Hell after not
upholding to his end of his deal when he makes the rational decision to refuse taking more
The movement of natives westward was a traumatic experience that killed many and
forced changes in their way of life forever. The idea of rationality vs. irrationality is a common
trend that continued throughout history involving natives and appeared in writings during the
time such as “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe and "The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington
Irving. We express this motif in a poster that represents the Indian Removal Act. Andrew
Jackson is throwing Natives across the Mississippi River to a prescribed Indian territory. This
showcases how natives had little say in what happened to them. We made the new Indian
territory dark red to symbolize it as evil and devilish which is a characteristic of the irrational
world shown in both “The Raven” with the idea that even the most rational can become irrational
when in a state of uncertainty and "The Devil and Tom Walker" because Tom chooses the world
of the devil. This is what we characterize as the irrational portion of the motif because moving
Natives with all different cultures into one small reserve is unthinkable. It’s also the unknown
area that the natives migrating there knows anything about. It’s unnatural and unheard of. The
rest of the country is green to represent the rational, good resources and the safety that it has.
People know about that part of the country and so there’s nothing that makes people unsteady,
unlike the area that the Natives had to move to. The green also symbolizes the resources that the
natives had and the society that they built up. It represents their home that has now been taken
away from them by settlers and government. We express the unfairness of the situation using
opposing words like “Security” and “Unknown” to give a better understanding of the drastic
Ultimately, motifs found in literature, such as the Gothic motif of irrationality versus
rationality, can often be applied to historical events. We saw this motif in the Indian Removal
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Act; Natives could either make the rational choice to defend their territory where they had
developed a culture and knew the land, or make the irrational choice of moving into “Indian
territory” west of the Mississippi - an area they knew nothing about. Additionally, we researched
this motif in various Gothic literary texts, including “The Raven” and "The Devil and Tom
oth of theses texts show a character being driven mad by something in the irrational
Walker". B
world. Finally, our poster demonstrates our motif by connecting the history of the Indian
Works Cited
Irving, Washington. “The Devil and Tom Walker." 1824. Tales of a Traveller, pp. 655-667,
https://loa-shared.s3.amazonaws.com/static/pdf/Irving_Devil_Tom
Jackson, Andrew et al. “The Indian Removal Act.” May 28, 1830, Vincent Ferraro, Mount
oe
Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Raven.” September 25, 1849, Richmond Semi-Weekly Examiner, P
Oct 2018.
West, Elliot. “The Indian Removal Act.” Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History, 2009,