Curiosity, Turmoil and the Imagination

Throughout the semester, the thematic styles have changed very much through the texts we have read, but my personal favorite theme would have be an overcoming of turmoil. The difficulties of living in Britain in the time periods we focused on, while developing continually throughout the years, are still difficult to say the least. It is this ability to overcome turmoil and troubled times that are seem in every piece of writing we have studied that stands out as an important part of the growth of British literature. In the beginning of the semester when the focus was on the gothic, these were times for overcoming of many different times of trouble, as in the Castle of Otranto. Between the expansion of the British Empire, and the discovery of new territories, the expansion was not only of land, but also of the human mind. People grew curious about the cultures of the new lands we were exploring and the new information about differing societies this brings back to their home, this helped create texts like “The Negro’s Complaint”. This period eventually led us into a time of curiosity about the psychology and composition of the mind, often this lead to the discovery of the mind expanding effects of psychedelic drugs, creating DeQuincey’s “Confessions of an English Opium Eater”. More and more poems and stories become about the darkness the human mind creates when left to its own devises and isolation. The exploration of the human mind became an enormous focus for British authors and texts such as Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, show us the discoveries and the infinite possibilities that exist on the pinpoint of the human imagination. These four texts will be the texts I will focus on because I feel they show the development of British literature through the time periods we studied, but also have similar themes of a protagonist overcoming turmoil, whether it be physical, psychological, the creation of a dream world, or simply the effects of the difficulties of navigating a mind under the effects of psychedelic opiates. The growth of the human mind and how we interact through society is always ever changing, but our constant battle to overcome adversity and turmoil will always remain an aspect of our lives no matter how much the world changes.

The first text I want to focus on is the Castle of Otranto. This gothic novel clearly has the classic undertones of gothic themes throughout, with the supernatural, the eerie and darkness, however, I think Walpole was a fantastic job illustrating madness, in a beautifully gothic way. Being considered the first gothic novel, this gives Walpole a lot of freedom to develop the genre in the way he personally sees fit with the time period. Manfred’s inability to overcome his madness that develops from the death of his son plays through the whole book as an illustration of the gothic period’s obsession with the human mind. The expansion of the mind is not something this time period had the scientific capabilities to fully comprehend, so the exploration of it through literature became an outlet for this curiosity. To me, this curiosity of the complexities of life, and our physical abilities to explore it are what differentiate us from the rest of the species on the planet. The exploration of Manfred’s madness helps paint the dark theme of the story, and the difficulties the human mind has of dealing with tragedy and turmoil.

The next text I am interested in talking about is William Cowper’s “The Negro’s Complaint”. This text is a satirical piece written by a white man to help sway the audience’s views on slavery. Ahead of his time, and with a finger on the pulse of the current problems of his society, Cowper’s voice speaks volumes through his ability to use sarcasm and dry wit to illustrate the horrors of the African Slave Trade. As a white man writing from the point of view of a black man, we are also able to transcend the ties of our current status in life and understand the pains of being ripped from your home and sent to live in horrid conditions to work for nothing. The painting Cowper illustrates for us through this poem allows our imaginations to create the image in our minds of how difficult the life of a slave truly is.

“By our blood in Afric wasted
Ere our necks received the chain;
By the miseries that we tasted,
Crossing in your barks the main;
By our sufferings, since ye brought us
To the man-degrading mart,
All sustained by patience, taught us
Only by a broken heart;”

To me, this stanza paints in the image of the prisoner that has been created, and has a no holds barred way of letting the reader feel the guilt very clearly. Cowper held nothing back when trying to create the image that there is guilt to be felt for these peoples’ pains, and that if you are to feel it; you are to feel that you should do something to change this. This makes him a powerful writer and an influential artist and activist for his time.

Now on to my second favorite text of the semester: DeQuincey’s “Confessions of and English Opium Eater”.  This text is fascinating to me because the exploration of the human mind through the use of psychedelic drugs has such an impact on society. We see this through the writings of most authors, through the times of opium dens and the hazy fields and basements of the 1970’s and the even today with the studies showing the amount of influential peace activists, authors and creative minds that use opiates as a portal to the exploration of the mind. When it was time to read this piece, I had just listened to a podcast featuring Dr. Stanley Krippner and his use of science  was very much like DeQuincey’s in the his confessions. DeQuincey paints the pros and cons of the drug for us, and was very methodical and thoughtful in how he was presenting the information to his audience. With psychedelic drugs, because the amount of people who do not use and do not have a full understanding of the benefits and the downfalls, you need to present the information in a way that would not scare the average reader off. This means having your pros be scientific and factual based, not just focused on the “high” feeling you get, but by the knowledge and mind expanding properties you can attain from the experience, and on the flip side, the cons need to presented in a way that explains that, yes, it is a drug, and no, the experience is not always a pretty, clean, and completely enjoyable one. Your mind is full of infinite capabilities and this needs to be understood when exploration of it is concerned. The overcoming of the human mind over the bad effects of an opium trip, though dark, is ultimately overcome by DeQuincey and he is able to clearly move forward to the benefits of the knowledge attained from this drug. The darkness of the mind is often times suppressed, and the ability to access this knowledge that we tuck away to protect our everyday psyche can be painful to see and root through for ourselves, but ultimately it is essential to our growth and development to understand even our dark corners of our brains to be able to see past it to cultivate and grow the goodness.

Now, for my favorite book of the semester, and probably one of my favorite books ever; Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. For me, this was one of the first books I ever can remember reading on my own as a child and thinking about just how much the imagination can really roam. I am fascinated by the fact that imagination has cultivated every single thing we are surrounded with on a day to day basis, and how fertilizing and nourishing our imaginations can create a stronger, interconnected and more cohesive society. To me, this book teaches children to run away with their imaginations because while the world is full of endless beautiful possibilities, our minds can create so much more than we are surrounded with. Alice’s character is the most endearing character we have come across throughout the entire semester. Her social follies and inability to bite her tongue make her relatable to us as imperfect humans, and our journey through this strange world with her makes us feel as if we are her teammates backing her up, wanting her to be able to find her way home through the difficulties she has to navigate. And while this world she is journeying through is beautiful, much like the world we live in and the world in our imaginations, it is often times riddled with darkness and scary things that hide in the corners and wait for our vulnerabilities to show, but as her posse backing her up, we make our way through the dream and make to the real world that is home to Alice.

The ability to use imagination to make our way through turmoil is a powerful tool that children need to be taught to use. While the world is dark at times, much like all four of these texts show, it can be overcome and made into something more beautiful than we have ever seen if we learn to nurture and promote that beauty. Even the darkness in the gothic novels has beauty in the elegance of the time and curiosity it created. Curiosity and imagination are endless providers of safety and beauty for us.