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The Franklin Stereotype: the Spiritual-Secular Gospels of Four

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The Franklin Stereotype: the Spiritual-Secular Gospels of Four THE FRANKLIN STEREOTYPE: THE SPIRITUAL-SECULAR GOSPELS OF FOUR NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN AUTHORS A Dissertation by J.D. ISIP Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University-Commerce in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2015 THE FRANKLIN STEREOTYPE: THE SPIRITUAL-SECULAR GOSPELS OF FOUR NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN AUTHORS A Dissertation by J.D. ISIP Approved by: Advisor: Karen Roggenkamp Committee: Susan Louise Stewart Christopher Thomas Gonzalez Yvonne Villanueva-Russell Head of Department: Hunter Hayes Dean of the College: Salvatore Attardo Dean of Graduate Studies: Arlene Horne iii Copyright © 2015 Jomar Daniel Isip iv ABSTRACT THE FRANKLIN STEREOTYPE: THE SPIRITUAL-SECULAR GOSPELS OF FOUR NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN AUTHORS J.D. Isip, PhD Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2015 Advisor: Karen Roggenkamp, PhD The purpose of this study was to examine the spiritual-secular influences of Benjamin Franklin and his Autobiography found in the selected novels of four nineteenth-century American authors: Fanny Fern’s Ruth Hall, A Domestic Tale of the Present Time; Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and Work, A Story of Experience; Horatio Alger, Jr.’s Ragged Dick or, Street Life in New York with Boot Blacks; and Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Specifically, I examined three areas of influence: navigation of a print market demanding both secular and spiritual plotlines; creation of “secular saints” who borrow spiritual iconography for secular journeys and goals; and the dissemination of “secular gospels” or social change messages couched in religious language. These areas of influence form what I call the Franklin Stereotype. I argue that these nineteenth-century authors take up Franklin’s stereotype in order to take advantage of a seemingly divided market. Like Franklin, these authors do not see a divide between the spiritual and the secular; they do not see a difference between the religious or the capitalist versions of the American Dream. They write to justify and reify this perspective. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There is honestly no way to get your acknowledgements right when you can hardly believe so many people put their lot in with you—perhaps against all better judgement. Who, for example, would have stuck with the over-eager grad student dead set on writing about Christmas…then Happiness…then (disastrously and ill-advisedly) Post-Postmodernism? My Advisor, Karen Roggenkamp, has been the Faithful on this road and a true mentor worth stereotyping. Susan Louise Stewart, as she is known to do, gave me the bug for children’s literature and the desire to try to say everything better. Christopher Gonzalez continues to challenge me to be a more careful and sympathetic scholar (and to write less “baroquely”). Yvonne Villanueva-Russell made sure I did my capitalism homework and enthusiastically cheered me on. I could not have asked for a better dissertation committee. I owe many thanks to several faculty members including Donna Dunbar-Odom who made sure I came to the school where she was sure I belonged; Hunter Hayes who is ever-kind, ever-wise, and always ready with a book and a story about Bruce Springsteen; and Sal Attardo who always put more faith in me than I ever felt like I deserved. I have enjoyed the great love and comradery of two cohorts, one here at Texas A&M University-Commerce and one at California State University, Fullerton. There are far too many folks to name individually, but I am better for knowing them. A few—Sean Ferrier-Watson, Allyson Jones, Vince Liberato, and Erin Bullok—have become my family here in Texas. Indeed, their families also deserve a shout-out for the several holidays they have taken in this California immigrant: Robyn and Sandy, Dan and Jalinna, and Pamela, from the bottom of my heart, thanks. Finally, my family—Isips, Flynns, Merediths—I could not love you more. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS EPIGRAPH .............................................................................................................................. viii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 Secular Gospels: Fern, Alcott, Alger, and Twain ................................................ 1 The Franklin Stereotype: Secular Spirituality ...................................................... 4 Components of the Stereotype ............................................................................. 7 Significance of the Study: A Religious Turn ..................................................... 10 Organization of Dissertation Chapters ............................................................... 14 Review of the Literature .................................................................................... 16 Nineteenth-Century American Print Culture .......................................... 17 Fern, Alcott, Alger, and Twain ............................................................... 20 The Secular and the Spiritual ................................................................... 25 Benjamin Franklin .................................................................................. 27 2. THE FRANKLIN STEREOTYPE ........................................................................... 33 Franklin and the Pilgrim’s Progress .................................................................. 40 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 49 3. THE GOSPEL OF PROGRESS ............................................................................... 52 The Gospel of Fanny Fern .................................................................................. 55 Ruth Hall, A Secular Saint ................................................................................. 62 The Gospel of Louisa May Alcott ..................................................................... 74 Christie Devon, A Secular Saint ......................................................................... 78 Josephine March, A Secular Saint ..................................................................... 87 vii CHAPTER The Secular Gospel and Children’s Books ........................................................ 92 4. THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION ............................................................................. 96 The American Dream ........................................................................................ 100 The Franklin Stereotype and the Boy Book ...................................................... 103 The Gospel of Horatio Alger, Jr. ...................................................................... 106 Ragged Dick, A Secular Saint ......................................................................... 110 Capitalism and Christianity .............................................................................. 116 Alger’s Secular Gospel .................................................................................... 118 The Gospel of Mark Twain .............................................................................. 121 Huck Finn, A Secular Saint ............................................................................. 127 Jim, A Secular Saint ........................................................................................... 130 Twain’s Secular Gospel ................................................................................... 132 5. EPILOGUE ............................................................................................................. 137 The American Adventure ................................................................................. 140 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 144 VITA ........................................................................................................................................ 155 viii EPIGRAPH The body of B. Franklin, Printer; (Like the cover of an old book, Its contents worn out, and stripped of its lettering and gilding) Lies here, food for worms. But the work shall not be lost: For it will, (as he believed) appear once more, In a new and more elegant edition, Revised and corrected By the Author. Epitaph for Benjamin Franklin By Benjamin Franklin, 1728* *Long before his death on April 17, 1790 1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Secular Gospels: Fern, Alcott, Alger, and Twain This study provides a model for a historical narrative of the interplay between the spiritual, the secular, and the market in American literature using Benjamin Franklin as the touchstone figure, the stereotype. I focus on four novelists—Fanny Fern, Louisa May Alcott, Horatio Alger, and Mark Twain—and their selected novels from the late nineteenth century to illustrate the appropriations, interpretations, and adaptations of what I call the Franklin Stereotype, a combination story of a secular saint, message of a secular gospel, and navigation of a moral market. I argue that these nineteenth-century authors, like Franklin, consciously attempt to take advantage of two seemingly opposing markets, the secular and the spiritual. Following Franklin, each author justifies the capitalist strain of their novel messages by infusing each with religious language and iconography—that is, each author assigns to these projects a secular gospel and a secular saint. For Fanny Fern and Louisa May Alcott, the secular saints are Ruth Hall,
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