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University Microfilms 300 North Zeab Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 A Xerox Education Company 75-3102 INMAN, Cecil Mark, 1932- USING THE RELIGIOUS VOICE AS AN APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1974 Education, general i\ ] Xerox University MicrofilmsAnn # Arbor, Michigan 48106 © 1974 CECIL MARK INMAN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. USING THE RELIGIOUS VOICE AS AN APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE . DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Cecil Mark Inman, B.A., A.M. ******* The Ohio State University 1974 Reading Committee: Approved By Dr. Frank Zidonis, Chairman Dr. Donald Bateman Dr. Jane Stewart Adviser Department of Humanities Education ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply Indebted to Dr. Frank Zidonis for his help and encouragement, for his helpful reading of the manuscript, and for the needed advice that prompted me to make many important revisions. 1 am also indebted to the students at Mount Vernon Nazarene College who helped me to become a better teacher as I became more aware of their needs and realized that looking at the religious voice in the literature studied was an important and relevant part of the classroom activity. I thank my wife, Theresa, who so willingly took my share of the family responsibilities so that I could have time to complete the manuscript, gave encouragement when it was needed the most, and put up with my hectic schedule. I thank my four children: Ruth Anne, Matthew David, Mary Elizabeth, and Martha Jean, who willingly gave up their time with their dad and made it possible for me to complete this work. ii VITA September 30, 1932............... Born— Mount Clemens, Michigan 1956............................. B.A., Olivet Nazarene College, Kankakee, Illinois 1957-1959........................ Teacher, Mt. Morris Public Schools, Grades 7-8 1959-196 0 ........................ Teacher, Howell City Schools, Howell, Michigan, Grades 8-9 1960-196 1 ........................ Elementary Area Principal, LakeVille Community Schools, Otisville, Michigan, Teacher, Grade 6 1961............................. A.M., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1961-196 6 ........................ Teacher, Midland City Schools, Midland, Michigan, Grades 10-12 1966-1968........................ Assistant Professor, English Department, Bethany Nazarene College, Bethany, Oklahoma 1968-Present......................Professor, Co-ordinator of the English Program, Mount Vernon Nazarene College, Mount Vernon, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: English Education Dr. Frank Zidonis, Chairman Dr. Donald Bateman Dr. Jane Stewart Minor Field: Twentieth Century American Literature Dr. John Muste Nineteenth Century American Literature Dr. Thomas Woodson ill TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGE. EATS ii VITA iii OIL .PTE A I. INTRODUCTION.......................................... 1 Need for study Literature and the religious voice PART I. RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES IN EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE II. THE THEOCRATIC VOICE...................................9 William Bradford Of Plymouth Plantation - The First Book Of Plymouth Plantation - The Second Book ""Not* my will, but Thine be done" Teaching applications Jonathan Edwards Puritanism restated Reason and science "Resolutions" Personal Narrative God Glorif ied_ in the Work of itedemption A Divine and Supernatural Light Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Narrative of Surprising Conversions Farewell Sermon Teaching applications Thomas Hooker Typical Puritan Sermonic literature III. THE liATIONAL VOICE.................................. 47 Benjamin Franklin Epitome of Enlightenment Essays to Do Good Auto’u lograpiiy The 'junto iv Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion Plans for moral perfection Poor Richard Letters Teaching applications Thomas Jefferson Life— very similar to Franklin's Discovery and reason as basis of man's life A reasoned faith— Education ''Ordinances of Religious Freedom" The Jefferson Bible The Life and morals of Jesus Letters Declaration of Independence First Inaugural Address Second Inaugural Address Teaching applications PART II. RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES IK A 1 ATURIMG AMERICAN LITERATURE............................................92 IV. THE TRANSCENDENTAL VOICE.............................. 97 Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Transcendental Man in Thought Essence of Transcendentalism Cod within - the Over-Soul Intuitive perception of truth Nature "The American Scholar" "Divinity School Address" "Self-Reliance" "The Over-Soul" Poems: "The Mhodora," "The Sphinx," "Each and All," "Give All to Love" Teaching applications Henry David Tuoreau: The Transcendental Man in Action Thoreau vs. Emerson A_I,Toek on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers Walden "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" Teaching applications V. THE VOICE OF liAN..................................... 150 v Nathaniel Hawthorne: The arrogance of man's voice "The Birthmark" "The Minister's Black Evil" "Rappaccini's Daughter" "Ethan Brand" "Young Goodman Brown" The Scarlet Letter Teaching applications Herman Melville— Nature as evil Moby Dick "Hawthorne and His Mosses" "The Enchantatas" "Bartleby, the Scrivener" Billy Budd, Sailor Teaching applications Henry James Portrait of a Lady "The Beast in the Jungle" The American "The Juily Corner" PART III. RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES IN MODERN AMERICAN LITERATURE........................................... 133 VI. THE VOICE OF NATURALISM.............................. 193 Samuel Langhorne Clemens Nature of man "The Man that Corrupted Hadlevburg" Adventures of lluckleberrv Finn Letiers from the Earth Teaching applications Stephen Crane ■Maggie, a Girl of the Street The Red Badge of Courage "The Open Boat" Poems: "A God in Wrath," "God Lay Dead in Heaven," "The Wayfarer," "A Man Said to the Universe" Teaching applications Theodore Dreiser "The Second Choice" vi An American Tragedy THE VOICES OE MOnEkH HAN 216 Han;, voices Confusion of sound Confused man Ernest Hemingway "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" "The Snort Happy Life of Francis Hacomber" In (Jur Time The Old ian and the Sea Teaching applications F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatshy Tender is the Eight ’ "Babylon revisited" Teaching applications William Faulkner The Sound and the Fury Light in .August The Bear John Updike The Poorhouse Fair kabbit, Hun The Centaur Halph Ellison Invisible ..an Nathanael West Hiss Lonelyhearts The Jay of the Locust VIII. cohclusio; 253 Many voices of man Summary JiliH.IOoHXPHY 2 66 vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION American literature, as is true of all literature, deals with the major concerns of man. Among these major concerns are birth, growth, preservation of self, love, fear, death, and God. It is the purpose of this dissertation to present a method of studying American literature by looking at the religious voice in representative Ameri can authors; it is hoped that the student of American literature in junior and senior colleges with religious affiliations or with courses in religion and literature would benefit from such a study. By concen trating on a major motif and by emphasizing fewer authors, it is fur ther hoped that the students would gain insights into the nature of the contemporary society as contrasted with the society of this country's founding fathers. Further, to look at the religious voice of repre sentative American authors would be one method of approaching the re levancy problem. What these writers have to present about their re ligious thinking would enable the student to examine his own views, compare them to the texts studied, eliminate them if necessary, or add to