The Yares of the Black Mountain

In Davis’s The Yares of the Black Mountain, there is a definite battle between the thoughts of slavery and a battle between the Union and the Confederates. Mrs. Cook is from the north and thinks the south is terrible and immoral while the widow, Denby, thinks the south is a place of healing and comfort. Davis published this short story soon after the Civil War and she presents this conflict for a reason.

Mrs. Cook resembles the northerner who has prejudice views of the south. She comes down to find facts for her books and she lets her previous emotions effect how interprets the culture. Davis uses Mrs. Cook’s character to show the faults of the south. She says that they are poor and insults their profession, “I heard that these people were miserably poor! Don’t look so shocked. If you earned your bread by your brains as I do, you’d want as much bread for a penny as possible” (244). She thinks that the southerners only want to take advantage of people, “They think you have money. These Southerners are impoverished by the war, and they have an idea that every Northern traveler is overloaded with wealth, and is fair game” (249). The character of Mrs. Cook develops into someone that the reader isn’t favorable with. Mrs. Cook becomes rude and critical of everything in the south. Davis could be presenting this character in such a manner to persuade the reader in a certain political direction. The reader starts to dislike the anti-south Mrs. Cook and start to agree with the distressed widow.

Denby is a widow in search for health and comfort for her newborn. When she comes down to the south, she immediately falls in love with it. She loves the people’s friendliness, the climate, and the whole overall comfort of the south. Davis uses the emotion of a widow to sway the reader’s views. The south to her is home, “The baby was ill at Linville, and the train was stopped for an hour, and the ladies of the village came to help me. And now these people. It is just as though I were coming among old friends” (249). Unlike Mrs. Cook, Denby does not complain about anything in the south, including slavery. She seems to just accept slavery and not question it. Maybe Davis is trying to convince the reader that slavery should be accepted.

As Davis creates characters and political sides, the reader falls into the beliefs of the characters. If Davis could create a character well enough liked, she could use that character to change the beliefs of the audience. This type of rhetorical tool is used by most major American writers; they just do it so well the reader doesn’t notice that they are being influenced.

The Hidden Hand

In this week’s posting, I will focus on Southworth’s The Hidden Hand and how she writes about a different kind of childhood and the transformation of lifestyles. When Major Warfield discovers Capitola, she is a 13 year old girl dressing as a boy trying to survive on her own. Old Hurricane is a selfish war vet who is softened by Capitola and he helps a poor widow and her son.

Capitola was forced out on the street by poverty. She lived on her own for several years and defended for herself as she struggled to feed herself on little or no money, “But by and by Mr. Simmons got out of work, and the family fell into want, and they wished to go out and beg for them. I just couldn’t do that, and so they told me I should look out for myself” (181). Capitola was homeless and had to live on the streets, “I lived on my half-dime, spending a penny a day for a muffin, until the last penny was gone, and sleeping at night wherever I could-sometimes behind a pile of boxes on the sidewalk” (183). This life of hardship taught her life lessons that help her be a strong woman. Capitola’s life dramatically changed when Major Warfield came to New York to find her. He takes her off of the streets and exposes her to luxuries that she has never seen. Major Warfield takes her back to his home and gives her everything she needs. Capitola’s life went from almost ending in tragedy but a good man saved her. Southworth gives the reader confidence that even if times get tough, there is a possibility of making it out poverty. Traverse and his mother are also in danger of losing everything they have. Traverse lost his job and they think they might lose the house, “The rent had fallen fearfully behindhand, and the landlord threatened, unless the money could be raised to pay him, to seize their furniture and eject them from the premises” (197). Just as times seemed like there was no hope to survive, Herbert comes in with great news. Again, these impoverished times and turned around by Major Warfield who changes their fortune. Southworth gives hope and delight in the characters success. She gives hope to the readers who have similar situations where they cannot get out of poverty.

The realistic, hard lifestyle of this time period has turned into a time of hope and new beginnings. All of the characters life changed due to one man’s generosity, the generosity of a prideful, stubborn man.