I found the most interesting part of the class to be learning about instances when people took the law into their own hands. When both historical figures and literary characters did this, they stretched their potentially insignificant inbetween position into something that would define standards for other people. But these stretches didn’t remain unchecked, and on the other side figures of more traditional power didn’t hesitate to stretch the laws for their own ends either. This semester we looked at a personal interpretation of the law in Typhoid Mary and Light in August and last year we looked at this same concept in Line in the Sand and Moby Dick.
Typhoid Mary proved to be a critical incident of a classically inbetween person (inbetween with respect to gender, race and class) choosing to ignore the mandates of the law. Even more interesting than Mary Mullen’s refusal to comply with the Department of Health’s intrusive demands were the very actions of the New York Department of Health. Examining to what extent doctors such as Soper and Baker unfairly singled out and created a villainous image of Mary Mullen is especially interesting.
Several characters make their own rules in Light in August. The role of Grimm is similar to the health department in Typhoid Mary. Grimm asserts his personal feelings into a civilian militia whose actions are directly contrary to his stated goals of setting up order. Instead he pursues his own concept of racial order. Hightower, the preacher without a church, ends up lying in a last ditch attempt to save Joe, but ultimately a potential manipulation of the law because of his notion of religious laws of right/wrong. In this way Hightower reminds me of Mary Mullen, opposing the law when it fails to be consistent with what the morally or logically know to be right.
Last year we learned about establishing and undermining the law as well. In Moby Dick, Ahab takes the whalemen’s law into his own hands when he hijacks the proprietors and whalemen’s notions of financial gain to his personal hunt for the great white whale. As captain of the ship, Ahab follows the type of manipulation of both the Department of Health and Grimm, situationally taking advantage of their powerful position. In Line in the Sand, a colorful cast of characters at the Alamo had to take a stand when potentially cut off from what they were supposed to do. They took their stance, deciding to stake their claim to that particular piece of land. The ramifications of this position are clear when one thinks of demonizing the enemy. Here the characters of the Alamo weren’t necessarily manipulating their power, but given the necessity to act, they ultimately had the chance to define legality.
Incorporating the historically based curriculum with fictional literature often helps to bring out certain themes, both in the stories and in light of the authors themselves. For instance, reading Moby Dick, considering that Herman Melville was a totally obscure character during his own lifetime, is evidence enough of the changing power of literature itself. Manipulating and creating power was interesting to learn about because it shows both interesting techniques and interesting people who established themselves this way.