Students,
Thank you for your varied and insightful comments on Sui Sin Far, Emma Lazarus, and ZitKala Sa, powerful voices asking America to treat ALL of its citizens fairly.
How we treat those outside our borders and the consequences of our actions and attitudes is our concern for this week.
Let’s first turn to the topic of American and Global Imperialism, which played a part in two major military conflicts, the Spanish-American War and then World War I. These wars significantly affected both the content, style, and aims of art and literature of the 20th century.
The Spanish-American War (or “Splendid Little War”) took place first in Cuba in 1898, when American troops “rescued” Cubans from their Spanish oppressors (“Cuba Libre!”). The war was short and Americans won not only Cuba, but Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. The Filipinos, however, soon wanted to be free of American rule and fought fervently (albeit unsuccessfully) against our troops in a war (1899-1902) that cost more American casualties than the Vietnam War.
While the “Yellow Press” pushed pro-war propaganda (watch HERE), several American authors resisted the war.
Stephen Crane, author of the famed Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage, wrote this magnificent (highly ironic) anti-war poem:
Mark Twain, author of the anti-racist Huckleberry Finn, turned his attention to the feelings and thoughts of those America sought to âcivilizeâ via conquest.
âTo a Person Sitting in Darknessâ
The brilliant African American author W.E.B. Dubois, in varied writings, warned of the ill effects of global imperialism on Africa. Watch the first 15 minutes of this fascinating lecture on his important work, entitled: âThe Wounded World: W.E.B. Dubois and World War Iâ
The Spanish-American War was followed by the horrors of World War I (really a war amongst major European nations–and America–for the conquest of territories around the globe). The most famous anti-war novel of all time is All Quiet on the Western Front, recently made into a film.
Watch clip HERE
As this clip shows, World War I shattered âeverything.â It brought attention to mankindâs power to destroy and the continued inequality across the Globe.
While many questioned the purpose of such a bloodbath, in “If We Must Die,” Jamaican American Claude Mckay asks why African American soldiers who fought in World War I (in segregated units) now had to come home to face racism here.
Art and Literature too was âshatteredâ leading to a new movement called Literary Modernism. It also led to a celebration that the war was over leading to âThe Jazz Ageâ (or âRoaring 1920s) and the NYC-based âHarlem Renaissance.â
This week I ask you to review this material (find a poet/writer you might wish to discuss for next week’s post).
Next week, I will also introduce our LAF author (Akwaeke Emezi) and place her novel alongside the ideas I’m introducing here.
REMINDER: In April, we will be reading Freshwater by Emezi.
Here is her biography: Akwaeke Emezi .
To obtain a copy of this book, please fill out the following form so that a copy can be mailed to your address (on the form you can also arrange to pick the book up in my office in Namm 503).
Book Mailing Request Form for Online Students
Emezi will be our featured speaker at this yearâs Literary Arts Festival on April 27, 2023 (in our new theatre), which I hope you can attend.
The Festival includes the 2023 Literary Arts Festival Writing Competition, which is now open for submissions! Students may submit their work on the City Tech Literary Arts Festival OpenLab website:
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/literaryartsfestival/submission-guidelines/
All creative work is welcome and must be submitted by March 20, 2023.
Twainâs âTo the Person Sitting in Darkness” essay may be his most famous anti-imperialist satire essay written in the early 1900s. It is an article exposing American colonialism, particularly concerning the Philippines, and expressing the authorâs anti-imperialist views. Twain believed that imperialist actions in the Philippines were at odds with the reputed values of the nation. Comparing the present situation with the Spanish-American War he wrote that America âplayedâ its game very well being the beacon of hope, protecting the freedom. In Cuba, it was âthe usual and regular American game, and it was winning, for there is no way to beat it.â America fought for the âoppressed and friendless little nation which is willing to fight to be free; we go partners and put up the strength of seventy million sympathizers, and the resources of the United StatesâŠwe were following our great traditions in a way which made us very proudâŠâ And if America would follow in Philippines what it did in Cuba, it would be âwinnings⊠rich and permanent; indestructible; a fortune transmissible forever to the children of the flag. Not land, not money, not dominionâno, something worth many times more than that dross: our share, the spectacle of a nation of long harassed and persecuted slaves set free through our influence; our posterityâs share, the golden memory of that fair deed. The game was in our hands. If it had been played according to the American rulesâ. If the US truly was the beacon of democracy that other nations look up to, it should behave like one by freeing the Philippines and helping it to establish a truly democratic government. American fleet should have sailed away from Manila as soon as it had destroyed the Spanish fleet, âafter putting up a sign on shore guaranteeing foreign property and life against damage by the Filipinos and warning the Powers that interference with the emancipated patriots would be regarded as an act unfriendly to the United States. The Powers cannot combine, in even a bad cause, and the sign would not have been molestedâ. Regretfully, those democratic values became twisted and altered to the ridiculously absolute opposite. âThis brand (Blessing of Civilization) is strictly for Exportâapparently. Apparently. Privately and confidentially, it is nothing of the kind. Privately and confidentially, it is merely an outside cover, gay and pretty and attractive, displaying the special patterns of our Civilization which we reserve for Home Consumption, while inside the bale is the Actual Thing that the Customer Sitting in Darkness buys with his blood and tears and land and liberty.â Denying freedom to the Filipino people was contrary to America’s anti-colonial origins and its proclaimed democratic values:â There must be two Americas: one that sets the captive free, and one that takes a once-captiveâs new freedom away from him and picks a quarrel with him with nothing to found it on; then kills him to get his land.â The violence and brutality that was used to crush the Filipino uprising was a stain on the national conscience: âwe must read the following passage from the letter of an American soldier-lad in the Philippines to his mother, published in Public Opinion, of Decorah, Iowa, describing the finish of a victorious battle: âWE NEVER LEFT ONE ALIVE. IF ONE WAS WOUNDED, WE WOULD RUN OUR BAYONETS THROUGH HIM.â … â
Mark Twain hated the concept of imperialism because it was based on hypocrisy and domination. He found imperialism’s true goal of conquest as contrary to American ideals of democracy and he saw it as unbecoming of the United States and other “civilized” nations. He hated to see others suffer for the benefit of the greed of a few. H made his views very plain: âAnd as for a flag for the Philippine Province, it is easily managed. We can have a special oneâour States do it: we can have just our usual flag, with the white stripes painted black and the stars replaced by the skull and cross-bones.â The American project in the Philippines was to conquer and exploit the country, not free it as one might expect a democratic nation to do.
Wow. What rich, eloquent commentary and dissection of Twain’s amazing pacifist piece –never allowed to be published by the way.
I like how you make this scathing and compelling argument against Americaâs plundering and pillaging of other countries. The Philippines in particular. And your analysis of Twain’s Anti-imperialist satire is fascinating. Itâs really on point and a good read. My only push back would be that America has never had anti-colonial origins. I would argue that colonialism/imperialism are ingrained and were part America’s core values at the outset and that this hasn’t changed, only merely transformed.
Thanks for sharing!
-Jamil
War is Kind
I could be wrong, but im going to go out on a limb here and believe that i read this poem correctly but that it is written in a tone of Irony! As Mr Crane describes war and the usual tragedies that accompany it he details some of the most depressing aspects. He begins by telling these women he’s speaking too , Not to cry! He then goes on to describe a setting of ” a field where thousands corpse’s lie”. If this isn’t the most depressing setting ever to witness, i don’t know what is.
In the introductory paragraph he speaks to a lover , or a spouse of a soldier as he describes her partner’s servitude within the war! He then follows up with speaking to the child of a fallen soldier as he describes what appears to may have been the last minutes of his life. “Raged at the breast, gulped and died”. If this wouldn’t once again be one of the most depressing descriptions to imagine i don’t know what would!
Mr Crane concludes his poem with an address to the most intimate bond known to man. He addresses a mother and tells her not too cry because of the loss of her son due to the war. He praises her son which is to be commended however he still concludes with the most ironic statement mentioned repetitively that “war is kind”. War is *##$%^ up!
Michael, You were so right to go out on a limb and read this poem through a thoroughly ironic lens! For the next assignment (which I posted in our new post), you could review Crane’s biography (on the Poetry Foundation site) and connect this poem to his own story (he covered the Spanish American War and served in combat in Europe). Great work.
Good day professor ,
I am appreciative of your enthusiastic reply to my work. I also just want to confirm that your instructions going forward was to review Crane’s biography on the following site and while working on it I came to realize that it was 2 different “Crane’s”. One, Stephan Crane and one Hart Crane. Although the years are different they both lived rather short lives and so consequently i am confirming if once again i am reading this correctly or if i misinterpreted something that would direct otherwise?
The poem “war is kind” by Stephen Crane is an ironic piece that uses the juxtaposition of the title and the content of the poem to convey its message. The poem tries to tell us that war is not kind and that it brings destruction, pain, and misery.
One example of irony in the poem is the use of the phrase “war is kind” in the title and repeated throughout the poem, which is then followed by descriptions of death, destruction, and sorrow. For instance, the speaker asks the maiden, the babe, and the mother not to weep for their loved ones who died in war, claiming that war is kind. However, this is a cynical statement as the speaker then goes on to describe the gruesome scenes of war and the misery it brings.
Another example of irony is the description of the soldiers as “little souls who thirst for fight” and “men were born to drill and die.” The poem portrays the soldiers as brainwashed, disposable pawns, glorifying their deaths as a noble sacrifice for a higher cause. However, the reality is that war dehumanizes individuals and turns them into killing machines with no regard for human life.
Well said Antonio. As I also mentioned to Michael, for the next assignment (which I posted in our new post), you could review Craneâs biography (on the Poetry Foundation site) and connect this poem to his own story (he covered the Spanish American War and served in combat in Europe).
In War is Kind, a poem by Stephen Crane, the title is what immediately jumps out at me first. This sort of ironical, sarcastic tone that kicks everything off. I think it goes without saying, though, that war is terrible. Itâs brutal. Itâs cruel. It should be morally repugnant to a society, yet the title ironically says itâs kind. I notice that some of the common themes in this poem are: Fear, spiritual crisis, and what seems to be social isolation. Also replete throughout the poem is vivid imagery in the form of intense figurative language that dramatically illustrates for us the horrors of war and death (not much different from the All Quiet on the Western Front film in a lot of ways). I find it a bit comical how during or after he mentions something extremely horrible in the poem like the death of a lover or a âgreatâ battle that produces thousands of corpses, he sarcastically tells us not to weep for war is kind.
I think the overarching intent of Craneâs poem was to cleverly poke fun (but still deadly serious) at the insatiable war machine and he does a remarkable job at it. Even all the way back in the 19th Century, it was obvious that war was stupid. That real lives are lost, families are destroyed, and entire economies are torn asunder all in the name ofâwhatever. This sentiment is especially illustrated masterfully near the end of the poem where he says, âMother whose heart hung humble as a button on the bright, splendid shroud of your son. Do not weep, war is kind.â Is this not a nightmare many of us who have experienced the mental and emotional residuals of war still go through present day? When the gun powder and dust settles, are we not beset by the same bereavement and suffering that can only come from war? This is such a great piece by Stephen Crane on so many levels.
After reviewing the materials I’ve decided to discuss pieces made by W.E.B Du Bois and the period of his life where he was advocating for black rights specifically Afircan American soldiers that were fighting in the World War 1. After watching the 15 minutes of âThe Wounded World: W.E.B. Du bois and World War Iâ I was immediately drawn and had continued watching the rest of the video. What had caught my attetnion in the beginning was the word “disillusionment”. “the feeling of dissappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as on believed it to be.” In the readings and there was a lot of emotions expressed in the pieces of feeling of disillusionment. Through the way the main character Paul Baumer in the moviue “All Quiet of the Western Front” as he shown up to camp with a fresh face and a smile as he accepted his uniform to the clip of him injured and cowering in the trenches in the battlefront praying for his return home. For Du Bois his disillusionment reached new peaks in the Summer of 1919 where the number of lynches of black Americans skyrocketed and was named the Red Summer. One of the powerful poems he made to express is fustrations at the time was titled the “Returning Soilders”. “We return. We return from fighting. We return fighting.” For black Americans they had bled, fought, and been killed for The United States just to return home to continue to have the same or worse treatment that was being done on them before by the people they had just fought for.
Stephen Crane’s satirical poetry “war is kind” leverages the contrast between the poem’s subject matter and title to make its point. The poem is an attempt to convey the idea that war is cruel and that it causes damage, suffering, and sorrow. Irony may be seen in the poem’s repeated use of the line “war is kind” in the title and subsequent lines, which are then followed by descriptions of suffering, death, and destruction. For instance, the speaker claims that war is nice and begs the woman, the child, and the mother not to cry for their loved ones who perished in battle. This is a sarcastic statement, though, as the speaker goes on to explain the horrific battle scenes and the suffering they cause. Irony can also be seen in the statements that the troops are “little souls who thirst for fight” and “men were born to drill and die.” The poem glorifies the soldiers’ deaths as a heroic sacrifice made for a greater cause while depicting them as brainwashed, disposable pawns. However, the truth is that fighting makes people less human and turns them into ruthless killers who have no regard for other people’s lives.