Both "The Sahara of the Bozart" and "I'll Take my Stand" glorify the 'Old' South and criticize the direction the 'New' South is taking. In going over the 'Bozart' article as a class, we agreed that Mencken's arguments were both untrue and racist. However he expressed the same indignancy at the loss of the "old south' as did the Twelve Southerners. I felt that in reading the opinions of the Twelve Southerners they failed to take into consideration the compliancy of the southern citizens in the rise of industrialism. They seemed to be saying that the industrialists were completely to blame and the south, as a whole, was a victim. Oppositionally, Mencken believed the fall of the south was of internal design, brought about by the poor white southerners. In many places in the text these two publications mirror each other, even though essentially they argue different sides. Compare and contrast the two articles. What do you find to be the most effective points for either one? Use specific text references.
Monday, January 9, 2012
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I thought it was extremely interesting that these two articles were so closely intertwined regarding intent, yet so different in terms of their presentation of the argument. Although both arguments were grossly one-sided, the twelve southerners were able to expand their argument to encompass the entire nation saying "Proper living is a matter of the intelligence and the will, does not depend on the local climate or geography, and is capable of a definition which is general and not Southern at all." while Mencken fixated the blame solely on the "new" south's "crass, gross, vulgar, and obnoxious" behavior and lack of intelligence as opposed to the grace and dignity of the Old South.
ReplyDeleteWait. Compare and contrast using textual references? What is this an English exam? I kid. I agree with a lot of what you said. However, I want to focus on the flaws with the delivery of the separate arguments. As you said, Mencken was racist and tended to over-exaggerate his points. However, the twelve southerners also had holes in their argument. They tried to prove that the American South had culture by making up their own definitions of humanism and culture. However, if someone makes up a definition, he's obviously doing it so it fits his point. The twelve southerners also failed to take any of the blame and barely addressed the opposition. A formal argument should do at least one, if not both, of those things.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Peter. Going on I also noticed a lack of more perspectives for the Twelve Southerners. What I mean is in trying to prove that the new south has great culture, they focused more on playing victim to the results of industrialism, and bashing the north instead of focusing on their main point, that the south has great culture. Another thing I noticed was that there was no representation of the culture from the north. If someone is trying to prove that their way is better than another then both should be presented while comparing to decide if in fact their way is better.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Abdi's point about the South blaming the industrialism in the North rather than proving that they live in a culture that is thriving. I think it would have been extremely effective for the authors of "I'll Take My Stand" to discuss topics such as writing, and the great Southern writers of their time. Instead of yet again pointing fingers at another culture as Mencken did, they would be proving Mencken's view of supposed Southern anti-intellectualism to be erroneous. Mencken generalized an entire region of the country, basically stating that they needed some sort of Renaissance to come out of their rut. He states "there is not a single picture gallery worth going into, or a single orchestra capable of playing the nine symphonies of Beethoven . . . or a single workshop devoted to the making of beautiful things" (159). He compared Southern Methodism to a notorious book burner. As we discussed as a class, these statements were both pretentious and false. The authors of "I'll Take My Stand" should have used these statements as inspiration to prove Mencken wrong in regards to their supposed uncivilized culture, rather than just putting blame on the North when discussing agriculture versus industrialism.
ReplyDeleteI think both articles were not persuasive in their argument because they made the situation very black and white. Reading "Bozart" first made me sympathize with the south and therefore while reading the second article I agreed with what they were saying, but after reviewing it realize that each article showed only one side of what was really going on. The one major flaw in each of these readings is that there really is no counter argument. And I do agree that both arguments were very similar in their intent and style although they were on different sides of the argument.
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