Postbellum America, 1865-1914

All American >Postbellum America Major Works The Mysteries of the Backwoods, Our Army on the Rio Grande Our Army at Monterey The Taylor Anecdote Book The Hive of ‘The Bee Hunter’ The Master’s House Reminiscences of Charles L. Elliot Family · Father: Thomas Thorpe · Mother: Rebecca Farnham Thorpe · Siblings: Alice and Richard Henry Sackville Thorpe · Stepfather: Charles Albert Hinckley · Wife: Anne Maria Hinckley · Children: Anna, Thomas, Dordie Rebecca · 2^nd wife: Jane Fosdick Homes · Westfield, Massachusetts · Weston, Connecticut · Albany, New York · New York City · Louisiana – Baton Rouge, St. Francisville, Vidalia, New Orleans Careers · Tried to establish himself financially as a portrait painter · Edited and published several newspapers · Practiced law for two years · Served briefly in the Mexican War · Postmaster at Vidalia, LA · Worked for the New York Customhouse Chronology 1815: Born in Westfield, Massachusetts 1819: Father dies of tuberculosis and his mother moves the family to Albany, NY 1830-34: Apprentices with NY painter, John Quidor 1834-1836: Attends Wesleyan University 1837: Moves to Baton Rouge, LA, plans to paint and recuperate from illness 1838: Marries Maria Hinckley 1839: His first sketch, “Tom Owen the Bee Hunter” appears in Spirit of the Times 1840: Editors of the Spirit and the Knickerbocker encourage him to continue writing 1841: “The Big Bear Of Arkansas” (most famous work) 1846: The Mysteries of the Backwoods, becomes a Mexican War correspondent, Our Army on the Rio Grande 1847: Our Army at Monterey 1848: The Taylor Anecdote Book, fails in his attempts at publishing 2 newspapers 1853: Signs a contract with Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in NY 1854: moves back to New York 1855: wife dies at age 36 1854: The Hive, a collection of all his best writings on the Southwest, including “The Big Bear” 1855: The Master’s House 1857: married Jane Fosdick, studied and practiced law 1862: served the Union Army in New Orleans 1864: left the South for NY one last time, works for NY Customs house, continues to paint and write for newspapers and magazines 1878: dies Terms and Concepts Sketch: a composition somewhat like and essay or short story but intentionally slight in treatment A framework: a tale within a tale Local color: (in writing) the presentation of features and peculiarities of a particular locality and its inhabitants Hyperbole: an exaggeration, more so than a metaphor (Ex: “that dog knows a bar’s way as well as a horse-jockey knows a woman’s…” Frontier literature: is based on humor, personal observation, and local color Updated Month date, year © Mark Canada, 2001 mark.canada@uncp.edu

Thomas Bangs Thorpe, 1815-1878 By Holly McCall Student, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, 2002 Write an essay that introduces your subject to an audience with little or no knowledge of it.  In your introduction, write a definition claim that characterizes your subject.  In the remaining paragraphs, support this claim with specific evidence drawn from a variety of scholarly sources.  Identify these sources through attributive phrases and parenthetical citations.  Try to supply your reader with the essential details related to your subject: Who: Names of leaders and discussions of their actions What: Definitions of relevant terms and names of important things, such as laws, inventions, buildings, or works of art When: Descriptions of notable events, along with the dates of their occurrences Where: Names of places where significant events occurred Why: Analysis of the reasons that things happened as they did How: Discussion of trends and mechanisms Like the Dictionary of Literary Biography and other subject encyclopedias, All American is intended to be a thorough, credible reference source.  Your goal is to provide the kind of information you would want to find in such a reference book.  For a sample page, see Colonial America: Journalism. Works Cited (Heading 3) Citations in MLA style (list item) Study Questions “The Big Bear of Arkansas” -Published 1841 -Genre: a humorous sketch What devices does the author use to create realism? What kind of an audience would this story appeal to and why? Cite some specific examples of the techniques Thorpe uses to appeal to the reader. At the end of the story, Jim Doggett says that he thinks the bear “was an unhuntable bar, and died when his time come.” Explain what you think the bear symbolizes and why it might be unhuntable. What are some characteristics of Thorpe’s frontier fiction and how does it compare to Romantic fiction? Some parts of the story almost read like an advertisement, exaggerating the abundance of wilderness. Why do you think this repeated theme of “a land of plenty” is significant? Also, discuss the significance of Jim Doggett’s connection to the land.