Letters from an American Farmer
Encyclopedia
Letters From An American Farmer And Sketches Of Eighteenth-Century America was published by Jean de Crèvecœur
in 1782 but it was written before the American Revolution
. Crèvecœur provided one of the first examples of American literature
to Europeans.
Through a series of letters, Crèvecœur illustrates the idealized version of a free society, America. While the first letters portray a perfect conception of America, through his secluded farm called Pine Hill, the following letters depict a land damaged and destroyed by society and civilization. One such entity is slavery, which is described throughout the book.
The view of Crèvecœur on immigration and emigration is worthy of notice: "Ubi panis ibi patria
".
Jean de Crèvecoeur
Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecœur , naturalized in New York as John Hector St. John, was a French-American writer. He was born in Caen, Normandy, France, to the Comte and Comtesse de Crèvecœur .-Biography:In 1755 he immigrated to New France in North America...
in 1782 but it was written before the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. Crèvecœur provided one of the first examples of American literature
American literature
American literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British...
to Europeans.
Through a series of letters, Crèvecœur illustrates the idealized version of a free society, America. While the first letters portray a perfect conception of America, through his secluded farm called Pine Hill, the following letters depict a land damaged and destroyed by society and civilization. One such entity is slavery, which is described throughout the book.
The view of Crèvecœur on immigration and emigration is worthy of notice: "Ubi panis ibi patria
Ubi panis ibi patria
Ubi panis ibi patria is a Latin expression meaning "Where there is bread, there is country" . According to J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur in "What is an American", the third of his Letters from an American Farmer, this is the motto of all emigrants/immigrants...
".
Outline of "Letters From an American Farmer"
- Letter I: Introduction - This letter introduces the persona of James, an American Farmer, and his epistolary dialogue with a minister in Oxford, England.
- Letter II: "On the Situation, Feelings, and Pleasures of an American Farmer" - This letter describes the creatures, plants, and activities on and around the farm owned by James. Its main focus is on the "bee's, wasps, hornets, and birds" (Patterson) and illustrates the abundance of life and the dependence on good soil in the American land.
- Letter III: "What is American?" - This letter compares people to plants and leads the reader to pursue the idea of whether or not the soil has anything to do with the prosperity of the person living there.
- Letter IV-VIII: This invades also the land in which they inhabit. It also describes the conditions in which they live and the customs of whaling villages of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.
- Letter IX: "Description of Charles Town; Thoughts on Slavery; on Physical Evil; a Melancholy Scene" - This letter gives an account of Charleston, South Carolina. The letter then quickly moves to the notion of slavery in the South. It argues about the destruction that revolves around the slave-master relationships and makes an appeal to the North, in particular, that slavery is a truly evil practice in the midst of the new nation of America.
- Letter X: This letter talks extensively about a wide variety of snakes and even speaks to the American Indians practices of eating them. It also mentions their habits and stories that have been told in America, warning people about certain ones. At the end of this letter, it speaks about the hummingbirds found around James' land and their habits and varieties as well.
- Letter XI: This letter is supposedly narrated by a Russian, but is almost indistinguishable from James himself. It describes a visit to the famous Pennsylvanian botanist, Mr. John Bertram. The narrator tells of the new methods of fertilizing and irrigation that Bertram has invented and used on his own plants.
- Letter XII: "Distresses of a Frontier Man"- This letter describes the coming Revolutionary War and the narrator's stress of being caught between forces beyond his own control. This particular letter is the only one written that has any traces of anti-British ideas and opinions. The letter also includes James' view of the American Indians around him and his idea to run away with his family and live among them until the fighting is over.
External links
- Letters from an American Farmer from Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...