Beasley and Saucier 1

Adyline Saucier and Sophie Beasley

Cooper and Whipple
Light Side Dark Side
10-28-18

The Dark Side

With The United States progressing and growing in both size and population, many

different ideas and morals grew and were expressed. With this came literary movements such as

Gothic Romanticism. This form of writing expressed certain dark ideals such as rationality vs.

irrationality. Writers like Edgar Allen Poe and Washington Irving used this ideal to express

unknown truths in the world and society. The specific motif of rational vs. irrational was

highlighted in certain aspects of history like the forced movement of Native Americans westward

and its impact on natives’ way of life. We showcased both the historical and literary connection

in our poster by showing the Indian Removal Act.

Ever since the Europeans began settling North America, Native American tribes were

pushed out of their territory and forced to move west. This was only accentuated when the

United States won its independence. Elliot West in his essay on the Indian Removal Act

describes how “between 1810 and 1820 Ohio’s white population grew by more than

two-and-a-half times from around 230,000 persons to 581,000, while Alabama’s swelled by an

astounding 1300 percent, from roughly 9,000 to more than 128,000.” This immense population

growth created a dilemma for the federal government. Prior treaties secured Natives’ rights to

their land, but the United States needed more land for all the new people (West). Washington,

and later Jefferson, solved this issue by deciding to integrate the natives into American culture

(language, way of life, religion, etc.) and all those who could not conform would be pushed to
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move (West). In 1830, President Jackson decided this was not enough (the population was

growing too much and Southern states were pressing for the federal government to do

something) and he passed the Indian Removal Act (West). This act stated that it was “lawful for

the President to exchange any or all... districts [west of the Mississippi]... with any tribe or

nation of Indians now residing within the limits of any of the states or territories.” This is where

the Gothic motif of irrationality versus rationality begins to show up. Native tribes were forced to

make a decision on whether to stay and defend their land or abandon their territory to the whites.

Moving their settlement west of the Mississippi River seemed like an irrational decision to most

tribes; why should they give up the land they had settled first to move to a territory they knew

nothing about? Additionally, most tribes had adopted the whites’ culture (as Washington and

Jefferson had encouraged them to do), so the idea of yet again having to adjust to a new way of

life was absurd. On top of all this, tribes new to the area often ended up fighting with the tribes

that already resided west of the Mississippi (West). Therefore, for most native tribes staying

where they were was the rational decision.

In Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “The Raven”, the theme of rationality vs. irrationality is

highlighted tremendously. Poe’s development of the raven in the piece signifies a distinct

irrational concept that is continuously questioned. The Raven is about losing a loved one and

having rational vs. irrational thoughts and behaviors. The narrator and the raven create a

relationship that, in the end, makes the narrator go crazy. In the beginning, the narrator has a

rational outlook, but as he starts asking the raven questions and the raven only says “nevermore,”

the narrator slowly begins to exemplify irrational thoughts and qualities. “​‘Prophet!’ [say] I,

‘thing of evil—prophet still, if bird or devil! By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God
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we both adore— Tell this soul with sorrow laden if... Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the

angels name Lenore. Quoth the Raven ‘Nevermore’’” (Poe 15-16). This excerpt from “The

Raven” identifies the roles played by the raven and the narrator and that the narrator is creating a

sense of false hope due to the fact that the raven doesn’t say anything other than “nevermore.”

This shows that the narrator makes himself irrational because he asks questions to which he

subconsciously already knows the raven’s answer. This highlights the idea that false hope can

lead even the most rational people into a state of irrationality.

Another literary work where the motif of irrational versus rational is demonstrated is in

Washington Irving’s "The Devil and Tom Walker". In this short story, the character of Tom

Walker decides to make a deal with the devil that will make him a rich man. He has the choice to

not make the deal and continue living his ordinary life (the rational, scientific world that he

knows) or go ahead and make the deal with the devil, who represents the irrational, supernatural

world, and become rich. Although Tom does become one of the most wealthy men in Boston as

a usurer after making the deal, he is driven mad in old age as he fears he will be cursed in the

afterlife. In the end, Tom says “‘The devil take me,... if I have made a farthing!’" because he

refuses to take any more undeserved money from his friend who is struggling financially,

spurring the devil to come (Irving 665). At this point, “The [devil] whisk[s] him like a child into

the saddle, [gives] the horse the lash, and away he [gallops], with Tom on his back, in the midst

of the thunder-storm” (Irving 666). Tom is taken to the irrational world of Hell after not

upholding to his end of his deal when he makes the rational decision to refuse taking more

money from his friend.

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The movement of natives westward was a traumatic experience that killed many and

forced changes in their way of life forever. The idea of rationality vs. irrationality is a common

trend that continued throughout history involving natives and appeared in writings during the

time such as “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe and "The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington

Irving. We express this motif in a poster that represents the Indian Removal Act. Andrew

Jackson is throwing Natives across the Mississippi River to a prescribed Indian territory. This

showcases how natives had little say in what happened to them. We made the new Indian

territory dark red to symbolize it as evil and devilish which is a characteristic of the irrational

world shown in both “The Raven” with the idea that even the most rational can become irrational

when in a state of uncertainty and "The Devil and Tom Walker" because Tom chooses the world

of the devil. This is what we characterize as the irrational portion of the motif because moving

Natives with all different cultures into one small reserve is unthinkable. It’s also the unknown

area that the natives migrating there knows anything about. It’s unnatural and unheard of. The

rest of the country is green to represent the rational, good resources and the safety that it has.

People know about that part of the country and so there’s nothing that makes people unsteady,

unlike the area that the Natives had to move to. The green also symbolizes the resources that the

natives had and the society that they built up. It represents their home that has now been taken

away from them by settlers and government. We express the unfairness of the situation using

opposing words like “Security” and “Unknown” to give a better understanding of the drastic

problem and the trauma it brought upon the natives.

Ultimately, motifs found in literature, such as the Gothic motif of irrationality versus

rationality, can often be applied to historical events. We saw this motif in the Indian Removal
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Act; Natives could either make the rational choice to defend their territory where they had

developed a culture and knew the land, or make the irrational choice of moving into “Indian

territory” west of the Mississippi - an area they knew nothing about. Additionally, we researched

this motif in various Gothic literary texts, including “The Raven” and ​"The Devil and Tom

​ oth of theses texts show a character being driven mad by something in the irrational
Walker". B

world. Finally, our poster demonstrates our motif by connecting the history of the Indian

Removal Act to a common symbol of the irrational world: the devil.

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Works Cited

Irving, Washington. “The Devil and Tom Walker." 1824. ​Tales of a Traveller,​ pp. 655-667,

Library of America, 1991,

https://loa-shared.s3.amazonaws.com/static/pdf/Irving_Devil_Tom

_Walker.pdf. Accessed Oct 2018.

Jackson, Andrew et al. “The Indian Removal Act.” May 28, 1830, ​Vincent Ferraro,​ Mount

Holyoke International College, February 1, 2010, https://www.mtholyoke.edu/

acad/intrel/removal.htm. Accessed Oct 2018.

​ oe
Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Raven.” September 25, 1849, ​Richmond Semi-Weekly Examiner, P

Stories, Design215 Inc, October 28, 2018, https://poestories.com/read/raven. Accessed

Oct 2018.

West, Elliot. “The Indian Removal Act.” ​Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History,​ 2009,

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/node/78972, Accessed Oct 2018.