The Hudson River School: Nature and American character

Thomas Cole's "Oxbow"

The Hudson River School represented the relationship between the vast wilderness of the American continent and man.  The artists affiliated with the school believed that art was an agent of moral and spiritual transformation.  In painting's such as Thomas Cole's "Oxbow" the painting served as a vehicle through which the "universal mind could reach the mind of mankind".  In short, the relationship between God and man through nature. 


The "sublime" image in "Oxbow" is the massive, captivating scene from Mount Holyoke to the farmland below.  On the left, the approaching storm clouds embody and almost omnipotent perspective.  The right represents the world of man, the "better" side because it is more peaceful and familiar to the audience.  The broken tree stump in the foreground represents a connection between the two halves.  Cole called it "memento mori" or reminder that life is not permanent and that only Nature and the Divine are eternal.  It was through pieces such as "Oxbow" that Thomas Cole illustrated his belief in the connection between beauty and good.  Cole believed that the beautiful landscapes of America represented the opportunity the country had.

Alexis de Tocqueville expressed views opposite of Thomas Cole in Democracy in America.  Tocqueville believed that natural landscape did not/would not play an important role in the American cultural consciousness and other forces such as religion and the legal system would play a larger role.  Tocqueville also believed that American's were more concerned with subduing nature tahtn perserving it, that the focus was more geared towards technology and expansion rather than conservation.

The opposing viewpoint of Cole and Tocqueville represent the continuous debate over American attitudes towards nature.  The jury is still out concerning whether or not American society values its unique landscapes.  On one hand, America has a multitude of national parks and works towards conservation.  On the other hand, American capitalism has quickly consumed many natural landscapes and our increasingly polluted environment is evidence of indifference. 

So, if we side with pessimism Tocqueville once again serves as a forecast of America's future.  I'm curious as to what my classmates will think.  Which is more correct, Cole's idealistic view or Tocqueville's prediction of neglect towards nature?

Ole Spring Relief 6

Go bus 2! (Our group at a service site in Kansas City, Missouri.)

Last week I got on a bus with 35 other Oles and embarked on a 9 day journey to and from Nashville, Tennessee.  Prior to Ole Spring Relief, I had never been on a service trip.  We stopped in Kansas City (Missouri and Kansas), St. Louis, Nashville, Springfield (Illinois) and Ames (Iowa).  We racked up around 24 total service hours doing yardwork (clearing the sites where homes once stood, composting, and planting trees), clearing out/organizing an abandoned school, and working with members of each community we stopped in.

With Tocqueville's Democracy in America and Putnam's "Bowling Alone", I couldn't help but think of the service trip in terms of social capital.  Although I'd read about the surprising amount of voluntary associations geared towards service in urban areas, I was still surprised by the structure of the community and its dedicated inhabitants.  For example, the city of St. Louis is in the midst of a 10 year plan to end homelessness and we worked with a shelter called Gateway 180 that is striving to do just that.  

Before Ole Spring Relief, I felt cynical about the state of social capital and the power of voluntary associations in the United States.  I now have a renewed hope and respect for groups that are working hard to better our society.  While I'm not 100% sure of what I want to do with my life, I know for certain that I want to continue to serve by the sides of people I met, and work to support and grow our vital voluntary associations.

Putnam Response: "Still 'Bowling Alone'?"

The article I chose in response to Putnam is "Still 'Bowling Alone'?" by Leslie Lenkowsky.  Lenkowsky disagrees with Putnam on a variety of points.  For example, she cites that "Americans have been volunteering at an ever-increasing rate for the past twenty years" (57).  She also references Tocqueville, explaining that he was the first to explore voluntary associations and social capital. 


Lenkowsky's main argument against Putnam is that he uses statistics that exaggerate the degree of decline in social capital.  While she concluded that Putnam "probably underestimates some factors and overestimates others" she agrees with Putnam's conclusion.  Lenkowsky concedes that the United States is experiencing a decline in social capital and that much work will be needed to restore it. 

Paying Attention?

"Our institutions are badly functioning and in need of repair or drastic reform, so that if they are to support a pattern of cultivation rather than one of exploitation, we must change them by altering their legal status and the way we think about them, for institutional change involves both laws and mores.  More than money and power, these need to be at the center of our attention." - Page 272

I found the article "Democracy Means Paying Attention" by Robert Bellah to be less straightforward than Putnam's "Bowling Alone".  Bellah definitely has a much less optimistic view than Putnam about the state of civic engagement in the United States.  For Bellah, drastic reform is the only answer.

Applying Bellah's to our own community, that would mean removing places like the Northfield Community Action center and shuffling around responsibilities to new agencies.  I think that Bellah needs to be more realistic and acknowledge what is working as far as civic engagement rather than saying it all isn't good enough.

Breaking Out of the Bubble (Social Capital at St. Olaf)

This Wednesday I attended an event hosted by the CEL called "Breaking out of the Bubble.  The event was a conversation about civic engagement in Northfield.  Aside from eaing delicious indian food (Yum!) we attended small group sessions to discuss the resources that already exist within our community, and how we can beter utilize them.

This discussion couldn't have come at a better time, since Putnam's "Bowling Alone" is all about he social capital in our communities.  I know now how much is going on in the community, and is anything but a passive small town.

I am currently working to complete a 300 hour term of service through the Students in Service program here at St. Olaf.  I learned a lot about volunteer opportunities within Northfield and here at St. Olaf, and I'm excited for the new networking opportunities! 

Loneliness & Bowling Alone

I thoroughly enjoyed the article "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital" by Robert Putnam and I was shocked at the conclusion that drew.  I know it's obvious that voter turnout has declined and that pessimisim and dissatisfaction towards the government has increased, but seeing it backed up with so many facts and figures made it all the more real.

What struck me as the most important were the physiological changes that Putnam observed.  That citizens have less social trust as well as the fact that family ties in the United States are becoming weaker.  I believe that the weakening of social relationships combined with the isolating powers of technology and social media are the true forces behind heightened individualism.  This got me to think, are Americans overall suffering from loneliness?  If so, is that a symptom or the cause of decreased civic engagement?

The last of Tocqueville (for now)

 Religion

"When a people's religion is destroyed, doubt invades the highest faculties of the mind and half paralyzes all the rest. ...Opinions are ill-defended or abandoned, and in despair of solving unaided the greatest problems of human destiny, men ignobly give up thinking about them." (444)

In the Chapter "How Religion in the United States makes use of Democratic Instincts", Tocqueville goes on a tangent about how religion is vital to society.  In the historical context in which this was written, it may make sense.  But I believe that this notion is extremely outdated and as an atheist, I have to disagree with Tocqueville's opinion that religion is a necessary part of society.

If Alexis de Tocqueville and I were to have a discussion about religion, it would quickly turn into a heated debate. 


Equality & Individualism

"Equality puts men side by side without a common link to hold them firm.  Despotism raises barriers to keep them apart.  It disposes them not to think of their fellow and turns indifference into a sort of public virtue." (510)

Tocqueville talks about individualism and equality again with aristocracy as a "measuring stick" for democracy.   He touts liberty as the cure for despotism.  the patriotism Americans feel is again the "municipal spirit" that allows the democracy to function.  He also talks about voluntary associations/political associations as a way to drive people out of indifference (is also contrasted with the aristocracy, because people are separated by class there is no need to unite them).  He concludes taht the more people that have equality, the less power that an individual has.


Political Society

"The idea of rights inherent in certain individuals is rapidly disappearing from men's minds; the idea of the omnipotence and sole authority of society at large is coming to fill its place.  These ideas take root and spread as conditions become more equal and men more alike; equality brings them to birth, and they in turn hasten the progress of equality." - (669)
(in reference to the opinion of many Europeans)

Because men become more and more similar, they grow to hate those with even the slightest amount of more privilege than them.  Here, Tocqueville talks about the frustrations of organizing people who are all equals, and getting them to listen to one another. 


As we our time with Democracy in America comes to a close, I find that I now have more questions than answers about the nature of Democracy.  The funny thing is, I believe that is what Tocqueville wanted from his audience.  Merely, he wanted his readers to take what he presented, and keep running with it.  So, in a sense even though I believe this text to be very outdated, I am able to take these ideas and expanded them on my own in accordance with my own views on democracy. 

The end of Tocquevilles "love letter" to Democracy

"My aim has been to show, by the American example, that laws and more especially mores can allow a democratic people to remain free.  But I am very far from thinking that we should follow the example of American democracy and imitate the means that it has used to attain this end, for I am well aware of the influence of the nature of a country and of antecedent events on political constitutions, and I should regard it aw a great misfortune for mankind if liberty were bound always and in all places to have the same features." - Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Page 315)

In this section of Tocqueville, his "love letter" dwindles off into his suggestions of what his French audience should look at critically when examining American democracy.  He uses aristocracy a measuring stick for the effectiveness of American democracy.  For example, Tocqueville observes that often laws are passed in the United States that are contradictory to the idea of Democracy.  On this note, he goes on to say that United States democracy lacks the far-sightedness of an aristocracy because its leadership changings by the whim of the elected.  Tocqueville identified that the driving force behind the American Dmeocracy was  patriotism, or the loyalty of its citizens to the government which Tocqueville warns will only last to long as people feel that they are benefited to the government.

As a consolation for Tocqueville's "breakup", he describes at length the romanticism of the American frontier, and the endless possibilities for the Unitied States.  Yet, he does so urging his reader's to come to their own critical conclusions.

At this point, Tocqueville's motivation for simply better his nation of France couldn't be more apparent, but I now appreciate his outside view on American democracy.