The Traveler's Gift

A Voyage Long And Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, and Other Adventurers in Early America

Essentially a monologue set within a frame, this poem creates two personae. The anonymous author gives a brief introduction and conclusion. The Wanderer, an aging warrior, who roams the world seeking shelter and aid. The Wanderer’s monologue divides into two distinct parts, the first being a lament for his exile and the loss of kin, friends, home, and the generosity of his king. In nature, he finds absolutely no comfort, for he has set sail on the winter stricken sea. Poignantly, the speaker dreams that he is among his companions, and embracing his king, only to awaken facing the gray, winter sea, and snowfall mingled with hail.

Faithful is just a guy who, like Christian, escapes his past life and pursues a life that is down the straight and narrow path of Christianity. A Righteous man, ridiculed, tortured, and finally burnt at the stake for his faith, Faithful lives up to his name and is the martyr of The Pilgrim's Progress—the one who suffers and dies for what he believes in. Before Christian meets Faithful on the road from the Palace Beautiful, Christian seems to be the only real pilgrim on the journey to the Celestial City. The others pilgrims he has met on his journey (Formalist and Hypocrisy, Mr. Worldly-Wiseman, Mr. Pliable) have either abandoned the journey for its extreme struggles or for being shown the hollowness of their faith. But Faithful is different unlike his friends he did not have a hollow faith so when he faced the trials and tribulations he did not deal with them because of his strong faith in the Lord.

In Thomas C. Foster’s guide, How to Read Literature Like a Professor Revised Edition, Foster presents readers with the knowledge that a trip in literature has the potential to become something much deeper, a quest for self-knowledge. Foster lists five very important aspects that every quest will have which are, a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials en route, and a real reason to go there. The distinction between stated reason to go there and real reason to go there are that typically the quester goes along their journey and discovers an intimate detail about themselves that relates nothing to the stated reason. It gives the quester a better sense

crucial role not only in winning the Civil War but in defining the war’s consequences” (Foner,

1-3. The main idea of Chapter 1 Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It’s Not) (pp.1-6) can be concluded in the following sentence: every story is a quest that consists of a person that has a reason to go to a certain place with challenges on one’s way which then leads the particular person (usually the main hero of a story) to the actual, or real, reason associated with self-knowledge, because the quest is always educational.

In The American Journey, David Goldfield et al. state that “Americans in the 1930s wanted no part of another overseas war by a wide margin.” Americans were still recovering for the ramifications of World War I and feared our intervention in any foreign conflict. In the fall of 1941, their reluctance was still abounding even though Germany achieved many victories abroad, the British were toiling to save their empire and Japan’s monumental aggression towards China escalated. In fact, Goldfield et al. noted that, “President Roosevelt’s challenge was to lead the United States toward rearmament and support for Great Britain and China without alarming the public.” Unfortunately, the aftermaths of World War I had set the tone for World War II since many small new nations in Europe felt the upper hand of Germany, Japan, Italy and the Soviet Union. Furthermore, the United States was not highly regarded by these nations, especially Japan, whose nationalists felt that they were unjustly treated after World War I. As much as the United States was trying to remain neutral and President Roosevelt wanted Americans to stay out of World War I, the inevitable came to fruition when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Goldfield et al. indicated that, “Speaking to Congress the following day, Roosevelt proclaimed December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy.” He asked for and got a declaration of war against Japan. Hitler and Mussolini declared war on the United States

This is the type of book which truly makes you stop and think about the life you are living. For me, I have been spending the last year worrying about my grandfather, who has been battling with the diagnosis of Stage IV Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. This book really hit home with me, reminding me what my grandfather has gone through and how lucky my family is to be where we are today. At this point in time, my grandfather is cancer free, and every day I remind myself that we truly cannot take anything for granted. This book hits that idea exactly on the head that we truly cannot take anything for

Perhaps the three most influential men in the pre-Civil War era were Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster. These men all died nearly a decade before the civil war began, but they didn’t know how much they would effect it. States’ rights was a very controversial issue, and one which had strong opposition and radical proposals coming from both sides. John C. Calhoun was in favor of giving states the power to nullify laws that they saw unconstitutional, and he presented this theory in his “Doctrine of Nullification”. Daniel Webster strongly disagreed with this proposal and showed this by giving powerful support to President Jackson in resisting the attempt by South Carolina to nullify the ‘tariff of abominations’, as they called

Chamberlain was an important leader on the Union side. When he and his troops repelled the Confederates at Little Round Top, they had won the war for the Union. Without Chamberlain leading his troops the conclusion of the war would have been different.

James Garfield, overall, had a big impact on the Civil War. He was known for his bravery during the Battle of Middle Creek and the Battle of Chickamauga. He is responsible for multiple Union victories and gained control of many patches of Confederate soil. Without Garfield, the war may have been more depressing for the Union, and may have ended much slower than it did.

What do you think of when someone mentions the Civil War? Slaves? Abraham Lincoln? Probably not some of the specifics, right? What about some of the generals, like Ulysses S. Grant. Maybe you’ve heard that name before, maybe not, but Grant was pretty important in the Civil War. “What impact did Ulysses S. Grant have on the impact of the Civil War?”, you may ask. Well, worry not my friend I am here to answer that question.

When we think of the Civil War, many events or people come to mind such as Abraham Lincoln, Slavery or even Robert E. Lee. Ulysses S. Grant was also a very heroic figure in the Civil War as commanding general for the Union Army. Ulysses Simpson Grant was an important figure in the Civil War because Grant led an inexperienced army to a success, he was very strategic, and he was the 18th president of the united country.

The Civil War was the most divisive moment in American History, and decided the fate of the Union forever. It created many of the social and political divides and contrasts in culture that are still seen in today’s world. The war was the eruption that had been brewing since the birth of the United States. Two of the important figures in the Civil War period are Abraham Lincoln and Nathan Bedford Forrest. Both were influential in their own respective countries and both were seen as great leaders by their own countries’ citizens. If the South won the war, Forrest would have been seen as more of a hero than he is in the world today. Because the Union won the war, though, the more important figure is Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was also more influential than Nathan Bedford Forrest because of his honest character, compassion, and determination.

In the first chapter of How to Read Literature like a Professor, Foster gives an example of a quest by making up a story about a boy named Kip. On the way to the supermarket to get some white bread, Kip encounters various difficulties including a German shepherd, the girl of his dreams hanging out with someone else(Karen), and his deeply humiliating bike in comparison to Tony Vauxhall’s Barracuda. After Kip reaches the store, he decides to lie to the Marine recruiter about his age in order to get away from his current way of life and the fact that the society he lives in revolves purely around wealth. Here Foster points out that a quest has already began and further enhances the concept of it by listing the five things that it consists of: the quester