alroberts – American Disasters

May 5, 2014December 16, 2020

The Inherent Dangers of Narrative

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In his piece “A Place for Stories: Nature, History, and Narrative,” William Cronon expertly interrogates narrative as a form of storytelling. Cronon suggests that narrative’s most impressive strengths are also its greatest weaknesses. As we saw while reading Johnstown Flood, certain narrative forms have the unique ability to convey history as a “story” (Cronon 1349). McCullough’s narrative sensationalized the history of a small town and an under appreciated disaster memorably, which ultimately enabled me to remember specific facts about the flood than I probably would not have had I learned about it from a traditional textbook. Yet Cronon also warns about the inherent dangers of narrative, asserting that “in the act of separating story from non-story, we wield the most powerful yet dangerous tool of the narrative form” and that “[narrative] inevitably sanctions some voices while silencing others” (1349-1350).

Cronon points out that the differences between Bonnifield’s rendition of the Dust Bowl and Worster’s likely are the result of the inherent shortcomings in the narrative form. Each tells a story, yet they tell their stories from entirely different perspectives and thus arrive at varying outcomes. (Cronon 1348).

In an effort to illustrate the tendency of narrative to ignore sides of each story, Cronon rehashes Frederick Jackson Turner’s history of the West. Cronon suggests that Turner created a narrative that “[made] the Indians the foil for its story of progress…[making] their conquest seem natural, commonsensical, inevitable” (Cronon 1352). Turner’s narrative illustrates the ease with which certain pieces of history are ignored in favor of creating a coherent narrative.

On another note, Betsy points out in her post the strength’s of Cronon’s article when compared to Koppes’s. Koppes’s blatant preference for Worster’s work over Bonnifield undermined the authority of his review. Cronon, on the other hand, regards both writers as “competent” and respectively presents each of their arguements (1348). His objective approach to each author’s argument creates a pleasanter read that appears more informed and believable.

April 30, 2014December 16, 2020

A Fragile Environment

The video “The Plow that Broke the Plains” places a clear emphasis on the human role in the Great Plains disaster. Nate rightly suggests that there are both natural and manmade elements to this disaster. The narrator repeats phrases such as “high winds and sun” throughout the film, clearly suggesting that the editors and directors of the film believed that the fragility of the Great Plains made the Dust Bowl disaster predictable. In this way, the makers of the film implied that man essentially set himself up for disaster by settling on a dry land with “little rain” and “high winds and sun.” When put that way, it doesn’t seem that surprising that the plains dried out.

This argument relates back to one our previous class discussions about settling in places that are prone to natural disaster, such as San Francisco. When people choose to settle in fragile or unstable locations, and then in this case change their environment, are they setting themselves up for disaster?

The makers of this film seem to believe that that is the case. They trace the narrative of capitalism in relation to the Great Plains. Demand for wheat increased significantly with World War I, taking a great toll on the Great Plains. Newspaper titles flashed across the screen reiterate the human role in the Dust Bowl Disaster, as the war was clearly a result of mankind.

Film provided a new method of propaganda that had the unique ability to utilize visual imagery as well as sound to convey meaning. The newspaper titles, narration, as well as music all serve to echo the argument of this film.

April 16, 2014December 16, 2020

Disease: a Multifaceted Disaster

The first chapter in Typhoid Mary highlights mankind’s tendency to find a scapegoat for society’s problems. It also points out the lower class’s vulnerability to man’s hunt for someone to blame. Leavitt notes that many stereotyped the lower classes as “dirtier than their employers” as an explanation for the higher rates of typhoid in the working class (Leavitt 18). This kind of stereotype made lower classes more vulnerable to social isolation.

Leavitt suggests that “as a society, we have become masters of stigmatizing the sick and the contagious; we label them as separate from the mainstream” (3). Society tends to dehumanize people with diseases such as AIDs, making them vulnerable to isolation. This narrative fits into Leavitt’s broader argument that disease is a disaster in a multitude of ways. She argues “it is imperative that we learn to consider the full range of contexts in which disease ravages” (3).

This argument ties neatly into her other central arguments of the text, specifically the social consequences of disease control and the inherently subjective nature of historical interpretation.

It is difficult to tell from only reading one chapter whether Leavitt is successful with her argument. However, her sensitivity to the “various ways to tell Mary Mallon’s story” and the “relevan[cy]” of each narrative seems reasonably convincing (5). Moreover, her argument in chapter one about society’s growing “scientific optimism” seems consistent with her goal to isolate each type of narrative. Jeremiah rightly points out that Leavitt’s argument and the case of Mary Mallon have a broader impact than one woman’s fate. The vulnerability of the lower classes and society’s tendency to label and ostracize diseased individual’s are two such impacts that society needs to keep in mind.

April 7, 2014December 16, 2020

Commemorating the Titanic

Steven Biel’s discussion on the ways in which the Titanic disaster was commemorated in the years and decades afterwards illustrates how people will inevitably manipulate disasters to their own agenda. Annelies also built upon this argument in her blogpost. As we saw in the first section of the book, feminists and other groups manipulated the narrative of heroism to support different social and political agendas after the disaster.

In the next section of the book, Biel discusses the ways in which the Titanic was commemorated. Through his discussion, it becomes clear that the Titanic grew to symbolize and fill the roles that people needed it to. Through the thirties some interpreted the disaster as proof that traditional gender roles and the doctrine of separate spheres should be maintained. Another conservative narrative that evolved out of the disaster interpreted the Titanic as a symbol of everything that was wrong with modernity. Biel states:

“The disaster, then, continued to do important, if sporadic, cultural work, from reminding men and women of their proper roles and responsibilities at the onset of the Depression to asserting racial equality and exposing racial injustice…” (Biel 139).

We can see this common theme of the manipulation of narratives after disaster stretch across all of the disasters we have studied. McCullough used the Johnstown flood to illuminate the disparity in wealth and the effects of unequal distribution of economic power. Likewise, with the San Francisco earthquake, we can see that ways in which middleclass businessmen and politicians manipulated the narrative to fill their economic and political agendas.

These disasters and the various ways in which they were commemorated suggest the heavy hand people have in the definition of disaster. In many ways, facts are never facts, as they will always be manipulated, intentionally or not, to fill an individual’s narrative. These unique narratives are what give each disaster meaning within the context of the time and what dictates the vivacity with which each individual disaster is remembered.

April 2, 2014December 16, 2020

Gendering Human Responsibility

The portion of the Steven Biel reading that was particularly interesting to me was his description of the ways in which different narratives developed regarding “male chivalry” after the Titanic’s sinking. This discussion relates directly to my research on the various portrayals of male heroism as a result of the Titanic for my final paper. My research has led me to read various newspaper articles from the days and weeks after the Titanic sinking, most of which exuberantly praise the men who died on the ship as a result of the “women and children first” philosophy.

Biel’s discussion makes is obvious that the narrative of “male chivalry” was by no means uncontested. The ways in which the same narrative regarding male heroism were manipulated after the disaster of the Titanic is what makes the study of gender relations during this time period so interesting. The perspective from the Progressive Women’s magazine is particularly interesting as it makes no attempt to negate the male’s “chivalrous” end, but instead points out the absence of male chivalry in life (Biel 104-105). This narrative calls out the concept of human responsibility in disaster, which we have discussed repetitively in class. However, this narrative takes the additional step of gendering the term, and instead of blaming human error, it specifically targets male error as the cause of the disaster. These women’s interpretation of the male sex’s guilt in the Titanic is related to Molly’s previous post about the ways in which the people in charge are primarily responsible for the disaster.

March 26, 2014December 16, 2020

“Seismic Denial’s” Ripple Effect

A theme common to both Steingburg and Davis’s articles is the role of man in both causing and intensifying the effects of natural disasters. In “Smoke and Mirrors: the San Francisco Earthquake and Seismic Denial,” Steinberg argues that the alliance between California’s business class and politicians served to redefine the San Franciscan earthquake of 1906 by placing the blame for the majority of the destruction on the ensuing fire. As nakindig discussed in his post, this “seismic denial” was a common boosters, who popularized it in an effort to protect San Francisco’s image. In order to describe the effects of this “seismic denial,” Steinburg articulates the immediate changes in building codes after the 1906 earthquake and the subsequent easing of the building codes in later years. He argues that “such lenience stemmed directly form the conspiracy of seismic silence that remained a major preoccupation of San Francisco’s business community well into the 1920s” (Steinberg 112). Steinberg’s use of the word “conspiracy” reinforces his argument that the blame for much of the damage in later earthquakes should be placed squarely on the shoulders of man.

Steinberg also pulls in a class-power argument through his discussion of how “pyrotechnics of property destruction have eclipsed the truly deadly story”- that is, the unequal distribution of the earthquake’s damage on the population of San Francisco. Steinberg emphasizes that the poor and ethnic populations were more affected by the earthquake and likewise, more impacted by the “seismic denial.” The decision to undermine the role of the earthquake in the decimation of San Francisco is responsible for the loss of even more lives (Steinberg 121). This argument suggests that until building codes and other necessary preventatives were standardized and updated, deaths resulting from post-1906 earthquakes are essentially the responsibility of man and not nature.

March 10, 2014December 16, 2020

Where’s the Fault?

Throughout The Johnstown Flood, McCullough alludes to the roles that weak or inattentive authorities played in the flood. He suggested that the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club ignored reports that the dam was weak and a danger to the population (74). Additionally, he repeats throughout the novel that people were desensitized to the possibility of the dam breaking and therefore many authorities as well as civilians discounted reports that there could be or was a problem. McCullough essentially suggests that if authorities had perhaps taken more care in prevention, this entire disaster could have been circumvented.

As the action escalades through chapters 4-6, McCullough readdresses the role of effective and ineffective authority figures in a blatant juxtaposition of the management of two trains at East Conemaugh Yard. McCullough states that the only train to have “no fatalities among its passengers” was the mail train, which was due in large part to the “good sense of the crew” (123). In fact, the conductor of the mail train warned the passengers of the potential danger, giving them the opportunity to prepare for escape. McCullough states that “Warthen… at least made it sound serious” to the people onboard as opposed to the other authority figures who said “that the dam was an old chestnut” and that the people were “not to think any more of it” (123).

McCullough is clearly highlighting the differences effective authority figures can make through his in-depth comparison between Warthen’s decisions in the midst of the disaster as compared to the rest of the conductors. His detailed comparison between the two as well as his repetition of the preparedness of the mail train’s passengers emphasize his belief in the power authorities have in natural disasters. Catherine also mentions the role authorities have in disaster prevention and management in her post.

As we discussed previously in class, it is important to keep in mind that neither man nor nature can be isolated as the cause of a disaster. Rather it is almost exclusively the interplay between these two characters that allows disasters to occur.

February 17, 2014December 16, 2020

Morality and Consumerism

An interesting point that Edwards discussed in chapter 4 of New Spirits is the relationship between women, morality and consumerism during the Gilded Age. As this age progressed and industrialization as well as urbanization continued to swell, material objects began to take on weight that they had never held before. Certain methods of travel, parties, and fashion all became status symbols that proved an individual was superior to the majority of the population (95).

Women’s fashion became a popular avenue for the display of such Social Darwinist attitudes. As shopping typically fell into the female societal role, women in particular fell prey to rising consumerism and increasing advertisements.

An interesting paradox in the relationship between woman and consumerism lies in this era’s understanding of the female character. Women were typically regarded as fragile and easily corruptible; their delicate sensibilities required them to be isolated from business and industry because of these circles corrupting influences. Yet, as consumerism grew and women’s independence slowly increased, women were thrust into the middle of American consumer culture and all of its corrupting influence. Edwards suggests that during this time period “material standards posed many moral problems” as consumerism grew and became central to American culture(96). This situation is intriguing in that women, who represented morality in humanity, could no longer be kept apart from societal corruption. Edwards mentions William Dean Howells’s book, The Rise of Silas Lepham, as an example of this loss in innocence (95).

Society and its social boundaries could not stay the same through the rise of consumerism. As Emily mentioned, women’s roles adapted in many ways beyond consumerism through the Gilded Age’s progression.

It is important to keep in mind the characterization of women during this time period in order to understand the “moral problems” associated with consumerism. People believed that women were particularly vulnerable to this rising corrupt consumer culture.

January 24, 2014December 16, 2020

History Is More Than Just The Facts

World War II is often touted as one of the bloodiest moments in history, and for good reason. Children today often grow up hearing tales of the nearly incomprehensible atrocities that occurred during this bleak moment in history, leaving words such as Holocaust, Hiroshima, and Hitler ringing in their ears. But what impressions do these tales really leave on those who have never experienced the unique terror of each individual disaster? And what assurance do those that had an active part in each tragic moment of history have that their terrors won’t fade away as humanity continues its blundering and blind race into the future?

Art is one way to ensure that more than the facts and experiences of history continue forward- it has the ability to encapsulate the emotions of each disaster and invoke them into each viewer. In his dynamic piece, London 1940, Bloomsbury, Clerkenwell, Southwalk, Waterloo (2012), Matthew Picton presents a tangible way to keep these memories alive through his vivid portrayal of just a sliver of the damage mankind wrought on both itself and nature in London, 1940. Picton’s piece incorporates text, paper, and charcoal into a meaningful rendition of the impact of German aerial bombing on the city of London during World War II. Yellowed paper fragments that are formed to depict the layout of the city of London vividly contrast with blackened sections of the “city” where the paper buildings have been completely burned away, leaving nothing behind but the foundations and black smudges of ash.

In regard to the intention behind his piece, Picton states: “The city represents a fragile compact between the forces of nature and those of human desire and inequality” (State of Emergency exhibit). In extension to Picton’s analysis of his own work, it is certainly apparent that in the continual battle between nature and man, man often destroys not only nature, but also himself. Picton’s inclusion of the Thames River, smudged and dirtied with charcoal, brings an element of nature into his rendition of London. The treatment of the surface of the Thames plainly demonstrates the effect man has on the purity of nature. Yet, far more garish than the smudged surface of the Thames are the black abysses left in the center of London from the bombings. The devastation from the bombings makes it clear that man not only has the power to irreparably damage nature, but also through the process to destroy himself and his creations.

Extending beyond Picton’s synopsis of the power of his own work, viewers and historians alike can more broadly analyze the impact that a piece like this can have on the study of history. Picton’s rendition of midcentury London suggests that no piece of history, however small, is unimportant. Though perhaps larger World War II tragedies such as the Holocaust and the nuclear bombings in Japan overshadow in some ways the bombings in London, as historians it is absolutely imperative not to gloss over any moment in history, no matter how small. Though his piece depicts only a small fragment of the city of London and an even smaller sliver of the damage left in Europe from World War II, the impact of this disaster cannot be overstated.

While staring at Picton’s rendition of wartime London, it is easy to feel the confusion and panic London citizens must have felt as they raced among the haphazard and disorderly London streets to escape the falling bombs. This is why art can be such a powerful tool- it can invoke emotions in such a way that allows the viewer to feel as though they are part of that moment in history instead of just an observer.

January 20, 2014December 16, 2020

The Gilded Age: Too long Overlooked

In her book, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age 1865-1905, Rebecca Edwards tackles the ongoing controversial question of whether or not the Gilded Age is a clearly separate period in history from the Progressive era, as is generally asserted. Edwards suggests that the Gilded Age would in fact be more aptly titled the Early Progressive Era, as this period was in her belief more similar to the Progressive era than it was different (Edwards 5). Calhoun appears to agree with Edwards’s belief that the Gilded Age was a much more important era of American History than is generally described. He suggests that Gilded Age was, in fact, “one of substantial accomplishment” (Calhoun 3).

As Emily suggests, it is important not to characterize any period in history as irrelevant, as everything that occurred in the past played a role in shaping the present. Edwards clearly outlined the importance of the political, social, and economic changes that occurred and developed during the Gilded Age as well as the ways Gilded Age disasters prompted such changes. Calhoun also emphasizes this period’s successes, namely in the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the Interstate Commerce Commission (Calhoun 4). Edwards adds to the list of the Gilded Age’s accomplishments by naming the creation of the transcontinental railroad as well as pointing out the activist policies the federal government took in order to encourage economic growth and social order.

It is important to note as Sarah did, that Calhoun did not attempt to ignore the obvious shortcomings of policy decisions and disasters that occurred during the Gilded Age. Edwards too openly discussed the governmental and societal failings during the Gilded Age. However, both authors argue that despite these notable shortcomings, the Gilded Age was in fact a period of progress, responsible for transitioning America into modernity. Emily’s post illustrates the importance of keeping in mind through all study of history, that each piece of history is responsible for creating the present. It is essential to realize that no piece of history can be ignored or overlooked. Every era is a dichotomy of failings and successes, and as Calhoun points out, the Gilded Age is no exception.

Calhoun and Edwards both emphasize that the Gilded Age has long been simplified and glossed over. Emily’s post really drove home the point that history is entirely connected to our present, and thus cannot be ignored. Regardless of the Gilded Age’s shortcomings, it is important to never gloss over an area of history, as each era is intrinsically connected to history in its entirety.