Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains - Term Paper Example

Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains is an intellectual work done by Mary Murfree .She is a Tennessee native who was born on the 24th day of January 1850. Since she came from a well to do family she attended the best schools in southern America where she acquired contemporary education and later specialized in arts and languages at Chegary Institute (Murfree, 2013). On completing her college education she began writing fiction stories having being influenced by her dad. In the year 1874 she published her first literal works titled ‘Flirts and their ways’. It’s from this trajectory point that she steadily rose in the field of literature, in the year 1885 she managed to publish the novel the ’Great Smoky Mountains’ which received much acclamation and criticism in equal measures. The novel basically dwelled on the mountain lifestyle of the southern town of Tennessee (Murfree, 2013). American culture has no standard definition that can be accepted across board however it can be defined to fit the context in which it is to be implemented. For this particular context American culture can be defined as everything that identifies the people of American decent with regard to art, language, religion and the food that they eat (Michael, 2000). Alternatively it can also encompass the values of the American people, their cultural information, lifestyle as well as their political position in society. The American culture is unique in its own way as it is the only culture in the world that involves the assimilation of people from different backgrounds across the world that either converged in this nation by either birth or immigration to give the identity and clamour that it has today (Michael, 2000). One distinguishing factor of the Americans is their desire to be the best of the rest in all aspects, especially in the fields of technology and innovation they always strive to be the best they can to stand out from the rest thus maintaining their superiority index (Michael, 2000). For the purpose of this essay, focus will be on Rick Tyler addressing on how he uniquely portrays himself as American. Rick Tyler is a young ambitious man who is mistakenly accused of stabbing another man in his neighbourhood. Since he could not stand to face trial he decides to flee his home town to avoid being brought to book for his wrong doing. Rick indeed depicts the uniqueness of a true American from all the episodes of the story as it runs through its chronology (Murfree, 2013). Rick was a young man a go getter by nature whose desire for the finer things in life drove him into a life of grim and crime just to get whatever his heart desired. He would do anything using whatever means to ensure all his needs were met amicably without hesitation. And it’s from this point that he acquired a fire arm that ensured all his orders were heeded with minimal resistance. This was the genesis of his life as a hard core gangster who controlled the streets of the city in the mountain. Anyone who dared to provoke or hesitate whenever he gave orders would be brutally attacked to death in some instances. This was the definition of who Rick Tyler was in Tennessee (Murfree, 2013). To begin with the county government of Tennessee through the authority of the sheriff design a mechanism to encroach on the peaceful coexistence of the mountain residents. This is manifested when Rick Tyler is falsely accused of stabbing another man. This not only presents infringement of one’s life it also elaborates the authority’s desire to bring the deferent members of community under control by subjecting them to unnecessary legal procedures just to ensure they do not go against wishes of those in authority (Murfree, 2013). The authorities by implicating Rick in a crime of stabbing another man it presents him with an opportunity to act in a manner any other ideal American young man would if he was in his shoes. Regardless of the fact that he was innocent he decides to flee rather than face his case to prove his innocence. This one of the most common attribute that is associated with young men across America, they will by all means look for a cheaper way to solve a problem rather that following the required procedure (Murfree, 2013). Rick was innocent but the fact that he was wrongfully implicated in the case he discerned that the authorities had hidden motives of ensuring he was behind bars because of his defiance to the authorities’ will. His actions entice comradeship from members of his community as they ensure the whereabouts of Rick are concealed to safeguard him from being arrested (Murfree, 2013). This is manifested initially by Dorinda a long-time girlfriend of Rick who engaged the county sheriff in a vigorous verbal spat to prove she knew nothing about the whereabouts of his boyfriend. Since Dorinda had declined the sheriff’s advances to help her search for Rick the relationship between the two women creates antagonism which later spreads to the family where Dorinda’s brothers plot to kill the sheriff. This furthers the rift between the mountain residents and authorities but the sheriff calms down just for the case of her security to put to an end the antagonism that had ensued (Murfree, 2013). Again comradeship to Rich’s actions is manifested after he was captured by the blacksmith who wanted to claim the sheriff’s bounty ,Kelsey a local mountaineer was not impressed by the blacksmith’s action to betray Rick just for his selfish needs thus he aided Rick to escape from the blacksmith’s shop. Hiram’s actions were influenced by the need for the people residing in the mountains to embrace a life of decency that is not limited to rules and regulations from the authorities. His action later leads him to jail as the sheriff accused him of aiding Rick to escape (Murfree, 2013). The American culture is again depicted in Rick in his lifestyle. He lived a flashy and flamboyant lifestyle emulating most young men in America. It is common that the American culture for young men is basically revolves around art, women and street cradle. Rick was no exception as he pulled the bad boy image in going against the authorities; this earned him a renegade image thus making him a darling among the young women of the mountain (Murfree, 2013). This is manifested by Dorinda who would do anything to ensure the location of Rick is concealed just to make sure that she gets married to him in the long run. However Rick’s romantic expeditions were not focussed on a single lady as he was typically a play boy who commanded the attention of a number of women (Murfree, 2013). The mode of Rick’s dressing distinctively defined him as a typical American; he would wear a tuxedo coupled up with a black hat a trend that is notable of the cow boys in America. Rick’s thirst for money was not different from that of any young man who is anticipating of the flashy lifestyle of women and partying. He would use his pistol to earn blood-money which was basically utilized to please women and partying. He was a frequent smoker who was often spotted chilling at a quiet spot with his pipe on his hand blowing the smoke without hesitation. At the blacksmith’s shop he yelled at the shop attendant that he did not want food to eat but a comfortable chair to relax as he had his time with his pipe. It is from this incident that the blacksmith came up with the idea of giving up Rick to the sheriff so as to benefit from the governor’s reward (Murfree, 2013). Many black American youths embrace a culture of unruly dealings in the streets that involves indulgence in drug abuse, crime and exotic lifestyles. This is what particularly identifies them from the rest; the practice has been popular over years leading young boys to drop out of school just to join the gangs. The gangs kill or maim just to remain relevant and command authority over their rivals. Rick fits every aspect of this description as all his experience in the smoky mountains elaborated how he slowly rose to be a street bully in the mountain city of Tennessee where he engaged in a number of dubious activities just to get his way and maintain his flamboyant lifestyle (Fabre et al, 1994). The fact that he always walked with a pistol tucked in his leather bag which he would carelessly brandish to anyone who dared not to heed to his demands describes the street nature of young men across America (Fabre et al, 1994). In a nutshell despite other characters having seemingly convincing attributes that can uniquely prove the American culture, Rick Tyler stood out from the rest as he unquestionably played his role in a fashion that really brings out the American culture in totality. From the elaboration above I can conclusively ascertain that throughout his role in the novel the typical American culture was demonstrated from his behaviour and actions thus my conclusion for him being the ideal character that uniquely demonstrated the American culture effectively (Murfree,2013). That notwithstanding Rick had a southern slang whenever he spoke manifesting an American dialect in his speech. This is very notable as different regions in the United States of America have their own dialect that identifies them. Rick’s speech stood out as it included use of derogatory words which were part of the elements that distinguished the southern dialect from the rest. On the social point of view, Rick emulated a social culture that entailed hanging with his friends in the streets whereby they would indulge in substance abuse and at times they would get into criminal expeditions. This defined their day to day operations as mountaineers. Therefore, it is evident that although the American culture has no standard definition that can be accepted across board; however, it can be defined to fit the context in which it is to be implemented like in the case our context where we defined it as everything that identifies the people of American decent with regard to art, language, religion and the food that they eat or alternatively that culture that encompasses the values of the American people, their cultural information, lifestyle as well as their political position in society. Thus, this is why the culture is unique in its own way since it is the only culture in the globally, which assimilated the cultures of other people from different backgrounds globally who converged in America either by either birth or immigration to give itself the identity and clamour that it has today. Works Cited Denning, Michael. The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth Century. London [u.a.: Verso, 2000. Print. Murfree, Mary N. Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains. S.l.: Theclassics Us, 2013. Print. Fabre, Genevieve, and Robert O'Meally. History and Memory in African-American Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Internet resource. Read More