Literary Analysis Essay on 'Domestic Manners of Americans' by Frances Trollope

Introduction

The book 'Domestic Manners of Americans', written by Frances Trollope is a travel book that explains her travel through America and her place of living in Cincinnati. Trollope, in the company of her son, Henry departure the US in 1827 to 1831, to Cincinnati, where she spent most of her lifetime, and she hoped that when her husband would join her, she would open a large store, which would be run by her son, hence found himself in a profitable business, benefit from the opportunities in America for a young man. In the store, she would sell fine things to the fast-growing population of the country. Unfortunately, she was almost completely ignorant of the practice in business, and regularly in short of money, and her husband could not make up for either.

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This book created an impression on all the sides of Atlantic. Frances Trollope had a corroded view of the Americans, and she found them not having manners completely and lacked learning. Trollope's inspiration to write the book came from the American democratic middle class and influenced by the evangelicalism which had begun to emerge. Trollope was sickened by slavery on her brief stay in the South. She was also disgusted by how tobacco chewing was popular, which resulted in continuous spitting, mannerlessly even on the carpets. Her views on these behaviors were undesirable for various reasons. Since the UK and US war and the American Revolution War which had been ongoing earlier and was still being remembered, her views on the politics, church and social values were openly conservative. She was not comfortable with a lot in the American religion, culture and the government. While in America, she was not happy about the difficulties in her financial and marital status.

The Trollopes had the highest manners and very impressive backgrounds but were not wealthy when compared to the definition of the London society, something that interfered with Trollope's plans, more so the future of her children. She looked upon America to offer the right climate economically and a market for her business idea. Her expectations of America were not delivered and the venture did not come to a smashing success as she expected. Nevertheless, her trip to Cincinnati resulted in what would eventually be Trollope's glory, the 'Domestic Manners of Americans' which was her travel journal for the adventures she had in the United States. Despite that, her book gave her popularity and her recognition as the triumph in her home ground, its exposure of the uncultured Americans purposed to reveal her as an arrogant villain in the US, the Cincinnati in particular.

Trollope set off to America from London with 3 of her children, where she arrived at Cincinnati. She found the Cincinnatians very hardworking, not allowing for any room to lazy or idle. She realized that through their much spending of time to work and pursue economics, they did not have a room for spending on fine things in life, like art, literature, and dancing, which she viewed as a very dull and uncivilized nation.

Cincinnati was popular with an abundant population of pigs, and the obsession of the citizens with the animals did not impress her commendation to the city. She encountered live pigs on the streets and met a shocking number of pig parts with blood cast away by the slaughters. She was disgusted by the site of people wolfing watermelons publicly, a scene that is common, with seed shooting and juices flowing from their mouths. Her idea of founding a store for fine things bared a shape and came to the conclusion that she would establish a coffee house, ballroom, salon, and an exhibition gallery. Her son, accompanied by her husband would run the store. Upon their arrival in Cincinnati, they were given the responsibility of buying items from England, which would be sold in the store.

She started the construction of the store on a 4-story Bazaar located at the southern side of the third street, which was on the east side of Broadway. The Trollopes faced economic difficulties that they had to leave the project before completing it. Mrs. Trollope had felt that there was none of them who did not experience the feeling of pleasure leaving the project, and she felt that they would have ventured in it since they had wasted money, time and health in the founding the store.

Trollope published the book in March 1832 and continued to publish many more, with her eldest son helping her to write mostly, and her youngest son assisting as the literary master, with his high volume collection of novels, travel books and short stories. In her book, 'Domestic Manners of Americans', Trollope captured her experience in the US, which she explained the poverty that was experienced by some of the Americans, for instance, she describes the state of the young Potomac family that she visited as slaves, whose home stood in the midst of a 300 acres of hardscrabble land. she describes the house as one that was built with wood and seemed like the slaves had turned it over. Through this, she depicted the poverty faced by some Americans who were still facing the hard ache of slavery. She describes the living conditions of the slaves as horrible and having a very small space to live in. Their houses were described as a shanty, with a black hole and no windows.

The sight of slavery that they were facing affected Trollope and recorded their words in her book, which they exclaimed that 'all men are born equal and free'. Her book became so sensational in Britain, as Charles Dickens held forth that he was so convinced that there was no writer who described America so well and accurate, and entertainingly at the same time. However, in the US, the book did not receive warm reactions, as told out by Mark Twain, that the Americans substantially cursed and hated Mrs. Trollope for revealing the truth about America. Out of the novels written by Trollope, none received a level of success and disrepute as the novel 'Domestic Manners of Americans'.

Conclusion

Through visitation, traveling to the United States and living among the Americans, Trollope gathered the information that she required for her book. As seen, she traveled and stayed at Cincinnati, where she wanted to establish her business there, and through that, she was able to gather the information that she needed. Moreover, her being a fan of traveling and exploring, she went to different parts of America where she was able to observe how people lived. A documentary film on this novel would be an innate one compared to the book.

Reference

Trollope, F. M. (1839). Domestic Manners of the Americans(Vol. 4). Richard Bentley.