Margaret+Fuller's+Trip+West

Original Author: Jessie Wagner, ENG206 SP10 Revision Author: Margaret Fuller, an early feminist and writer, explored the West, formerly known as the American Northwest in 1843. Most of her experiences and writings about Northern Illinois can be found in her books //At Home and Abroad// and //Summer on the Lakes//. Four places that Margaret seems to enjoy visiting are the Great Lakes, Chicago, IL, Oregon, IL, and the Island of Mackinaw. The region she explored then was almost all unsettled and undeveloped. She wasn’t sure what she would find, other than what she saw from pictures in books, but she was very interested. In 1843 Margaret Fuller and her friend Sarah Clarke set off on a tour guided by their friend James Clarke. They first arrived in Niagra Falls and then to Buffalo where they spent a week. “When I first came I felt nothing but a quiet satisfaction. I found that drawings, the panorama, &c. had given me a clear notion of the position and proportions of all objects here; I knew where to look for everything, and everything looked as I thought it would” (Fuller, 7). She spotted an eagle describing it as: Now, again, I saw him a captive, and addressed by the vulgar with the language they seem to find most appropriate to such occasions--that of thrusts and blows. Silently, his head averted, he ignored their existence, as Plotinus or Sophocles might that of a modern reviewer. Probably, he listened to the voice of the cataract, and felt that congenial powers flowed free, and was consoled, though his own wing was broken (Fuller, 8). As they reached the Great Lakes, they saw Indians for the first time. They were camped out along the banks of the St. Clair River. It was dark so she could only see their figures but described their strides so different in its wildness from the rudeness of the white settler (Chevigny, 317). This was Margaret’s first real feeling that she was in the West. Margaret was on a boat of mostly all New Englanders, seeking their fortunes. Margaret overheard one of the fathers talking to his daughters and telling him that this journey is not for what they should do but what they should get in the new scene. Margaret describes how she is prepared for the distaste she will experience. “While I will not be so obliging as to confound ugliness with beauty, discord with harmony, and laud and be contented with all I meet, when it conflicts with my best desires and tastes, I trust by reverent faith to woo the mighty meaning of the scene, perhaps to foresee the law by which a new order, a new poetry, is to be evoked from this chaos…”(Chevigny, 318). They arrived in Chicago where they stayed in a boarding house. There can be no two places in the world more completely thorough fares than this place and Buffalo. They are the two correspondent valves that open and shut all the time, as the life-blood rushes from east to west, and back again from west to east (Chevigny, 318). Margaret was amazed by the amount of people everywhere and the way the doors to offices were constantly opening and closing. She didn’t think those people had much character of their own and most of them had to be active, complaisant, inventive, business people. The traveler or student had no place there and would not find it profitable (Chevigny, 318). People in Chicago lived “in the day” and were very absorbed in the present (Blanchard, 200). Chicago had about 7,600 people. The buildings were mostly along the North and South water streets. There was a ferry boat at Rush Street and a swinging bridge at Clark Street (Illinois, 8). Margaret described Chicago as very calm with the wild flowers, sunset, prairies, cattle, and the lake but she also found it very lonely (Chevigny, 319). In Chicago I first saw the beautiful prairie flowers. They were in their glory the first ten days we were there.The flame-like flower I was taught afterwards, by an Indian girl, to call "Wickapee;" and she told me, too, that its splendors had a useful side, for it was used by the Indians as a remedy for an illness to which they were subject (Fuller, 32). There were no mountains or valleys but the people of Chicago love their city and do not long for them. Margaret believed Chicago was very beautiful and wonderful city but it was more of a packed civilization, rather than those of nature (Illinois, 9). The most picturesque objects to be seen from Chicago on the inland side were the lines of Hoosier wagons. These rude farmers, the large first product of the soil, travel leisurely along, sleeping in their wagons by night, eating only what they bring with them. In the town they observe the same plan, and trouble no luxurious hotel for board and lodging. In the town they look like foreign peasantry, and contrast well with the many Germans, Dutch, and Irish. In the country it is very pretty to see them prepared to "camp out" at night, their horses taken out of harness, and they lounging under the trees, enjoying the evening meal (Fuller, 60). After 2 weeks in Chicago, they took a covered wagon to the Rock River Country. They went through the cities of West Chicago, Elgin, Ottawa, Geneva, PaPaw Grove, and Dixon until they reached Oregon, IL. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">After crossing the Black Hawk trail, they arrived in Oregon where the scenery was even more beautiful then the previous stops. Oregon had about 2,000 inhabitants. Margaret noticed the river in its boldest course, the halcyon isles, trees, vines, and flowers that banked the noble bluffs standing three hundred feet high, and the luxuriant vegetation (Illinois, 16). <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The aspect of this country was to me enchanting, beyond any I have ever seen, from its fullness of expression, its bold and impassioned sweetness. Here the flood of emotion has passed over and marked everywhere its course by a smile. The fragments of rock touch it with a wildness and liberality which give just the needed relief. I should never be tired here, though I have elsewhere seen country of more secret and alluring charms, better calculated to stimulate and suggest. Here the eye and heart are filled. (Fuller, 52). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Margaret notices the unfitness of the women as a great drawback for these settlers. The women follow their men and while they can find assistance in field labor, the women rarely find aid in domestic labor which is left for the women and daughters (Chevigny, 322). They have few resources for pleasure because work is always the main focus. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Seeing much of this joylessness, and inaptitude, both of body and mind, for a lot which would be full of blessings for those prepared for it, we could not but look with deep interest on the little girls, and hope they would grow up with the strength of body, dexterity, simple tastes, and resources that would fit them to enjoy and refine the western farmer's life (Fuller, 62). <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Many of the people in Oregon struggle and the grand ambition for the mothers is to be able to send their children to school in some Eastern city because otherwise they are useless and unhappy at home. Leisure is less important so many don’t know how to sing, play instruments, or even dance (Chevigny, 324). The group left Oregon on July 6 when they passed Winnebago County and arrived on Mackinaw Island. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Mackinaw Island was located in the straits between Lake Michigan and Huron. “The beauty of the Island, tho seen under the most unfavorable circumstances, did not disappoint my expectations”(Fuller, 19). At the time they arrived, thousands and thousands of Ottawas and Chippewas came every August to collect annual payments from the government. The beaches and hotels were packed with thousands more coming each day. In the morning the Indians were scattered across the lodges with their frying pans, kettles, and small fires. Many naked with babies, talking, laughing, and enjoying themselves. Margaret found the Indian women very charming. She thought it was a scene of ideal loveliness (Chevigny, 329). She spoke communication by signs and could see they were mostly course and ugly with the exception of their eyes. Their expressions, the timidity and resignation of their looks and gestures conveyed a condition of servitude and inferiority towards the men (Blanchard, 207). The women were very submissive with a delicate frame but their gesture was timid and self-possessed (Chevigny, 329). **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Works Cited ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Blanchard, Paula. //Margaret Fuller: From Transcendentalism to Revolution.// New York: Delecorte Press, 1978. Print. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Chevigny, Bell Gale. //The Women and the Myth: Margaret Fuller’s Life and Writings.// New York: Feminist Press, 1976. Print. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Fuller, Margaret. //Summer on the Lakes in 1843.// <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Illinois State Historical Society. //Margaret Fuller in Northern Illinois.// Springfield, IL: Phillips Bros, 1910. Print. Return to Transcendentalism Return to Home
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Margaret Fuller’s Journey through the Midwest **