The utopian picture of America presented in the first two-thirds of St. John de Crevecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer (1782) contrasts sharply with the description of southern slavery and the effects of the American Revolution given in the final third of the book. Critics of Letters often account for this change in tone by attributing the utopian vision to the narrator, James. In this view, the progression of the book results either from James's disillusionment at the failure of his utopian hopes, or from a process of education whereby he alters that vision or unrealistically reaffirms it. However, evidence in the text suggests that James used a utopian vision supplied by his minister as a contrast to his own more realistic vision in order to educate his European correspondent. James provides examples that illustrate the elements of his utopian vision and the threats to it. Letters thus reveals a narrator who is neither naive nor unrealistic. / Department of English
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/184877 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Dinse, Thomas Wm |
| Contributors | Ball State University. Dept. of English., Habich, Robert D. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | 129 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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