49 pages • 1 hour read
Frances TrollopeDomestic Manners of the Americans
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1832A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Key Figures
Themes
Index of Terms
Literary Devices
Important Quotes
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BetaPart 2, Chapters 27-29Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 27 Summary
Trollope and her companions leave Philadelphia and return to Stonington. Back in Stonington, they experience an extraordinary thunderstorm “of terrific violence,” typical of the fall in this region.
Trollope laments the condition of manual laborers working on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, many of whom are Irish immigrants who left home to seek a better life in America. These workers endure strenuous labor under extreme weather and unhealthful conditions, and for less pay than other ethnic groups. Trollope recalls the instance of an Irish youth who fell sick and died in the area, whom she saw buried without much ceremony in a strange land. Given the poor treatment accorded immigrants in the United States, Trollope advises her British readers to immigrate to Canada instead.
The seasonal transition from summer to autumn once again causes Trollope to fall ill with a fever. She is advised to move to a different location for a “change of air,” and so she travels to Alexandria, Virginia, about 15 miles away. There she spends a few weeks recovering. She watches the watercraft sailing the Potomac, sees the winter snows melt into freshets that carry “vast blocks of ice” (229) floating through town, and witnesses a solar eclipse.
Chapter 28 Summary
Trollope comments on the American diet, cooking, and style of dining, as well as scattered observations about the country’s society. She details the kinds of foods Americans like to eat and how they prepare them. Trollope disapproves of the lack of refinement in the cuisine, and of the manner in which men and women are seated apart at table at a dinner party instead of being allowed to interact.
There is little music at parties, and white Americans do not sing or dance well. Americans also don’t know how to dress well or carry themselves gracefully. Although often handsome, they have poor physiques. Moreover, Americans are overly preoccupied with money, which results in a “blunted conscience” and low moral tone in society; despite this, Americans persist in proclaiming themselves “the most moral people on earth” (235). Although Americans are industrious (when there is a monetary reward), they are dull and without charm or gaiety.
Again in Chapter 28, Trollope criticizes American democratic ways by relaying a story of a visit of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar to the States; the duke’s coach was stopped and he was rudely forced to accommodate several lower-class passengers.
Chapter 29 Summary
Trollope reflects on literature, the fine arts, and education in America. One of the reasons that fine literature has a hard time finding a foothold in the country is that newspapers—instead of the “higher graces of composition” (242)—serve as the people’s main reading material. Another reason is the lack of education in the classics, which furnish a model of good style. Nevertheless, America has produced several notable writers including Timothy Flint, Dr. William Ellery Channing, William Cullen Bryant, Washington Irving, and James Fenimore Cooper. Trollope quotes excerpts from American publications as examples of their style and approach.
American painting is better than one would expect given the poor patronage and encouragement it receives; Trollope mentions John Gadsby Chapman as the best American painter whose work she has seen.
Education is widely diffused in America, and Americans believe themselves to surpass the rest of the world in this regard. However, this universal education really includes only the basics—"reading, writing, and book-keeping” (254). American society does not encourage education beyond early adolescence, and young men are quickly expected to start earning money instead of continuing their studies.
Trollope warns that Americans cannot simply coast on their much-prized independence forever. If they want the respect of other nations (and not merely of themselves), they must work hard toward acquiring “taste and learning.”
At the close of Chapter 29, Trollope describes two incidents that happened during her stay in the Washington area: an eloquent sermon by an Indigenous American that she heard at one of Alexandria’s churches, and an unusual “schism” that occurred in President Jackson’s cabinet when the four secretaries of state all resigned.
Part 2, Chapters 27-29 Analysis
This section represents Trollope’s last sojourn in the South before going north to New York. The section is rich in observations about social customs and education, showing Trollope’s determined focus on the way people live their everyday lives as well as the broader ramifications of these customs on society.
Trollope shows her broader social concern while discussing the plight of migrant laborers (many of them of Irish origin) in Chapter 27. This discussion relates to the larger issues of immigration that were becoming more pressing in the 19th century, as immigrants from Europe flooded into America looking for a better life, yet often encountered financial difficulties, prejudice, poor standards of living, and other problems. Trollope’s explicit warning to her countrymen not to emigrate to the United States but to Canada is particularly damning.
Trollope’s discussion of education in America is limited by what she was able to experience on her trip; she barely addresses colleges and universities at all, even though the country had several respected schools of long standing by this time. Her remarks are limited to the general attitude (as she perceives it) of Americans toward education. This attitude is one of basic indifference to learning for its own sake and a subordination of education to making money. Trollope relates the lack of respect for education (beyond the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic) to larger deficiencies in American character and taste.
On the question of American materialism and obsession with money, Trollope’s relaying of an anecdote by a fellow Englishman is scathing: The Englishman claimed that he never heard Americans converse without the word “dollar” being pronounced. Here again, however, as elsewhere in the book, it might be questioned whether anecdotal evidence is sufficient to establish proof of the attitudes of an entire nation. Trollope contends that this materialistic attitude poisons American social and moral life, creating an environment in which dishonesty is widely accepted.
Although Trollope considers American literature seriously wanting—even two of its greatest figures, Irving and Cooper, saw fit to move to England—a “golden age” of American writing would begin not long after publication of Domestic Manners. This “American Renaissance” included such authors as Poe, Hawthorne, Emerson, Melville, and Emily Dickinson. Thus, it might be considered that Trollope’s remarks on American literature became quickly out of date.
A notable passage occurs at the end of Chapter 27: Trollope confides in readers that she “underwent a strict self-examination” (229) when reviewing her notes for the book, challenging her own views and editing a good deal out. This passage shows Trollope’s concern that her book not be perceived as biased, mean-spirited, or the result of hasty observation. Trollope means to assure readers, even at this late stage of the narrative, that her observations are well-considered and accurate.
