M'liss - Bret Harte

Author: Bret Harte Date: 1873 Setting: the Sierra Nevadas- mid 1800s Availability: Read M'liss on line, free

Story: Living as an outcast of society in the failed Sierra mining town of Smith’s Pocket, the nine-year-old Melissa Smith survives in a near-animal existence. Her father, former discoverer of the “pocket” of gold, but now the town drunk, pays her no heed. She has been expelled from Sunday School, and lives by her wits and her wiry strength. She is locally known simply as M’liss.

One day, she appears at the schoolhouse after hours, and informs the young school master that she is coming to school. Over the course of the following months, she shows herself to be able to learn, and to act and dress in more socially acceptable ways.

But, when her drunken father commits suicide one night, she realizes that as horrible as he was, he was all she had. The school master becomes, in effect, her guardian. She lives with a large family in town, but spends time with the master whenever possible. They occasionally walk together in the woods, he finds her weaving wreaths of grass and flowers for her father’s grave. Although she is embarrassed, she allows him to share in these moments of her weakness. She likes to weave the poison monkshood flower into these wreaths, and the master warns her of its deadly powers.

Despite her youth, she feels a great affection for the school master. When the pretty, blond, oldest daughter of her foster family, Clytemnestra (all of this family’s children were given ostentatious classical names), develops a crush on the master, the brunette M’liss is outraged and jealous with all the passion of a pre-adolescent girl. She dubs Clytemnestra “that white girl.”

In time, the school master feels the need to leave the confines of Smith’s Pocket, but what will become of M’liss?

Commentary: Bret Harte is sometimes credited with inventing the genre of western fiction. His love for, and knowledge of the American West created vivid settings for his stories.

M’liss is sometimes considered a novelette, and was made into a movie several times. Three silent versions were made in 1915, 1918, and again in 1922 as "The Girl Who Ran Wild." The most famous 1918 version starred Mary Pickford. It was again adapted for the screen in 1936, starring Anne Shirley.

The story does not have deep, hidden meanings, but tells a simple story in a way that appeals to anyone who loves a happy ending. Harte’s stories were captivating as much for their backdrops as for the characters themselves. He was a highly popular writer of the 19th Century. Much of the emotional play of the characters is merely hinted at, and left to the reader to develop through imagination.

The sentimental style perhaps does not speak to modern readers as much as it did to those of a past age, but the truths of human relationships cross all times and places.

Author info: Bret Harte (1836-1902) was born Francis Brett Hart in Albany, New York. He moved to California early and edited several newspapers. Writing was always a passion; his first story was published when he was only 11 years old. As the popularity of his stories waned he moved to Europe and continued writing, spending the last 24 years of his life there. He is considered to be one of the uniquely American writers.

Unusual Words:
stuff- a type of durable cloth of wool, or linen and wool
ceanothus- a buckthorn shrub with white blossoms
drugget- felted cheap fabric



Rating:
Language skills 8
Depth of meaning 6

Barn Burning - William Faulkner

Author: William Faulkner Date: 1939 Setting: The south, just after the Civil War Availability: Read Barn Burning on line, free

by Carl Van Vechten, public domain LoC

Story: The 10-year-old Colonel Sartoris Snopes (Sarty) is called to testify before a local Justice as to whether his father had actually burned down their employer's barn. He is saved from testifying by the accuser's realization that a boy should not be asked to testify against his father. There is not enough evidence to convict his father, but once again, they are forced to move.

The boy is both an observer of, and integral part of this poor family. His father and mother, an aunt, stolid older brother, and lazy, bovine twin sisters are loaded into the wagon with all of their belongings. In four days time they have settled into another dilapidated house, working the ground for a rich landlord. The boy's father, perhaps on purpose, tracks horse manure across the owner's French carpet, and the carpet is brought to their poor home to be cleaned. In their ignorance, the carpet is ruined, and the father's resentment of those who have more once again boils to the surface.

Sarty knows he must choose his path for life. He is bound inexplicably by blood to be loyal to this family, yet there is a spark within him that knows right from wrong. He feels powerless to follow that urging.

Faulkner has a way of putting you both inside the head of the main character and maintaining narrative distance at the same time. In this story the perspective is the boy's, but the distance is created by occasionally telling the reader what the boy would think about this situation later, as an adult. And yet, he does not telegraph which decision the boy is going to make until the end of the story.

Author info: William Faulkner was born and raised in Mississippi, and wrote provocative and emotional stories of life there. Many of his works were set in mythical Yoknapatawpha County (largely based on Lafayette County), and Colonel John Sartoris (for whom Sarty is named) was one of its founding fathers. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1949, and two Pulitzers.

Unusual Words:
quiring- like a choir, a chorus of voices
hame and logger-head- parts of a collar and harness for draft animals

Rating:
Language skills 10
Depth of meaning 10