Slotkin's reading of violence and the American story

Cvrtila, Dina. (2015). Slotkin's reading of violence and the American story. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature. [mentor Grgas, Stipe].

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Abstract

This graduation thesis discusses Richard Slotkin’s reading of violence, with particular focus on the conditions which led to the creation of the American national myth. Slotkin’s work is analyzed within the tradition of American Studies, more particularly within the critical approach towards the earlier paradigms of the myth/symbol school. Besides comparing his ideas to those presented in works by Frederick J. Turner, Henry Nash Smith, R.W.B. Lewis, Perry Miller, Alan Trachtenberg and Leo Marx, the key elements of Slotkin’s paradigm are also provided by relying predominantly on his trilogy on the myth of the frontier. More specifically, the trilogy consists of Regeneration Through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600–1860, The Fatal Environment: The Myth of the Frontier in the Age of Industrialization, 1800–1890, and Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-century America. A summarized account of each volume is given, followed by some essential elements of Slotkin’s paradigm. These include violence and the frontier, the evolution of the American hero and American attitudes towards guns, weapons and military interventions.

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