Fuller’s capricious friend, a secret Beloit student
by Carolinemy heart goes out to Margaret Fuller.
for the last few weeks i have been rereading Summer on the Lakes, finding myself charmed again at her discussion of my hometown, but mostly combing for her frequent references to Native Americans: encounters with them, thoughts on their ways of life, unflattering depictions of whites and their cultures in contrast. i’ve also been wading through reams of secondary sources. NEAT.
her writing is often bursting with earnestness and full of the evidence of her perpetual willingness to educate herself on new subjects. and i love that.
my favorite passage from summer on the lakes is this portion of Fuller’s “slight sketch” of the life of her school friend Mariana.
“Yet there was a vein of haughty caprice in her character; a love of solitude, which made her at times wish to retire entirely, and at these times she would expect to be thoroughly understood, and let alone, yet to be welcomed back when she returned. She did not thwart others in their humors, but she never doubted of great indulgence from them.”
ever germane during finals. when i have a lot of work to do, i resent my friends for having fun. in the breaks between big commitments, i resent them for having work!
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