I am requesting help in writing my three to four page essay. The era that I picked was Modernism (PPt attached). I choose a short story titled "A Night Among The Horses by Djuna Barnes and I am trying
ENGL 224: Template for Encountering Primary Artifacts
This template is an adaptation of the Document Analysis Worksheets from the National Archives. You are encouraged to use this template as a guide when working with primary documents for this class. Some questions may be more relevant for certain types of sources than others; complete the form as best suits your artifact.
Familiarize yourself with the March 1966 issue of Life magazine linked on eLearn. Select one “artifact” from the issue: an advertisement, a cartoon, an article, an image. This is your primary artifact. Now, complete the following template as practice for encountering and understanding primary artifacts. Submit via eLearn by
Meet the artifact.
What is it? (photograph, newspaper article, cartoon, letter, etc.) (include page #)
The artifact is a photograph which is located on first half of The Mount Airy News Article.
Describe it for someone who can’t see it. (1-2 sentences)
Pictured in the photograph is Dr. Moses Young Allen sitting atop of his horse called Byrd. The photo looks like it was taken circa 1920’s-1930’s. He is dressed in a suit and tie with a hat on top of his head and a smoking pipe canted to the left side of his face. In his right hand, he has a firm grip on the horse leash with a little slack that leads to the horse’s muzzle. In the background stands trees, bushes and a graduating hillside on the left of the their pose.
Observe its parts (the who/what/where/when) (one-word answers encouraged!)
Who produced it?
The picture might have been his camera and taken by an individual close to doctor.
Where did it first appear?
It first appeared in the early years of the 20th century in Stewart Creeks Township located in Surry County, North Carolina
When did it first appear?
Early 1920s.
Who was its intended audience?
The intended audience is for the people who lived in the state of North Carolina and the surrounding townships.
Try to make sense of it.
What does it communicate? (1 sentence)
The photo communicates the value of having horses before the invention of the automobile.
Write one sentence summarizing the artifact.
This artifact was published in order to demonstrate how the horse has been domesticated and utilized as a means of transportation and companionship over the last centuries until present times.
Any ideas of what was happening in history during the moment of its production? (1 sentence)
In 1919, during the time this photo was captured, World War I had just ended. The revelation and civil unrest were still an issue in North America and Europe. The flu pandemic, terrorist bombings, hundreds of workers went on strike, the great depression, women’s suffrage, prohibition on the sale of alcohol.
What does it reveal about the moment of its production? Cite a specific quotation or other piece of evidence that supports this interpretation. (1 sentence + evidence)
The picture reveals during the Modernism era, people had opportunities to have a good education, job, own a house on a farm with livestock, own automobiles.
Use it as evidence.
What did you find out from this artifact that you might not learn anywhere else? (1 sentence)
That in a small community, a group of families had a great idea to collectively put their money together in a community account and help each other pay for their medical expenses from a doctor visit to their residence.
What other sources could you use to help you understand this artifact? (1 sentence)
Other sources that I could use to help understand this artifact would be The Mount Airy Museum website, Google search.
What further questions do you have about this artifact? (1 sentence)
Connection
What does this artifact add to your understanding about this week’s readings? (1-2 sentences)
With the short story “A Night Among The Horses” By Djuna Barnes, I wanted to tie in the pictured artifact of how Dr. Allen relied on his horse (assuming he loved his horse as well) and how Barnes wrote about a man who loved his horses.
This artifact (photo of a man and horse) depicts how the horse has played a vital role in helping the man. In the article, Dr. Allen is a doctor who owns a horse and car. These assets that the doctor has shown how folks during the Modernism era could afford these luxuries, while others (black people) migrating from the south struggle in the ghettos of New York with segregation and racial injustices. Although the doctor could drive anywhere, it was more beneficial to have a horse in some rural places due to the harsh landscape, which would sometimes be muddy that his car could not access his patient’s residence.
Barnes described how the man only wanted to be with his horses over his wife, who makes him feel trapped with being someone he is not. She wanted him to join the military and become a general, but he stated that he wanted to be “a common soldier” (Barnes 2). She is very arrogant, and he’s just an old fashion farmer who loves how the horses make him feel free. He also likes being on a farm with all the dirty and smelly things that are part of being in the country. His relationship with his wife seemed somewhat forced, and she would purposely play with his emotions to show how she feels toward him. Even in the end, he is trampled by the horses, the very animal that he loved dearly.
Works Cited
Lesté-Lasserre, Christa. "The Horse-Human Relationship: From Prehistory to Today." The Horse, 27 Sept. 2019, thehorse.com/179351/the-horse-human-relationship-from-prehistory-to-today/.
A link to the A Night Among The Horses by Djuna Barnes below:
Microsoft Word - A Night Among The Horses.doc (nmi.org)
