The Stuffed Turkey

Authors

  • Igina Tattoni "Sapienza" Università di Roma

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13133/2239-1983/13046

Abstract

Using the “stuffed turkey” as a metaphor for a culture which has lost contact with spontaneity and simplicity, this essay offers some examples of Native American and Puritan poems together with passages from H.D. Thoreau’s Notebooks in which the recovery of the spiritual value of Nature emerges as essential to lead a “good life”, in fact the only good life possible. Large part of the essay deals with the analysis of Louisa May Alcott’s short story An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, in which the preparation of a “proper” stuffed turkey and its disastrous outcome reveal a surprising turn: deprived of its “stuffing”, the turkey resumes its role as a symbol of shared company and good feelings, thus hinting back, with all its contradictions, to atmosphere of the first Thanksgiving celebrated in 1630.

Published

2015-02-21

How to Cite

Tattoni, I. (2015). The Stuffed Turkey. Status Quaestionis, (7). https://doi.org/10.13133/2239-1983/13046

Issue

Section

Articles