The Shoemaker and the Tea Party - 1100 Words

The Shoemaker and the Tea Party by Alfred Young revolves around two bibliographies written about one of the last living participants of the Boston Tea Party, and the authors own interpretations of the events surrounding the Tea Party and the American Revolution as a whole. In this particular novel, Young explores what it means to rediscover history, and how history is continually redefined. Particular attention in the novel is given to public history, and how highlighting people otherwise lost to time can completely change how an event is perceived. Readers are given the opportunity to see the history behind the American Revolution through the lenses of an average man of that time. In this essay I will review the novel and the message†¦show more content†¦Young also makes reference to some of the countless books he serendipitously came across in his research surrounding the American Revolution, and the event that would come to be known as the Boston Tea Party. Young pulls f rom his large selection of evidence to make his points throughout the novel. In order to understand Hewes, Young delved into the psychology of memory and references noted psychologist Daniel Schachter. (xiii.) By understanding why someone remembers an event in a particular way, gives insight into how memories are consolidated. Hewes’ memory for a man is age is remarkable to say the least. The emotion tied to a particular memory is able to enhance it (xii). Young seems to use this evidence to lend creditability to the way that Hewes remembers particular events such as the Boston Massacre. At the same time, Young explores while Hewes would be able to remember more during the interviews for the second bibliography written about him. Young implies that the first interview essentially helped to focus Hewes memory which allowed him to remember more easily with Thatcher in his second interview as well as remembering new anecdotes. The first portion of the novel deals mostly with Hewes life and why he lived the life that he did. Young’s portrayal of a young Hewes, ever defiant, immediately causes a reader to reminisce of his or her own childhood. It soon becomes evidently clear that â€Å"where one ended up in life dependedShow MoreRelatedShoemaker and the Tea Party Essay1788 Words   |  8 PagesBoston shoemaker, who at the age of twenty-eight witnessed four of his closest friends shot to death by The British red coats; he also participated in many of the key events of the Revolutionary crisis.1 Hewes recollections of the events that took place were passed along in the monograph The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution by Alfred F. Young. His recollections of the dumping of the tea into the harbor lead the reemergence of how significant the dumping of the tea wasRead MoreThe Shoemaker And Tea Party Summary917 Words   |  4 PagesYoung, Alfred F. The shoemaker and the tea party: memory and the American Revolution. Beacon Press, 1999† Alfred F. Young throughout his book used Robert Hewes experiences to show how the American Revolution impacted the colonist. The Shoemaker and Tea party is all about a shoemaker named George Robert Twelves Hewes, whose accomplishments weren’t really recognized and somewhat overshadowed by â€Å"famous â€Å"people. The book will show how Hewes grew as a person and as a patriot, it will show his ups andRead MoreEssay On The Shoemaker And The Tea Party1203 Words   |  5 PagesGoing into â€Å"The Shoemaker and The Tea Party† I was expecting two-hundred and sixty-two page of misery. I found something much more than that, what I found was a story. A story I got stuck into it from the first time my eyes encountered the first words. I was pleasantly woken by a story that I was not able to put down until my fingers ached from turning the pages. 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The phraseRead MoreBenjamin Franklin And The American Revolution1375 Words   |  6 Pagesand severs all ties with him. Throughout his lifetime George Robert Twelves Hewes spent time as a farmer, shoemaker, artisan, ordinary man desiring change, and a man who influenced change. He had grown up in a life of poverty, knowing there had to be something more. He became a key figure of the Patriots and joined their endeavor for independence from Britain. To avoid the life of a shoemaker and his apprenticeship as his family had hoped he would, Hewes sought out the military as means of escaping