The Power of Sympathy

Title page of the first edition

The Power of Sympathy: or, The Triumph of Nature (1789) is an 18th-century American sentimental novel written in epistolary form by William Hill Brown, widely considered to be the first American novel. The novel was published by Isaiah Thomas in Boston on January 21, 1789, and sold at the price of nine shillings. The Power of Sympathy was Brown's first novel. The characters' struggles illustrate the dangers of seduction and the pitfalls of giving in to one's passions, while advocating the moral education of women and the use of rational thinking as ways to prevent the consequences of such actions.

Historical context

The novel mirrors a local New England scandal involving Brown's neighbor Perez Morton's incestuous seduction of Fanny Apthorp; Apthorp was Morton's sister-in-law. Apthorp became pregnant and committed suicide, but Morton was not legally punished. The scandal was widely known, so most readers were able to quickly identify the "real" story behind the fiction: "in every essential, Brown's story is an indictment of Morton and an exoneration of Fanny Apthorp", with "Martin" and "Ophelia" representing Morton and Apthorp, respectively.

A century after William Hill Brown's death in 1793, Arthur Bayley, editor of The Bostonian, published a serial publication of The Power of Sympathy, attributing the work to Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton of Boston, a poetess, the wife of Perez Morton and sister of Frances Apthorp. Through much of the 19th century, the author was believed to be female.

Characters

• Thomas Harrington
• Myra Harrington, sister to Harrington
• Harriot Fawcet, illegitimate sister to Harrington and Myra
• Jack Worthy
• Mrs. Eliza Holmes, common friend of Harrington, Harriot, and Myra
• Mr. Harrington, Thomas and Myra's father
• Maria, Mr. Harrington's mistress and Harriot's mother
• Martin and Ophelia

Plot summary

The opening letters between Harrington and Worthy reveal that Harrington has fallen for Harriot, despite the reservations of his father. Harriot resists Harrington's initial advances, as he intends to make her his mistress; readers also find that Worthy encourages Harrington to abandon his licentious motives in favor of properly courting Harriot. However, when Harrington and Harriot become engaged, Mrs. Holmes becomes alarmed and exposes a deep family secret to Myra: Harriot is in fact Harrington and Myra’s illegitimate sister. Mr. Harrington's one time affair with Maria Fawcet resulted in Harriot's birth, which had to be kept a secret to maintain the family’s honor. Thus, Eliza’s mother-in-law, the late Mrs. Holmes, took Maria, Thomas and Harriot into her home. After Maria’s death, Harriot was raised by a family friend, Mrs. Francis.

Upon receiving the news of this family secret, Harriot and Harrington are devastated, as their relationship is incestuous and thus forbidden. Harriot falls into a grief-stricken consumption, a condition now referred to as tuberculosis, from which she is unable to recover. Harrington spirals into a deep depression and commits suicide after learning of Harriot's death.

Critical discussions

The novel has ties to American politics and nationhood, just as many early American sentimental novels can be read as allegorical accounts of the nation's development. These critics have argued that these novels' use of moral education as a means to avoid seduction functions as a way to show readers the virtues and education most needed by the new American nation. Elizabeth Maddock Dillon complicates this standard reading by locating the novel within a global context marked by "forces of colonialism, mercantile capitalism, and imperialism". In this reading, the workings of the novel (incest and miscegenation specifically, Dillon argues) are read not necessarily as indicative of the formation of the American nation but as representative of the effects of colonialism in the New World.

As the novel's title indicates, sympathy is the driving force behind several characters' actions. The excesses of sympathetic thought lead to tragedy; it is implied that Harrington's suicide, for example, is spurred on by an over-identification with The Sorrows of Young Werther, a copy of which is found alongside his body. These excesses are contrasted with the rational thinking of characters like Worthy, who strives to uphold normative social and moral ideals. While the overly sympathetic characters do not survive the course of the novel, the rational characters do survive, suggesting that at the very least, a balance of sympathy and rational thinking (or the use of reason to overcome passion) are necessary for a productive, successful member of society.

Another scholarly discussion surrounding the text is the question of its ability to serve as a didactic text for 18th-century readers, with earlier critics unquestioningly discussing the novel's didactic intent; more recent scholars, however, have questioned the novel's ability to teach morality yet frankly discuss seduction and incest. The novel’s preface claims that it is:

Intended to represent the specious causes, and to Expose the fatal CONSEQUENCES, of SEDUCTION; To inspire the Female Mind With a Principle of Self Complacency, and to Promote the Economy of Human Life.

Essentially, Brown claims that his text has the ability to teach young women how to avoid these scandalous errors. Ample discussions of seduction and incest are included (as Brown suggests) to illustrate these potential dangers to young men and women. However, scholars have questioned the inclusion of such topics, asserting that these issues overshadow the morality lesson they supposedly teach and arguing that 18th century readers read such novels for the thrill of taboo discussions — not moral guidance.

Overview of early American literacy and the emergence of print culture

In the late 18th century to the early 19th century, America saw a rise in literacy as well as an emergence of a new popular print culture. In 1790, "approximately 85 percent of adult men in New England and 60 percent of those in Pennsylvania and the Chesapeake could read and write" (Murrin). The literacy rate for women was also on the rise, though much lower than the male literacy rate at "about 45 percent in New England" (Murrin).

As the literacy rates increased at this time, so did the supply and variety of publications and reading materials. Correspondence by mail became extremely popular, tying in with the style in which The Power of Sympathy was written in: letters.

While The Power of Sympathy was released in 1789, American novels were not a popular or common publication in the United States in the late 18th century. As a result, this novel was considered the first American novel. The most common type of publication at that time was the newspaper.

With the boom in literacy and publication taking place, so did a sort of democratization of print. No longer were publications limited to the wealthy and well-educated: books, bibles and newspapers were becoming available to the masses.

References

• Brown, William Hill and Hannah Webster Foster. The Power of Sympathy and The Coquette. (Penguin Classics, 1996)
• Byers Jr., John R. A Letter of William Hill Brown's (in Notes). American Literature 49.4 (January 1978): 606–611.
• Ellis, Milton. The Author of the First American Novel. American Literature 4.4 (January 1933): 359–368.
• Lawson-Peebles, Robert. American Literature Before 1880. London: Pearson Education, 2003.
• Martin, Terrence. William Hill Brown's Ira and Isabella. The New England Quarterly 32.2 (June 1959): 238–242.
• Murrin, John M. et al. Liberty, Freedom, and Power: A History of the American People. Volume I., 4th ed. pp. 252–253. (Wadsworth, 2005)
• Shapiro, Steven. The Culture and Commerce of the Early American Novel: Reading the Atlantic-World System. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2008.
• Walser, Richard. More About the First American Novel. American Literature 24.3 (November 1952): 352–357.
• Walser, Richard. The Fatal Effects of Seduction (1789) Modern Language Notes 69.8 (December 1954): 574–576.