A Look into Rev. J. Todd's "Scene on the Ohio: The Solitary Grave" (1840) : Critical Reading

Abstract

Having researched and looked in some historical antebellum newspapers, I found an interesting story, which I think it represent a good example on antebellum literature that remained unknown since it once appeared in the newspaper two centuries ago. The story is entitled,  "Scene on the Ohio: The Solitary Grave" by a writer named Rev. J. Todd. In fact, there are no resources that can tell us any information about the writer or the story. However, his story appeared in the Southern Recorder Newspaper, on Jan, 28, 1840, under The Milledgeville Historic Newspaper Archives, California Digital Newspaper Collections. In this essay, I focused on Todd’s story in terms of style, structure, themes, and content, and I link it with the features of the Antebellum literature through explaining its distinguishing characteristics, references to culture, Ideology, and some other psychological aspects that match the common features of the Antebellum literature.