Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Letters from an American Farmer, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom and Government
Farming, Land, and Love of Nature
Emigration, Hard Work, and Success
Religion in America
Colonization, Atrocity, and Apathy
Summary
Analysis
Martha’s Vineyard is 20 miles long and between seven and eight miles wide. It’s nine miles from the mainland and, with Elizabeth Island, comprises Dukes County, Massachusetts. The Vineyard is divided into the townships of Edgar, Chilmark, and Tisbury. Its population is about 4,000 people, 300 of them Indians. The Vineyard’s Indian residents live at Chappaquiddick and were converted to Christianity by a family of early settlers called the Mahews. The first Mahew settler gave his daughter a section of land with abundant vines; it was called “Martha’s Vineyard” in her honor, and the name soon extended to the whole island.
James’s historical account is broadly on point. Thomas Mayhew settled on the island in 1682 and befriended a local Wampanoag family, who converted to Christianity and later refrained from fighting in King Philip’s War. One of the sons of this family became one of Harvard’s first Native American graduates. Though Martha’s Vineyard Wampanoags were known for practicing a blend of traditional and Christian, New England-influenced ways, they also suffered some of the same hardships as their counterparts on Nantucket, like devastating disease and being forced into limited, less fertile parts of the island.
Themes
The descendants of the ancient indigenous people still live here and protectively maintain their ancestral lands. James observes that New Englanders are exceptional for their honesty in fulfilling treaties they’ve made with the Indians. He regards the Indians here as “wholly European” in their sobriety, hard work, and religious devotion. They often work as fishermen on Nantucket and are as skilled at seafaring as their white neighbors.
James’s remark about New Englanders’ honesty is certainly too sweeping, and though the Mayhew family treated their Indian neighbors better than most, that’s not necessarily saying much. In fact, James’s approval of the Martha’s Vineyard Indians’ “European” assimilation is more telling—he praises them insofar as he likes and agrees with their customs.
Themes
Martha’s Vineyard’s white residents are divided into farmers and fishermen. No matter where you go, “from Nova Scotia to the Mississippi,” you will find seamen who hail from Nantucket and the Vineyard. But what most Vineyard men want most is to marry and have families, so they’re often obliged to move elsewhere in search of adequate land.
Martha’s Vineyard is more suitable for farming than Nantucket, but given the island’s small size, it can only sustain so many families. Though it’s not as renowned as Nantucket for its fishing industry, it’s home to a disproportionate number of American seafarers.
Themes
Literary Devices
The Vineyard’s whale-fishing brigs are about 150 tons, manned by 13 fishermen so that they can row out in two whale-boats of six men each (one man remaining aboard the brig). That way, one of these boats can be occupied in harpooning a whale, while the other boat stands ready to rescue the men on the other boat if needed. Rather than receiving wages, each crewmember draws a share in partnership with the vessel’s proprietor, ensuring that each man is equally invested in the ship’s success. Whalemen never exceed 40 years of age, since the work requires agility and vigor. This is understandable when you consider the size of a whale, the relative smallness of a ship, and the dangers of the ocean—these challenges demand the greatest of human strength.
As he did in the previous letter, James devotes a lengthy section to describing how Vineyard fishermen chase and kill whales. While James’s account shouldn’t be read as if it's a whaling manual—he is just a curious onlooker, after all, and might not get every detail correct—he does effectively convey the risk and danger involved in whaling. In turn, this suggests that many people who live on islands like Nantucket and the Vineyard are willing to assume great risk in order to survive and provide for themselves and their families. Needless to say, it’s quite different from a farmer’s life, but it contains something of the same pioneering determination.
Themes
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When a whaling crew enters whale territory, a man climbs up to the mast. When he spots a whale, he cries “Awaite Pawana” (“here is a whale”), and the whaling boats are quickly launched. Nattic expressions are commonly used on board, since Nantucket settlers understand them, too. While one boat waits at a slight distance, the harpooner on the other boat prepares to strike. When he is about 15 feet away from the whale, the harpooner throws his weapon.
Continuing with his description of a whaling voyage, James reaches the climactic moment—spotting a whale. It’s interesting that an Indian expression is used to announce a sighting—it suggests that at this time, a fair degree of friendship, or at least cooperation, existed between white and Native islanders. (Again, “Nattic” may refer to the Natick dialect of Algonquian.)
Themes
Anything can happen next: the whale might destroy the boat with one angry stroke of her tail, or the boat might be forced to give chase while the injured beast swims to the point of exhaustion. Since the harpoon is attached to the boat, the boat is sometimes pulled along at great speed, and the harpooner might finally be forced to sever the harpoon’s cord to spare the men’s lives. If and when the fishermen do succeed in lethally wounding the whale, they tow their catch alongside the boat.
Catching a whale is a harrowing and even life-threatening process, for the fishermen and obviously for the targeted whale. Any given pursuit might mean death for the whalers, again suggesting that these men are willing to take on the greatest risk in order to succeed—indeed, that the islands attract settlers who aren’t just willing to work hard, but don’t believe they have much to lose.
Themes
The next step is to cut open every part of the whale’s body that yields oil. They boil the contents and fill the ship’s hold with the barrels. Whales often yield tremendous quantities of oil; the River St. Lawrence whale, which is 3,000 pounds, can produce 180 barrels of oil. Once the whale has been killed, fishermen also have to worry about sharks and thrashers (a 30-foot whale species, which are quite fierce). Both these predators will often follow the whale boat, hoping for a share of the prey. James concludes by listing the various types of whales found in the vicinity of Nantucket, some of which crews have never successfully killed, and sharing some statistics that show how much the whaling industry has boomed within a few years.
Once the whale is caught, the work doesn’t stop; the whale must be processed into a sellable form. Before the 20th century, whale oil (obtained from the whale’s blubber) was often used for fueling lamps and lubricating machines. New England’s whaling industry peaked in the mid-1800s, so at the time Crèvecoeur wrote, it was still relatively young, though as its rapid advancement suggests, it was already well on its way to becoming a lucrative, global business.
Themes
James suggests that people who spend two-thirds of their time at sea must have very different conduct and customs from those who farm. Forced to live austerely, breathe salt air, and face frequent danger, such people naturally seek out pleasure when they return to land. Yet James maintains that he doesn’t see Nantucket men indulging themselves as wildly as Europeans do. He believes this is because Nantucket men marry young and are mainly happy to go home to their families. Besides, they don’t go to sea because they don’t have anything better to do, but because they want to learn a good living.
Always interested in the natural environment’s impact on the people who live and work there, James figures that whalers naturally need to blow off steam when they return to the comparative safety of the island. Still, rather than seeking adventure for its own sake, whalers are primarily trying to support themselves and their families—a point James finds important to make. Like farmers, fishermen hope to enjoy stable, self-sufficient lives.
Themes
By the time James had stayed in Martha’s Vineyard for a whole month, he had gotten to know the heads of the major families and was impressed by their simple manners, though he found them a bit “primitive” due to their isolation. The people pursue their occupations with great diligence, but without the “servility of labour” that James has heard about in Europe. Though there are visible class differences in the community, people don’t seem arrogant or prideful. The houses are simple and comfortable, and the people are hospitable. People lack for nothing; in fact, it seems like they could be living in fertile Virginia, not on “a barren sandbank.”
It's interesting that James finds the people of Martha’s Vineyard impressive even though they’re “primitive,” whereas he finds people living on America’s western frontier to be simply backward. His reasoning is unclear, but he seems to find the islanders more civilized in their habits than the ungovernable westerners. For one thing, they work hard and take pride in their work, unlike frontiersmen who rely on occasional hunting for survival, and unlike downtrodden Europeans who don’t have much opportunity to enjoy what they do. In fact, their diligence allows them to overcome the natural limitations of island living.
Themes
James entertains himself by questioning both men and women about their various types of industry. He’s impressed by their excellent judgment, even though they’re not highly educated. Instead, they build on their natural good sense and their forebears’ experience. In fact, university education would be more likely to lead people astray here because it wouldn’t be useful and would pervert people’s instincts. Not everyone here becomes rich, but even owning a single whale-boat or some sheep and living in freedom is better than working for nothing and being oppressed by the government in Europe.
James makes some interesting observations on education here. He doesn’t view formal education as being inherently valuable in every case. Rather, he thinks that common sense, passed-down family wisdom, and well-developed instincts can serve people better than what they might learn in college—and formal learning might even stifle those more natural and inherited ways. This view fits with James’s egalitarian instincts, as does his prizing of individual freedom over class status.
Themes
Many of the tradespeople on Martha’s Vineyard are Presbyterians, while the wealthier people tend to be members of the Society of Friends, but even the Quakers started out as “simple whalemen.” And to this day, it’s believed that even the sons of the wealthy should serve as apprentices on boats, to harden them and introduce them to their future career.
The Society of Friends, or Quakers, valued equality in their worship services and daily interactions. This value seems to have influenced their attitudes about hard work, too—just because a young man was well off didn’t mean he wasn’t expected to do his part to contribute to his community.
Themes
