1831: Year of Eclipse

Certain years stick out to Americans about how our nation got to where we are today. When hearing the year 1776 you automatically think of the Declaration of Independence and how we became no longer apart of the British Empire. When you hear the year 1861, you get reminded about Abraham Lincoln becoming the sixteenth president of the United States and the start of the Civil War. There are so many more important years that stick out in American history. Those types of events are what Americans remember and live for. America is so beautiful for the story it has behind it and the names who have created it. But what most people look past and forget is that happened in the year 1831. It’s hard to put major historical events to the year 1831. In the well written book written by Louis P. Masur’s titled 1831: Year of Eclipse, Masur writes about how all the events of the year 1831 culminated into a surprisingly important year in American history. When reading any book, the title always has something to do with the book itself. Whether it’s a message, ironic, or a metaphor, the title comes back to tie in with the book at one point or another. When hearing the title 1831: Year of Eclipse, I had no idea what it meant or had to do with America. After reading a good chunk of the book, It finally hit me. I had realized that
Masur’s meaning behind the whole “eclipse” was just a simple metaphor, but a very good one. Before the eclipse happened people thought it was going to lead to the end of the world. A man said, “For, said he, with tears in his eyes, the world is to be destroyed to-morrow; the sun and the moon are too meet… and a great earthquake was to swallow us all!” (Masur page 5). No one died because of the eclipse and nothing was damaged. People soon realized that the eclipse was practically nothing, and went back to their normal lives. The