c.) The varying interpretations indicate the use of “presentism” throughout the periods in which the affair has been analyzed. During the civil rights movement, use of the term “blacks” to describe the slave population was seen as one of the main points of insensitivity, because African Americans of the time had such little cultural footing in America. After the 60s, students began to reflect on Jefferson’s unwillingness to see integration as an option, because African Americans were still struggling to integrate after the civil rights movements. Modern day, the concern lies in Jefferson’s blatant stereotyping of slaves as lesser and even as “musical”. These all reflect the current ideals of the time in
Of personal opinion, Alice walker’s “visibility as a major American talent has been obscured by a familiar bias that assumes white male writers, and the literature they create, to be the norm. "All in all, literature should not be based by social construction but on its ‘aesthetic’ [1] beauty. A major text, The Colour Purple has become an icon of literature that heals, that enlightens, and that empowers. Set in the Deep South during the first half of the twentieth century, Alice Walker’s classic brings to life American history, world history, women’s history [and] civil rights history. [2] She exposes and explores the nature of a society and era where segregation and inequality of rights between races and gender was present.
In 1941 Adorno wrote The Musical Material, one of Adorno’s early essays on popular music. Written after Adorno had fled Nazi Germany, The Musical Material will provide the base of my research into Adorno’s Marxist critique of popular music. In this essay I plan to critical analysis Adorno’s theories on popular music, including his theory of standisation, cultural imperialism and the relationship between consumer and producer. I will be considering Adorno’s work to modern day examples of popular music, to see if Adorno’s work is still applicable in today’s neoliberal capitalist western society. Alongside Adorno’s work I will be looking into Adam Krims’s opinion of Adorno and his own more modern Marxist analysis of popular music.
In the Southern states, African Americans were treated as chattel and in their views it was a necessity as it had existed for hundreds of years. The North and South established a vast different view on the political structure on how there states should be governed. Both the North and South wanted different political and economic values that were going to favour in their needs. The Southerners had their beliefs that the individual states had the right to nullify any law the Federal government had decided to pass. In particular, they also believed that individual states had the right to leave the United States and form their own independent country.
On the country, Zora Neale Hurston stood firmly on conservative grounds on the topic of black rights, yet was mostly progressive on the topic of women's rights. She believed that while women should have rights equal to that of men, the colored and the white should remain apart. Hurston believed that the colored should stop attempting to "become a more advanced white influenced black race", and lose their African American culture and identity. Wright's black progressive stance made him "the most popular African American literary ancestor of the radicals of the 1960s", as Carpio and Sollors state in their essay. On the other hand, Hurston's black conservative position kept her in obscurity until Alice Walker "revived" her and assisted in urging her forward as a feminist foremother in the 1970s.
Comparative of Narrative of the life of Frederic Douglass and The Awakening In this life we sometimes have to follow guidelines or a set of expectations of what society expects of us; but all that we really long for is to have freedom of our self. Transcendentalist, the individual, the true-self was sacred, and conforming to the norms of the institutions of society was worse than death itself. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederic Douglass, Frederic himself revolts against the peculiar institution of slavery because he made a decision in his mind that there was something more than just be a slave in life. The awakening (1899) by Kate Chopin, it should a lady that revolts against patriarchy. Douglass upholds Civil Rights, while Chopin upholds Women’s Rights; yet both essentially uphold the Right of the individual.
Slavery, Democracy, and Conquest in American History History is a repetition of contradictions because history is made by events which always contain people’s idealism and reality but also people’s desire and plot. Ever since American history started, human relationship has been twisted and destroyed by conquest, slavery and democracy. Nowadays, America is considered the land of chance and freedom. In American history, America was the land of opportunity and freedom for the Europeans, but it was just a hell for the people from Africa. Europeans conquered America and then brought slaves from Africa and made their own benefits.
Written in two distinct periods, the Victorian era and the post war period of the jazz age , Elizabeth Barret-browning’s sonnets Portuguese an F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby explore the values of freedom an security through individuals who subvert the established moralities of their respective times. These differing contexts of challenging the conventional roles of a women within a patriarchal society and the moral decline of the hedonistic 1920’sand the downfall of the American dream attempt to establish the conflicting ideologies present. Elizabeth Barret browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese explores the subversion of the conventional and idealised traditional courtly love present within the Victorian era. BB alludes to ancient Greek poet Theocritus in sonnet 1 “I though once how Theocritus had sung, of the sweet years, the dear and wished for years.” “The sweet sad years the melancholy years.” From here we see BB’s manifestation of desire to experience such feelings as authentic love. Her newfound love with Robert browning made her feel insecure, BB reversing the role of the conventional women in sonnet 14 she demanded Robert to love her for who she is as a person not by her physical appearance “if thou must love me let it be for nought, except for loves sake only “By doing so, BB gains a sense of security and freedom to love truly as she challenges the values of the Victoria era and its goal to be the ideal women.
During Oscar Wilde’s literary career, he has been accredited for his notorious use of satire within his writings. Satire ridicules flaws in society in order to bring about change. His use of satire in the play, The Importance of Being Earnest, is reflected in how the characters live double lives. His play is a demonstration of how Victorian society accepts appalling behavior as long as it is concealed to the public. Oscar Wilde is credited for being a provocateur for change in nineteenth century England.
According to the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal”. This statement may refer to the equality of the American people but it only applies unalienable rights to a certain group of citizens rather than the entire nation. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Fredrick Douglass, famous opposers of this document, strongly criticize the hypocrisy of the government and the socalled American Dream. However, each individual had their own reasoning in why they don’t favor and agree with the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Sentiments was an inspiring and powerful speech written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton where she argues about the inequality of women and the lack of rights given to them, regardless of them being poor, wealthy or a different race.