EN628 Early American Literature. ‘It was a most terrible spectacle. I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it.’ (Frederick Douglass) Analyse the strategies the slave narrative employs in order to tell its story? You may base your answer on one or more narratives. Frederick Douglass, much like other authors of slave narratives came up against an unconventional set of difficulties when planning his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
Douglass upholds Civil Rights, while Chopin upholds Women’s Rights; yet both essentially uphold the Right of the individual. Douglass and Chopin’s semiautobiographical Edna, display their “true-self” while revolting against the so-called traditions of society, while learning from there life experiences. In the narrative of Douglass, he explained that he is like many other slaves who do not know when they were born and many as well do not know who his parents were. Douglass states, “By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant”(1). At that moment he knew that slave masters identified a way to control the minds of slaves and that was too not simply give them there age.
Jefferson owned slaves and Franklin, for most of his life, adamantly believed that African Americans were lesser. b.) But, quite unlike the mainstream ideals of their time, both men held strong ideals of equality. Franklin did at the end of his life reverse his ideas about African Americans, and dedicated many of his later years to equality for blacks. Jefferson also believed slavery to be an atrocious blot on the face of America.
ANALYSIS: PLOT ANALYSIS Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice. Initial Situation Douglass is born a slave and has to figure out what that means. Douglass wrote this book to show people what slavery was like from the inside. He takes his readers into the mind of a child who is trying to understand what it means to be a slave.
My Book Review of 'Rolls of Thunder Hear My Cry' - The Black Peoples of Americas Homework In reading the book 'Rolls of Thunder Hear my Cry', I have learnt many facts about slavery and have encountered many cruel and prejudice remarks from white children towards black children in this book. When reading this book I discovered that even after the time of slavery - in early 1933, the aftermath of the incident was immense resulting with a number of white people to still believe that they are more superior than any coloured or black people. Cassie and her brothers are on the receiving ends of cruel remark like 'Nigger,Nigger, mud - eaters ahahahh.' This is a conversation between children proving that the children (white) are influenced by the behaviour ad attitude of their parents towards a black person. In this novel I also learnt more about the slavery circle.
1. “One of the difficulties about being a Negro writer (and this in not special pleading, since I don’t mean to suggest that he has it worse than anybody else) is that the Negro problem is written about so widely” (446) James Baldwin is referring to the fact that African American writers have written about all of the problems already suffered by African Americans; He feels that every body considers themselves informed about the African History. He also is stating that there is either a pro or against side in the writings there is pain on both sides there for it is difficult to find things to write about because both sides cause him pain. 2. “But it is a part of the buisness of the writer-as I see it- to examine attitudes, to go beneath the surface, to tap the source.
His plea is designed to cause self-reflection of the actions and events that happen in the kidnapping and selling of slaves with a focus on faith in a deity of power, or an almighty God. Wesley writes with a lot of emotion and power which comes from his background as a leader of a Methodist group. In the selection Wesley begins by focusing his attention to the sea captains who operate the actual slave trade itself. Although there are many ships that run the slave trade route, the number of captains compared to the ratio of slave owners is quite small. Because this article is very harsh and blunt, and perhaps even offensive, to whom it is targeting, by temporarily drawing his attention away from the average population who supports slavery he is able to draw the audience in to read his call to justice.
African-American author Toni Morrison’s book, Beloved, describes a black culture born out of a dehumanising period of slavery just after the Civil War. Culture is a means of how a group collectively believe, act, and interact on a daily basis. Those who have studied her work refer to Morrison’s narrative tales as “literature…that addresses the sacred and as an allegorical representation of black experience” (Baker-Fletcher 1993: 2). Although African Americans had a difficult time establishing their own culture during the period of slavery when they were considered less than human, Morrison believes that black culture has been built on the horrors of the past and it is this history that has shaped contemporary black culture in a positive way. Through the use of linguistic devices, her representation of black women, imagery and symbolic features, and the theme of interracial relations, Morrison illustrates that black culture that is resilient, vibrant, independent, and determined.
Because this novel was written during a period in history that dealt with the injustices of slavery, this paper will take on the aspect of a sociological criticism. Truly, the actions of the characters contained within the novel can be tied to the culture of the period and thus create the complexes witnessed therein. There are many critics who would disagree about the theme of this novel. There are those who believe it speaks only about the ills of slavery and would certainly not be agreement that this novel deals with the issues of treachery and virtue. Yet there is much that can be said about each of these themes throughout the story.
Illiteracy was high among slaves, mostly due to white owner’s fear of education leading slaves to revolt. Those who were capable of reading and writing made use of newspapers, poetry, pamphlets, and other forms of literature to spread their message. Not only slaves, but abolitionists of all kinds used this method and some of the most famous anti-slavery publications were made available thanks to them. Two famous anti-slave narratives are Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, penned by Douglass himself and Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, like most other slave narratives was written by a former slave himself, however Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written by a white abolitionist and a woman.