By this time, slavery is a very hotly debated issue in America, even eventually leading to the Civil War. Thoreau obviously takes the position against slavery and tries to use his writing to try and convince the citizens of America to stand up against slavery and the laws that protect it. Thoreau often writes of the injustice that the government displays towards its people. For example, Thoreau writes, “Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them?” (184). Thoreau’s purpose is to convince the citizens of America to not follow the majority, but do what is felt to be morally right.
Hughes contrasts realism vs. idealism of America, hope vs. depression and personal view of America vs. public view and through these contrasts, Hughes is able to explain how he is optimistic about the future while living in a very troubled time as well as give opinions to readers about America, good and bad. First, through the usage of juxtaposition, Hughes is able to give a description of how American ought to be vs. how it really is, showing the difference between America now and America hopefully in the future. He touches base on many wonderful patriotic pictures of America, but then contradicts them with revealing the reality of America. For example, “Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed/let it be that great strong land of love/where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme/that any man be crushed by one above” (Hughes 8-9). Hughes is describing America as this “great strong land of love,” which triggers readers’ emotions and makes them feel a desire to go to America in order to seek this love.
In “ The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long, but it Bends towards Justice,” written by Maya Angelou, and “America as a College,” written by Ryzard Kapuscinski; address common themes such as racism and overcoming a defeat. In Angelou’s article, it states that blacks are no longer invisible in the US, through hard work and achievement. “ Whites now see blacks, but only as a threat to their safety or their jobs.” In America as a Collage, it talks about how minorities overcome discrimination, and “all races will merge into one race.” Both articles address different issues on prejudice and an attempt to overcome racism. The two articles carry the theme of racism in different ways. Angelou’s article, states that African Americans have come along ways since the civil rights movement.
I do not agree with this. If multicultural literature only focuses on the positives of their culture, they ostracize themselves from other cultures because then other ethnicities think that that they think that their culture is superior to all other cultures.Karla Carreno2011-11-17T17:03:11reword Through the speech “Ain't I a Woman?” by Sojourner Truth and the poem “Let America be America Again” by Langston Hughes, readers can see the struggles that different group of society face. By showing the struggles of other cultures and how people of other cultures see different problems, readers can be shown that other cultures go through the same or even worse difficulties. This helps for people to be more understanding and appreciative of other's ethnic backgrounds and cultures. In the 1800s, people started to speak up about women and African Americans gaining equal rights.
Israel Aprieto Ms.Henry Period 2 English 11 2/9/12 Modernism: The American Dream Lost Modernism is defined as a movement with “bold new experimental styles and forms that swept the arts during the first third of the twentieth century” (Haffner 1128). As the period of Modernism commenced, writers wanted to move away from Realist and Romanticist literature. They wrote about loss of faith in the American Dream and sense of disillusionment. Margaret Walker, for example, depicts her poem “Let America Be America Again” with elements of Modernism like sense of disillusionment. Her poem shows individuals who hope for a good dream of a better future but not being fulfilled yet.
Kendal Hiatt Mrs. Hamilton AP Lang, 5th September 22, 2014 Analysis Essay (RD 2) Will Rogers once wrote, “We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.” In a millennium where free men lacked full freedom, recognizing the rights of others holds importance when looking towards African Americans and their role in the Union. In his speech to his fellow African Americans, Alfred M. Green’s inspiring call to action is presented through the use of strategic organization, shifting tone, and powerful appeals implicating the necessity of their military service in the Union (parallelism). In the first section of the passage, Green addresses the dreary past that the African Americans, including himself,
In DuBois essay “Oh Mr. Washington and others”, DuBois expressed his beliefs. DuBois believed that Washington asked blacks to give up political power, insistence on civil rights, and higher education for African Americans youth. He believed that Washington’s policies had directly or indirectly resulted in three trends: the disfranchisement of the African Americans, the legal creation of a distinct status of civil inferiority for the African Americans, and steady withdrawal of aid from institutions for the higher training of the African Americans. DuBois disputed that Washington accepted the alleged inferiority of African Americans. Expressing the feeling of the radical civil rights advocates, DuBois demanded for all black citizens 1) the right to vote, 2) civic equality, and 3) the education of African Americans youth according to ability.
After differences of opinion within the government as to how to go about rebuilding and readmitting the South were agreed upon, it was decided that the Southern states would be coerced to ratify the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. The 13th amendment abolished slavery, the 14th amendment extended citizenship rights to freed slaves, and the 15th amendment gave freed male slaves the right to vote. Even though slavery had been defeated, racial prejudice thrived in post war America. Democrats unleashed anti-black sentiments to rally fellow whites to assimilate under their banner. Thomas Nast’s cartoon, “This is a White Man’s Government”, satirizes the Democratic Party in 1868, depicting the Democrats as the oppressors of the black race, represented by the black Union soldier who fell while carrying the ballot box.
He also refers to the Caucasians as “you” to create a feeling of being an outsider and “you” can only imagine what it feels like to be an African American. Baldwin. Thoreau also uses the theme of us versus them when he compares the people to the government. Thoreau basically coveys that it is the people against the government. It is evident when Thoreau says we must be “men first and subjects afterwards”, implying that one must be a person who is governed by ones self rather than primarily being a subject to the government.
Du Bois and Booker T. Washington have many conflicting views. For instance, they both believe that African Americans deserved egalitarianism, but Washington felt that the way to accomplish this goal would be through education. He felt that the establishment of Tuskegee Institute would allow African Americans to utilize education to infiltrate the work force and attain economic equality. Washington’s ideology advises Negroes to compromise by surrendering their civil rights, political rights and higher education for the Negro youth in exchange for a larger chance of economic development (p. 30). As a result, Du Bois says that Washington’s philosophy helped with the prematurely accomplished the disfranchisement of the Negro, the legal creation of a distinct status of civil inferiority for the Negro, and the steady withdrawal of aid from institutions for the higher training of Negro (p. 30).