She is newborn in the sense that she comprehends and accepts life’s basic urges in all their nakedness. At the same time she always wants the spiritual freedom which is sought by men: but, while the man may believe that the bird of male freedom can fly, she has learned that the woman’s wings are broken when she attempt such a flight.”(TCLC-152). Taking off her clothes symbolizes freedom. Clothes are an obligation and a restriction, but Edna no longer wants to feel restricted. The repression of Edna’s own individual freedom led her to her own suicide.
This caused her to be humiliated and punished in front of the whole town. Hester Prynne unquestionably the protagonist of this novel even though she had committed sin at the beginning. Hester Prynne was given the chance for this story to never leave the town and she wouldn’t have had to wear the letter “A”, but she decided to stay in the town and succumb everything that was given to her. She tried to accomplish the best and succumb all of the punishments that were meant to diminish her. She constantly made herself useful towards the other people, and used the talents and gifts that were given to change the meaning of her punishment into her becoming he legend of her Puritan Age.
Mary’s motivation for writing The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave Related by Herself was to enlighten the English people about the dehumanizing nature of slavery. I will argue that Mary Prince’s novel focuses on how slavery destroyed families, as well as her courageous attempts to stand up for her rights and redeem her personal freedom. Her account of the atrocities of slavery eventually culminated in its abolishment, although she never achieved her goal to be a free person in the eyes of the law. Nothing is more painful than to separate an infant from her family and subject her to countless acts of abuse and overwhelming cruelties. Slavery destroyed families because infants were bought and separated from their parents.
It is their identification of her as their sinner that binds her to conform to their societal values. Pearl is the living version of the scarlet letter that traps Hester Prynne in Puritan society, and yet is ironically one of the most free-spirited and wild creatures, and the symbol of Hester’s passion in the novel. Unlike other children in the Puritan community, Pearl is free-spirited and cannot be governed by any laws, and instead seems to follow her own rules. When describing Pearl, the narrator notes that Hester is afraid of Pearl because “the child could not be made amenable to rules… the result was a being whose elements were perhaps beautiful and brilliant, but all in disorder; or with an order peculiar to themselves” (80). Because Pearl is a product of the passion of the adultery that the Puritan community does not accept, she does not follow by its rules and when she is born into the Puritan community she has to make her own laws to follow.
Harriet Jacobs for instance used the thought of someday freeing her children to drive her throughout the book and decide on what is best for them as a whole, maybe not immediately but eventually. She views slavery as worse than death, thus she feels disgusted that she brought her children into the world of slavery, “It seemed to me I would rather see them killed then have them given up to his power.” (Jacob’s 68) Frederick Douglass on the other spectrum of slavery was a man who had no children, and never had to suffer the physiological abuse of rape, and sexual harassment, but this did not make his slavery or his journey to freedom any easier. But it seems as though the small tastes of freedom he had experienced in Baltimore were the driving motives for Frederick Douglass. He always had a desire for more, “The fact that he gave me any part of my wages was proof, to my mind, that he believed me be entitled to the whole of them. I always felt worse for having received anything; for I feared that the giving me a few cents would ease his conscience, and make him feel himself to be a pretty honorable sort of robber” (Douglass 108) It is this ongoing understanding by both characters that they are unique and deserve much more, as in Frederick Douglass’ case these samples of freedom he was given were not taken as a sign of improvement but instead a reminder that he was a man and deserved
Among the hardships female slaves faced are the constant possibility of rape, psychological harassment in the form of masters threatening to sell the women’s children, and jealous mistresses severely punishing female slaves. In Jacobs’s case, these burdens all stemmed from her master, Dr. Flint’s desire to establish dominance over her. Despite all these burdens, Jacobs does her best to avoid Dr. Flint’s desires and blatant sexual advances. Jacobs would do her best to avoid her master. For example, when Dr. Flint requested Jacobs sleep in his quarters to look after his then four year old daughter, Jacobs would manage her time and “.
The poor little girl kept refusing and running away from him so he doesn’t get near her sexually. But being the crucial person that he is, he refused to stop but actually aimed to break her rebellious spirit, without recognizing that she is a human being with feelings and desires. On the other hand, Dr. Flints wife was a church woman, but was as insensitive and brutal to her slaves
The narrator says "There comes John, and I must put this away,- he hates to have me write a word (79). She says she cries for nothing most of the time but not when "John is here, or anybody else, but when [she] is alone" (82). John's dominance clearly affects the narrator as she immediately stops writing and puts her journal away. Her action of putting the journal away shows that the narrator abides to John's rules and that John's attitude reflects on the narrator's ability to do things as she wants emphasizing on his dominant trait.The statement refering to her cries shows how she can only express herself when she is free of company. The narrator feels she can only cry and be herself when she is absolutely alone
One can see that she is hurt immensely by the fact that “she would’ve sold us to the devil if she could.” (82) As she talks about her mother and the actions she is willing to take and her mother uses the excuse that she is “too busy worrying about her own life.” (82) One can almost feel the pain distorted in between the lines of the text. So as I go into “Never Marry a Mexican” by Sandra Cisneros, she shall be the character I will be talking about it and doing my literary analysis upon. I will describe her personality as she is growing up and then during her time with the father and then how her emotions remain steady as she is becomes involved with Drew, his
Because of this, Cleopatra could get out of him whatever she wants; even the assassination of her sister, Arsinoe; who she thinks betrayed her. So when Antony needed money, Cleopatra could be generous give it to him as long as it helped her as well. Antony's relationship with the Roman allegiance ended. Octavian then declared war against Cleopatra. Cleopatra lost the war badly, because of this; Octavian declared that she will be treated like a slave in her own country.