Modernity in Robert Hayden’s “Middle Passage” Robert Hayden’s work, “Middle Passage,” highlights the events that took place when Africans were forcefully taken from Africa and enslaved as they were brought over to America like chattel. Hayden uses many characteristics of Modernism in his work. The narrator discusses the isolation, brutality, and hardships experience on the slave ships during the Middle Passage. The narrator tells this story from his personal interpretation of the happenings of the Middle Passage, which is characteristic of modernity. He also makes loose references throughout the text that go unexplained.
In this poem, Dunbar explains that African Americans have allowed the mistreatment get the better of them. He addresses Douglass to remember his strong words and hope it serves as a comforter in the phrase "through the lonely dark". In the phrase “voice high-sounding o'er the storm”, Dunbar uses symbolism on the word “storm” which symbolizes segregation. With a calm tone, the speaker is addressing Douglass of all of this and all that is wrong in the world. Also, the use of visual and auditory imagery allows the reader to depict vividly the surrounds of the slave times and the seriousness of the struggles they are faced with.
To conclude, the Middle Passage is clearly the roots of the slavery that occurred in the United States. Learning about the Middle Passage, gives us a better understanding of the long journey that the slaves endured. How being treated as cargo made them less superior and the torture and living conditions were unimaginable. Hopefully we can end the road, which racism has paved in this country. But more importantly, that no other human being should ever have to go through what the African slaves
Benjamin Banneker Rhetorical Analysis In his sentimental, yet candid letter, Banneker reminds the reader of their past with the British Crown and his oppression in order to relate the reader to the struggles faced by a hopeless slave. In lines 1-25, Banneker makes strong use of past experiences faced by colonists in order to connect his reader to slavery. Banneker starts off with reminding the reader of when, “the British Crown exerted every powerful effort in order to reduce you to a state of servitude.” The use of this concrete detail leads the reader to remember a time when they suffered a form of slavery in order to help the reader understand the struggles faced by slaves. The reader is then brought to remember when, “every human aid appeared unavailable.” Although this may be a hyperbole, it is successful in emotionally attaching the reader to the hardships of slavery. The hyperbole doesn’t come off as over- dramatization, but rather shows the negative significance of slavery.
Sankofa- Analysis “Sprits of the dead rise up and claim your bird of passage. From Surinam, Brazil, Jamaica, Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama, rise up…” these were the ominous words that were spoken at the beginning of the movie Sankofa. The historical fiction movie directed by Haile Gerima is very captivating. Using the Black Nationalist Movement as an inspiration for all of his movies, he created the theme of ‘the return’ the ‘journey’. Born and raised in Ethiopia, he realized that his people “began to worship Europeans as the providers of the new science and technology that’s going to elevate society.” “Sankofa” teaches us that we must go back to our roots in order to move forward.
“His judgment cometh and that right soon” and to wait for it with patient hope is the crux of the message of the film, “The Shawshank Redemption”. Frank Darabont, the director, uses such powerful themes to masterfully develop the antipodal characters of Andy Dufresne and the warden Samuel Norton, as well to rouse overwhelming feelings in the audience. He achieves this through the use of deep symbolism together with effective cinematography, music and lighting. “Hope is a good thing and good things never die”. Andy speaks out every prisoner’s deepest thought in this quote.
Darabont’s fictional retrospective provides much drama but not without astounding the audience with such precision and prowess only he could complete. The drama of the film is reflected through the various episodes of dramatic tension in the picture. As a convicted felon who had reached his thither, Andy confides within realism to keep him sane, he partakes in hobbies that serve as a constant reminder that there is hope and things to live for outside prison. Andy's overwhelming desire to escape prison is fuelled by the various prospects that lay beyond the foreboding desolate prison walls of Shawshank. Andy in his escape venture needed an alibi; he needed to create an alias to protect his true identity as a man in need to escape.
This helped underscored the film’s nitty-gritty feel that helped to contribute to the pretty awful lives of the addicts. The documentary however still pushed an underlying message warning against the use of drugs, but the film did it in such an honest and transparent way, totally unlike any previous anti-drug propaganda I have seen before, that it actually persuaded me that drugs are actually quite evil. Overall, “Through a Blue Lens” was an eyebrow raising, head turning, delightful gem of documentary. I feel that the producers did an excellent job in conveying their message in an unbiased manner and had the viewer make their own
His courage translated into a change in humanity’s prejudice toward another fellow man. The frankness of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave had served its purpose in illustrating the cruel discrimination of slaves and also initiating a controversial movement that we ensure today. Douglass portrays a classical hero as he converts from a low class slave into a man who challenged an entire nation. He stood as a man with absolutely nothing to lose. It goes to show the capability of one’s voice and action.
Apartheid (the Afrikaans word for apartness) was just that. It was a form of legal racism in which the black population of Africa was taken advantage of, abused, and oppressed for the ‘good’ of the white population in South Africa. Many works of art, literature, and videography have tried and portray this dark and merciless time for what is was, and three stand out among the rest. Invictus (2009), Blood Diamond (2006), and Building a Dream: The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy (2007) all envelope the progress that South Africa has made, and has yet to accomplish in future years. These movies stand out because they show improvements such as unity, freedom, and victory in the face of failure; as well as the obstacles, like violence, chaos, and lack of education still present in South Africa.