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The effect of oppression
The effect of oppression
The effect of oppression
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Would you stay patriotic to a country who starves you, jails you, and leaves you on the streets with nothing but the clothes on your back? Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur figuratively asked the same question in his letter “Letters from an American Farmer.” He wrote this story to describe the conditions of farmers in Europe and how no matter what country you are from, if you live in America and if America lives for you, you are an American. The story talks about the mistreatment of the farmers in Europe, like not owning anything or being jailed under harsh laws and not having any food to eat or land to harvest. He mentions how nothing binds him to Europe besides the language he speaks and the impoverished companions he made on the way. He lastly talks about the greatness of America and how everyone should be proud to call …show more content…
“The laws, the indulgent laws.” The repeat of the word laws in this section shows how generous he believes America is. He infers that European laws are unfair and that they are made to harm the poor. He repeats laws to emphasize how opulent America is compared to Europe. With the inference of unfair laws by Europe and the repetition of fair laws by America, his side has been proven that America is better than Europe. “They receive ample rewards for their labors; these accumulated rewards procure them lands; those lands confer on them the title of freemen.” The recurrent use of rewards and then lands further expresses his conclusion that America is there for him where Europe is not. He uses rewards to infer that even after his hard work in Europe, he was still left in poverty, but in America his work lead to rewards. These two strategies elaborates on his feelings of Europe and America. Repeating the words and inferring the negative things Europe had to offer, he was able to prove how America has better opportunities than
Dubbed as “The Greatest Country in the World” by god knows who, America is not as awesome and free as some may see. In doing a close reading of Heather Christle’s “Five Poems for America”, we can see how the author uses metaphors to portray a flawed American, specifically within its political system, religion, obsession with technology and basic human rights. Americans have been living with the oppression of these everyday issues, completely oblivious thus creating the America we infamously know today.
The opening paragraph summarizes American history in abstract terms: “It was happy in a new sense of freedom from control, happy in the opportunity of exploration and adventure; for this child’s spirit, in bodies of its ancestors, had for thousands of years been trained to memorable feats of discovery and conquest” (455). The diction Bierce uses conveys a sense of warmongering and that war and conquest is what brings about “memorable feats.” The ever expanding frontier, the cross-continental explorations, and the colonizing of the West, though, are all described by Bierce in terms of a mirthful child going to play in the woods unabated and “unobserved” (Ibid). Bierce undermines the notion that American conquests in the past were grand exploits of a privileged and godly people.
The 1920’s were the singularly most influential years of farming in our country. The loss of farms following the war, and new agricultural practices resulted in the dawn of modern agriculture in our country. The shift from small family to big corporation during this time is now the basis for how our society deals with food today. Traditional farming in the 1920’s underwent a series of massive transitions following WWI as the number of farms decreased and the size of farms increased.
Foner, Eric. "Chapter 9." Give Me Liberty!: An American History. Brief Third ed. Vol. One. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. N. pag. Print.
The idea of Americanism as viewed by Frederick Douglass comes in two variations. The first being the Americans who’s fathers fought for unalienable rights given to each man, Americans who love liberty, welcome refugees from around the world with open arms, the purest of Christians following the word of God. The second type of American being the more truthful in the eyes of Douglass is the American whom sits idly on the accomplishments of these same fathers that fought tooth and nail against the British for freedom. When the opportunity to create massive change and liberation for slavery and the rights of women, to stand by these unalienable rights that are supposedly extended to each man, the argument falls upon deaf ears. The liberties that Americans so gleefully claim are nothing but a sham, hiding behind Christianity and riding along the coattails of their fathers hard fought change for such liberties. Frederick Douglass criticizes what it means to be an American and argues that the liberties promised within the constitution should be extended beyond the wealthy oppressors; the freedom to be ones own should be extended to all citizens of the United States. The time to make change is now while America is still young and in its development. In order for Americanism to reflect the ideology in which many of its citizens blindly view it as, Frederick argues that the government and its citizens must stop hiding behind their inconsistent politics, fake Christianity, and to not shrink away at the site of change in order to bring about truth to the words that their founders fought so hard to ink to paper providing equal freedom to all citizens.
During the late 1800’s, the United States was undergoing major change. Reconstruction was occurring in the southern states, and sizeable groups were migrating westward away from the large, eastern cities and homesteading on new western lands. This migration caused many new states to appear in the next 50 years. Like the history of most states, Minnesota’s history is not an easy one to tell. Although it is complex, Minnesotans have a major group of people to thank for the creation of their state. The massive set of immigrants who would play a huge role in the formation of Minnesota arrived in the late 1800’s after millions of acres of land west of the Mississippi was acquired by the United States government (Early Settlement). These immigrants
Insisting that the American people have brought on these accomplishments appeals to the feeling of patriotism in the reader, who is more than likely American. Going back to the Mexican-American War, Thoreau said “The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the government as their tool”(221). This quote from his short story appeals to the readers emotion...
In the story, the mother’s belief in this sentiment gave her hope for her daughter to become a prodigy. Therefore, the weight of the dream is left on the first-generation. The belief of endless possibilities is set upon first-generation Americans and Americans alike. From the beginning of the story, the daughter states that “America was where all my mother’s hopes lay” (491). The mother has the be...
Frank, America’s mother, Browning and the whole system are responsible for all the negative impact on America. First, America’s mother forced America to suffer by deserting him with his brothers. Second, Browning deliberately uses America for the purposes of achieving his immoral ambitions. Finally, the system is guilty for backing away from America when he needed the system the most. The novel shows the reader that how America lost his ability to trust someone ever again and how after a lot of struggles and pain, how he was able to gain that belief to ever trust someone once again. After reading this novel, people should acknowledge the fact that, these are individuals who have gone through a lot of pain either emotionally or mentally and it is not easy for them to recover and be able to live a normal life once again. So in order to avoid turning someone into America, people should always there prior attention to these people and help them to be able to come out of their fears and to be able to live happily once
“, he uses logos to appeal to his readers. He goes on to say how Americans over confidence in their country caused them to believe that they are superior to the rest of the world and that America established and achieved the notion of freedom, making our lives to be superior and better than everywhere else in the world. Then, he pulls the rug under the readers feet by saying well this is not true. He cites multiple sources that suggest otherwise. For instance, America being placed as sixteenth on the international quality of life ranking, America’s murder ,other violent crime, and incarceration rates greater than most of the cultivated world. While there education and technical literacy is so low it’s humiliating. Some Americans having trouble really critically thinking when it comes to most of the social issues and act irrationally with no justification of their actions. For instance, after justice did not prevail at first during the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore and other following altercations, many young African Americans began to riot, loot, and destroy their own community. Due to the lack of education provided to their community to give them the tools and ability to think rationally, they let their emotions and animalistic nature to
“The Star Spangled Banner” emphasizes America’s perseverance and its unwillingness to surrender to adversity. The prime example of this “American attitude” traces back to the dawn of America. Harsh European laws during the Colonial Period allot little to no rights to its own subjects in America. American colonists’ penurious lives are in constant peril of taxation through means such as the mercantilist system and selfish laws like the Navigation Acts. However, American colonists refuse to remain under control of such an oppressive government. In the eyes of the Europeans, they are rapacious rebels who are oblivious of the supremacy of their mother country. Yet, in the eyes of the colonists, they are merely humans asking, and eventually fighting, for simple rights that–according to their tenets–belong to everyone. Although their adversary is the seemingly invincible England, the colonists are able to endure and emerge as the victor. “The Star Spangled Banner” clearly demonstrates the perseverance and audacity in this cl...
The young, recently married farmers living in the Great Plains during the 1930s had a terrible life. First off, being married meant having multiple people to provide for. This is more responsibility, and leads to dividing up the food between family members. Then, the country was also in an economic downturn, so the price of food and crops were low. Farmers already had debt because of new machines and land that was purchased during World War I to keep up with the demand during the war. Then the depression caused banks to fail, so farmers lost all their money that was in the bank. Everyday life was treacherous, and there were few amenities in the home, with no plumbing or electricity. Life was awful for a farmer during the Great Depression.
"Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,We, the people, must redeemThe land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.The mountains and the endless plain—All, all the stretch of these great green states—And make America again!” The free America is actually not free, the words on the constitution are just words. The dream has fade away. All these hard working people, all of their bloods and tears had really make the 1 percent of the American’s American dream came true. The reality is such a chaos for the narrator. he has suffered so much from this reality, so he now wants to share his idea to all the readers and try to wake them up, this is not the America that want, this is not the society they want. The American dream does not exist.
In “What is an American” by Hector St John de Crevecoeur, the writer described many notable differences that he discovered when he first arrived in America. He marveled at the many differences in structure, diversity, and the overall equality of this new land. Crevecoeur’s early America was much different than the land that he once knew. America gave him a sense of freedom, hope, and possibility. He wrote letters in hope to inspire all who were looking for a change in their lives, and who would be ready to contribute to the advancement of such a great land. America was more united, with every man working for themselves. There were no monarchies with Kings and Lords who contained all wealth while others suffered. Every
Around the late 19th century displeasurable and unfair actions have been acted toward farmers, working men, and minorities. The Industrialist took advantage of their lack of power, and bribed government officials and pursed corruption actions towards laborers. However, the loudest voice of the group was the Agrarian workers and American Farmers. Ask yourself, was the farmers outcry's pure pointless complaints towards Industrialist malicious actions or potential abuse that impedes an unbalanced industrialized society? Farmers were falling into unprofitable production and debt using all the profit innovating machines the government encouraged them to use. Foreign products led to unprofitable life, and farmers fell into a depression. Many parties were formed to speak what was on their mind, one of the main parties includes the populist party, fighting for what should be truthfully theirs.