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An essay on perseverance
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An essay on perseverance
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Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is the harrowing story of Isabel’s escape from slavery. Isabel must escape Madam Lockton, her cruel slave owner. Through Isabel’s utmost dedication to crossing her “river Jordan” to her freedom, the author displays the theme: “Persistence is key in life.” Isabel, the main character, faces a difficult time trying to escape Madam Lockton and her “chains” that bind her from her freedom. She has failed a few times, as she did on page 140: “I bolted for the open window. I almost made it.” After Isabel had tried to escape here, she received the punishment of being branded with the letter “I.” Isabel has tried––and failed—to escape the iron fist of the Locktons. Isabel always persists to free herself from her
Sentence #1: Curzon makes his first appearance as a real risk taker when he comes forward when Grandfather calls him and he replies, “‘I say I’m an American.’ Curzon said, ‘An American Soldier” (pg. 164).
The lives of New York slaves was worse than ever during the American Revolution. The Revolution was a successful but rough phase of America’s history. The Revolution began through British control so when the people wanted to become independent, war broke out. The life of Isabel in Chains represents the everyday life of a slave during this time period.
In the book Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, there are two main characters who have very different views on slavery. On one hand, Madam Lockton believes slavery is acceptable. On the opposite side, Lady Seymour believes slavery should be abolished.
John Demos' book The Unredeemed Captive examines the story of "Reverend Mr." John Williams, the minister of the church of Deerfield (a town of approximately 300 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony), and his family. The reverend and his wife had many connections to important figures of the time. His father was a shoemaker, farmer, and "ruling elder" in the church at Roxbury. Reverend John Eliot, the minister of the Roxbury church, created many of the "praying towns" in which converted Native Americans worshipped and was New England's "Apostle to the Indians." Reverend Williams' wife, originally named Eunice Mather, was the daughter of Reverend Eleazer Mather, the minister of the church of Northampton in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Increase and Cotton Mather, two of Boston's most famous ministers, were her uncle and first cousin, respectively. Eunice Mather's grandfather, Reverend John Warham, was one of the founders of Conneticut (p. 8-9). The many connections of Reverend John Williams and his wife enabled him to become the leader of Deerfield and one of the town's most important symbols of Puritanism.
The experiences that Richard Frethorne endured were in a lot of ways similar to those of James Revel. Both suffered from sickness and disease, lack of resources such as clothes and shelter, and most unfortunately limited access to food. The big distinction between these two, however, is that Frethorne was shipped to the New World on his own accord in hopes of a free and better life. While Revel was forcibly shipped as a felon, sent in punishment to serve his sentence in slavery.
In the novel The Book of Negroes, written by Lawrence Hill, Aminata Diallo the protagonist is captured and enslaved yet triumphs over most obstacles in her way. In the story, Hill attempts to explore and showcase the resilience of an individual that is faced with difficult. Aminata grows and develops as a character due to various complications she endures throughout the story. Her self-discovery is observed through various losses such as her loss of innocence, her loss of safety and finally her loss of relationships and connections.
In Mary Rowlandson, “A Captivity Narrative”, Rowlandson recounts her experiences as a captive of the Wampanoag tribe. The tribe took captives from Lancaster in 1676 because of the ongoing violent altercations between the English colonists and Native Americans during King Philip’s War. Since many of the Native Americans brethren had fallen in battle, they saw it fit to take English folk captive and use them to take the place of their fallen brethren, trading/ransom pieces, or killing them in revenge. This was becoming a common practice for the Native Americans to attack villages and in result, some English started fleeing the area or started to retaliate. Rowlandson was a Puritan wife and mother, in her
“Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand is a capturing, inspiring, and unforgettable tale. Hillenbrand excels in narrative storytelling, expressing feelings and experiences that are difficult to capture in this style of writing. In this book, Hillenbrand provides a balance between facts and the story itself; she portrays the story by stopping at intervals and going more into depth about different facts that will help the reader to understand. The combination of the two create a story that’s both informative and emotionally capturing. Hillenbrand seizes the readers emotions through the use of morals and themes.
One of the most formative elements in a person's life is family. In Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, the influence of family is expressed throughout the novel. A young slave girl named Isabel is separated from her parents at a young age. Despite the separation, her family still maintains a connection. Isabel's family instills in her qualities that are vital to surviving in a world of slavery.
But, I will argue that rather than obliterating thought and language, pain adds to them and the trauma that is born out of physical and psychological violence produces a new epistemology about one’s own agency and will. As Dana, the protagonist, is born a few generations removed from institutionalized slavery, her epistemology revolves around who she is as a woman who has never been completely stripped of her agency and will. However, through her journey, she becomes aware that she is bifurcated – not only as a woman living in two times, but also as person who is both black and a woman and of black and white histories – which necessitates a clash between who she is as a free woman in the 1970’s and who she has to be as a slave in the early 1800’s, before melding into a singular self. This singular self has a new awareness of the importance of having the knowledge of self to know that she has to consciously fight against objectification and that once that mentality is shed she has to have the will to reclaim her stolen agency. As she becomes unified, the new knowledge of herself includes who she is as a not only a descendent of slavery, but also what that entails. She has recieved an intimate knowledge of what it meant to be a slave, what it meant to be unable to dictate what one does with her body, and the problem of slaves being illiterate and unable to pass on these stories on their own. By experiencing the violence and trauma, Dana is unable to remain willfully ignorant, and is forced to confront the realities of not just her own families past, but the pasts of the people who surrounded and were connected to her family, who were not only other black slaves, but also the white people who upheld the
Slavery is a term that can create a whirlwind of emotions for everyone. During the hardships faced by the African Americans, hundreds of accounts were documented. Harriet Jacobs, Charles Ball and Kate Drumgoold each shared their perspectives of being caught up in the world of slavery. There were reoccurring themes throughout the books as well as varying angles that each author either left out or never experienced. Taking two women’s views as well as a man’s, we can begin to delve deeper into what their everyday lives would have been like. Charles Ball’s Fifty Years in Chains and Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl were both published in the early 1860’s while Kate Drumgoold’s A Slave Girl’s Story came almost forty years later
Analyzing the narrative of Harriet Jacobs through the lens of The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du bois provides an insight into two periods of 19th century American history--the peak of slavery in the South and Reconstruction--and how the former influenced the attitudes present in the latter. The Reconstruction period features Negro men and women desperately trying to distance themselves from a past of brutal hardships that tainted their souls and livelihoods. W.E.B. Du bois addresses the black man 's hesitating, powerless, and self-deprecating nature and the narrative of Harriet Jacobs demonstrates that the institution of slavery was instrumental in fostering this attitude.
Like Madam Lockton, who after viewing her in a state of panic, becomes determined to sell her away. After doing so she is confronted by Isabel, and is harassed by her. The reader had never experienced Isabel in this state, being so frustrated and upset. Her actions towards Madam Lockton were considered treason, which she would be greatly punished for. However, that does not influence Isabel, for she continues to burst out at her. Inevitabley, Madam Lockton is able to bound and place upon her a punishment that would forever change her. Isabel is taken to court and publically branded with the letter “I” for Insolense. From that point on the Isabel earlier recalled was never the same. Instead, she was substituted with a lifeless figure: lost in a state of depression. “I worked as a puppet trained to scrub and carry, curtsy and nod.”(Anderson157) The toll of losing Ruth and being able to do nothing about it was far too great for Isabel to manage. It was a feeling however, that many could relate to. A great number of slaves at the time were abused by the masters, and as a result had all but given up on their
population is oppressed and must ignore or postpone their dreams. The more dreams are postponed
Booker T. Washington was a young black male born into the shackles of Southern slavery. With the Union victory in the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, Washington’s family and blacks in the United States found hope in a new opportunity, freedom. Washington saw this freedom as an opportunity to pursue a practical education. Through perseverance and good fortunes, Washington was able to attain that education at Hampton National Institute. At Hampton, his experiences and beliefs in industrial education contributed to his successful foundation at the Tuskegee Institute. The institute went on to become the beacon of light for African American education in the South. Booker T. Washington was an influential voice in the African American community following the Civil War. In his autobiography, Up from Slavery, Washington outlines his personal accounts of his life, achievements, and struggles. In the autobiography, Washington fails to address the struggle of blacks during Reconstruction to escape the southern stigma of African Americans only being useful for labor. However, Washington argues that blacks should attain an industrial education that enables them to find employment through meeting the economic needs of the South, obtaining moral character and intelligence, and embracing practical labor. His arguments are supported through his personal accounts as a student at Hampton Institute and as an administrator at the Tuskegee Institute. Washington’s autobiography is a great source of insight into the black education debate following Reconstruction.