Nothing in life is guaranteed, but the one thing that humans demand is freedom. Throughout history, there are countless cases where groups of people fought for their freedom. They fought their battles in strongly heated debates, protests, and at its worst, war. Under the assumption that the oppressors live in complete power, the oppressed continuously try to escape from their oppressors in order to claim what is rightfully theirs: the freedom of choice. In Emily Dickinson’s poems #280, #435, and #732 and Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, freedom is represented by an individual’s ability to make their own decisions without the guidance, consultation, or outside opinion of others in order to find their true sense of self. Once an individual is physically and spiritually free, they can find their true sense of self.
In Emily Dickinson’s poem #280, “I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain”, she compares her state of depression and madness with a funeral. In a predominant male society, Dickinson feels trapped in a coffin, where she is unable to make any decisions on her own. The women’s role in society during her time was to be a good “Angel of the House”, to be a good housewife. This captivity is the cause of her depression, which in turn causes her to slowly lose her sense of self. The “Mourners” seem to be the majority of society who demands her to take up her part in society as a respectable young woman. This peer pressure seems to draw her in:
“Kept treading – treading – till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through –
And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum –
Kept beating – beating – till I thought
My Mind was going numb
In the end, she decides to accept the limitations of her freedom and give...
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... her. Linda does not only defy Flint but also her grandmother by disregarding her grandmother’s advice to abandon her plan. “I resolved to leave them that night…and nothing less than the freedom of my children would have induced me to disregard her [the grandmother’s] advice. Linda’s decision to continue on with her plan for freedom in the northern states, which she obtains in the end, for the sake of her children show that she found her true sense of self as a mother.
In conclusion, Emily Dickinson and Harriet Jacobs found their true sense of self as a free woman by deciding to be different from the conventions of society and go their own path to freedom. Once an individual finds their true sense of self, they will acknowledge their qualities and limitations and use them to challenge themselves, which will help them to gain respect for their individual humanity.
Harriet was born into slavery. Although, it was not until she was the age of six that she actually realized she was a slave girl. Her life was filled with love from those who surrounded her. They were her mother who she was very fond of, her younger brother whom she considered a bright child, and her grandmother who was like a treasure to her. Harriet's father was living and worked out of state to support his family. After some years her mother passed away and left Harriet and her brother, William, to the care of her mistress. Harriet loved her new mistress and treated her as though she were her own mother. When Harriet was twelve, her mistress passed. In the will her mistress left her to her sister's daughter at the young age of five. Mr. Flint became her new master'. Mr. Flint was fond of Harriet because she was different from the other slaves. She carried herself with respect and was in fact a hard worker. Mr.
In Linda Brent’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Brent’s grandmother showed her compassion by giving her a place she could call home. Her grandmother provided a place in her desperate hours of needs; she had to hide from her slave owners at her grandmother’s house. Even though the home was a hiding place with horrible living conditions, Brent preferred it over slavery, as she stated, "It seemed horrible to sit or lie in a cramped position day after day, without gl...
Few years later, the mistress died and Linda was sent to Dr. Flint. Dr. Flint abuses his power as a slave owner to get what he wants, such as trying to get Linda to sleep with him. Another example of him abusing his power is when Linda stated, “I was made for his use, made to obey his command in everything; that I was nothing but a slave, whose will must and should surrender to his…” However, Linda had no intention of submitting to Dr. Flint’s control. Although Dr. Flint owns her body, she can still remain spiritually free. She lives in a time of slavery, but she still hold the hopeful thought of someday of being really free. Linda was different among all the slaves. She has the power to control her life in a way. She had an affair with a white neighbor and has two kids. However, because she was afraid Dr. Flint would do something to her kids after he finds out, she decides to hide in the attic for seven years. During those seven years, Dr. Flint spent countless of days and money to track her. This shows Dr. Flint has a deeper feeling towards Linda rather than just a slave. Linda have lived her life in confinement, yet she does not give up hoping one day she will provide a home for her
Freedom is the American ideal. In Frederick Douglass’s autobiography, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he questions the morality and righteousness of slavery. Douglass, a former slave, is convinced that slavery is immoral and unjust. However, the world that surrounds Douglass disagrees vehemently. In an effort to instigate change and improve the lives of millions, Douglass interrogates the moral conscience of his readers, primarily consisting of Protestant, white, undecided Northerners, by forcing them to question freedom and if slavery fits with the vision of the Founding Fathers. Douglass claims and forces the reader to understand that slavery restricts the principles of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the right
Humans take freedom for granted until we encounter events that restrain our freedom. This is when we understand the importance of freedom and how little we value it. This section of the ongoing research paper will discuss the path Frederick Douglass took in attaining freedom and his involvement in the movement to abolish slavery in the United States.
Reading a poem by Emily Dickinson can often lead the reader to a rather introspective state. Dickinson writes at length about the drastically transformative effect a book may have upon its’ reader. Alternating between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, Dickinson masterfully uses the ballad meter to tell a story about the ecstasy brought by reading. In poem number 1587, she writes about the changes wrought upon the reader by a book and the liberty literature brings.
What is freedom? This question is easy enough to answer today. To many, the concept of freedom we have now is a quality of life free from the constraints of a person or a government. In America today, the thought of living a life in which one was “owned” by another person, seems incomprehensible. Until 1865 however, freedom was a concept that many African Americans only dreamed of. Throughout early American Literature freedom and the desire to be free has been written and spoken about by many. Insight into how an African-American slave views freedom and what sparks their desire to receive it can be found in any of the “Slave Narratives” of early American literature, from Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustav Vassa, the African published in 1789, to Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself which was published in 1845. Phillis Wheatley’s poetry and letters and Martin R. Delany’s speech Political Destiny of the Colored Race in the American Continent also contain examples of the African-American slaves’ concepts of freedom; all the similarities and differences among them.
Ultimately, I believe Linda Brent’s somatic rights was more important to her than anything. She grew up knowing full well that as a woman, her body automatically belonged to someone else; whether it be her master or whatever mate he chose for her. Linda continuously fought and rebelled against this notion. Although she could have had a nice and comfortable cottage to herself being Dr. Flint’s mistress, she chose the opposite and more challenging path because along with that cottage would come the constant torment of owing her body to him. Linda sacrificed everything to be free from this distress, including going into hiding and isolating herself for 7 years.
Emily Dickinson once said, “Dying is a wild night and a new road.” Some people welcome death with open arms while others cower in fear when confronted in the arms of death. Through the use of ambiguity, metaphors, personification and paradoxes Emily Dickinson still gives readers a sense of vagueness on how she feels about dying. Emily Dickinson inventively expresses the nature of death in the poems, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (280)”, “I Heard a fly Buzz—When I Died—(465)“ and “Because I could not stop for Death—(712)”.
Emily Dickinson lived in an era of Naturalism and Realism (1855-1910). She lived in a period of The Civil War and the Frontier. She was affected by her life and the era she lived in. She also had many deaths in her family and that’s part of the reason that she was very morbid and wrote about death.
Imagery is a big component to most works of poetry. Authors strive to achieve a certain image for the reader to paint in their mind. Dickinson tries to paint a picture of ?death? in her own words. Thomas A. Johnson, an interpretive author of Dickinson's work, says that ?In 1863 Death came into full statue as a person. ?Because I could not stop for Death? is a superlative achievement wherein Death becomes one of the greatest characters of literature? (Johnson). Dickinson's picture to the audience is created by making ?Death? an actual character in the poem. By her constantly calling death either ?his? or ?he,? she denotes a specific person and gender. Dickinson also compares ?Death? to having the same human qualities as the other character in the poem. She has ?Death? physically arriving and taking the other character in the carriage with him. In the poem, Dickinson shows the reader her interpretation of what this person is going through as they are dying and being taken away by ?Death?. Dickinson gives images such as ?The Dews drew quivering and chill --? and ?A Swelling of the Ground --? (14, 18). In both of these lines, Dickinson has the reader conjure up subtle images of death. The ?quivering an chill? brings to the reader's mind of death being ...
Emily Dickinson was infatuated with death and sought after it only to try and help
...e has the right to choose how to spend her life. Dickinson lived a very lonely and isolated life where she lost many important people in her life. The poem, “The Soul selects her own Society” brings attention to the Western society where isolation becomes prevalent and the cultures starts to open up to independence and freedom which leads to actual social relations being replaced with nonexistent sociableness. However, Dickinson was not easily swayed by force, wealth, and beauty like the “Majority”. She was a strong woman who could “shut the Door” and “close the Valves of her attention-Like Stone-”. She provides many ways to interpret the poem and she teaches an important lesson about how the “Soul” makes the decision and not the mind. She creates and eye opening life lesson that enlightens people to make their own decisions for their own life within twelve lines.
but had left because she did not like the religious environment. For a woman of
Emily Dickinson became legendary for her preoccupation with death. All her poems contain stanzas focusing on loss or loneliness, but the most striking ones talk particularly about death, specifically her own death and her own afterlife. Her fascination with the morose gives her poems a rare quality, and gives us insight into a mind we know very little about. What we do know is that Dickinson’s father left her a small amount of money when she was young. This allowed her to spend her time writing and lamenting, instead of seeking out a husband or a profession. Eventually, she limited her outside activities to going to church. In her early twenties, she began prayed and worshipped on her own. This final step to total seclusion clearly fueled her obsession with death, and with investigating the idea of an afterlife. In “Because I could not stop for Death”, Dickinson rides in a carriage with the personification of Death, showing the constant presence of death in her life. Because it has become so familiar, death is no longer a frightening presence, but a comforting companion. Despite this, Dickinson is still not above fear, showing that nothing is static and even the most resolute person is truly sure of anything. This point is further proven in “I heard a Fly buzz”, where a fly disrupts the last moment of Dickinson’s life. The fly is a symbol of death, and of uncertainty, because though it represents something certain—her impending death—it flies around unsure with a “stumbling buzz”. This again illustrates the changing nature of life, and even death. “This World is not Conclusion” is Dickinson’s swan song on the subject of afterlife. She confirms all her previous statements, but in a more r...