Christian Rhetoric in Mary Prince’s The History of Mary Prince, and Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen
It is true, perhaps, that women are the subset of humanity whose rights had been the longest stripped of them, and who had been abused the worst and for the longest time. Even today, many people believe that women still do not have the equality that ought to be afforded them. Since women first started making steps to approach that ideal equality, they have used various means, including literature, to further their cause. Both Mary Prince’s The History of Mary Prince, as well as Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen, use language of Christian rhetoric to simultaneously cast their characters and themselves as sinners and the redeemed and righteous as well as portraying the journey of redemption between one and the other. This subconscious wording engenders fellowship in their readers, who can relate to the story of the redeemed, and who exist in an overwhelmingly moral and Christian society.
The use of Christian rhetoric as a means to instill empathy in the reader is first and foremost evident in the specific language of the texts. The word choice of the author subtly highlights Christian ideals with direct relevance to the author and character herself. For example, Prince recalls a time after the white slave owners pulled down the slaves’ prayer shed, saying, “A flood came down soon after and washed away many houses, filled the place with sand and overflowed the ponds: and I do think that this was for their wickedness; for the Buckra men there were very wicked” (Prince 19). Prince’s use of the word wickedness here implies some sort of tie to Christianity. There is a vast array of words that could fit in the place of “wic...
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...to view the writer’s work as in concert with Christian ideals and ideology, therefore establishing, in the mind of the reader, a thorough connection between the writer and their cause, and what the reader perceives, most likely, as moral and good. This holds true especially in Mary Prince’s The History of Mary Prince, as well as Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen, both of who use Christian rhetoric in a subconscious, literal, and in the case of Prince, plot-oriented manner. This causes their respective audiences to see them and their causes, through their characters, as righteous, therefore successfully fulfilling the purpose of using such language.
Works Cited
Emecheta, Buchi. Second-class Citizen. New York: G. Braziller, 1975. Print.
Prince, Mary. The History of Mary Prince: a West Indian Slave Narrative. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2004. Print.
In conclusion, most of the female character are often isolated, victimized and ultimately killed by the male characters. Furthermore, it is rather ironic how Mary Shelly, the daughter Mary Wollestonecraft who wrote the Vindication of the Right of Women chooses to portray women. In this novel, the female characters are the exact opposite of the male characters; they are passive, weak and extremely limited. Mary Shelly repeatedly shows women in a victimized position exhibiting to the audience how things should not be. In conclusion, Mary Shelly’s novel is a reflection of how women were treated in the 1800’s.
Throughout the poem, “To the University of Cambridge, in New England”, Phyllis Wheatley suggest that she accepted the colonial idea of slavery, by first describing her captivity, even though this poem has a subversive double meaning that has sent an anti-slavery message. Wheatley’s choice of words indicates that her directed audience was educated at a sophisticated level because of the language chosen. Her audience was assumingly also familiar with the bible because of the religious references used. The bible was used as a reference because of its accessibility. Wheatley uses religious references to subversively warn her readers about slavery and its repercussions and to challenge her reader’s morals.
Christianity played a large role in both of their lives. They both looked to God to help them through dark times. They also both believed that their good fortunes were because of the Lord. Mary Prince admits that “if the Lord had not put it into the hearts of the neighbours to be kind to me, I must, I really think, have lain and died.” Olaudah Equiano also thanks God for his good luck. He recognized that he was luckier than most slaves and thanks God for this. “I had all the opportunity I could wish for to see the dreadful usage of the poor men- usage that reconciled me to my situation, and made me bless God for the hands into which I had fallen” . Both Mary and Olaudah found hope in Christianity that helped them survive the often horrendous conditions they
The History of Mary Prince is the story of the first female British slave to escape slavery. The book is told by Mary herself, and was used to help the anti-slavery movement. This book is the main source of information on Mary’s life, but there is no way to ensure that all of it is authentic. One should be aware of who truly had the control over this book, and how it may have affected whether or not all of the stories Mary had to tell got in. Without following the standard expected of her, she may not have ever been able to share her experiences like this. Mary Prince was able to convey her story of slavery to others by following the expectations set by the Antislavery Society, such as emphasizing Christianity, only including likable character
Reynolds, Mary. The American Slave. Vol. 5, by Che Rawick, 236-246. Westport , Conneticut: Greenwood Press, Inc, 1972.
Looking back through many historical time periods, people are able to observe the fact that women were generally discriminated against and oppressed in almost any society. However, these periods also came with women that defied the stereotype of their sex. They spoke out against this discrimination with a great amount of intelligence and strength with almost no fear of the harsh consequences that could be laid out by the men of their time. During the Medieval era, religion played a major role in the shaping of this pessimistic viewpoint about women. The common belief of the patriarchal-based society was that women were direct descendants of Eve from The Bible; therefore, they were responsible for the fall of mankind. All of Eve’s characteristics from the biblical story were believed to be the same traits of medieval women. Of course, this did not come without argument. Two medieval women worked to defy the female stereotype, the first being the fictional character called The Wife of Bath from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The second woman, named Margery Kempe, was a real human being with the first English autobiography written about her called The Book of Margery Kempe. In these two texts, The Wife of Bath and Margery Kempe choose to act uniquely compared to other Christians in the medieval time period because of the way religion is interpreted by them. As a result, the women view themselves as having power and qualities that normal women of their society did not.
...e to the audience that the Bible adheres to the deserved emancipation and support of African-Americans, rather than enslavement and oppression. For example, Douglass preaches, “ A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind. The Bible addresses all such persons as ‘scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, who pay tithe of mint, anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.” By using Matthew 23:23 to assert American Christians as righteously indignant, Douglass infers that if the White American people are truly Christian, they will obey the doctrines of The Bible and negate their duplicity by showing love and mercy to black people.
Sarah’s Letters made a similar moral and intellectual appeal for the equality of women as Angelina made for the freeing of the slaves. Moral ideals and the intelligent evaluation of scripture and life are legitimate matters. The conditions of life leave humanity in a fallen state where they must struggle to overcome evil and ignorance. People have a moral obligation to set themselves right and work to advance the moral reform of the world in order to
Woolstoncraft, Mary. A Vindication of The Rights of Woman. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd Ed. Volume D. Ed. Martin Puchner. New York: Norton, 2013. 134-136. Print.
William Arthur Ward once said, "Real religion is a way of life, not a white cloak to be wrapped around us on the Sabbath and then cast aside into the six-day closet of unconcern." Religion is the one thing that people can usually tolerate but never agree upon. Each faith seems to have an ordained assumption that they have the correct thoughts on how to life one's life or how to think about things or the way to act in certain situations. Still, each religion has its own "sub-religions." If someone refers to Christianity, there are several different religions that are blanketed under that umbrella: Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, and Presbyterian are just a handful. The inconsistencies that are associated with everyone's belief about religion run into deeper ruts of confusion. This confusion leads people to have distorted views as to what they believe and what their religion is all about. This is no different from the feelings about slavery by Christians in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Throughout the novel, Christianity presents itself in a few different lights; as a twisted and deformed glimmer of what religion is supposed to be with undertones of bigotry and prejudice, an innocent yet naive child that brings joy to everyone he or she meets, and as Uncle Tom himself, the standard for what a Christian is supposed to be. These different portrayals of Christian living come from Stowe's own beliefs about Christians and brings them into the light.
Rowlandson, Mary. A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.In Women’s Indian Captivity Narratives. Ed. Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola. New York: Penguin Books, 1998.
Throughout history we patriarchal societies dominating culture, with exceptions few and far between. From the Ottoman Empire to ancient Rome, from the Incans to the Mayans, and all through history we see the men have dominated cultures and for the most part, white men. Women’s rights groups worked in the 60’s to fight for equality of genders, but a more recent notion suggests that it is not individual rights that are the problem. The problem is about freedom, or the lack there of. Throughout history people have be oppressed and persecuted for various traits or qualities. In two novels Purple Hibiscus, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and I, Tituba, by Maryse Condé, the two main women serve as great examples of the people deal with oppression and persecution of not, only sex, not only race, and not only religion, but of the many traits ostracized throughout history
John Wyndams purpose for writing The Chrysalids is to teach his readers valuable lessons, which inclue that, his readers learn about discrimination in a deeper way, about how change is always an option, and how religion often affects one’s thinking. He makes it evident to his readers that judging people by their first impression is wrong. Also how change is possible but hard to achieve. More specifically religion is often used as the foundation upon which people make decisions.
“If all men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves?” This quote was from one of Mary Astell’s pieces of literature and it was a question she wanted all women to ask themselves. Mary Astell is known as “the first English feminist” and I chose her as my topic for this paper, because I believe in a lot of her beliefs about how women should be treated equally to men and be allowed to pursue whatever they wish- whether that be a career or a degree. I though she’d be an interesting topic and her views on feminism have made an impact on they way women think today, which means that I think she should be included in the canon of major English writers.
It is obvious that Mary's feminist awakening has cultural implications. It is difficult to presume, however, that Mary is a subversive figure without knowing precisely what type of society this story is set in. In particular, one must understand the elements of the status quo that exist in order to explain how they can be und...