Slavery was a very cruel and harsh way to live which can clearly be interpreted from the two passages. Slavery was full of unfair treatment, beatings, and unlimited amounts of discrimination. Once in awhile, a slave would come out on top and end up with a master with feelings, but more likely than not, they were not so lucky. Two accounts of stories show the harsh realities of being a slave. The first one, Wesley Harris: An Account of Escaping Slavery, describes the hardships of running and escaping slavery. The second story: An Account from the Slave Trade: Love Story of Jeffrey and Dorcas, a slave is being sold and is trying his best to persuade his new master to buy his love, Dorcas, as well. Both stories are have many similarities as well as plenty of differences that can be determined by reading the two passages. …show more content…
The first similarity, both main character and characters are slaves and I assume take place around the same time and place as each other. Another similarity both passages contained was determination. Both slaves were determined to get their way. Jeffrey tried his best to persuade his owner to buy his true love while in the other passage Harris tried to escape slavery. Also, both protagonist were risk takers. Jeffrey risked getting beaten as a punishment for talking to his master. Luckily, his master had a heart and spared him of punishment, while Harris showed determination when trying to escape slavery. He is arrested but soon escapes from jail as well as slavery. Attempting the plans is no small feat, and requires a heart full of bravery which is another characteristic if both characters in their respective passages. Finally, both stories have a plot twist. In Jeffery’s story, Dorcas is sold with a family of four and is separated from Jeffrey. On the other hand, in Harris’s story, he is befriended by a helpful stranger who soon betrays him and gets him
Slavery is an issue that continues to be discussed today, and for most Americans, the main reason that sparked the Civil War. Both authors agree that slavery was morally wrong, and it almost brought the Union to its knees while trying to rid the nation of it. However, both authors have very distinct thoughts and reasons for it. While Stanley Elkins’ Slavery has a more personal and opinionated version, James McPherson’s interpretation in Ordeal by Fire is based on facts. McPherson employs the use of graphics and charts to illustrate and quantify the findings about slavery in his book. His writings are based on the economic factors that made slavery the main force for prosperity in the South. Cotton production had become the main source
Bales and Soodalter use this to their advantage very effectively by using a multitude of personal stories from people who went through slavery. They tug at your heart strings by starting with Maria, who was 12 years old when she was taken into slavery for seven months by Sandra Bearden. During that time she was reportedly “ . . . dragged into hell. Sandra Bearden used violence to squeeze work and obedience from the child.” (722). Bales and Soodalter begin by giving you an emotional connection with Maria by telling a short story of her life growing up with her two loving parents, and small details of their house and living conditions. After the backstory is established, it goes straight into the accounts of beatings and torture endured by Maria, to quote “ . . . Sandra would blast pepper spray into Maria’s eyes. A broom was broken over the girl’s back, and a few days later, a bottle against her head . . . Bearden tortured the twelve year old by jamming a garden tool up her vagina.” (722-723). The inclusion of the tortures paints an image of how horrible slavery is, and evokes a sense of dread, despair, and helplessness for Maria. Bales and Soodalter not only state the tortures but they follow the text immediately by stating “That was Maria’s workday; her “time off” was worse.”
The writings of Frederick Douglass and Captain Canot both discuss the institution of slavery. However, each piece of writing was written for a different purpose. Frederick Douglass’s writing was written to show how inhumane slavery was, and how wrong it was. Whereas Captain Canot’s writing basically bragged about how “humane” he treated the slaves on his ship. However, both men made some of the same points with similar evidence.
The similarities are prolific in their presence in certain parts of the novel, the very context of both stories shows similarities, both are dealing with an oppressed factor that is set free by an outsider who teaches and challenges the system in which the oppressed are caught.
In the book “Escape from Slavery” by Francis Bok is about the life of Francis how he was able to leave Sudan. Later in his life he was able to come to America, and become an Activist. Throughout his life he survived many things such as living with Giemma. His life has changed since the day he was kidnapped from the market. Overall Francis transition from being a young innocent kid to a powerful activist, but he struggled to survive throughout his journey.
For Edmund S. Morgan American slavery and American freedom go together hand in hand. Morgan argues that many historians seem to ignore writing about the early development of American freedom simply because it was shaped by the rise of slavery. It seems ironic that while one group of people is trying to break the mold and become liberated, that same group is making others confined and shattering their respectability. The aspects of liberty, race, and slavery are closely intertwined in the essay, 'Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox.'
The basic ideas of the two novels are also similar. They have to do with rebellion against the so-called perfect new world and the sanctuary they find at the end. John the savage found peace by hanging himself. (It was hard to notice that, but I did. It made an excellent ending to the novel.)
Things that are similar about the two novels and how both of their dreams were crushed are both are groups of people who have these dreams and each finds or meets something that can help their dreams come true, the pearl and Candy. Furthermore, the realization of their dreams coming to an end is, in both books, caused by the death of someone who is a part of the dream, Coyotito and Lennie.
Therefore, gender separated the two narratives, and gave each a distinct view toward slavery. Douglass showed “how a slave became a man” in a physical fight with an overseer and the journey to freedom. Jacobs’s gender determined a different course, and how women were affected. Douglass and Jacob’s lives might seem to have moved in different directions, but it is important not to miss the common will that their narratives proclaim of achieving freedom. They never lost their determination to gain not only freedom from enslavement, but also the respect for their individual humanity and the other slaves.
In the first passage Jeffery's master really does help him unlike in the second passage. In the first passage something happened and at last Jeffery and Dorcas fail to accomplish what they wanted which was to get married and in the second passage Wesley accomplished what he wanted ,but not the way he wanted it. In the second passage Wesley was more determined to escape because eve though he was badly injured he still managed to escape by going down his window and into the woods. That shows how much more Wesley was determined to accomplish something then Jeffery. This another difference both of these passages have. In passage one the slaves were not trying to escape ,but in passage two they were trying to escape to the
Frederick Douglas’s 1852 short story, “The Heroic Slave”, was loosely based the true story of a slave rebellion that occurred on the American ship named Creole. Divided into four parts, the plot of this story follows a slave named Madison Washington, who would eventually be the leader of the story. At the start of the short story, a “northern traveller” named Mr. Listwell saw and overheard Washington in a field. As Mr. Listwell observes him, Washington is performing a soliloquy, in which he verbalizes his wishes of gaining freedom (Douglass 174-182). In part two, Washington acts upon his grievances and finally escapes from bondage. Coincidentally, he arrives at the home of the same traveller who eavesdropped
Perhaps one of David Blight’s most seminal works, A Slave No More proves a phenomenal depiction of life in the late nineteenth century. Using two slave narratives discovered within months of each other, Blight creates a broad mental landscape of prewar and postwar culture. Although the two slave narratives contrast in a variety of ways, Blight uses the differences in stories to provide multiple unique perspectives of the time period. In writing about two seperate accounts of men escaping to freedom, Blight does more than simply synthesize the narratives into a cohesive story. Author David Blight allows us to recognize and understand, on a personal level, the struggles and adversities in which the John Washington and Wallace Turnage overcame.
Some similarities are obviously that they are both slaves who are trying to escape their misery. The characters also have a good relationship with their fathers because they taught them how to care for themselves and what to do when they need
From 1750 until 1800 the colonial United States endured a period of enormous achievement along with a substantial amount of struggle. Before 1750, the new colony’s first struggle was between the colonists and England over who would have leadership within the New World. Once settled, the issues emerged from within the colonies themselves, particularly with the “belongings” they brought and imported. African American slaves were seen as property, and were not given any innate rights such as liberty or freedom when following their master to the New World. The revolution for the colonists from England began, with new freedoms received by the colonists; the slaves began to question their rights as humans. Innate rights such as liberty and freedom
Fourteen thousand. That is the estimated number of Sudanese men, women and children that have been abducted and forced into slavery between 1986 and 2002. (Agnes Scott College, http://prww.agnesscott.edu/alumnae/p_maineventsarticle.asp?id=260) Mende Nazer is one of those 14,000. The thing that sets her apart is that she escaped and had the courage to tell her story to the world. Slave: My True Story, the Memoir of Mende Nazer, depicts how courage and the will to live can triumph over oppression and enslavement by showing the world that slavery did not end in 1865, but is still a worldwide problem.