John Greenleaf Whittier
1. “The Hunters of Men” first appears to support the Fugitive Slave Act, but Whittier is actually using irony to argue against this law. How is his repetition of the idea of freedom ironic when read with this understanding? Whittier’s use of irony shows when he states how the hunter rides to hunt slaves because of their skin tone. He states, “Right merrily hunting the black man, whose sin is the curl of his hair and the hue of his skin”, and “Alms—Alms for our hunters! Why will ye delay, When their pride and their glory are melting away? Whittier pities them for taking pleasure in hunting slaves because of the color of their skin.
2. Whittier wrote “Ichabod” in response to Daniel Webster’s support of the Fugitive Slave Act. Explain with specific examples from the text how Whittier feels about this man. Whittier attacks Webster for supporting the slave law. He shows disapproval
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In Fern’s “Male Criticism on Ladies’ Books” what does Fern mean by the statement, “who knows as much about reviewing a woman’s book, as I do about navigating a ship, or engineering an omnibus from the South Ferry, through Broadway, to Union Park”? (this quote if found halfway through the first paragraph.) Fanny explains that the male that gives his unwanted critique knows nothing about women’s issues or views. She goes on to say how these men are unhappy and spends his time away from home with less than desirable women. She feel these closed-minded men don’t know how women feel.
8. Fern wrote “Fresh Leaves by Fanny Fern” in satire of the reviews she expected to receive. How do the ideas she expects to be expressed line-up with those discussed in “Male Criticism on Ladies’ Books”? The views from “Fresh Leaves by Fanny Fern” and “Male Criticism on Ladies Books” are from narrow minded, self- centered, judgmental men. She believes these men don’t have the expertise to pass judgement on women because she is not submissive that does not make her less than a
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.
Frederick Douglass uses irony to challenge the ideology of slavery when describing some of the overseers in the book. For example he describes Mr. Gore as what is called a first-rate overseer. He is implying that Mr. Gore is a good overseer to those with no sense of justice. One example of irony in the book is , “Indeed, it is not uncommon for slaves to fall out and quarrel among themselves about the relative goodness of their masters, each contending for the superior goodness of his own over that of others,” (62). This is ironic because the slaves are fighting about keeping a good reputation for the masters that treat them horribly. Another example is, “…it is almost an unpardonable offence to teach to teach slaves to read in a Christian
Northup’s was a very skilled violin player and he had played his entire life. Since Northup was very skilled at the violin two men approached him in Saratoga and said they were part of a circus. These two men wanted Northup to join the circus so they took him to Washington but these two men were not part of the circus they were slave traders. They drugged Northup and placed him in handcuffs and chains then took him to the south. I think these two men purposely tricked Northup in to believing they were part of this music circus so they could get him away from his family, friends, and home which would make it easier to kidnap him.
Although many white Northerners proclaimed to support the Abolition of Slavery, all of them did not have a genuine concern for the Blacks. During the Age of Abolitionism, many white Northerners were known for opposing the slavery that still existed in the Southern States of the United States of America, but writers such as Harriet Wilson and Frederick Douglass wrote literary works that exposed the white Christians and abolitionists from the North, who did not treat Blacks as their equals. In Douglass' narrative, The Narrative and life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, his autobiography, Douglass revisits his escape from slavery and his first encounter with the white abolitionists. The tone that he uses is similar to the one that Wilson uses in Our Nig; or, sketches from the life of a Free Black. In this novel, the life of Wilson is mirrored by the protagonist, Frado, who endures the harsh treatment of the Bellmonts, a white family with which she lives. Like Douglass, Wilson exhibits anger towards the white Northerners who, like their fellow white Southerners, were guilty of offending and mistreating Blacks. Wilson exhibits fury towards white Northerners who exploit Blacks by forcing them into indentured servitude.
Douglass uses irony to bring a point across to his audience, with the recounting of his own heritage. He explains that his separation after birth from his mother, a slave, and a majority of his foul treatment is likely because his white father feels a need to destroy the lives of his bastard children in order to reassert devotion to
Slavery in the eighteenth century was worst for African Americans. Observers of slaves suggested that slave characteristics like: clumsiness, untidiness, littleness, destructiveness, and inability to learn the white people were “better.” Despite white society's belief that slaves were nothing more than laborers when in fact they were a part of an elaborate and well defined social structure that gave them identity and sustained them in their silent protest.
Douglass made friends of the white boys, knowing that their hearts had not yet hardened, and make all of them into his teachers. During this time, he noticed that when he told them that he was a slave for life, they were sympathetic to him (Douglass, 1845 39). It is not long after that when Douglass first uses the word abolition. In the sense that the slaveholders regarded any act of self-initiative on the part of a slave as being “the fruit of abolition” Douglass, p.41). Abolition, albeit in a negative sense, was a popular topic of conversation in Baltimore, and eventually it occurs to Douglass that “abolition” in this case refers to the abolition of slavery and it is soon after this self-revelation that he decides to run away. It is during one of his many relocations that he realizes that the ship is sailing in a north easterly direction and he deems this important as he resolves to run way as so as circumstances permit (Douglass, p.
On the slave ship Madison Washington successfully “secures the confidence of every officer and the negroes fairly worship him” (Part IV). By doing this, he secures the bond between many other people with the same views of him and Listwell. All of the slaves on board manage to kill all of the white men and take over. Douglass writes “I am not a murderer. God is my witness that LIBERTY, not malice, is the motive for this night’s work” (Part IV). All plays out and they have finally overcome a step of redeeming their freedom.
America in the mid to early nineteenth century saw the torture of many African Americans in slavery. Plantation owners did not care whether they were young or old, girl or boy, to them all slaves were there to work. One slave in particular, Frederick Douglass, documented his journey through slavery in his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Through the use of various rhetorical devices and strategies, Douglass conveys the dehumanizing and corrupting effect of slavery, in order to show the overall need for American abolition. His use of devices such as parallelism, asyndeton, simile, antithesis, juxtaposition and use of irony, not only establish ethos but also show the negative effects of slavery on slaves, masters and
It starts out with the idea of Patriarchy. Patriarchy as defined in the book is “rule of society and culture by men”. This is interesting because during the time lanyer was alive, pretty much everything was controlled by men and anything done by women is viewed as unclean and sinful; because of this feminist literature was not common. Feminist critics say that the first act of a feminist critic is to become or resist the male mind that has been implanted. This allows for these critics to challenge this system of patriarchy that has been planted not only in literature but also in culture as well. The book pints out a couple of great minds that were against women and their rights which included Charles Darwin for calling women” a past and lower state of civilization”. This shows that humanity has been against women for a very long time. The feminist criticisms main point is to construct a female frame work for analysis of women’s literature and female’s voice partake in it instead of male; this definition of Gynocriticism as described in the book is named by Elaine Showalter. Overall, the whole point of the feminist criticism movement is to make sure a woman’s pint of view and voice is heard loud and clear from any type of literature
While writing about the dehumanizing nature of slavery, Douglass eloquently and efficiently re-humanize African Americans. This is most evident throughout the work as a whole, yet specific parts can be used as examples of his artistic control of the English language. From the beginning of the novel, Douglass’ vocabulary is noteworthy with his use of words such as “intimation […] odiousness […] ordained.” This more advanced vocabulary is scattered throughout the narrative, and is a testament to Douglass’ education level. In conjunction with his vocabulary, Douglass often employed a complex syntax which shows his ability to manipulate the English language. This can be seen in Douglass’ self-description of preferring to be “true to [himself], even at the hazard of incurring ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and incur [his] own abhorrence.” This is significant because it proves that Douglass can not only simply read and write, but he has actually obtained a mastery of reading and writing. This is a highly humanizing trait because it equates him in education level to that of the stereotypical white man, and how could one deny that the white man is human because of his greater education? It is primarily the difference in education that separates the free from the slaves, and Douglass is able to bridge this gap as a pioneer of the
...le would criticize them or call them unladylike, they did not care. They both had very unique styles of portraying their conviction, for example, Fuller’s tone was intellectual and demanded an argument and the content of her writing consisted of her side of the debate. Fern, attempted to attract readers by touching their emotions. Fern wasn’t interested in offering an argument, but she wanted an argument to arise out of her readers. Despite all of their differences in tone and content, their purpose was to inspire and make a change for women of the time. Through the works of Woman in The Nineteenth Century, Aunt Hetty on Matrimony, and The Working-Girls of New York, a reader can fully understand and realize the differences between the two, yet begin to see the reality of what women had to endure. Fanny Fern and Margaret Fuller are truly two sides of the same coin.
In 1850, congress made the Fugitive Slave Law. The law mandated that all slaves that escaped from the South had to be returned to their rightful owner. After the Dred Scott v. Sandford Supreme Court case the blacks were not considered citizens of the United States. In the court case of United States v. Morris, a slave named Shadrach was being held for a hearing, because he escaped from Norfolk, Virginia to Boston. The Fugitive Slave Law mandated that Shadrach needed to be sent back to Norfolk to his rightful owner. A large crowd came into the courtroom and helped Shadrach escape to Canada. Eight of the people who helped Shadrach escape were charged with violating the Fugitive Slave Act. The jurors acquitted the emancipators even though they were clearly guilty. Using the legal theories of Natural Law, Legal Realism, and Positivism I will explore the ruling of the Morris jury.
In a society where the focus on equality amongst different races, religions and sexes continues to grow, it is no surprise that literature has begun to follow suit. Publishers have seen a rise in strong, capable female protagonists who overcome a variety of struggles to save themselves or others and both teens and adults alike rush to get their hands on this material. With such popular literary works to choose from, it seems strange that many schools continue to rely on somewhat archaic material that mistreats and degrades so many women. In John Steinbeck 's Of Mice and Men, for example, the only female character the reader interacts with is treated like a lower-class prostitute who is ultimately killed off due to her seductive behavior. Though Steinbeck 's treatment of women comes mainly from classic gender roles, his portrayal of female characters in Of Mice and Men is
In chapter two, the narrator goes to the British Museum in search of answers. During research, she uncovers that women are common topics of literature. However, none of the literature written about them is penned by women. When she reveals her findings for the definition of woman, she uses words such as weak, inferior, vane, and etc. that define woman. I think the narrator uses these words to emphasize the way men perceive women as being the weaker sex.