The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave For example, Mary Prince lived her life born into slavery. Living on a farm from a British colony she experienced a good childhood being treated with kindness. You could come to believe as a slave growing up Prince’s experience was very good but soon at the age of twelve her perspective of the way life was altered drastically resulting into her worldview as being evil. Prince begins by telling the story of another slave who also lived at the house by the name of Hetty. Hetty was the fellow slave she befriended until she continued to live a miserable life that ended in her death. While she was pregnant master ordered her to be stripped naked, would rest and continue beating Hetty again. Prince …show more content…
For example “The Eolian Harp” uses the metaphor of the wind. It suggests how we are all instruments and the spirit is constantly in us and therefore causes us to do what we do in life. It shows spirit through nature, wind or breeze is identical to the spirit. Then the spirit is constantly in us can mean that we are inherently born good. But the speaker also confesses to God, “Who with his saving mercies healed me, A sinful and most miserable man, wildered and dark, and gave no posses Peace, and this cot, and thee, heart-honoured Maid!” (Coleridge, pp. 326). Even though he is thanking God for the wife he was given, he also expresses his sin nature. Showing how he possessed both qualities of good and evil by reflecting on himself but also hinting at the reader that it was God’s forgiveness that allowed him to change his …show more content…
Coleridge shows how there are images of paradise throughout the poem that are combined with references to darker, more evil places. Xanadu is an ancient savage place described as “down to a sunless sea,” (Coleridge, pp.342) suggesting a cave or dark place. One example of evil is shown from the line, “by woman wailing for her demon-lover!” (Coleridge, pp. 342). Coleridge's image of this poem shows his metaphysical, beyond the physical and the two sides of his dream. A dream can be memorable and a nightmare at the same time. Coleridge personally experienced the feelings of good and evil dreaming of what he later created this
Most Americans know John Wilkes Booth as the assassin of Abraham Lincoln- shot at a play at Ford’s Theater on April 14th, 1865. However, the names of the conspirators that surrounded Wilkes Booth are relatively unknown, especially that of Mary Surratt. Mary Surratt, a mother and boardinghouse proprietor, was arrested and tried for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln along with her son, John Surratt. Pleas from her family, lawyer, and fellow conspirators did not allow her to escape her fate, and she was hanged for her crimes on July 7th, 1865. Even from the scaffold, Lewis Powell, another conspirator condemned to die, cried, “Mrs. Surratt is innocent. She doesn't deserve to die with the rest of us.” So who was this woman, and most importantly, what role did she really play in the assassination of the President of the United States? Was she simply blindly aiding her son and thus innocent, as claimed by Lewis Powell, or did she have a more involved role in the plot? Mary Surratt opened up her home to conspirators and ended up paying the price for her decision.
The book The Classic Slave Narratives is a collection of narratives that includes the historical enslavement experiences in the lives of the former slaves Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, and Olaudah Equiano. They all find ways to advocate for themselves to protect them from some of the horrors of slavery, such as sexual abuse, verbal abuse, imprisonment, beatings, torturing, killings and the nonexistence of civil rights as Americans or rights as human beings. Also, their keen wit and intelligence leads them to their freedom from slavery, and their fight for freedom and justice for all oppressed people.
Mary Warren is an important character in Arthur Miller’s play, THE CRUCIBLE. Much of the action in Act III revolves around Mary’s testimony in court. She is a kind and basically honest girl who tries to do the right thing, saving her friends from harm. However, throughout Acts I and II, Mary is a follower who allows Abigail Williams to negatively influence her good judgment. To make matters worse, Mary is terrified of Abigail’s threats. Because of her weak will, the reader isn’t certain if Mary will maintain the courage to help John Proctor to win his court case in Act III.
Mystery is a literary genre that hooks the reader in with thrill and suspense. Mary Reilly is a 1990 parallel novel by American writer Valerie Martin inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson 's classic novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Faithfully weaving in details from Robert Louis Stevenson 's classic, Martin introduces an original and captivating character: Mary Reilly, a survivor who is scarred but still strong, familiar with evil but brimming with devotion and love. The novel Mary Reilly both compliments and complements Stevenson’s novel.
Being a slave in the United States was not uncommon in the 19th century. There were many brutalities of being a slave including physical and spiritual abuse. Slaves were considered property and not as human beings. They were mistreated and kept illiterate. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave was a bibliography written by Frederick Douglass himself that told of his experiences of being a slave in the United States. He expresses the brutality the slave owners and how he struggled with running away to become a free human being. The themes of his story include: the ignorance of slaves, the treatment of slaves as property, religion used as justification, and the abuse of female slaves.
Frederick Douglass, in his autobiography, singles out the atrocities of the “Peculiar Institution”, from foul to barbarous. In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave, former slave turned abolitionist, Frederick Douglass (1845) states that many masters treated their slaves cruelly. Douglass (1845) tells of many instances of this inimical treatment. One horror is that many slave women were raped by their white master and then bore them children (p. 2-3) . Douglass' mother might have experienced this (p.2-3). Another was the inhumane ways that slaves were punished, ways such as whipping, having them killed, horribly beaten and many others (p.14-15). Author Fergus M. Bordewich in his book Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America, tells of more atrocious forms of punishment. One form that Bordewich (2005) describes is horrifically amputating a slave's ear or limb, and then the masters would either hanging the slave or putting the slave into a cage to die (p.25). Another Bordew...
...would encounter numerous trails and tribulations that would affect their ancestors for years to come. As some stories show these jobs as slaves proposed to be very difficult. Some miracles occurred for individuals like Frederick Douglass who gained their freedom and evolved into an incredibly powerful individual that could read, write, and speak about all of the troubles as a slave. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass shows us that there are many stories to be told behind slavery that played a drastic role in the lives of slaves, the culture of slavery as well as the psychological struggles.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, was the first of the three autobiographies that Frederick Douglass wrote himself. It’s a story about slavery and the meaning of freedom of the antebellum America. According to The Free Dictionary, Slavery is defined as the state or condition of being a slave; a civil relationship whereby one person has absolute power over another and controls his life, liberty, and fortune (freedictionary.com). Frederick Douglass’s book is about a bondage he obtained since birth; a slave for life. He was separated from his mother, Harriet Bailey, at birth and knew his father was white male. He lived on the “Great House Farm” plantation for his younger years; this is where he saw his first violent act towards a slave. Douglass went through many ups and downs. At the age of seven, he was moved to another house where he first learned reading and writing. However, He was beaten brutally so he can be “broken” into a good disciplined slave. Douglass describes many elements in his narrative; Douglass explains how slaveholders were able to sustain themselves with their actions. Frederick describes the ways the slaves stayed where they were and did not attempt to escape. He also addresses a number of myths created by slaves and slaveholders that he wishes to prove wrong. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass describes the ways a slaveholder sustain their actions, ways a slave was kept from escaping and proves the myths of slaves and slaveholders wrong.
After reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, it is clear to see the true horrors behind the entirety of slavery. It is one thing to learn about it from a textbook or to sit through a lecture, but it is a completely different experience to get an account of how grossly inhumane, frightening, and appalling slavery really was from someone who experienced the terrors first-hand. Reading this narrative provided extremely descriptive details of how slaves truly were treated. Douglass recounted the time where he had often:
Often slaves were traded like livestock and forced to relocate from their familiar to the unknown. Female slaves were often raped by their male owners. Any offspring from such encounters suffered additionally due to resentment from the owner’s wife and were also often forced to relocate. Food and clothing were meagerly provided. Slave labor was incessant. Abuse and brutality were rampant. Beatings and whippings were common place. Numerous slave killings were never brought to justice. Fear and hopelessness knew no bounds. In this environment of both physical and mental control, slaves were made to fear for their own safety too much to attempt to stop the brutality. Through this dehumanization, they became virtual participants in the
Douglass' enslaved life was not an accurate representation of the common and assumed life of a slave. He, actually, often wished that he was not so different and had the same painful, but simpler ignorance that the other slaves had. It was his difference, his striving to learn and be free that made his life so complicated and made him struggle so indefinitely. Douglass expresses this in writing, "I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me" (Douglass, 53). In his narrative, Douglass does generalize to relate his experience to that of other slaves, creating a parallel between his life and the life of any other slave. He writes about the brutality, physi...
The speaker begins the poem an ethereal tone masking the violent nature of her subject matter. The poem is set in the Elysian Fields, a paradise where the souls of the heroic and virtuous were sent (cite). Through her use of the words “dreamed”, “sweet women”, “blossoms” and
In Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, one of the major themes is how the institution of slavery has an effect on the moral health of the slaveholder. The power slaveholders have over their slaves is great, as well as corrupting. Douglass uses this theme to point out that the institution of slavery is bad for everyone involved, not just the slaves. Throughout the narrative, Douglass uses several of his former slaveholders as examples. Sophia Auld, once such a kind and caring woman, is transformed into a cruel and oppressive slave owner over the course of the narrative. Thomas Auld, also. Douglass ties this theme back to the main concern of authorial control. Although this is a personal account, it is also a tool of propaganda, and is used as such. Douglass’s intent is to convince readers that the system of slavery is horrible and damaging to all included, and thus should be abolished completely. Douglass makes it very clear in his examples how exactly the transformation occurs and how kind and moral people can become those who beat their slaves and pervert Christianity in an attempt to justify it.
Douglass's narrative is, on one surface, intended to show the barbarity and injustice of slavery. However, the underlying argument is that freedom is not simply attained through a physical escape from forced labor, but through a mental liberation from the attitude created by Southern slavery. The slaves of the South were psychologically oppressed by the slaveholders' disrespect for a slave’s family and for their education, as well as by the slaves' acceptance of their own subordination. Additionally, the slaveholders were trapped by a mentality that allowed them to justify behavior towards human beings that would normally not be acceptable. In this manner, both slaveholder and slave are corrupted by slavery.
The book Mary Reilly is the sequel to the famous The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, is a stark, ingeniously woven, engaging novel. That tells the disturbing tale of the dual personality of Dr. Jekyll, a physician. A generous and philanthropic man, his is preoccupied with the problems of good and evil and with the possibility of separating them into two distinct personalities. He develops a drug that transforms him into the demonic Mr. Hyde, in whose person he exhausts all the latent evil in his nature. He also creates an antidote that will restore him into his respectable existence as Dr. Jekyll. Gradually, however, the unmitigated evil of his darker self predominates, until finally he performs an atrocious murder. His saner self determines to curtail those alternations of personality, but he discovers that he is losing control over his transformations, that he slips with increasing frequency into the world of evil. Finally, unable to procure one of the ingredients for the mixture of redemption, and on the verge of being discovered, he commits suicide.