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Personal freedom in society
The positive effect of freedom
Personal freedom in society
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I walk upon the earth and marvel at the ability to let the grass cushion my wandering feet. What if my feet could not wander? What if I were a slave to this rich soil, then where would I be?Society may not be controlled, and it may wander aimlessly perhaps, but it wanders on its own course. I walk with society and against it, and I have the freedom to do this. I would not be able to write such an essay if I didn’t have my freedom. It is this freedom that allows me to write an essay differently from other people and is what has taken many others and me as far along in our journey.Freedom is the grass that cushions my step, the softness that allows me to tread anywhere without the fear of persecution.
Without this layer of protection I would not want to stray far from what I know. Without protection from the corrupt world, I would remain the same immature child who could not walk far from what I could not see.Light liberates darkness the same as freedom liberates slaves. Darkness is the absence of light just as slavery is merely the absence of freedom. Without the light of this freedom I would be in the shadow of darkness; confined to the barren ignorant lands that light never reaches. Grass ceases to grow and life as I know it would be useless – dead.
The fire that burns within the soul is fueled by the sun, fueled by the liberation and freedom which allows us to fill ourselves with worldly and unworldly beliefs.There is little faith behind a society who does not have the ability to choose its own unworldly beliefs. Being spoon-fed from birth by my Orthodox Baptist parents, I rode my own spirit into the arms of God and the ways of Christianity. Faith may guide many a man and his heart, but freedom guides the soul. No one knows the truth concerning God, religion, or existence, but the freedom to seek the truth like I have has made me whole. Without freedom I would still place myself higher than everything else and perceive myself as my own master.
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.
After reading Frederick Douglass’s narrative of slavery, I couldn’t help but stop and try to gather my thoughts in any way possible. It was not the first time I had read the narrative, but this time around Douglass’s words hit me much harder. Perhaps, it was that I read the narrative in a more critical lens, or possibly it was just that I am older and more mature now from the last time I read it, but whatever the reason, I can confidently say reading the narrative has changed my heart and opened my eyes in many ways. I have always been aware of the injustices that slavery encompassed and of course like many other people, I have been taught about slavery in a historical narrative my entire life. But, Frederick Douglass’s narrative does more than just provide a historical perspective in seeing the injustices in slavery. His narrative asks the reader to look directly into the eyes of actual slaves and realize their very heart beat and existence as humans. Douglass humanizes the people of whom the terrible acts we acted upon that we learn about as early as elementary school. It is because of this that I decided to write this poem. Reading the narrative made me really think about Douglass’s journey and the story he tells on his road to freedom. I felt as if he was really speaking to me and, and in turn I wanted to give Douglass a voice in my own writing.
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
Freedom has been the cause of wars, political movements, and centuries of debate. The concept of freedom is simple. Freedom is the right to act, speak, or think without hindrance. In our contemporary society, the right to freedom is so basic and innate we struggle to even fathom life without our basic rights. However, less than 200 years ago slavery was legal in the United States. Slavery is the antithesis to freedom, depriving people of the most basic rights and placing them at the whim of their owners. Frederick Douglas, possibly “the most famous and respected African American in the United States for much of the nineteenth century,” details his life as a slave in America (Douglas, 24). Douglas goes on throughout his autobiography to detail
George Horton, an African-American slave for 66 years, wrote “Liberty and Slavery” in 1829. In this poem, Horton illustrates his vision of breaking free from the “slavish chain” (Horton, 2) of oppression, primarily through literary techniques of juxtaposition and personification.
Throughout history there have been countless cases where groups of people have fought for their freedom. They have fought their battles in political debates, protests, and in the most extreme cases war. The oppressed continuously try to escape their oppressors, under the assumption that their oppressors live in complete sovereignty. People did not know then and still do not understand today that the environment they inhabit is the key factor that controls communal freedom. In Wallace Stevens “Disillusionment of Ten O’ Clock” and Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” both speakers affirm that society does not allow individual freedom to exist in this world.
... changed the way Americans viewed freedom in the Nineteenth century. Freedom to them was much more than just being just being able to be seen as equal, they wanted to be physically treated as equal humans. Freedom was about the ability to be a self-reliant, self-governing, and literate individual who was seen and treated as a human. Douglas and Jacobs both showed their readers that being free was a God given right, not something that someone let them earn. Americans were all talk and no action when it came to the statement “all men are created equal.” One should be born free, not born being owned by someone else. Douglas and Jacobs’s slave narratives are haunting, but they caught American’s attention to how badly people wanted to be free. Both of these writer’s knew early on that there was one thing in life that everyone deserved, and that was freedom.
According to the Collins Dictionary, “freedom” is defined as “the state of being allowed to do what you want to do”(“freedom”). The definition of freedom is simple, but make yourself free is not easy. Concerning about some common cases which will take away your freedom, such as a time-cost high education attainment. In this essay, I shall persuade that everyone should try his or her best to insist on pursuing freedom. For the individual, it appears that only if you have your personal freedom, can you have a dream; for a country, it seems that only if the country is free, can the country develop; for mankind, it looks like that only if people has their own pursuit of freedom, can their thoughts evolve.
The Market Revolution caused tremendous changes in the way Americans live and interact with one another and the environment. Although the Market Revolution had copious extraordinary effects on Americans' life and culture that continues to influence, it also had numerous deleterious effects on the society. In Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, he condescended the changes in the market because it changed the way people lived. Thoreau believed that the Market Revolution suppressed people’s enjoyment of freedom and instead of savoring the simple things in life, people chase after materialistic goods and thus incapable of enjoying life.
The idea of freedom can be seen throughout Collection 2 in our textbook. Freedom can be seen in the short story “The Censors” by Luisa Valenzuela when it talks about the freedom of speech. Addition to that, an article “A People’s History Of The 1963 March On Washington” by Charles Euchner shows freedom in its article when it talks about the segregation occurring to colored men. Lastly, freedom is shown in the graphic novel “Persepolis 2: The Story Of A Return” by Marjane Satrapi as it shows high restriction.
Life is full of surprises. We never know what is going to happen next. We can wake up in the morning happy and healthy, but disaster can strike at any minute. The cataclysms of our life sometimes give us what we were dreaming about for a long time. These life events can be so pleasant and desirable that we can even die if someone takes it away from us. This wonderful thing very often appears to be freedom: the life that you can lead as you like, decisions that you can make when you want, steps that you can take without instructions.
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.
The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King is both a wonderful film and a brilliantly written short story. There are many themes represented in each form of The Shawshank Redemption. The one major theme that interests me in both the film and the story is freedom. Freedom serves a large purpose for both the story's writer and the filmmaker. Both use similar examples to signify freedom, not only in the jail, but also in a larger context about life. There are many events and examples in both the film and the short story that signifies the theme of freedom. The one main difference is when the film uses the director’s technique to portray a feel of freedom for the inmates. The overall three issues used in this essay are all linked to the feeling of the inmates feeling the sense of freedom with the prison walls.
The film Freedom Writers directed by Richard La Gravenese is an American film based on the story of a dedicated and idealistic teacher named Erin Gruwell, who inspires and teaches her class of belligerent students that there is hope for a life outside gang violence and death. Through unconventional teaching methods and devotion, Erin eventually teaches her pupils to appreciate and desire a proper education. The film itself inquiries into several concepts regarding significant and polemical matters, such as: acceptance, racial conflict, bravery, trust and respect. Perhaps one of the more concentrated concepts of the film, which is not listed above, is the importance and worth of education. This notion is distinctly displayed through the characters of Erin, Erin’s pupils, opposing teachers, Scott and numerous other characters in the film. It is also shown and developed through the usage of specific dialogue, environment, symbolism, and other film techniques.
Aare we really free in The USA? Are we free to make our own choices? The USA government and corporation control our water supply, food supply, medical, media, military and money supplies. So to say that we are really free is a misnomer.