Freedom is a notion that varies for an individual; it is vast and attainable in many ways, even though not everyone gets to achieve it. It can be created and found in many places within the person or from others. It is indeed related to a variety of abstract ideas or derived from them. In Linda Brent's slave narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street," freedom is defined by personal space, shown through the complex relationship with compassion from others. Brent received lending hands in her journey to become free, but it was not achieved through others' help. The people were there for her to lean on, especially her grandmother. She had friendship and assistance when needed, but ultimately she was on her own because others could not grant her freedom. On the other hand, the kind of compassion the lawyer showed Bartleby was the benefit of the doubt. With the slack that the lawyer gave to Bartleby, it allowed Bartleby to do as he wished in the office. Even though he did not fully reach freedom outside in the real world, it was the freedom inside the office that mattered most for Bartleby. Compassion in these two stories did not directly guide the characters to freedom, but supported them.
In Linda Brent’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Brent’s grandmother showed her compassion by giving her a place she could call home. Her grandmother provided a place in her desperate hours of needs; she had to hide from her slave owners at her grandmother’s house. Even though the home was a hiding place with horrible living conditions, Brent preferred it over slavery, as she stated, "It seemed horrible to sit or lie in a cramped position day after day, without gl...
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...dhearted grandmother. Bartleby was able to be free in his workplace because the lawyer allowed him so. Therefore, both characters' relationships with others, who showed compassion and understanding, helped them to overcome obstacles and reach freedom. Brent’s grandmother was a positive aspect in her life through support, and it made Brent believe there was still humanity or hope. Bartleby got the lawyer to let him do as he pleased, although it was the result of the lawyer's selfishness. Nevertheless, the lawyer did care for Bartleby and tried to help him, even if he was unsuccessful in the end. Each character had different approaches to freedom, and got there on their own, with nothing given to them but support. The acts of kindness and knowledge of the fact that good-hearted people still existed were ultimately enough for Brent and Bartleby to reach their freedom.
A recurring theme in, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, is Harriet Jacobs's reflections on what slavery meant to her as well as all women in bondage. Continuously, Jacobs expresses her deep hatred of slavery, and all of its implications. She dreads such an institution so much that she sometimes regards death as a better alternative than a life in bondage. For Harriet, slavery was different than many African Americans. She did not spend her life harvesting cotton on a large plantation. She was not flogged and beaten regularly like many slaves. She was not actively kept from illiteracy. Actually, Harriet always was treated relatively well. She performed most of her work inside and was rarely ever punished, at the request of her licentious master. Furthermore, she was taught to read and sew, and to perform other tasks associated with a ?ladies? work. Outwardly, it appeared that Harriet had it pretty good, in light of what many slaves had succumbed to. However, Ironically Harriet believes these fortunes were actually her curse. The fact that she was well kept and light skinned as well as being attractive lead to her victimization as a sexual object. Consequently, Harriet became a prospective concubine for Dr. Norcom. She points out that life under slavery was as bad as any slave could hope for. Harriet talks about her life as slave by saying, ?You never knew what it is to be a slave; to be entirely unprotected by law or custom; to have the laws reduce you to the condition of chattel, entirely subject to the will of another.? (Jacobs p. 55).
Linda Brent, Ms. Jacobs' pseudonym while writing "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," became so entrenched in hatred of slaveholders and slavery that she lost sight of the possible good actions of slaveholders. When she "resolved never to be conquered" (p.17), she could no longer see any positive motivations or overtures made by slaveholders. Specifically, she could not see the good side of Mr. Flint, the father of her mistress. He showed his care for her in many ways, most notably in that he never allowed anyone to physically hurt her, he built a house for her, and he offered to take care of her and her bastard child even though it was not his.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, freedom can be defined as the quality or state of being free: as liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another. During the 1800’s there were thousands of slaves in the southern region of the United States hoping to achieve a state of liberation. One of those slaves was a young woman by the name of Harriet Jacobs. She became the author of a slave narrative titled Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, which describes her life as a slave under the pseudonym Linda Brent. I believe Harriet Jacobs used Linda Brent to tell her story not only to protect those who were involved, such as her children and her grandmother, but also because she was an escaped slave and had been under the constant threat of being tracked down and having her freedom taken away from her. Like the majority of those enslaved at that time, freedom meant everything to Harriet Jacobs. To Harriet Jacobs freedom meant having individual liberties, but more importantly having the somatic rights to choose what happens to her body and who has claim to it, if at all. Discovering exactly what these freedoms meant to her will mean taking a look into her story through Linda.
In her book, Jubilee, Margaret Walker tells the story of slavery from American history, based on real narrative from her family. Walker’s real great-grandmother, Vyry, was born to Hetta as her youngest child with Masters John Morris Dutton. Vyry was two years old, when Hetta died. Mammy Sukey took care of Vyry until the day she left to the Big House. Seven year old Vyry began her duty in Masters House; however, Big Missy Salina, John’s wife hated her and bullied her for she knew her husband cheated on her with Hetta. Master John found out how Salina mistreated Vyry; thus, he changed Vyry’s duties to work in the kitchen under the command of Aunt Sally. During the time spend with Sally, Vyry learned a lot about cooking, food preserving and herbs using, which enormously helped her later in her life. Because of her cooking skills, which she gained during work with Sally, Vyry became the main cook after Sally was sold away and stayed in the Big House kitchen till the day of emancipation. Throughout the years of her service, Vyry met a free black man Randal Ware, who imposed her the idea of freedom, saying he can buy it for her. Neither Master John nor his wife want to set Vyry free, thus she stayed in slavery with her two children. Ware had a plan of escape for her, but Vyry didn’t want to leave without children, got caught, and punished. The years of Civil War came, Ware was gone, and Masters family started dying out. Finally, only Miss Lillian, who was losing her mind after head injury, stayed alive, when the war ended and emancipation was brought. Vyry, alone with her children and a new man she met – Innis Brown, had to leave the Big House and start a new life. There were many obstacles they had to overcome. Although being free, it...
Liberty is freedom from external or foreign rule. or independence. The author, Julia Alvarez, has been in simular situations to those in Liberty and Exile. " I think of myself at 10 years old, newly arrived in this country, feeling out of place, feeling that i would never belong in this world... and then, magic happened in my life.. an english teacher asked us to write little stories about ourselves". (145) When people migrate to somewhere else it takes some time for them to adapt to their surroundings. I believe that the authors tone is hopeful. Both the families were hoping to have a better life. They were under the power of a dictator. If you want freedom then you have to give up certain things you love. " all liberty involves sacrifices". (141)
In her essay, “Loopholes of Resistance,” Michelle Burnham argues that “Aunt Marthy’s garret does not offer a retreat from the oppressive conditions of slavery – as, one might argue, the communal life in Aunt Marthy’s house does – so much as it enacts a repetition of them…[Thus] Harriet Jacobs escapes reigning discourses in structures only in the very process of affirming them” (289). In order to support this, one must first agree that Aunt Marthy’s house provides a retreat from slavery. I do not. Burnham seems to view the life inside Aunt Marthy’s house as one outside of and apart from slavery where family structure can exist, the mind can find some rest, comfort can be given, and a sense of peace and humanity can be achieved. In contrast, Burnham views the garret as a physical embodiment of the horrors of slavery, a place where family can only dream about being together, the mind is subjected to psychological warfare, comfort is non-existent, and only the fear and apprehension of inhumanity can be found. It is true that Aunt Marthy’s house paints and entirely different, much less severe, picture of slavery than that of the garret, but still, it is a picture of slavery differing only in that it temporarily masks the harsh realities of slavery whereas the garret openly portrays them. The garret’s close proximity to the house is symbolic of the ever-lurking presence of slavery and its power to break down and destroy families and lives until there is nothing left. Throughout her novel, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs presents these and several other structures that suggest a possible retreat from slavery, may appear from the outside to provide such a retreat, but ideally never can. Among these structures are religion, literacy, family, self, and freedom.
One typically displays acts of charity for the love of mankind or benefit of society. However, differentiating whether a generous deed reflects altruistic behavior or selfishness can be difficult. In Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener," the lawyer performs charitable conduct toward Bartleby to acquire self-approval and an honorable conscience.
The theme of the “meaning of freedom” is a common theme between the two stories “A&P” by Updike, and Harrison Bergeron by Vonnegut. In both stories, the characters are take different routes to rebel from the standards of society. In A&P, gender roles are heavy, and Sammy is expected to conform, but he does otherwise by leaving his job. Harrison Bergeron takes place during a time where the human population is expected to be equal, but Harrison steps beyond these limits. These characters show that conforming to society truly does not make you free, in fact it holds you back from your full potential.
In Harriett Jacobs’s book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she informs her readers of her life as a slave girl growing up in southern America. By doing this she hides her identity and is referred to as Linda Brent which she had a motive for her secrecy? In the beginning of her life she is sheltered as a child by her loving mistress where she lived a free blissful life. However after her mistress dies she is not freed from the bondage of slaver but given to her mistress sister and this is where Jacobs’s happiness dissolved. In her story, she reveals that slavery is terrible for men but, is more so dreadful for women. In addition woman bore being raped by their masters, as well as their children begin sold into slavery. All of this experience
In “The Trial of Girlhood” and “A Perilous Passage In the Slave Girl’s Life” Jacobs’s narrative emphasizes the problems that are faced by female slaves. She shares the sexual abuses that are commonly practiced by slave master against young female slaves. She does this through revealing the unique humiliation and the brutalities that were inflicted upon young slave girls. In this narrative we come to understand the psychological damage caused by sexual harassment. We also realize how this sexual harassment done by the slaveholders went against morality and “violated the most sacred commandment of nature,”(Harriet 289)as well as fundamental religious beliefs.
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.
Harriet Jacobs story Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl closely resembles the hardships that female slaves went through in Stowe and Wells Brown’s stories. In all three stories the mothers go out of their way and will do anything to protect their children. In Clotel, Currer a forty year old woman that had two daughters by her master Thomas Jefferson, gets sold at an auction with her two daughters. Her oldest daughter Clotel catches the eye of a man named Horatio Green and is taken care of for a while but then is left for a white woman. Currer and her children were all sold separately and throughout the story she does everything to get them back. And in Uncle Tom’s Cabin all three of the mothers are shown going out of their way to stay with
Freedom is a human value that has inspired many poets, politicians, spiritual leaders, and philosophers for centuries. Poets have rhapsodized about freedom for centuries. Politicians present the utopian view that a perfect society would be one where we all live in freedom, and spiritual leaders teach that life is a spiritual journey leading the soul to unite with God, thus achieving ultimate freedom and happiness. In addition, we have the philosophers who perceive freedom as an inseparable part of our nature, and spend their lives questioning the concept of freedom and attempting to understand it (Transformative Dialogue, n.d.).
He has never had the opportunity to question his own way of life, and now must compare the values of a severely depressed man to his own. The lawyer has never been around someone that seemed to hold no value to their own existence, and this makes the lawyer question his own. He is now an older man with a job for a family. The lawyer attempts to ease Bartleby back into reality because it assures him that he has not wasted his own life.
Nelson Mandela once said “For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”1 This quote describes the story “The Strangers That Came to Town” very well. Mr. Duvitch cast off his “chains” by immigrating to America seeking freedom and better opportunities. Dr. Switzer also showed freedom by living in a way that accepted the Duvitch family. Andy’s father accepted the Duvitch family, which in turn let them feel free. In his short story, “The Strangers That Came to Town” Ambrose Flack is showing that true freedom is about being accepted.