Interrogation of Freedom

What is freedom? Is freedom when a child does not have to hold the hand of their mother or father while walking across the street? Or is freedom the event that families can go to church every Sunday morning? According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, freedom is defined as “the quality or state of being free as the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action.” Both are occasions of freedom, but when examining liberty, it can take numerous forms depending upon the source. Independence for a child may be that they no longer have to hold their mother’s hand or be under their parents’ rule. In particularly the mid 1700’s, freedom for a white land-owning male and an African-American slave were two utterly different ideas.

Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of the Independence, was a great political figure of the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, but was also a slave owner. Frederick Douglass, a slave, fought to become a man of independence in the 1800’s. And lastly, Franz Kafka was a lawyer and the author of “The Trial.” Kafka’s culture marks him as Jewish, but he was not a religiously observant Jewish man.

Initially viewing the contradicting notions of Thomas Jefferson as an author of a famous document of freedom, but also a white slave owner will display his inconsistent assessment of human freedom. Subsequently uncovering the life of Frederick Douglass and his struggle to be a free man will exhibit how he strongly supports the liberty of all humans. And finally noting Franz Kafka’s stance in society as both a lawyer and a non-practicing Jew will reveal his belief that no human is free. Examining the claims of Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglass, and Franz Kafka displays how different ...

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...r simply settle as an individual lacking the rights and freedoms one deserves.

Works Cited

Douglass, Frederick. "Chapter X." Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. New York: Dover Publications, 1995. Print.

"Freedom - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. .

"The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Characters and Book Notes | BookRags.com." BookRags.com | Study Guides, Lesson Plans, Book Summaries and More. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. .

Kafka, Franz, and George Steiner. The Trial. Trans. Willa Muir and Edwin Muir. New York: Schocken, 1992. Print.

Krusiewicz, Henry. Lecture. MLC 120 Blue Humanities Core. Midland University. 11 October 2011