John Brown Analysis

John Brown, a abolitionist, believed that the use of violence was necessary to end slavery unlike most pacifist abolitionists. Brown resorted to violence on several occasions in his mission to destroy slavery. He organized a small army of slavery opposers, which included many of his family members and relatives to carry out his mission. For instance, Brown and his men attacked the pro-slavery settlers in Pottawatomie Creek during the "Bleeding Kansas" period of violent tension between anti-slavery free staters and slavery supporters. Brown and his men murdered five pro-slavery settlers in Pottawatomie Creek. Brown and his small army also attacked the federal armory in 1859 at Harpers Ferry in Virginia, and took control of the armory. Brown

The first passage is an excerpt from W.E.B Du Bois ' biography of John Brown written in 1909. Du Bois who was an activist and founder of the NAACP presents Brown as the hero who initiated the end of the horrors of slavery. Du Bois ' descriptions paint Brown as the positive light that helped get rid of the darkness that African Americans faced. He describes Brown as "exasperatingly simple; unlettered, plain, and homely," and calls him an "eternal truth" (232). Du Bois believes that there are truths we can learn from Brown 's life and actions. He explains that Brown 's intense hate of slavery was a result of his love and sympathy for the "poor, unfortunate, or oppressed" (233). Brown believed and acted on the fundamental truth that "all men are free and equal" according to Dubois (233). He also argues that Brown 's violent actions and the consequences of those actions are the price that needs to be paid for freedom. He concludes in the biographical passage that "John Brown was right," and that violence or war was necessary to destroy slavery. On the other hand, the second passage from Robert Warren 's 1929 biography of John Brown casts Brown in a negative and unsympathetic light. Warren, an American writer who was associated with the Southern Agrarians focuses on the cruel nature and consequences of Brown 's actions. He describes the "bloody heap" of innocent lives that resulted from the Pottawatomie murders committed by Brown and his men. Warren labels Brown as a thief, a cruel murderer, and insane religious extremist. There 's nothing normal or right about Brown 's motives and actions for Warren, since they classify under insane