...Throughout history, many great works of literature were written and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is one of them. This book is important because its publication made people realize slavery was bad for everyone, not just the slaves. To add on, in each important piece of literature, the author has reasons to write the book. Frederick Douglass has three reasons to write this narrative and these are the reasons made his book a great book. The first reason is to bring to life a slave’s experiences as a slave. In his narrative, he says, “A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege” (1). Frederick didn’t even know his own age which is a basic right everyone has now. Slaves were deprived of their basic rights because of slavery. Douglass’s experience...
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...them Malcolm x , Sandra Cisneros and Frederick Douglass. They all struggled a lot to pursue their profession .they expressed themselves better after they discovered reading and writing. In their stories they described their conditions when they started reading and writing. This essay discusses how the readings of Frederick Douglass , Malcolm x , and Sandra Cisneros compare and contrast. Even though there is time difference between their lifetime , Malcolm x and Frederick Douglass were African- American and were imprisoned anyway .”you will be free as soon as you are twenty - one, , but I am a slave for life!”pg 115, para 3. On the other hand , Sandra Cisneros was neglected , which is not less than a prison for her . “but somehow I could feel myself being erased” In...
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...Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” I personally learned the cruelty of enslavers, how Douglass felt about slavery, and why he wished to be an animal. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1818, and he wrote a book called “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” which was written about his unutterable experiences as a slave. I learned on a personal account of how he felt, and the thoughts soaring through his mind. In the excerpt, Douglass recalled reading was important to him. Douglass learned how to read from Auld’s wife (Hugh Auld was his slaveowner), but said that reading would make him unfit for slavery. According to Douglass, his documents “gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own...
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...Frederick Douglass was a slave in America until the age of 20. He wrote three of the most highly regarded autobiographies of the 19th century, while he only began learning to read and write when he turned 12 years old. After an early life of hardship and pain, Douglass escaped to the North to write three autobiographies, which spaced along decades. He wrote about his life as a slave and a freeman. The institution of slavery scarred him so intensely that he decided to devote his powers of speech and prose to fighting it. Douglass wrote three biographies about his life as a politician, slave, and abolitionist. However, the historical value of these works does not remain as important as the quality of the works themselves. Frederick Douglass’ writing deserves recognition in the canon of great American authors, because his work meets the chosen criteria for inclusion in a collection of important literature. Douglass influenced many famous abolitionists with his literary works, and this impact, coupled with his desire to write an expose about oppression in America, makes him a winning candidate. Although his published works, mostly autobiographies, received much acclaim from abolitionists, this paper explores the quality of Douglass’s work from a literary standpoint. To fully appreciate the impact of Douglass’s autobiographies, we must examine violent period in which he lived. Douglass, born in 1818, grew up as a slave on Colonel Lloyd’s plantation in eastern Maryland. At the time...
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...Venerables characters During the school year, we read some really good works from different authors, like, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Frederick Douglass, Jane Austen etc. And along with every big story, characters are memorable and make all the difference in the plot. Every minimal detail is important for those characters to grow and have its spot in the book. They can be the narrator, the protagonist, or even the one that we hate in the begging, but loves in the end of the book. They show us knowledge about people and different ways to see life, how people can be brave and fight for their rights, and also how love can change us in all different forms. For example, in the book “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we have Nick Carraway as a narrator and character although he isn’t the main character. This makes Nick himself somewhat tricky to observe, since we see the whole novel through his eyes. What makes him so important and venerable? The novel begins with Nick thinking back on advice that his father gave him as a boy. His father encouraged him to be careful about criticizing others and reminded him that he has had some advantages that others have not had. The advice that Nick has pondered for years makes him study people, and we learn about the other...
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...would you? Frederick Douglass, a former slave, presented his speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” at a celebration of the Declaration of Independance, but took it upon himself to make it known that the Fourth of July was not a day of celebration for him or his people. Douglass utilized pathos, rhetorical questions, and repetition to drive home his argument against slavery and to encourage his audience to also fight for equality between everyone. Pathos is a quality that evokes sadness and pity. Douglass used pathos all throughout his speech to continuously catch the attention of his audience and to give them a surreal realization of the world surrounding them. For example, in lines 60-67, Douglass referred to the slave and to humanity as “bleeding”, “fettered”, and “trampled upon.” He needed to use such thought-provoking words in order to catch the attention of his audience and to maintain that hold throughout the entire speech. Douglass also tried to incorporate his own emotion into his speech....
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...that he actually said in his speech, “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death” (Henry 10). Patrick Henry’s Speech in the Virginia Convention was a powerful speech, but was only the first step of many along the pathway to freedom and equality. Before the country could be equal, it had to be free. To work towards the goal of freedom, Thomas...
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...A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave The title alone speaks to the dichotomy of the life of the man we know as Frederick Douglass. Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born a slave, but Frederick Douglass was a free man. The path he took from slavery to freedom was long, difficult, and like that of many blacks in the pre-Abolition era. Through a series of events, Douglass was able to first free his mind and eventually his body from the shackles of slavery. His story still stands as a startling first-hand account of the life of an American Slave. Frederick Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, Maryland. Like many slaves, the exact year or day was unknown to him. He knew his mother, Harriet Bailey, but his father’s identity was a secret. It was rumored that this master was actually his father, though he was unable to confirm the whispers. He was separated from his mother, as was custom, at a young age. He knew very little of Harriet and when he was about 7 years old, she died. Douglass noted, “She was gone long before I knew any thing about it. Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.” After the death of his mother, Douglass was moved around and kept as the live property of various families. With stark details, he describes the conditions of slave life. Slaves received...
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...Questions 1) What does he say/why does he say it? Frederick Douglass published three memoirs throughout his lifetime, each with a distinct purpose. The Narrative’s purpose is twofold. Douglass’ first objective with it was to give a perspective of slavery that many northerners simply had not yet heard, in the hopes that it would inspire action amongst abolitionists. In doing this, he fulfills his second objective, which was to create an account of his life that focuses on his survival through slavery, and not on the suffering stemming from it. While Douglass doesn’t explicitly acknowledge the fact that there are those who doubt his life story and heritage, the organization of the Narrative anticipates readers with that mindset. This is clear because of the introduction and structure of the first four chapters or so. Not only does Douglass have two white men introduce him, but each introduction seems as if their authors knew most of its audience would be skeptical. In their own ways, the two introductions treat the concept of a slave becoming as fluently literate as Douglass as nearly impossible. It’s...
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...the class of “Black World Studies” taught by Professor Coates. Coates gave me the intelligent insight on how Africans-Americans were able to succeed through the tough times of learning even when they could die from learning how to read. It was a sacrifice the slaves had to do that the time. When I read more articles and watched more movies, it showed determination, courage, heart, and attitude. When reading, it switched to a period of slavery to a period of the Civil War. After that I came to an author named Jared Diamond that gave his view on the world of slavery. In the article “How Africa Became Black” by Jared Diamond he argues that diversity resulted from the geography of Africa. Africa is home to five major human groups, blacks, whites, African Pygmies, Khoisan, and Asians. Thirty percent of the world’s language is in Africa. But as the years goes on were losing about 2 per week. Soon as the world gets older there wouldn’t be any languages in Africa. As race continues to grow in Africa there will be different types of languages being made and the previous groups (ethnic groups of language) wouldn’t exist anymore. As said in paragraph 8 of “How Africa Became Black” races are stereotyping, from Black to White, to putting the Zulu, Masai, and Ibo into a black category and Africa's Egyptians and Berbers with each other and with Europe's Swedes with the whites. The question that pertains to this is why are people being judgmental of other races and confusing blacks to whites...
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...great heroes from Christopher Columbus, Woodrow Wilson, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, etc.. Nevertheless, historians often seem to not remember to mention the real heroes of America like, for example, John Brown and the Native Americans. Much of the history that historians write about don't always show precision. Since many historians only write about one side of history, it only makes it worse by not revealing the factuality of history and creates an erroneous image of what really took place. Many of our nation's great leaders have been distinguished as individuals who have the best interest of the country and every action they take on behalf of the country befittingly. For instance, in the book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James Loewen, he writes, "Under [president] Wilson, the United States intervened in Latin America more often than at any other time in our history." (Loewen, 16). What reason did the United States have to start an intervention in countries that are diminuitive in size and population and are poverty-stricken? The only thing that the United States gained from the intervention of the poor Latin American countries was merely for their own well-being. They imposed on those poor innocent people and gerrymandered the government for cheaper manual labor. The intervention in Latin America was never for accomodation, but for political...
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...“model for a social state – an ideal, or a desired standard of perfection not yet attained in the world”. Lewin expressed this in 1983, and still today’s society has failed to reach this goal. Feminism has transformed into the second “F” word, where society labels feminism as a harmful, extremist movement. The feminist movement has become synonymous with man – hating, bra – burning, lesbians who engage in radical protests to ultimately eliminate men from society and become a female dominated world. Which, is why this world needs a continued women’s rights movement to eradicate the ideology that fighting for the equality of women is obscene or unnatural. Feminism eventually inspired the term “Herstory”, which emerged in the 1960s, a very exciting time in American history full of social change. Herstory aims to look at history through a women’s perspective, emphasizing women’s triumphs and struggles they have experienced throughout time. Herstory is especially important when discussing first wave feminism, which refers to the European and North American mobilization to gain voting and other citizenship rights for women during the 19th and 20th century. This time was filled with controversy and strong women who...
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...Both of my parents are busy, but still manage to sacrifice their time for me. For example, when I have a sporting event, they make sure they start their work days earlier so they can make it to watch me play. This shows them safricing for a loved one because they could be doing other important tasks, but instead come and support me. Throughout the literature we have read, there have been multiple instances where characters sacrifice too. The characters in the literature of our course indicates that people will sacrifice for the ones they love. According to the Puritans, sacrificing for loved ones is an important trait to have. In the “City On A Hill Sermon,” by John Winthrop, he states, “We must delight in each other; make others’ conditions...
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...However, over the years, the Civil Rights movement has been a politicized movement for the push of candidates and parties on all sides. They played a role with the southern states seceding from the USA, and the Civil War. Many people don't know that for a long time in fact blacks did play important roles through many important times, and weren't just mere slaves, as most think today. The reason for such a political polarization on the issue, for a wide multitude of reasons. This paper will sort through the beginning of America to more modern times to show how different political parties and policies shaped the civil rights movement and made it take almost 200 years for equality to start taking a foothold from the founding of America. Many seem to think America was founded only by white men wearing wigs. I found looking through history books over years, and looking at paintings of many of the important founders, and in turn the black founders. I will only point out a few and their accomplishments as they are so numerous: Peter Salem, a black hero at the battle of bunker hill, and saved scores of american lives that day. Reverend Jonas Clark and Prince Estabrook were both important in the Battle of Lexington, with the “shot heard around the world”. He called his congregation to the mixed church, and then rallied his black and white patriots, to fight the british. 150 Americans fought, with 18 dead. Prince Estabrook was also known as one of the first black men to fight...
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...Incorporated. All was well and I felt as though there was not too much else for me to conquer. Then as the semester drew to a close being advised and selecting classes for the Spring Semester began to be advertised all over myUWG. So to rid myself of all the irksome alerts of West Georgia I went and got advised. While selecting my classes my advisor brought up Personal Relationships. When I first heard it the first two things I thought were “my girlfriend took that class” and “she said it was easy.” So with me being the collegiate student I am I decided I would take it. I figured why not I’m in a personal relationship I should be able to relate. The first day of class was definitely not what I expected. I did not know that my teacher would look, think and talk like a student! From then on I knew that this was class was going to have the biggest impact on me, the way I thought, the way I talked, the way I evaluated relationships and how I looked at my life’s up and downs all together we’re going to change in due time. From the time I got advised up to the first day of class I honestly thought that this was just going to be another class. When in reality it wasn’t just another class, it was going to be THE class. From January 10, 2012 and so on, my life would make a distinctive turn, for the better. And with this turn came the reminder said by Frederick Douglass “if there is no struggle, there is no progress” (Douglass, 1857). I came into this class as Sandtron Leon Harrell flaws and all...
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