Blog # 7

In John Greenleaf Whittier's poem "The Hunters of Men", it is obvious he is an abolitionist. He paints a very vivid picture that really makes the white man see how bad this treatment to the blacks is. He says "All mounting the saddle, all grasping the rein; right merrily hunting the black man, whose sin is the curl of his hair and the hue of his skin!" (Whittier) This is very sad because it shows the reader that the only thing these men are doing wrong is that they were born the wrong color. This is obviously something that cannot be helped. These men have done nothing wrong, they're just being scrutinized for the color of their skin and hair. Another convicting point the author makes is " Oh, goodly and grand is our hunting to see, In this land of the brave and this home of the free." (Whittier) This is very sad because it shows we are not living by the motto built around our country. If America was a home of the free, then everyone would be free, including the blacks. By reading this poem, the audience would want to do something. It really shows them how innocent these men and women were. They had done nothing wrong. They had just as much of a right to be free as any white man.

Bonus Blog 9/27

After re reading Chapter 10 of Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl, I viewed it a little differently because I was focusing on a certain aspect of it. I felt sorry for the narrator the first time, but when I re read it, I felt even more sorry for her and had more compassion toward her problem. I did not realize the innocence of this young girl when I first read it. I just saw the big picture that she was pregnant and did not want to move into the house her master had built for her. This young girl has really been completely corrupted by her masters and she makes sure the reader can see this. She says this very compelling statement: "I wanted to keep myself pure and, under all circumstances, I tried hard to preserve my self-respect; but I was struggling alone in the powerful grasp of the demon Slavery; and the monster proved too strong for me " (Jacobs 777).This is just a very very sad quote and really makes the reader see just how innocent she truly was. She uses this language throughout this whole chapter and does so very effectively. Seeing slavery through the eyes of young women was not a common occurance and this really paints a good image of it. Another element of this narrator's writing that goes along with her innocence is her apparent feeling of embarrassment. She repeatedly says "It pains me to tell you of it; but..." (Jacobs 776) This really makes the reader feel sorry for her because there is nothing this poor girl can do about her situation. Another element the narrator uses to make the reader feel her pain is the sense that she really had no options, even with something like who she would marry. She says: "If slavery had been abolished, I, also could have married the man of my choice" (Jacobs 777). The narrator basically uses the same language throughout her narrative which is just this image of a young innocent girl who has completely been taken advantage of. It really draws in the reader and allows them to see just how hard life must have been for her. 

Blog # 6

I am taking a different approach than probably most people for this topic. However, I am going to analyze the life of the wives of these slave owners. Most people focus on the struggles of the slaves and people who were not white. These people did face many struggles and I would never want to undermine that issue. I do believe the white women suffered quite a bit, also. They did not suffer as much as the african american women.. their life was hard, though. The wives of these slave owners in " Jacobs: Incidents In The Life of A Slave Girl" had to feel so helpless. They really had very few rights, also. I cannot imagine having to stay married to a man whom was having children with a woman who was working in my house every day, having to see her pregnant with his baby, then having to see that baby once it was born. At one point, the narrator is talking about having no where to go, she is pregnant and helpless. Even if she wanted to she could not go back to her master because, "his wife vowed, by all that was good and great, she would kill me if I came back; and he did not doubt her word" (Jacobs 779). This seems very harsh and must be so scary to have no where to go. However, when I put myself in the wife's place, I see it from a different perspective. I wouldn't want a woman in my home who was pregnant with my husbands child. Very seldom could these women do anything about this. This is something we take for granted today. Just recently Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife found out that he had had a baby with the woman who worked in their house and she simply divorced him and is able to be an independent woman now. During this time period, a woman didn't really have the option to do this. Not only would it be looked down upon but a woman really had no way of supporting herself unless she had a particular talent such as writing. Through these recent readings, I am really starting to see history in different perspectives. Not just the way I have always been taught.  

Blog # 5

While reading "An Indian's Looking Glass for the White Man", "The American Muse: Poetry at Midcentury", and the Biography on Lydia Sigourney and her poem, "Indian Names", one thing seemed to be persistent throughout and that was the civil rights of Indians. There w This issue seemed to be most prominent in “An Indian’s Looking Glass for the White Man”, but it was definitely a theme throughout all three of the writings. It is hard to compare these writings because one is an excerpt of a short story, one is just an informational writing, one is a biography, and one is a poem. However, a big issue during this time period seemed to be the rights of Indians. Throughout "An Indian's Looking Glass for the White Man", Apess talks about the people from New England being immoral, rude, and miserable. Apess also talks about Jesus being a Jew which means he was not white. He makes a very compelling point by saying:

“Now, if the Lord Jesus Christ, who is counted by all to be a Jew- and it is well known that the Jews are a colored people, especially those living in the East, where Christ was born- and if he should appear among us, would he not be shut out of doors by many, very quickly? And by those too who profess religion? (Apess 644)

This reference draws a comparison between the Indians, and perhaps other colored people, and Jesus.

Another connection that is made about the rights of Indians is that whites could not get by without them. Apess claims that whites cannot take care of their own land because they are uneducated. He states: Another reason is because they haven o education to take care of themselves, if they had, I would risk them to take care of their own property” (Apess 641). Similar to this, Lydia Sigourney opens her poem, “Indian Names”, by saying “How can the Red men be forgotten, while so many of our states and territories, bays, lakes, and rivers are indelibly stamped by names of their giving?” (Sigourney 1204). I think a main point from both of these excerpts is that Indians, or Red men, are under-appreciated. 

Blog #4

While reading “The Tenth of January” by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, I could not help but recognize the constant repetition or the words red, crimson, and blood. The numerous amount of times these words were mentioned foreshadowed that there would be death or something bloody by the end of the story. It was ironic how everything was red, the fire, her cape… “The silent city steeped and bathed itself in rose-tints; the river ran red, and the snow crimsoned on the distant New Hampshire hills; Pemberton, mute and cold, frowned across the disk of the climbing sun, and dripped, as she had seen it drip before, with blood” (Phelps). Something else that I found ironic was the fact that although Asenath had not taken her crimson cape out in quite sometime she put it on before going to the mill. “She kissed him when she had tied on the red hood, and said good by to Dick, and told them just where to find the squash pie for dinner” (Phelps). Later that evening is when Asenath was caught in the collapsed burning mill. “One of her fingers, she saw, was gone, it was the finger which held Dick’s little engagement ring. The red beam lay across her forehead, and drops dripped from it upon her eyes” (Phelps). After all the repetitive blood, red, crimson imagery, Asenath eventually dies in her red cape which too is very ironic and proves the foreshadowing throughout the story. 

blog #3 The Wife

I thought the short story titled “The Wife” by Washington Irving was great. According to this short story, all an American needs to be happy is love. Although the character Leslie thinks his wife will no longer love him after she finds out he is a beggar, he finds out she loves him just as much as she had, if not more. I think many people have the same idea about women as Leslie did. Many people think women have to have material things in order to be happy, however this is untrue for most women. All many women need is love. This story also brings out an important point that men are more motivated to be successful when they have a partner. Irving says “And indeed I have observed that married men falling into misfortune, are more apt to retrieve their situation in the world than single men” (Irving 526). I think this is very true. Men want to satisfy their wives and they believe in order to do so they must be successful. Although, the idea behind what men think may not be completely true, it proves how much a man treasures the love of his wife. I think this story also shows that a man wants more for his wife than he does for himself. This is shown through the story of Leslie being a beggar and being content with that because it is his only option. However, although Leslie is content with this, he wants more for his wife and wants her to be happy.