Monthly Archives: March 2016

Narrative of Frederick Douglass Life

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Frederick Douglass presents us with details of the way life was as a slave, the way society worked in that time era and his train of thought. By reading his story we could create an understanding what it was to be a slave and feel what he felt. We never think or remember the ways we are expose to certain situations because they are not dramatic or have no impact in out life. In the first chapter Frederick Douglass describe a dramatic scene that was welcoming him to a horrible life where his aunt was whipped when she disobey her master, “I was quite child, but I well remember it. I never shall forget it whilst I remember anything…. It was the blood- stained gate, the entrance to the hell slavery”. When he noticed that this was the way life was going be, I was question him. Did he just find out he was a slave? How come he not knows much about it? I figure that no one is really going to tell a kid the awful things and unjust they suffer. As he explains further on he was never expose to anything at this magnitude because he was placed in a come or less peaceful location where the elderlies and kid were.

Later on I found my self-angry at the way of thinking slaveholders had. They were not satisfied that they controlled the freedom of people but they needed to control their way of thinking. Slaves no longer or probably never had the right to speak freely after Colonel Lloyd notice that one of his slave was talking bad about his master to s stranger, “In pursuing this course, consider myself as uttering what was absolutely false”. Slaves were force to make their master seem kind and the best master a slave can have but here he says that he felt that he had no voice. We also see how he had to hide his knowledge after he learns to read and gain more information in his situation because he cannot trust anyone. “I fear they might be treacherous” after the accident of the slave who spoke the truth by he already understood that people were not trustworthy if they were not yet untried.

The life changing scenario for Douglass in my opinion was when master Auld prohibited his wife to instruct him any further because he could become a threat to everyone. He figures that knowledge was something every master fear. As he said the mistake was already done by teaching him the A, B, C from there he thought himself and trick kids on teaching him and trick them in a way he can practice. Here we can see his intelligence. Even though he founded knowledge a curse it was the best thing he could of done.

An American Slave

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In this narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, the readers are exposed to the vast experiences that Douglass encountered when he was a slave. Douglass believed that by writing this narrative, many readers would understand the pain and suffering not only himself, but the entire community of slaves endured during that time period. And for an African American person such as Douglass, it was a surprise to a majority of the community as they questioned themselves: “Where was he able to obtain this knowledge to read and write?”

Douglass’s concerns were to address the lifestyles that the slaves had to endure. As slaves are working for their masters or slaveholders, the degree of freedom and rights is what the slaves long desired for in their daily lives. With the scarce resources, the yearly amount of clothing  and monthly allowance of food they received put them in an appalling living conditions. If a slave defies the master, this could put their lives in jeopardy. As the slaves had no rights whatsoever, if they do not obey the rules then they will be punished with excessive abuse. These hardships and sufferings from the text hope to bright light into the reader’s eyes on the abhor lifestyle the slaves endured and even the smallest detail should not be overlooked.

Despite these conditions, they are able to seek a way to express these dreadful feelings through singing a song. “. . .reverberate with their wild songs, revealing at once the highest joy and the deepest sadness.” (Douglass 241). Although the slaves work until they exhausted all their energies, they can still bring this sort of entertainment upon them. This showed that African Americans are not to be belittled and they should be treated equally despite the color of their skin; they should have that privilege of freedom at birth. This reading provided us with the insight of the lives of the slaves and allowed us to understand the tragic history of their lives. As it is imperative to understand that African Americans came a lengthy exhausting journey til this day, it showed that they never gave up on the freedom they so longed for.

There is also one most important point that must be addressed, which is the education for the slaves. The whites are highly oppressive on the idea for slaves to learn how to read and write. The question, “Are slaveholders fearful of educated slaves?”, came across my mind as I was reading this text. If the slaves begin to learn how to read and write, they would be enriched with knowledge and the possibility of blacks fighting for equal rights and freedom could occur. Since the slaveholders want to maintain this order where they are always superior to the blacks, they reject the idea of allowing slaves to even go near a book because they definitely do not want such a situation to occur where their power could be taken away.

Emily Dickinson-1129

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As I began to read this poem, it was a short poem but so much was put into it. It was worded and phrase so simply but so very unexpecting.

When I read the first stanza ” Tell all the Truth but tell it slant”-, I read this as a bad thing. It seemed as if the devil was telling you something, the truth, but he put in his own wicked lies to deceive you. As I continued on, I wondered what does the dash represent, does it represent a continuous statement or does it break off in a different idea? At that moment I continued and it seemed like it broke off into a motivation phrase. It said ” Success in Circuit lies”, to me that meant a lot in my life. It turned my mood into a very emotional mood, It made me think a lot about, why am I working so hard? Why am I in school? Why are there failures? This was a motivational stanza of course, it meant when you work hard and go through all the tough failures, get back up because in the end is where you will find success.

It goes on to praising success and how it doesn’t matter about age, whether how old you are. I didn’t understand what was “superb”, so I looked it up and it said it is “excellent”. Where it said “The Truth’s superb surprise”, I saw that Truth was capitalized as if it was a Noun or a person or something very important.

She then continues saying “As Lighting to the Children eased with explanation kind” I, myself pictured it as a calming childing coming out of the dark night, scared and finally calming down. It meant, though a child is very comforted by the light and not scared anymore, the comfort is the enemy of truth. She says “The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blinded”. She means it as don’t be blinded by what people say but instead search for the real Truth yourself, if you don’t everyone might as well be naive.

Reading for Monday 3/7

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Here’s the article you should print and read for Monday: http://www.publicbooks.org/fiction/for-world-literature (its also linked on Blackboard). Highlight and be prepared to talk about 3 specific points in the essay that you think are important (you might agree or disagree, or not be sure).

If you don’t have it with you Monday, you won’t be able to receive credit for participating in our debate.

Please also bring your anthologies, as we’ll conclude our discussion on Dickinson.

Dickinson – An Alien in Her Own Society

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Dickinson in her short poems makes her feelings and messages more abstract without making them less powerful. In the prelude to the collection of poems, the biography states how Dickinson was a very introverted figure and kept to herself. In 435, a glimpse of her personality is expressed through her thoughts on social behavior. The poet makes a stark and ironic contrast by writing “Assent – and you are sane -; Demur – you’re straightaway dangerous” (Lines 6-7 484 Dickinson). In this written form, those who welcome social norms and duties are the “sane” or inferring into modern ramifications; normal. Those who do not conform are seen as a threat and, even though they may just be expressing their ways, people are punished so, or poetically “…handled with a Chain) (Line 8 484). In this poem, Dickinson is expressing her feelings of being alienated and how not living up to societal expectations is punishable. While she may be describing the struggle of others, Dickinson’s preference to be alone and society’s view upon that is likely to be the subject of 435.
In another of her poems, 449, Dickinson approaches different themes such as death and beauty. For example, the poem ends with an emphatic pair of lines, “Moss had reached our lips; And covered up – our names -“ (Lines 11-12 Dickinson 485). The dashes that Dickinson wrote around “our names” highlights the significance of a lost legacy. The “Moss” in this poem alludes to how death supersedes mortality and eventually consumes all. To pair with the darkness of the poem, Dickinson highlights the theme of beauty. The poem begins with “I died for Beauty” and another reference to “Beauty” is made in line 6. Dickinson’s writing about Beauty in the first parts of the poem but not the end highlights how beauty is temporary and is not forever, just like how everything – even names – are not forever.

Dickinson Assignment, Archives, and Resouces

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Emily Dickinson Archive: http://www.edickinson.org/

Includes manuscript versions of her poems, and a lexicon for definitions from her dictionary. After reading the assigned poems, choose two favorites, and look at the manuscript versions. In lieu of a quiz Wednesday, you should bring in a 1-2 paragraph response about looking the manuscript versions of the specific poems you chose (indicate which poems you looked at). Did it change your impression or experience of the poems at all? How so? If not, why?

This NYTimes article sums up some of the controversy surrounding her manuscripts and their digitization: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/books/enigmatic-dickinson-revealed-online.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1&

And finally, Dickinson’s place setting from The Dinner Party (the Judy Chicago project–we looked at Wollstonecraft’s early in the semester):http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/place_settings/emily_dickinson.php

Emily Dickinson—I Dwell in Possibility

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I find all of Dickinson’s poems very appealing because they capture intense emotions in a remarkably short amount of lines. I also find her writing style very intriguing as it often forces me to ask myself questions such as, “Why did she add that dash, change her rhyme, or break the cadence of a line?”

After pondering several of her poems in the anthology, I was heavily drawn to think about one in particular. The poem is referred to as, “(657) I dwell in possibility.” After reading it aloud a few times through, I began to analyze it more closely.

The first stanza, “I dwell in Possibility— / A fairer House than Prose— / More numerous of Windows— / Superior—for Doors—” conveys such a strong message. My first thought was simply that, perhaps, she uses her poems as way to express her limitless thoughts. After a more careful analysis—paying careful attention to Dickinson’s background as well as capitalizations and dashes—I was able to take away more from this first stanza. Dickinson is someone who almost never left her home and made every attempt to avoid reticule from others for not conforming. I was encouraged to believe that the first stanza of the poem is expressing how Dickinson felt about the world. I also made the connection from the author’s introduction that she rarely published her work because it was too unconventional.

She is explaining that her realm of possibility is not just in her poetry but also safe from conformities (No wonder she begged those closest to her to burn all of her poems when she died.) You can keep your thought and beliefs limitless by keeping them private. The next two lines, “More numerous of Windows— / Superior—for Doors—” adds to how she views her private poetry in comparison to society and structured works, as there are more windows letting in light (To see things in the light of her own room.)

The next stanza goes on to show the reader that inside your own mind, untainted by others, the sky is the roof to your house. The sky is limitless, and thus possibilities are endless.

The last stanza drives home the message and draws a conclusion to why Dickinson chooses to live her life secluded and without many visitors, “Of Visitors—the fairest / For Occupation—This / The Spreading wide my narrow Hands / To gather Paradise—.” Because of what is mentioned in the previous stanzas, she chooses not to live her life to be condemned by rules, and rather write poetry for herself and allow her to believe  everything and anything she wants.

Here is what I believe Emily Dickinson sees out her window when she has poetry to express her thoughts.
Here is what I believe Emily Dickinson sees out her window when she has poetry to express her thoughts.

I also find that this poem relates to the naturalistic ideas of romanticism poems from William Wordsworth such as, “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey.” Dickinson uses metaphors relating to the trees and the sky. By the end of the poem, the first image of “Paradise” that came to my head was a beautiful natural landscape.

By

Tyler Bas