Author Archives: YANYAN CHEN

1. In her essay Incidents in the Life of a Slave, Jacobs sheds a light on the real living condition and reality of a female slave’s life. For me, this narrative emphasizes the misery of the women slaves by revealing their experience of being insulted, taken apart from their children and etc. I come to know that women tend to suffer more than men because not only does she have to obey her master and do all the household things, but also her beauty will put her in more dangerous condition given that white female will degrade her more deeply. Also, I feel astonished that Harriet Jacobs stay in a tiny den that even doesn’t provide her room to stretch her limbs for whole SEVEN years! During this quarantine period, I am almost crazy after staying in my room for 20 days, although I can stretch my arms and legs and breath fresh air. I cannot imagine how can she survive in that situation. Perhaps it’s her love towards her children that supports her to live in this world. Then, I’d say she is the greatest mother in the world and she definitely deserve the lucky freedom afterwards. This essay is more like a diary than a formal narrative story compared to that of Douglass. In addition, there is less whip and severe punishment in her narrative. However, both of them (Douglass and Jacobs) are “luck” to some extent compared to other poor slaves that they meet some kind white people who are willing to help them. Douglass meets his mistress who is nice at first to teach him ABC and those white boys in Baltimore who teach him more words. Jacobs meet Mr. Sands and Mrs. Bruce who buys her freedom at the end!
2. Many posts already mention some forms of contemporary slaves such as forced labor, forced marriage and child labor. For me, white collar workers who are controlled by their employer should also catch our attention. Although it’s hard to define as modern slavery, it does involve exploitation. In some underdeveloped countries where the labor law is not executed accordingly, this kind of exploitation is quite common. Employees work nearly 18 hours a day, seven days a week and many of them end up with cardiac death.

Chapter VIII of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave really shocks me, and I think this chapter is of great significance in the whole book. First of all, it is sad know that those slaves who are not able to read even don’t have a clear understanding of their “degraded condition” (256). When they are deprived of the routeway to the newspaper and to the bigger world, they tend to believe that life should be as miserable as their experience. In addition, I was astonished that the American slaves are “ranked with horses, sheep, and swine” (256). They are just a part of the property of their masters and their fate are decided randomly according to their masters’ mood and thoughts. Douglass use a syntax of comparison here to deepen the hopeless atmosphere. He says, “horses and men, cattle and women, pig and children” (256). This style of writing makes the story a tragic. How can we put human beings with livestock together? Why don’t we say, men, women, children and horses, cattle and pigs, but rather, ignore the classification and mix them together? Another noticeable comparison occurs between the death of Master Andrew and Douglass grandmother. When Master Andrew dies, the poor grandmother wipes “from this icy brow the cold death-sweat” (257) but when she dies, “none of her children or grandchildren present, to wipe from her wrinkled brow the cold sweat of death” (258). His grandmother serves Mater Andrew through all his life. In a reasonable condition, her kindness deserve a pay back. However, in reality, not only she receives nothings, but also, she is abandoned by the owner in the woods with no food and water, waiting for death. The contrast of their fate makes readers fall into tears. One thing I want to know more is that why the Baltimore boys are so generous and kind to Douglass? Just because of the bread he gives to them? Or, are there any other reasons?

I’d like to share my thoughts about Tartuffe by Moliere. It’s the first drama that I completely read in English. At first, I was surprised by how long it was. But as I read it, I found the story quite interesting and profound. The personality of each character is very vivid and easy to tell. For example, Dorine is brave and cheerful, she says whatever she thinks, even though her role as a maid may not allow her to do so. Orgon is autocratic at first, but he changes his mind at last. More importantly, although Moliere may exaggerate a little bit when he creates these characters, we can actually find many people similar to these characters in our real life. And I suppose this is the reason why this drama is considered as a “Great Work” —-it originates from our life but is above our life. In reality, I came across some people really like Tartuffe. Even though the people I met had no relation with religion, they did show their hypocrisy when they pretended to be sympathy and warm-hearted to give others a hand but actually only wanted to be worshiped by others and even aimed at the long-term gain after giving this generous help. The value that this text offers me involves we should be kind to others, not hypocrisy; we should argue for our own right and freedom even though we might meet some problems and we cannot only look at the appearance of superficiality of people and things, instead, we should look inside to the truth and consider other people’s opinions. One thing really interests me, and I am still trying to figure out is that why Orgon is totally attracted by Tartuffe and gives him blindly trust? I think Moliere doesn’t explain this issue very clearly. He only mentions that Orgon is captivated by the way Tartuffe “humbly bowed and kissed the floor” and “takes the gift and shares it with the poor”. But I think all these descriptions are not enough to solve this puzzle. Can merely these “kind” movements make a man gives out all his trust and even his wealth to a stranger even though his family all oppose him? I think this is not only unreasonable but also preposterous. But perhaps this is how the drama differs from the real life. The emphasis is on the argument that the drama makes and the value that it reveals, not some illogical details.

Hello Everyone, I’m Yanyan Chen, I am 20 this year. I’m currently a senior student majoring in Finance. I am from a dual Bachelor’s degree program with Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. So, before I transferred to Baruch, I have studied in a Chinese University for two years. After I completing my study at Baruch, I will study for my master’s degree at National University of Singapore in the Quantitative Economics program. Also, I am planning to go to a PhD program in Economics or Business. I’m passionate about economics, finance mathematics and natural science. My hobbies are yoga, traveling and decorating rooms (though sounds a little strange). I have traveled to near most parts of China including Hong Kong and Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Maldives, Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom. I was impressed by the devout Buddhists in Tibet, China where the altitude is more than 5000 meters and is considered as the pure land. I had a great time in Taiwan where I can find some missing parts in Chinese culture since Taiwan and Mainland China was divided in the last century. I meet many interesting people in Cambridge where I had a summer school there and it was the first time I got to read and learn a little bit of Shakespeare in English. I always have an open mind to the world and I believe traveling will facilitate me to think more and is a supplement to reading alone.

English isn’t my first language so this class is very challenging to me, but I’ll try my best to learn from this class, from our professor and my classmates. I am familiar with many eastern literature works especially Chinese literature and Japanese literature. I am also a big fan of traditional classic poems and essays and I actually can recite a lot of the masterpiece. At the meantime, I also appreciate many western masterwork and I find the differences between different cultures very interesting.

It’s so nice to meet all of you and I hope I can try my best to learning in this challenging class~