It is difficult to relate personally to the narratives covered in "Slavery and Freedom", especially during this time of year when we are reminded to give thanks for all that we hold dear. It is unimaginable to think about the life of slaves such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs. Their sense of family was cut off at birth or shortly after, forming a personal identity was impossible and gaining freedom required huge acts of courage.…
“The overseers wore dazzling white shirts and broad shadowy hats. The oiled barrels of their shotguns flashed in the sunlight. Their faces in memory are utterly blank.” Black and White men are the symbol of ethnic abhorrence. “The prisoners wore dingy gray-and-black zebra suits, heavy as canvas, sodden with sweat. Hatless, stooped, they chopped weeds in the fierce heat, row after row, breathing the acrid dust of boll-weevil poison.” The narrator expresses the unforgiving situations the slaves worked in; they didn’t even have a choice which is the saddest part. Yet the slave masters lived a different elegant life.…
In the year of 1776, America was much different than it is today. Back then, we were ruled by the British Royal Family, and we only had a total of thirteen colonies. Chains was based in the time of slavery and of the Revolutionary War. Isabel and Ruth were slaves for Miss Finch; in her will, Miss Finch wrote for the sisters to be freed once she had passed. After the funeral, the will could not be acquired. Now the girls were slaves, not free. After this unfortunate event, Isabel was confident that she could find the lawyer who had written the will to prove that they were free. The sisters were then returned to the slave market and sold to the Lockton's, together.…
References: Elkins, Stanley M (1976). Slavery (Third Edition). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.…
Forge is Laurie Halse Anderson’s second installment to the Chains series following up her previous novel, Chains. The escapades of the young African American slaves, Isabel and Curzon, continue in this sequel to Chains. Young Curzon and Isabel are forced to endure the hardships of maturing during the demanding time of the American Revolution. Curzon and Isabel are runaway slaves who have a high risk of getting captured with their past catching up to them every step of the way. Forge is told from the perspective of Curzon in a journal-like fashion, each entry has a date. Laurie Halse Anderson had a team of researchers gather an immense amount of information on the American Revolution and the time period to make her Historical Fiction novel as realistic as possible. By making Forge’s novel structure journal entries from Curzon’s angle, Anderson was adept in making the reader connect, investigate, and comprehend his character and the American Revolution further.…
Another reason why you should read this great novel is because it has this realistic feeling to it you can actually feel the emotions being said in the novel it will touch you in an unexplainable way.…
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson is written from Isabel’s point of view in first person, which gives many advantages and several disadvantages to the story. An advantage of using this point of view is the reader sees what Isabel is thinking and feeling. “Madam will beat you bloody, he’s not your concern, it’s not your place. Go back, go back before it’s too late” (216) With this point of view, the reader is aware of what Isabel is thinking, something that would not be possible with another point of view. Knowing what the character is thinking gives the reader a better sense of presence, and in this case furthers the tension and creates a layer of uncertainty about the other characters. Another advantage of this point of view is it makes it more…
If someone asked me if they should read this book, I would say, and have said, yes. This story covers so many ethical issues and topics of discussion through an unbelievably but true story in a spectacular way. I have personally learned quite a bit from reading this book and others should share the…
“Among all the species and degrees of slavery that have excited the attention of mankind . . . there is perhaps none more pitiable than that of the ill-sooted wife. She is bound by ties from which nothing but death can release her, and whatever her suffering and her wrongs is compelled by delicacy and a regard for personal reputation . . . to submit to them in silence, and conceal them from observation.” - Unsigned Colonial-era letter. This quote perfectly describes the situation in which Mrs. Lockton, a character from Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel, Chains, finds herself in. Her story takes place in a revolutionary war torn New York. The novel is centered in a loyalist household where Isabel is a slave to Madam Lockton. They both must resist the chains by which life and…
In this chapter it tells a story about slavery before and after the Civil War. It explains the United States provision of slavery and how some people were misled on who ended slavery, how it was Abraham Lincoln and not John brown who was hung later in 1859 for his crimes. It later goes into graphic detail of how slaves were kept into slavery by whipping and separating families. It sort of reminds of the movie 12 years a slave I would recommend it. It’s sad but true story of how black people were treated back then.…
This paper will compare and contrast the different experiences of two separate authors during the nineteenth and twentieth century in America. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass relates events that happened to him in the 19th century and how he overcame them. Douglass went from a life of slavery, to freedom and became a speaker and writer on the evils men commit against each other. James Baldwin the author of The Fire Next Time, shows changes and struggles that occurred over one hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation declared Negroes free American Citizens. Baldwin cannot understand why in a country characterized worldwide with freedom are white and black only color signs displayed? (54-55). However, there are two sides for the reasons of the social breakdown of unity among people in United States.…
In the first weeks of class we discussed how in the telling of history, there is always more than one “historical truth” and in these “truths” history has been edited to benefit different agendas. Because history can be easily manipulated, the lecture stressed how significant these revisions can be in the formation of master narratives. However, we reviewed how through recovery projects, counter-narratives have started to refute these previously “truths.” In these contested recollections we acknowledged at times this new information can be hard to emotionally process. This brings me to the topic of slavery. Up until a few months ago, slavery never crossed my mind as anything other than a horrible and dark chapter in both Northern American and European history. I understood that…
The Politics of Abolition proved to be extremely controversial during the early days of the movement to end slavery. One simply had to choose sides and consequently a middle ground could not be peacefully reached. Early abolitionists claimed that slavery violated God’s Law and defied the purpose of independence. Not only did this claim bring about upset but the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin was accredited by Abraham Lincoln to be the enzyme that sparked the Civil War. Slavery was heavily opposed in the North and valued in the south.…
This book was a view on slavery between during the Civil War. It shows the different views of the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. These two had very different views at first, but then learned to adapt to each other and eventually became great friends.…
For my final project I chose to do a review of the book “A Slave No More” written by David W. Blight. In his book, Blight tells the story about two men, John M. Washington and Wallace Turnage and their escape from slavery during The Civil War. Blight provides us with copies of the narratives of both men. In my review I will break down Blights book regarding the stories of John M. Washington and Wallace Turnage. In my paper I will share a critique of the book and give my opinion of this book. This is an incredible story of the first person narratives of two men who escaped to freedom.…