Secondary Blog- Walt Whitman

Tate Andrie

American Literature I

Secondary Blog

                Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in West Hills, Long Island (now New York), and was an extremely popular poet who revolutionized American poetry, challenging the norms at the time and putting a “living, breathing, and sexual body at the center of much of his poetry”. As a child, he left school at the early age of eleven and was the employed at a printing office of a newspaper. He later taught in smaller schools, but stopped teaching at twenty one to start his first literary work at New World, and also later started his political career writing for the Democratic Review. Whitman finally started to write poetry more seriously in 1850, which would eventually end in his massive work Leaves of Grass. The final publication of Leaves of Grass (referred to as the “Deathbed edition”) was published in 1892 and contained over 400 poems. Overall, Walt Whitman continues to influence writers and intrigue readers to this day.

Essay 3

Tate Andrie

Essay 3

American Literature I

Walt Whitman- A True American Poet

            According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, a poet is described as “the sayer, the namer, and represents beauty... [h]e is the beholder of ideas, and an utterer of the necessary and causal” (Emerson 296-297). Walt Whitman embodies these qualities throughout his works, most notably “Song of Myself”, “Beat! Beat! Drums!”, and “Wound Dresser”.  In these pieces, Whitman showed he is a visionary, a seeker of truth, and a representative of American aesthetic.

            Throughout Whitman’s poetry, he praises the individual and imagines a democratic nation composed of unique but equal individuals. This especially comes out in “Song of Myself”, where in the very first line of the first section he states: “I celebrate myself, and sing myself/ For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” (Whitman 1-3). Throughout “Song of Myself”, he connects his belief of the importance of the individual and his ideal idea of democracy through an important metaphor: Grass. Whitman connects grass with his belief that everyone is equal, including slaves, explaining that the grass is a sort of “hieroglyphic” that symbolizes equality among everyone, saying: “…I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord/ And it means, sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones/ Growing among black folks as among white” (106-108). Thus, the grass in this section of the poem represents everyone as equal, as it grows the same everywhere and for everyone. Further reinforcing his belief that all people are ultimately equal, he also connects the grass to that of the “voice” of those who are deceased. He thinks about the vast range of people buried in the graves; how death is not selective in who it takes, and imagines the voices (or grass) of “the dead young men and women/ And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken soon/ out of their laps” (Whitman 121-123).  We get a sense that Whitman is seeking the truth about life and death, showing us that we are part of something bigger and how death is not necessarily a bad or a good thing because we never truly vanish. It also symbolizes democracy, an important characteristic in American aesthetic, because we are all individuals playing an equal part in the same web of life.

            Whitman is a visionary in the ways he addressed sexuality, which we see in his famous “twenty-ninth bather” example. In the poem, a woman gazes at twenty-eight men bathing in a river. He shows us the woman is watching the men while remaining unseen, writing “she hides handsome and richly drest aft the blinds of the window” (203). Whitman gets erotic in his language, as the woman starts imagining to bathe and touch them. Right away, we can imagine that a woman doing something of this nature would have been considered extremely inappropriate, and in addition even writing about a woman doing this would have been a taboo subject. There was also a hint of homoeroticism in his writing, as it can interpreted that Whitman is writing from his viewpoint through the woman when explaining details about the men. One could get this perception from the poem when reading the line “The beards of the young men glisten’d with wet, it ran from their long/ hair,/ Little streams pass’d over their bodies” (Whitman 209-211). Whitman’s way of addressing the taboo subject of woman being sexual beings, as well as the subtle hints of homosexuality, shows how Whitman was ahead of his time and insightful regarding these subjects of sexuality.

            In “Beat! Beat! Drums!” Whitman again shows how he is a representative of American aesthetics through his enthusiasm for the Civil War. The instruments talked about in the poem, drums and bugles, are both instruments that are used in the military, and thus we can derive that Whitman is talking about a military band. Whitman attempts to recruit his readers through the urgency of his tone, saying “Beat! beat! drums!-blow! bugles! blow!/ Through the windows- through the doors- burst like a ruthless force,/ Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation,/ into the school where the scholar is studying;/ Leave not the bridegroom quiet- no happiness must he have now with/ his bride” (1-5). The sounds of the drums and bugles overpower all other sounds of the citizen’s normal life, ultimately leading them into the war. When combining this poem with “Song of Myself”, we get an understanding Whitman believed democracy is everyone’s right, and democracy is worth fighting for. Even though Whitman’s writing often touches on war, we see him bring out the truth of how war effects people in his poem “The Wound-Dresser”, in which he opens with a veteran being asked by children to tell his war stories. The narrator even admits that in the beginning he was “Arous’d and angry…and urge[d] relentless war” (Whitman 4). Later on in the poem, though, he is overcome with compassion for the wounded soldiers, saying “[o]ne [soldier] turns to me his appealing eyes- poor boy! I never knew you, / Yet I think I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that would/ save you” (Whitman 37-38). Here Whitman showed himself to be a seeker and teller of truth during a traumatic time in history.

            In these examples, we can see that Walt Whitman definitely depicts Emerson vision of a poet. He is a visionary through his addressment of taboo subjects, allowing his readers to even briefly glimpse these topics as normal for the time period. Often times throughout his writing we see him as a seeker of truth getting to the core of peoples true feelings on difficult subjects like war and death. Finally, he is a representative of American aesthetic, promoting democracy and equality throughout his poems.

           

          

Works Cited

Whitman, Walt. “Beat! Beat! Drums!” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed.        Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. N. 1395-1396. Print.

Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself”. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. N. 1330-74. Print.

Whitman, Walt. “The Wound-Dresser”. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8^th ed.Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. N. 1399-1401. Print.

Secondary Blog: Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson was a famous American poet born in Massachusetts, and lived a life of solitude. Emily wrote in private and only a few of her almost 1800 poems were published while she was alive and those that were published were changed dramatically by her publisher to better fit the poetry style of her time. it was not until after her death, when Dickinson's sister found her poems that they were published. She never gave her poems names, so the y are identified by the order in which they were written. Throughout her poems, she uses a lot of dashes and random capitalization to create a unique body to her writing. Since most of her poems were writing in traditional patterns, they can be sang to traditional folk songs like "Amazing Grace".  Since Dickinson explored many themes, her work is not categorized into a specific genre. She often wrote about death and nature, and though she was not a transcendentalist she certainly believed in many of their virtues.

Essay 3

The Eternal Suitor

In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “The Poet,” he states that the poet is the one who speaks and represents beauty, an “emperor in his own right” (Emerson 296). He believes a great poet is a visionary, a seeker of truth, and a representative of American aesthetic. Emily Dickinson has the qualities to be a visionary, a seeker of truth, and a representative of the American aesthetic because of her use of imagery, her use of personal conflict, and her structural aesthetic.

A great poet often uses imagery to convey a theme. In Dickinson’s poem “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers,” she uses language that presents a calming and soft approach to the scene. The first line “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers -” creates a clean and quiet feeling for the reader (Dickinson 1). The speaker of the poem envisioned death as a calming and eternally peaceful experience, not something to be feared. Dickinson was trying to reimagine people’s views of death. In another poem, “Because I could not stop for Death,” the speaker and Death are travelling in a carriage to the speaker’s death (2-3). By having the speaker share a carriage with Death, shows that Death is not an evil figure, but a kind one. This may be describing what one could call “a date with death.” If a person goes on a date he or she would go with someone who is agreeable, not an evil figure. This connects with the theme of “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers,” that death is calm and quiet, even kind. This theme presented through familiar imagery to the reader shows that death is not something to fear, but an ever-lasting calm. She may have written this theme because many people are afraid of death, especially if they are not certain in their faith.

Dickinson uses her personal conflicts to help her readers better understand how she felt about her faith. For example, in her poem “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died,” it may be trying to portray the uncertainty Dickinson felt about her faith. In the last moment before the speaker’s death, she hears a fly buzzing around the room, distracting her from the peace of dying (1-3). The fly may be a metaphor for Dickinson’s uncertainty of her faith, and it was getting in the way of the speaker’s death, or where the speaker will go after death. The speaker expresses that the fly had interrupted her last bit of peace (12). The speaker allowed the “fly” to interrupt her moment of death and focus on her uncertainty, rather than literally seeing the light as her soul goes to heaven and she died. The fly was an “uncertain – stumbling Buzz - / Between the light – and me – / And then the Windows failed – and then / I could not see to see -” (13-16). At her very last moment the speaker’s eyes closed, and she could not see if it was the Lord who had come to take her for she had been focusing on the fly instead of on Him. The fly had presented itself between the light, or the knowledge, and the speaker in her final moments. In this, Dickinson was trying to reach out to her readers that also may have been uncertain of their faith. By presenting a very auspicious moment in a person’s life, death, Dickinson may have been asking how to be certain of one’s faith, especially when a moment of fact presents itself. In another poem, “‘Faith’ is a fine invention,” Dickinson wrote that faith is an invention and microscopes are more “prudent / In an Emergency!” (1-4). This ties with “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died” because the invention of faith may help a person to accept death, but since the speaker in that poem may have been uncertain of her faith she let the fly interrupt her, making her in desperate need of a microscope.

Emily Dickinson represents an American aesthetic in her poetry. Her poem, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” has been set to music many times as a funeral march. A composer named Aaron Copland, set this poem to a slow and lilting funeral march to match the feelings of unease and sadness (Palmer). When someone dies, music can help set the mood. Poems are often set to a meter that fits well with certain songs. There is a constant, loud, slow rhythm that really sets the tone of this poem. Dickinson extended the third lines of each stanza except the last one, breaking the sentences in awkward places. This may cause the reader to feel uneasy and out of sync, which is important for a funeral march because funerals are uncomfortable. This is part of the aesthetic beauty of her poem; she can make a reader feel a certain uneasiness on purpose by using this structure. Dickinson is speaking a truth about funerals, and seems to make them a metaphor for a deeper problem. The structure of the speaker’s brain matches the meter of the poem. It is a constant, uneasy pounding in her head, and she is comparing it to a funeral, the pounding and the frustration. Her originality of putting her thoughts to a tempo of a funeral march adds a certain truth to her feelings.

Emily Dickinson fits Emerson’s description of a great poet. She was very original in terms of structure, and her use of theme and imagery. By using these themes and familiar imagery, it allows the readers of her poems to understand the truths that Dickinson wrote about her feelings. This shows that Dickinson is a great American poet that meets Emerson’s expectations.

Works Cited

Dickinson, Emily. “124.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. pp 1665.

Dickinson, Emily. “202.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. pp 1666.

Dickinson, Emily. “340.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. pp 1673.

Dickinson, Emily. “479.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. pp 1683.

Dickinson, Emily. “591.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. pp 1685.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “The Poet.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. pp 296.

Palmer, John. "12 Poems of Emily Dickinson." Poems (12) Emily Dickinson. AllMusic, 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.

Main blog 2

Tate Andrie

American Literature I

Main Blog 2

Henry David Thoreau-Conclusion to Walden

            Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau was a naturalist, writer, individualist, and a dedicated abolitionist, being remembered for his philosophical and naturalist writings, his most notable work being Walden. After graduating from Harvard College, Thoreau befriended Ralph Waldo Emerson, a fellow writer and poet local to Concord. It is at this point that Thoreau is introduced to the Transcendentalist movement, a philosophical and social movement that focused on finding the inner spiritual or mental essence within man. Emerson and the Transcendentalist movement as a whole arguably had the greatest influence on Thoreau’s work, and Thoreau later became a leading figure in the movement along with Emerson. The influence from the Transcendentalist movement especially shines through in Walden, where “his love of nature, his rhetorical inventiveness, his humor, his philosophical adventurousness, and his everyday nonconformity” (962) emerges, reflecting a lot of what Transcendentalism is all about.

            In the concluding section of Walden, Thoreau talks about overcoming obstacles and realizing their own potential. Thoreau believes that "if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours” (1149). He then warns us, the reader, not to fall into the trap of common sense that most Americans follow, saying “Why level downward to our dullest perception always, and praise that as common-sense. The commonest sense is the sense of men asleep, which they express by snoring" (1150). Thoreau also talks about the importance of individuality and avoiding conformity, and says that we should discover our own truths to live by. To do this, he says we must “not live in this restless, nervous, bustling trivial Nineteenth Century, but stand or sit thoughtfully while it goes by” (1153).  Finally, Thoreau believes in the simple life, and to cut out any unnecessary things, as this will help lead you to the life of individuality. “It is life near the bone where it is sweetest…Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only. Money is not required to buy one necessary of the soul” (1152). Overall, the purpose of Walden is to inform the reader on how to find oneself by letting go of unnecessary needs and being their own individual, and hopefully motivate us to do so.

            Because of Henry Thoreau’s shared belief in Transcendentalism with Ralph Waldo Emerson (as well as friendship), it is obvious that Emerson’s Self Reliance and Thoreau’s Walden have a lot of similar motives and ideals, the most notable being the importance of individuality and not conforming and accepting other people’s ideas. Both writers are important figures in the Transcendentalist movement as a whole. Walden also shows how Thoreau shared a lot of beliefs that Walt Whitman, who while not technically a Transcendentalist due to location, believed in many of the same ideals. Overall, Thoreau’s Walden plays a big part in the Transcendentalist movement, and his work also greatly affected environmentalists’ John Muir and Aldo Leopold, who greatly admired Thoreau. Contemporary writers like Edward Abbey and Annie Dillard also cite his work frequently (964).

Works Cited

Thoreau, Henry D. “Walden.” Norton Anthology of American Literature, edited by Nina Baym  and Robert S. Levine, W.W. Norton & Co., 2012, pp. 961-1155

Essay 2

All Humans Deserve Liberty

            What makes a white person think he can own another person? If the situation were reversed would they have fought for their freedom with everything they had? Would they have left their family and friends to gain their freedom? Like a white man, slaves are human and should be treated justly; they deserve to have liberty and equal rights. Frederick Douglass was born a slave in Tuckahoe Maryland in the year 1818. As he grew up, he learned how to read and write and eventually acquired his freedom. Douglass wrote an autobiography of his life to show how slavery affected all the lives that were associated with it. Along with other literary works he wrote, Douglass gave a speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” where he said “Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty?” (1253). Frederick Douglass tried to appeal to his audience and he used emotional arguments throughout his narrative to demonstrate that slaves are entitled to liberty.

Slaves were good people and hard workers, and many people believed they did not deserve to be deprived of liberty. Frederick Douglass was compassionate, always sharing and working hard. Whites often felt sympathy for Frederick Douglass since he was so kind and willing to help others. They disapproved of the idea that Douglass was a slave for life. Frederick Douglass was a slave, but in some regards he had more resources than some free whites. He always had food available when he needed it and some whites did not have that privilege. Frederick Douglass claims “I used also to carry bread with me, enough of which was always in the house, and to which I was always welcome; for I was much better off in this regard than many of the poor white children in our neighborhood” (1199). Douglass used his resources to his advantage and would trade food for knowledge. While getting to know the poor white boys, they would talk about freedom and slavery. “I used to talk this matter of slavery over with them. I would sometimes say to them, I wished I could be as free as they would be when they got to be men. ‘You will be free as soon as you are twenty-one, but I am a slave for life! Have not I as good a right to be free as you have?’ These words used to trouble them; they would express for me the liveliest sympathy, and console me with the hope that something would occur by which I might be free” (Douglass 1199). The poor white boys did not agree with the concept of slavery or the fact that Douglass would be a slave for life since they knew him on a more personal level and knew that he was a kind person. Another example of this was when Douglass explained “I went one day down on the wharf of Mr. Waters; and seen two Irishmen unloading a scow of stone, I went, unasked, and helped them. When we had finished, one of them came to me and asked me if I were a slave. I told him I was. He asked, ‘Are ye a slave for life?’ I told him that I was. The good Irishman seemed to be deeply affected by the statement. He said to the other that it was a pity so fine a little fellow as myself should be a slave for life. He said it was a shame to hold me” (1200). These two men that Douglass showed his kindness towards felt sympathy for him since he helped them out of the goodness of his heart and he told them he would be a slave for life. Douglass showed them that slaves are human too and the color of someone’s skin doesn’t make them less human or less civil. Douglass’ interactions with white people who weren’t slave owners demonstrated to him that not all white people believed in slavery, that they could sympathize with his plight in life and believed that he was worthy of freedom and liberty.

Slaves should be allowed liberty since they are just as capable to perform actions free whites can perform. If slaves were given the chances free whites were given they would be able to perform them, and who knows, they could possibly do it better. Slaves could help to benefit the society if they were allowed to. Slaves aren’t that much different other than the color of their skin. They are actually very similar to free whites, they are human and they have families as well. Slaves can be as smart as free whites if they are given the same resources and opportunities. At the time slaves weren’t allowed basic rights such as learning to read and write. Frederick Douglass claimed that Mr. Auld said, “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master—to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now, said he, if you teach that nigger (speaking of me) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy” (1196). Slave owners knew that slaves were very competent and if they were able to learn they would not be able to restrain them. Also, that with learning and being able to read, a slave would start to think for himself as deserving of freedom and that he had as much right as anyone to be free. White men purposely didn’t want slaves to learn and the laws were in place to make sure they didn’. Frederick Douglass stated “I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty—to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom” (1197). Frederick Douglass understood that if he kept learning and thinking for himself that the chance for freedom and becoming equal would be more obtainable. With the power of knowledge and being able to articulate the horrors of slavery with people who may not be familiar with it, he was able to contribute to his case for freedom. His arguments would persuade more people that slaves deserve to have liberty as much as anyone else.

            Reading to Frederick Douglass was an important tool that aided him in his ability to share why slaves should have their liberty. After Frederick Douglass learned to read, even with all the opposition in his life, he would read everything he could get his hands on. He learned that there were people that did not believe in slavery and they were trying to do something about it. Douglass comments “After a patient waiting, I got one of the city papers, containing an account of the number of petitions from the north, praying for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and of the slave trade between the states. From this time I understood the word abolition and abolitionist, and always drew near when that word was spoken, expecting to hear something of importance to myself and fellow-slaves” (1200). When Douglass learned what the meaning of abolition was, it reinforced his motivation to inform others about slavery and that freedom and liberty should be for all people. Many of the books, pamphlets and speeches that he read were the driving force behind the writing of his narrative to show what slavery was really like and to expose more people to the truth. Frederick Douglass also claimed “The moral which I gained from the dialogue was the power of truth over the conscience of even a slaveholder. What I got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slavery, and the powerful vindication of human rights. The reading of these documents enabled me to utter my thoughts, and to meet the arguments brought forward to sustain slavery; but while they relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved. The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers” (1199). With reading literature, Douglass found a domain where others believed like he did and that he was not alone in the belief of liberty for slaves. This knowledge brought him even more desire to make an impact on the abolishing of slavery so that liberty could be achieved.

Throughout Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, Douglass gives examples and tries to persuade his audience that slaves are equivalent to whites and that they are worthy of having liberty. Douglass pried at the reader’s emotions when he talked about how people were sympathetic towards him for having to live the life of a slave since he was a good person and they believed he deserved liberty. Douglass explained how reading expanded his world and encouraged him to fight for his freedom and liberty. Douglass would read works of literature that sparked his ambition to do something that would expose the abomination of slavery to the world. Douglass was a major advocate in the abolitionist movement and with his knowledge and writings, the role of slavery was brought to the surface. Douglass eventually gained his liberty and his writings were influential in gaining liberty for fellow slaves so that they too might be able to live the life they deserved.

Work Cited

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, edited by Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2012, pp. 1170-1239.

Essay 2

Humanity Through Liberty

Most slaves in the nineteenth century were very aware of their situation as slaves, and many could not read or write and had little hope of freedom. Harriet Jacobs as a child was oblivious to her status as a slave until she was six years old (Baym and Levine 920). She learned to read and write and became the first known African American woman in the U.S. to write her slave narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (920). Because of what she had been through and witnessing others being treated badly, Jacobs knew that something needed to be done to help other slaves. Harriet Jacobs was using her own experiences in her narrative to convince her audience that slaves should be entitled to liberty by pointing out that they were not allowed to make life choices, lived in constant fear, and were considered property.

When people are not allowed to make life choices, they are not in control of their lives. One life choice that many people make is whom they marry. In Harriet Jacobs’ narrative, she points out that slaves cannot choose whom they marry when she quoted Dr. Flint, the slaveholder, “If you must have a husband, you may take up with one of my slaves” (925).  In other words, Dr. Flint was in control of whom she could marry. This did not sit well with Jacobs because she replied, “Don’t you suppose, sir, that a slave can have some preference about marrying? Do you suppose that all men are alike to her?” (925). This shows that Jacobs felt slaves were entitled to the freedom of choice. Another life choice would be choosing where one lives. In chapter ten, Dr. Flint decides to make a house for Jacobs, thinking that that will bring them closer when “he talked of his intention to give me a home of my own…” (928). When he says “give,” that implies that it is not Jacobs’ choice to choose and make her own home, but that he is in full control of where she lives. Jacobs swore to never enter the house Dr. Flint built for her saying, “I had rather live and die in jail, than drag on, from day to day, through such a living death” (928-9). Jacobs shows that she would rather rot in jail than not be able to make her own life choices.

If a person lives in constant fear, they are uncomfortable and cannot enjoy life. Harriet Jacobs lived in continual fear of being found when she escaped to live in her grandmother’s house. Jacobs points this out when she wrote, “yet I could never go out to breathe God’s free air without trepidation at my heart” (937). In other words, Jacobs could not leave her shed without fear of being recaptured and sold. It also shows that she did not have the freedom to enjoy her life; she had to live alone in a hovel. She goes on to say, “I could not think it was a right state of things in any civilized country” (937). This means that the inability to breathe the outside air due to fear is inhumane and uncivilized. When a person lives in these conditions, they are not comfortable and are obviously not enjoying life. Even after Dr. Flint died, Jacobs’ fear did not go away. She points out that “[h]e had threatened my grandmother that his heirs should hold me in slavery after he was gone; that I should never be free so long as a child of his survived” (937). His own children were instructed to keep her as a slave “because Mrs. Flint openly declared that her daughter could not afford to lose so valuable a slave as I was” (937). Since Jacobs was so valuable, she would never be free therefore could never be comfortable or enjoy her life.

During the nineteenth century, many slaveholders felt that slaves were not entitled to liberty because they did not consider slaves human. Domesticated animals cannot make informed choices for themselves, are dependent upon their owners, and are property of humans. So, they would rely on their owners to make decisions for them. Quite a lot of slaveholders had a paternalistic view on slavery. They felt that slaves could not do anything for themselves. However, the fact that Jacobs wrote this narrative is an example of an intelligent human. She made logical decisions just like any other human; Jacobs learned to read and write as well as, if not better than, many white people of the time. She proves that slaves were entitled to liberty because they were human.

When a person is property of someone else, they are no longer valued as a human. Harriet Jacobs’ narrative is pointing out that slaves deserve liberty by showing how they were property of slaveholders. When Jacobs’ mother’s slaveholder died, Jacobs wrote, “I could not help having some hopes that she had left me free…But alas! we all know that the memory of a faithful slave does not avail much to save her children from the auction block” (923). This shows that Jacobs felt that she should have been freed because her mother was a faithful slave. Instead she was “bequeathed…to [the slaveholder’s] sister’s daughter, a child of five years old” (923). It was like the family was passing down a painting or an armchair. She was not valued as a human. Another way that Jacobs shows that slaves should not be property is when she wrote “though only ten years old, seven hundred and twenty dollars were paid for [her uncle]” (922). How can someone put a value on human life? He was sold like cattle are. Jacobs is using an emotional appeal in both situations to entice her readers, people in the North, to see that slaves are humans and should be valued as such. The knowledge of a ten-year-old being sold and taken away from his mother would affect women of the North emotionally because they would not want their child to be taken away at such a young age.

Harriet Jacobs wrote Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl to convince her audience, the people in the North, that slaves were entitled to liberty. Her narrative was effective because she used her personal experiences as a slave to show her audience how truly terrible slavery was. This was important not only to inform people of nineteenth century America of the evils of slavery, but also to convince others to make change.

Works Cited

Baym, Nina and Robert S. Levine. “Harriet Jacobs.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8^th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. pp 920-921.

Jacobs, Harriet. “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8^th ed. Vol. B. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. pp 921-942.