Weekly Blog Post 10/24

In "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an Amerocan Slave", Douglass speaks about how when he learned from Mr. Hugh that literacy was the key to freedom. There are a few reasons why this is true. The first is that it proved that black people were equal to white people, which in turn made it harder to justify keeping them as slaves. One of the defenses of slavery was that black people were not as capable as white people, so keeping them as slaves actually benefitted them, but when it was made clear that they were just as intelligent, they could no longer be dehumanized. Also, literacy gave slaves a powerful connection to the outside world. Without being able to read and write, they could only communicate with and learn from people they could speak with in person, in other words, people near them. However, once they could read and write, they could educate themselves with books by people from all over the world and, though it would be very difficult to get them sent, write letters to anyone. Finally, literacy allowed slaves to read written works that argued against slavery, which in turn lead them to loathe it and be more passionate than ever about freedom. In short, being able to read and write had a strong connection to freedom for slaves during Douglass's time for many reasons, all of which had to do with the empowerment that came with it.

What was the reason for the harsh punishment of slaves for minor offenses?

In "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, we learned about the harsh punishments slaves recieved for small offenses. The question is, why is this the casse? Well, the easy answer would be that slave owners wanted to keep the slaves under control through fear. However, while I believe that was definitely a factor, I don't think it's a story. First, as Douglass pointed out, many slave owners were very cruel and just enjoyed giving out punishment. Also, there is another important factor he hints at. When he talks about his new master, he explains that even though at first she was very nice, soon, she became cruel. While he doesn't go into more detail, this makes it clear that many slave owners just gave out harsh punishment because they had the power to do so. Perhaps this points to a greater issue with humanity, but the point I really widh to make is that keeping slaves under control was not the sole reason for slave owners dealing out harsh punishment for minor offenses.

MFAH Romantic Art

I recently visited the MFAH to see paintings from the era I'm studying, the Romantic Era. The painting I chose to write about is "Coastal Scene with Shipping and Cattle" by Thomas Gainsborough. I feel it really represents the Romantic Era well. One big reason for that is that one of its central subjects is the cows. See, in the Romantic Era, big cities started to emerge. Therefore, people often reminisced about simple country life and nature. The cattle in the picture clearly represent this, because of course cattle farming is a simple lifestyle.

Weekly ELA Blog Week of 10/3

A Poison Tree

by William Blake

I was angry with my friend; 

I told my wrath, my wrath did end. 

I was angry with my foe: 

I told it not, my wrath did grow. 

And I waterd it in fears, 

Night & morning with my tears: 

And I sunned it with smiles, 

And with soft deceitful wiles. 

And it grew both day and night. 

Till it bore an apple bright. 

And my foe beheld it shine, 

And he knew that it was mine. 

And into my garden stole, 

When the night had veiled the pole; 

In the morning glad I see; 

My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

"The Poison Tree" by William Blake is from the Romantic Era of poetry, which has a few central characteristics. The first is the common themes of emotion and imagination. This is reflected in the poem, as the main topic is anger, an emotion, and it stems from the imaginative idea of a tree sprouting from anger. The next characteristic is use of common or simple subjects as well as just vocabulary in general. That fits, as the main symbol in this poem is just an apple tree, and though it's a little odd for us in the twenty first century, the vocabulary of the poem is still noticeably pretty basic. The final characteristic I'll mention is that poems from the Romantic Era are often strongly opinionated and one sided. "The Poison Tree" clearly shows this, as the speaker clearly hates the foe and is glad to see him harmed by the poison apple.