Journal #7

John Greenleaf Whittier's poem "The Hunter's of Men" uses imagery to call the audience to action. Because Whittier was an abolitionist, it is easy to see why he took a stance against those who captured slaves. One example of imagery is in the line "Right merrily hunting the black man, whose sin Is the curl of his hair and hue of his skin!" This line creates an image in the reader's head and basically says that it is wrong to persecute people simply because their skin is a different color. Two lines after this, Whittier writes "Will our hunters be turned from their purpose and prey?" This I thought was more of a subtle call to action to the reader's of the papers in which he published his works. I think he was hoping the readers who knew people that persecuted blacks would be motivated to action. Another example of imagery is the line that appears a few times in the poem "All mounting the saddle, all grasping the rein." The word grasping creates an image of aggresivism and I think Whittier is trying to tell his audience that the whites are in control. Next, Whittier's line "What right have they here in the home of the white, Shadowed o'er by our banner of Freedom and Right?" Again
Whittier paints a picture of white domination, and says that America is free and just but only if you are white. In this I think he is trying to point out how wrong it is to discriminate in a "free country" just because of skin color. Overall it is evident that Whittier's abolitionist stance is present in the images of this poem.

Bonus Blog #1

After reading chapter ten of "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl", I thought the author used language for two main reasons. The first reason is to get the reader to feel sorry not only for her but for all women in slavery. She went into great detail to explain that she only did what she did because of what Dr. Flint did to her. "But, O, ye happy women, whose purity has been sheltered from childhood, who have been free to choose the objects of your affection, whose homes are protected by law, do not judge the poor desolate slave girl too severly!"(777) Another example would be when she writes "It pains me to tell you of it; but I have promised to tell you the truth and I will do it honestly, let it cost me what it may."(776-77) Here she not only wants the reader to feel sorry, but also is very mature in admitting that what she did was wrong and she is ashamed of it. "I knew what I did, and I did it with deliberate calculation."(777) I think another thing she is trying to say is that revenge isn't always as sweet as it seems. "I would do any thing, every thing, for the sake of degeating him."(776) However, after telling Dr. Flint, her language and tone changes dramatically. "I thought I should be happy in my triumph over him. But now the truth was out, and my relatives would hear of it, I felt wretched."(778). She also mentions at the end of that paragraph that she felt humiliated. I would say that she was probably able to get her audience to sympathize with her because of what she did. She did something that in those times was very radical, and maybe her audience saw this and realized her master really was a horrible person and treated her with no respect.

Journal #5

After reading “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man” and Sigourney’s poem “Indian Names” plus the past readings I traced one major common theme: the mistreatment of minorities. Apess’ entire story is basically saying how hypocritical some Christians are. He says “Who are the children of God? Perhaps you may say, none but white. If so, the word of the Lord is not true.” He basically says that white people think they are better than everyone else even though the Bible that so many of them read clearly says otherwise. He says how the Indians are mistreated by the whites “…many of them are unfaithful and care not whether the Indians live or die;” Sigourney’s poem is similar to Apess’ story. Her poem says that even though many Indians are being wiped out or moved, their names remain on many landmarks, which is true even to this day. Sigourney was a devout Christian and she was firmly against the Removal Act of 1830. Although the two stories aren’t the same, they basically say that Indians are being mistreated by the whites, but that they are somehow managing to survive. Looking back at some of the other stories, such as “The Tenth of January”, this theme of mistreatment and survival of minorities is very present. It is important to remember women were basically minorities at this time which is apparent in Phelps’ poem. Even the very first stories we read at the beginning of the semester pictured “minorities” as being mistreated and often having to survive by the scrape of their teeth. de Crevecoeur’s Story also to me made it seem like an American is basically a white man and that anyone else isn’t an American. Although he did not write about minorities, it is clear that he thinks they are not as good as white people.

Journal #4

“The Tenth of January” by Elizabeth Phelps contains a few symbols of the times. First, Phelps personal experience had a big influence in writing this story. Her other stories and novels have similar themes such as mistreatment of women. In the “the Tenth of January”, Phelps tells a story about a mill accident in which hundreds of young women died. In this story, the character of Asenath represents women in general at that time. It was not uncommon for women to work in mills at that time, and Phelps paints Asenath’s mother as an abuser. In this case, I think the mother represents capitalist exploitation in America in the nineteenth century. Phelps specifically mentions Asenath having a scar from her mother, equivalent to young women being scarred by the capitalist system in place at the time. Del Ivory is described as being the pretty girl who “everyone wants to marry.” She also represents America at this time because she looks pretty on the outside but inside she is full of problems. At this time America was very appealing to foriegners in Europe looking to start a new life and the American Dream. However, once they arrived, many found out that America was not always as great as others said. In short, it is clear that Phelps’ characters symbolize the bigger picture in America at the time.

Journal #3

Irving's story "The Wife" contains a few different views regarding women, economics, and marriage. First, the story basically describes a woman as someone who works in the house cooking or cleaning most of the time. This idea is known as the cult of domesticity and it was popular around this time and also had a brief revival during the 1950's. Nowadays, it's offensive to say that women only belong in the house, but in Irving's times it was not uncommon. The story also says that women should be always loyal to their husbands even in troubling times. In the story, Leslie thinks his wife will leave him because they are suddenly poor. Infact, the opposite thing happens, his wife becomes happier and he doesn't know how to react. It's safe to say that in today's times it's more likely that someone will walk out of a marriage because of financial issues, it seems like many things are based on materialism. Regarding marriage, Irving says in his story that a man is basically born to have a wife and start a family, and a single man is never truly happy. Regarding economics, Irving depicts the average American as someone who has enough money to be happy. However, just like in the story, a man is unhappy when he turns poor, whereas a woman is happy just to be with her man.