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Messiah Foster Frederick Douglass Response Essay

messiah192013 — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 06:26:41 +0000

Messiah Foster

Professor Steph White

English 1B

2 February 2013

Assignment # 4

Vicious Cycle

Harriet Tubman once said “I Freed a thousand slaves I could have freed thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” Slavery continued for many generations, it went on so long that many slaves could not even fathom a life beyond the one they were brutally living. During that time period slaves were powerless to stop what was happening around them and slave owners ensured that their venerability remained consistent. Frederick Douglass describes how slave owners were able to keep their slaves under their control for so long without any rebellion. An examination of “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave” By Frederick Douglas will show how the use of inequality, lack of family, and education are all tools used to keep slaves in the continuous cycle of slavery.

Firstly, Douglass describes inequality to be a prominent tactic used by slave owners to grantee that slaves remain stuck in slavery. He notices at a very young age the major inequality that goes on amongst black and whites. “I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time. A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege” (Douglass pg 1). One ethnicity was capable of remaining superior than the other by withholding ones natural rights. By withholding basic information such as ones age slave owners made sure that their slaves remained ignorant therefore ensuring that the racial inequality in society remained prevalent. Inequality is not the only important role that slave owners used to preserve the cycle of slavery.

Secondly, lack of family plays a prominent role in keeping slaves separate, unnatural, and unorganized. Douglass is separated from his mother at an extremely young age thus severing the natural bond between mother and child “”I received the tiding of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger” (Douglass, 2). The unnatural connection between mother and child creates an overall abnormal mindset of how to view family ties. In order to shield themselves from harm slaves had to create a nearly an unemotional attachment to family members. Douglass had to helplessly watch his own Aunt be brutally beaten “I was so horror-stricken at the sight, that I hid myself in a closet, and dares not venture out till long after the bloody transaction was over” (Douglass, pg. 3). Slaves were beaten and killed nearly everyday and whether it was a stranger or ones mother all one could do is helplessly stand by and watch as it was being done. The absence of family ties kept slaves from organizing and becoming a united front, they were unable to amalgamate on a natural level thus enabling slave owners to continue the vicious cycle of slavery. The absence of family is not the only method that was used to enslave slaves.

Finally, education is a major method used by slaveholders in the narrative to ensure they kept their slaves unable from functioning normally in society and kept them from realizing that they were slaves. It is bluntly said by a slave owner that slaves must never be educated, “It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master” (Douglass pg. 13). At this moment Douglass realizes that knowledge is power and without it there is no way to truly be free. By depriving slaves of knowledge it ensured that they would forever be unable to organize and would not have the ability to rebel. Information became a doubled edge sword with it one way Douglass was finally made aware his situation and on the other he was helpless because he could not fight the structure of power on his own, “I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out” (Douglass pg. 13). By withholding education from slaves it made sure that they were unable to function independently in society and made certain that they would forever be dependant on someone else to help them navigate through life.

After a thorough review of inequality, lack of family, and education in “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave” By Frederick Douglass it is clear to see how slave owners were able to keep slaves powerless to the stopping the cycle of oppression. I think their methods of keeping slaves ignorant to the fact that they where slaves was utterly inhumane. Frederick Douglass depicts their cruelty so matter of fact that one can envision the powerlessness that a slave must have felt during that period of time. If not for the perseverance of Frederick Douglass history could have repeated itself and the methods slave owners used could have possibly been repeated. Douglass fought through all the methods of slavery and wrote his story for everyone to read and gain power from. He made a monumental difference on society all on his own which speaks volumes.

English 1B

johnislesclasses — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:18:00 +0000

English 1B

Reading, Writing, and Critical Thinking

English 1B

John Isles, Instructor

Batmale Hall 564

Office Hours: MW: 12:15-12:45

Required Texts and Supplies

Literature (Norton)

Song of Solom by Toni Morriosn

The Well Structured Sentence, by Nora Bacon (Bedford)

You must also purchase the following supplies:

1. a notebook to take notes in during and outside class

2. a large binder or folder to keep your writing assignments in

3. photocopying of essay rough drafts is also required

Course Description

This course is designed to make you a better writer and reader. Its aim is to prepare you for the various sorts of writing and thinking you will be required to do in college. The class is based on the study of the major literary genres, fiction, drama, poetry, and the novel. By the end of the semester you should have confidence in your ability to generate, discover and refine your purpose in writing, develop a unified line of reasoning, support your point with specific examples, and revise your work. You will also learn how to construct readings of literary works that not only show insight but which also show solid logic and convincing argumentative strategies. Research is an also part of the class, and there will be a steady development in the complexity of the assignments. The final essay will be approximately twice as long as previous papers and will involve multiple sources.

By the end of the semester, a successful student will be able to do the following:

1. Compose essays incorporating and engaging with multiple sources.

2. Produce and compose both in-class and out-of-class essays and that respond to class readings, discussion, and research.

3. Analyze full-length fiction, poetry, and drama texts through reading and annotation, making intertextual connections between abstract ideas, and understanding their theoretical implications.

4. Analyze strengths and weaknesses in assumptions and support.

5. Evaluate logical reasoning of written arguments.

6. Independently synthesize multiple, often competing, abstract ideas in reading, writing, and discussion.

7. Formulate ideas using complex organizational methods rather than a basic listing structure, supporting, unifying, and interweaving ideas throughout an essay.

8. Choose appropriate rhetorical strategies when composing and revising sentences.

Integrate sources using MLA documentation.

9. Write thesis driven essays with body paragraphs that are unified (around topic sentences) and well developed.

10. Write successful introductions and conclusions and link ideas throughout the essay.

11. Use more stylistically advanced sentence structures and lengths.

12. Use correct grammar and punctuation while avoiding common problems.

Grading (subject to change):

Essays, summaries, responses= 90%

Quizzes, homework, participation= 10%

A=90-100; B=80-89; C=70-79; D=60-69; F= 59 and below

Grades will be posted at an online site The final grades will not be rounded up or down at all; your average will be your final grade.

Essays 1 and 2 are worth 50 points each; essays 3 and 4—100 points each; the final research paper—200 points.

In-class essays are worth 50 points. There are usually 2-3 of these.

There are usually 5-6 summary and responses.

In addition, you need to do the homework and in-class work regularly to pass!

You must complete every essay in order to pass!

You must adhere to the attendance policy in order to pass!

Attendance

You’re permitted five (5) absences for the semester. Absences beyond five will result in a lowering of one grade per absence. This is meant to allow for any emergencies or illnesses, and I will not be distinguishing between excused or unexcused absences. You should talk to me if you go beyond this limit; you may need to drop. If you are more than 10 minutes late for class, that will be considered an absence. Two tardies of any amount will count as an absence, and if you are chronically late you will be instructed to drop. This policy also applies to those occasions where you leave class early or for any occasion in which you are not in the classroom

If you are absent for four days straight without notifying me, you will be dropped from the class, and you will be responsible for doing the official dropping. In addition, anyone with seven (7) or more absences will automatically fail the class. Anyone who has more than three absences before the mid-term date will receive an instructor initiated withdrawal.

Behavior: You will be dropped from the class if you are consistently unprepared for class or if you exhibit rude behavior even after warnings (this includes such things as forgetting to turn your cell phone off, texting, or talking while others are). In the event that any of the above occur, you will be asked to leave the classroom–and you will be marked as absent. Finally, you are responsible for anything that goes on during your absence. Get the assignments and handouts from a classmate or me. Homework is due when you return!

Record Keeping

Please keep all papers and handouts for this class in a binder or folder. Keep a hard copy and a copy on disk for every essay you do. This makes revision much easier and gives you something to fall back on if your original copy gets lost.

Participation

This is not a lecture course! This class requires active participation. This means:

1. Bring your notebook, binder, textbook, dictionary, and homework to every class.

2. Listen respectfully while others are speaking

3. Share your thoughts

4. Ask sincere questions that will help clarify ideas for everyone

Deadlines

Homework needs to handed in when it is due. Late homework is not accepted. Homework should be

brought to class each day so that you can use it to help you participate in class conversations. I will ask

you to share some of the exercises to get us into a discussion. If you are absent on the day homework is

due, you will be permitted to hand it on the very next day that you return on one occasion. Otherwise you

will need to use your essay coupon or take a zero.

Late essays are accepted up to one week late, but they are graded down one full grade for each day late. A paper that is more than five days late will not be accepted, and you will be dropped from the class. No papers will be accepted via email. Once during the semester you may ask for an extension on the due date of a final draft of your paper (but this may not be applied to the first paper). These late essays must have the coupon attached and must be handed in within one week. Be sure to ask me for to sign your coupon on the due date if you wish to use it.

All essays must be handed in with all the rough drafts, peer editing sheets, and all the steps (brainstorming, etc.). Final drafts without rough drafts will not receive full credit! Essays will be considered late until all the stages of the essay are handed in.

Plagiarism

To plagiarize is to pass off another person’s ideas or words as your own. This includes copying someone else’s words or ideas without citing the source and/or setting off the passage properly with quotation marks. It also includes having other people write, extensively edit or proofread your essays for you. Plagiarism is a serious crime in the academic community and can be punishable by failure of the paper and/or course, academic probation or expulsion, so don’t do it. If you are unclear about what constitutes plagiarism, please come talk to me and I’ll be glad to answer any questions you have. Collusion is a secret agreement between two or more persons for a deceitful or fraudulent purpose. Don’t do that either.

Multilingual Students

If you speak English as a second Language, you may want to take a grammar class concurrently with this one. We will review some grammar issues but will not be going into great detail. You should consult with me during the first week of class to determine which course would best meet your needs.