Simone Sutton
December 7, 2009
Ms. Brown
AP English III
Daisy Miller: A Study
The Story of Daisy Miller is one of social acceptance. Even though she is rich, the “old Rich European families do not approve of her because of that reason. They find her uncivilized and rude. They also dislike that she had to work for her money, like she might have come from a poor dirty family, unlike them who have always been polite civilized and know the unwritten rules of rich people conduct.
Simone Sutton
Ms. Brown
AP English III
Tuesday December 1, 2009
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
The Jumping Frog is the story of a gambler named Smiley and many of his exploits in gambling. The old man Wheeler describes Smiley as “uncommon lucky”. A lot of his lucky outcomes seemed to be results of cheating or a set up but one cannot be sure. He was also a braggart and boasted to anyone who would listen about the abilities of his horse, his dog and his frog. In the end it was this that leads to his downfall. Bragging boasting and gambling are bad habits, and not all other players are willing to play fair. Smiley ultimate downfall was his hubris.
The unnamed protagonist is sure is tricked by Mr. Ward into asking Wheeler about another man named Smiley who probably doesn’t exist. “I have the lurking suspicion that your Leonidas W. Smiley is a myth…and that you only conjectured that if I asked old Wheeler about him it would remind him of the infamous Jim Smiley, and he would… bore me nearly to death with some reminiscence of him.” Even though the narrator doesn’t want to hear the story he stays anyway either because he is trapped by Wheeler or out of respect. “I let him go on his way, and never interrupted him once.”
The story about the Gambler Jim Smiley was actually true, and tells of his seeming addiction to gambling and “uncommon” luck. He would always look for a bet and would try any bet under any conditions, even unfavorable conditions. “… anyway just so’s he got a bet, he was satisfied… he most always come out winner.” Smiley has a habit of relying on one trump card for his victories, “main dependences”, such as his horse for horse races and his dog, Andrew Jackson, for dog fights. “Smiley had a mare... and he used to win money on that horse”, “And he had a little small pup... as soon as money was up on him, he was a different dog.” But when Smiley lost it is like his “trump cards” lose themselves too. “He gave Smiley a look that said it was his fault…and then he limped off... and died”
“One day a feller—a stranger in the camp, he was—come across with his box.” So, Smiley meets someone who has not had any contact with him before and doesn’t know his reputation as a gambler. Even though Smiley is a relatively honest guy the stranger is not. Smiley offers the stranger a bet, in frog jumping and even offers to get him a frog. Smiley knows the abilities of his from and bets a lot of money, forty dollars, on his frog. Smiley plays fair but the stranger does not. Smiley loses but gives the stranger the money anyway. But when he realizes that the other guy cheated he ran to catch him and the story ends there without a conclusion.
If Smiley had not been so bragadocious and overconfident, he might not have lost his forty dollars to the stranger. But his personality got the better of him and the stranger left with his money. The story of Jim Smiley doesn’t have a conclusion but, the narrator hears from wheeler that Smiley is still around as has not changed his ways.
One final though concerning this story is, what was the sin the minister committed in the first place? On the first day Mr. Hooper wears the veil, he presides over the funeral of a young woman. “… to take a last farewell of his deceased parishioner. As he stooped, the veil hung straight down from his forehead, so that if her eyelids had not been closed forever, the dead maiden might have seen her face…. At the instant the clergyman’s features were disclosed, the corpse has slightly shuddered”. The dead girl reacted to the minister’s face. Of all of the people who would see the minister’s face after he veiled it. It was this dead girl. After the funeral one of the town’s persons remarked; “I had a fancy that the minister and the maiden’s spirit were walking hand in hand”. Somehow the minister and the girl had a connection that overcame even death. The last point is that Mr. Hooper refused to tell his wife the reason for the veil even when she threatened to leave him. He could have stopped her but instead he let her leave. All of the facts could suggest that Mr. Hooper had an affair with the Girl who just died. Considering that the author is Nathaniel Hawthorn, it is a plausible assumption.
Simone Sutton
10/20/09
AP English III
The Minister’s Black Veil
The minister wears a veil that obscures his face from everyone in town. In a way both the minister and the town’s people suffered from the veil in a way. The minister himself was burdened with a cloud of gloom and a constant reminder of a sin he has committed. The people who looked upon him from the congregation and around town were burdened with the creepiness and gloom that seemed to follow the minister around. They were also burdened with not knowing what caused him to wear the veil.
One day Reverend Hooper came out of his house wearing a black veil around his face, exciting the people of his congregation. The black veil was dark and creepy and made everyone very uncomfortable. “He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face”, this line reflects a unanimous view that all of the towns people share. It is the veil that is making the aura around Mr. Hooper so dark and uncomfortable. It is strange that just one little change of the man’s appearance drastically altered everyone’s opinion of him. Through the town there were whispers and rumors about the meaning of the minister’s veil, but not one of them thought it would be a good idea to ask the minister about it. Only Elizabeth, his wife, would ask him directly of the meaning of his veil. Mr. Hooper tells her “… this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever…”” I have sorrows dark enough to be typified by a black veil”. His answer is complete yet, vague. He tells her why he wears the veil without giving her a reason. He is keeping a secret from her. Elizabeth comes up with the idea that he has sinned, and he does not say she is wrong. The fact of the matter is, is that Mr. Hooper will not remove his veil in his life time and asks that she jus deal with it. “Have patience with me, Elizabeth!...It is but a mortal veil—it is not for eternity”. He pleads to her that she realize the veil won’t be with him in the next life. Elizabeth, though, wants him to make an exception just for her. When he refuses, she leaves him. After that nobody in the town made an effort to make him remove his veil or ask him about. But the questions the people has still remained and followed him to his grave. While he lay on his deathbed no one was able to wrestle the answer out of him or remove the veil from his face.
Reverend Hooper’s experience from behind the veil, however, was a different one. Instead of having questions he had all of the answers. Only he knows why he wears the veil, and he only asks that the town’s people respect that. Whatever his sin was it burdened him so much he couldn’t even look at his own reflection. “Mr. Hooper raised a glass of wine to his lips…At that instant catching a glimpse of his figure in the looking-glass, the black veil involved his own spirit in the horror with which it overwhelmed all others….he … rushed forth onto the darkness”. Whatever the town’s people felt when that laid eyes on Mr. Hooper, he himself was not immune to it. This makes the peoples reaction somewhat more acceptable. Whatever the minister did it was powerful enough that he could not escape the thought of it unless he covered his face. And even then he could not avoid it forever. The minister’s veil is a punishment for his sin because wearing it had caused him pain while trying to prevent pain. “… did not intercept his sight, further that to give a darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things.” The veil didn’t make his life impossible to live but it did make it hard. Every where he looked there would be a dark cloud over head following him around like the rumors circling the town. A punishment for his sin that he probably did not for see was being separated from his wife. He probably hoped that she would be the one person who would accept him even with the veil.
One final though concerning this story is, what was the sin the minister committed in the first place? On the first day Mr. Hooper wears the veil, he presides over the funeral of a young woman. “… to take a last farewell of his deceased parishioner. As he stooped, the veil hung straight down from his forehead, so that if her eyelids had not been closed forever, the dead maiden might have seen her face…. At the instant the clergyman’s features were disclosed, the corpse has slightly shuddered”. The dead girl reacted to the minister’s face. Of all of the people who would see the minister’s face after he veiled it. It was this dead girl. After the funeral one of the town’s persons remarked; “I had a fancy that the minister and the maiden’s spirit were walking hand in hand”. Somehow the minister and the girl had a connection that over came even death. The last point is that Mr. Hooper refused to tell his wife the reason for the veil even when she threatened to leave him. He could have stopped her but instead he let her leave. All of the facts could suggest that Mr. Hooper had an affair with the Girl who just died. Considering that the author in Nathaniel Hawthorn, it is a plausible assumption.
The Black Veil caused pain for many people; the minister, his wife, and the towns people. It was not the reason for the veil but, what the veil represents. The secrets that it held were dark and mysterious. The veil is a symbol of evil secrets, and when it is put on the minister, a symbol of righteous good; it obscured the line between good and evil.
Simone Sutton
10/19/09
AP English III
Young Goodman Brown
Things are not always as they seem, and sometimes they are worse. No one can ever be sure of what is real either. Sometimes our imaginations are so powerful that they cam completely change who we are.
Goodman Brown is going to run an errand that he does not want his wife to know about. The young couple is passionately in love and it seems nothing can destroy the love they have for each other. “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand?” We still do not know what Goodman Brown is going to do yet but, we can tell he is not proud of what he is going to. He thinks so highly of his wife faith that he is sure that being with her will make up for the thing he is about to do. “… And after this one night I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven.” On the surface this sentence suggests that Goodman Brown is just using his wife, but deeper this sentence means that he can barely stand to be away from her. He doesn’t want to do what he is about to do but, he can only hope that it won’t condemn him to hell and separated him from his wife.
Much like Tom Walker, Goodman Brown walks down a dark path leading him to trouble. “He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest.” A dreary ominous path is leading him to his traveling companions. Unlike Tom Walker, though, Goodman Brown is not oblivious to the darkness and evil around him but rather hyper-aware of it. “”There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree,” said Goodman Brown to himself; and he glanced fearfully behind him as he added, “What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!”” And instead of taking the path home, to where he wants to be, he is taking it away from home, and to a place he doesn’t want to be. Goodman Brown is afraid of what he has to do. “… having kept covenant by meeting thee here, it is my purpose now to return to whence I came”. Not only is he afraid he is trying to come up with any sort of excuse to get himself out of this situation before he gets into something he can’t get out of.
By now we’ve learned that Brown set out to be inducted into an evil brotherhood of which and he is surprised to see people he recognizes from his town there, like members of the clergy and other upright pious people from the community, which is strange, and possibly ironic, considering the fact that they are all from Salem, the same community who killed people who were thought to be witches. Despite seeing these people coming to this witches ceremony to be inducted, Goodman Brown is firm in his faith in god.””With heaven above and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil!””. Instead of succumbing to peer pressure he vows to oppose the dark things he sees. The only reason he stays to witness the ceremony is out of pure curiosity, he can’t help himself.
“Then came a stronger swell of those familiar tones, heard daily in the sunshine at Salem village, but never until now from a cloud of night”. Goodman Brown hears a familiar voice in the darkness. It is his wife Faith and she is being pressured to come to the ceremony by the same people from the community. “Both saints and sinners, seemed to encourage her onward”. Goodman Brown calls her name but she is gone. Without Faith Brown has nothing. This is because Faith is a symbol of his ‘spiritual’ faith, if she could be consumed by the deviltry of the ceremony then so would be his spiritual faith.
When Goodman Brown wakes up in the forest it is unknown whether or not his experience was a dream or reality. On his walk home he sees all of the people who were present the night before, like the Deacon and Cloyse, as they should be, the religious upright people they are. But Goodman Brown is still wary of them. If what he experience the night before then he has reason to be wary, but if it really was a dream then the dream was so vivid it completely changed him. In the end he is never the same again. “A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream.”, “they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom.” Compared to the happy, loving man at the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown’s end was the complete opposite of what his beginning character suggests.
Simone Sutton
10/15/09
AP English III
The Devil and Tom Walker
To avoid interaction with the devil at all costs is the lesson this story aims to teach us. It tells the story of a normal man who gets caught up in his greed and sells his soul to the devil only to regret his decision when he realizes that he will go to hell. And no matter how much he prays, he won’t be able to escape the Devil. Washington Irving wrote this story to explain a proverb, and claims it to be the origin of a popular saying.
“The Devil and Tom Walker” begins with a description of the setting. It Takes place around Boston, Massachusetts. This is important because Boston has always been an area of supernatural activity. If something involving the Devil or some other evil being, it would happen there. The first paragraph also points out an important plot point, the treasure of Kidd the pirate that is guarded by the devil himself.
Tom Walker is a greedy old man who lives with his wife who he hates. They don’t trust each other and they argue with each other a lot. They don’t live a happy life and they would rather hurt each other that help each other. This kind of relationship is a breeding ground for bad things to come. One day Tom Walker decides to toke a short cut home, and” like most shortcuts, it was an ill chosen route.” This suggests that Tom doesn’t think ahead, and makes poor and random decisions in his life. Also the “ill chosen route’ suggests that he is walking down a path to danger. The description of the area is very gothic. He is in a swamp with; “dark stagnant pools”, and “half drowned, half rotting” pine trees. These descriptions give images of death and dying that seem to foreshadow the outcome of the story. Despite all of this, Tom Walker seems oblivious to it all. “Tom Walker, however, was not a man to be troubled with any fears of the kind”. He is not a superstitious guy and is skeptical of the supernatural.
When Tom meets up with the devil for the first time he is described as “black”, but a different black from Negro. It looks like his face is covered in soot, as if he has been working in some kind of furnace. Tom instead of being afraid just acknowledges the “black” man as he would any other human.
The devil and Tom get to talking and they end up on the subject of the treasure of Kidd the Pirate. But so far Tom is reluctant to sell his soul away to the Devil. He asks the devil for proof of his claim and the Devil presses his finger into Tom Walker forehead. “When Tom Reached home he found the black print of a finger burnt, as it were, into his forehead, which nothing could obliterate”. This is symbolic of the Devils presence around Tom Walker. Tom can’t avoid the Devil, nor can he escape him. It is like the devil is a part of him now.
When Tom gets home he learns the man whose tree was recently cut down has just died. Like the grim reaper. The devil decides who lives and who dies, and when it happens. His axe represents the grim reapers scythe. And burning the tree is damning that person to the fiery depths of hell.
Tom tells his wife about the deal the Devil offered him, and demands the he offer his sol in exchange for the wealth. But Tom, being spiteful, won’t do it even though he wants to just to anger his wife. His wife goes to find the devil and she leaves with an apron full of valuable silver. After she has been gone for a while Tom is more worried about the silver than his wife’s life. ”Tom consoled himself for the loss of his property with the loss of his wife”. Tom is Happy to trade his property to get rid of his wife. He is still so greedy that he wish he had it back, but either way he still went to make the deal with the devil.
Tom’s deal with the devil goes well for much of his life. Until he realizes in his old age the he is going to die soon. He is still so greedy to think that he should keep his wealth and his own life that he turns to God and church hoping that will save him. “He became, all of a sudden, a violent church goer”. But to no avail. “Tom, you’re come for… never was a sinner taken more unawares”. Tom never saw what was coming to him. There was nothing he could have done to stop the Devil from taking him.
This story teaches a lesson in avoiding greed, as it is one of the seven deadly sins. It only leads you to more trouble. No one should ever want to trade his soul for wealth. “As Tom waxed old, however, he grew thoughtful. Having secured the good things of this world, he began to feel anxious about those of the next.” The things you have in this life won’t follow you into the next, and people should focus less on material thing, and more on goodness.
Simone Sutton
10/06/09
AP English III
“The Fall of the House of Usher”
The unnamed protagonist of this story is going to see his sick friend who has requested that he come see him. The protagonist then makes a trip through the “dull, dark and soundless day of the year” to see his childhood friend, who is of the ancient Usher family. Upon reaching the house he is filled with a sense of foreboding. ” I know not what it was but with the first glimpse of the building a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit”. His unease comes from the sight of the building. It causes him to feel such strong feelings, yet he does not turn away. The House of Usher is literally the house in which the Usher family lives. If this is true then, feelings of the outside of the house tells something about the family that lives in it
Roderick Usher, the childhood friend of the protagonist, has asked him to visit him to ease the pain from his sickness. But it’s not just a bodily sickness, but also a mental illness he suffers from. “Although, as boys, we had been even intimate associated, yet I really knew very little of my friend.” The protagonist only goes to see his friend because they were childhood friends. He knows nothing else about his friend other than bits of his family history. This situation brings an air of mystery. Giving the Usher little background information and making him into an anomaly. Since we know nothing about him we don’t know what he is capable of.
Simone Sutton
10/05/09
AP English III
Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl
I. Childhood
Harriet Jacobs childhood was born as a slave but she didn’t realize it until she turned six years. Her childhood was a happy state of oblivion and naiveté. She probably didn’t know it at the time but her parents worked very hard to try and save her and her brother from the life of slavery. Even her grandmother tried to sell crackers to buy her from her owners. They all worked hard despite the futility of the situation. Her father worked as a carpenter and he was skilled in his trade. “On condition of paying his mistress two hundred dollars a year as supporting himself, he was allowed to work at his trade , and manage his own affairs. His strongest wish was to purchase his children; but, though he several times offered his hard earnings for that purpose, he never succeeded”. Her father was allowed to make his own money. He wasn’t exactly a slave but he was owned by a family. He worked hard to free his children from this kind of life, because they were sure to become slaves, but it’s like the people didn’t want his money. They either wanted more than he had or they just didn’t want to sell his children to him.
Her Grandmother also worked hard to make money for her grandchildren after a whole day of work she would stay up all night to make crackers to sell for her own profit. “Upon these terms , after working hard all day for her mistress, she began her midnight backings, assisted by her two oldest Children” The money she made was for her family and herself. All of her hard work was in vain though, she let her slave owner borrow her money and legally her mistress doesn’t have to pay her back. She and her brother owed her Grandmother a lot for the things she did for them.
When Jacobs’ mother died she was left in the care of a kind mistress, who treated her like her own daughter, and for a moment everything was good. Then Her mistress died and Dr flint owns the property now.
Simone Sutton
10/02/09
AP English III
“Learning to Read and Write”
Frederick Douglas was a slave who was fortunate enough to learn how to read and write, while still being enslaved. He would eventually run a way to join the abolitionist movement. But it was not easy, he had to do most of his learning in secret or he would face the wrath of his cruel(ish) owners. At first his learning was actually encouraged by his mistress. She would be the one to teach him how to read.”When I first went to live with her, to treat me as she supposed one human being ought to treat another.” A soul like hers must have been rare and dying in those times. For a person to treat a slave like an equal, like how one human being ought to treat another was unheard of and actually discouraged. She saw Douglas as a person not as a slave, but something made her change that. “Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me, when I went there she was pious, warm and tender hearted… Slavery soon proved to divest her of these heavenly qualities.”Being a slave owner was just as bad as being a slave. It changes people. Good people like the mistress become mean and evil. She began to think that slaves are not the people she once thought they were, ad because of this change she stopped teaching Douglas how to read, and she would attack him if she even thought he was reading. “.. Education and slavery were incompatible with each other” that is what was constantly going through the mistress’s mind when dealing with Douglass.
“Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell.”
Showing great ingenuity Douglass still learns to read by reading when he is out of the house doing errands for his owners, befriending the neighborhood kids so they would teach him how to read. “This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who in return would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge”. Douglass literally craves knowledge and learning. So much so that he would trade his own personal for a chance to learn something new. Him using the word bread suggests that knowing is on the same level as food as necessary for his survival. And wallowing in ignorance is like starving to death.
When he turns twelve is when he realizes the gravity of his situation as a slave. He just now realized that he will never be free. When he begins reading the book “The Columbian Orator” he reads a conversation between a master and his slave. The slave is very intelligent and soon becomes emancipated. The book was full of argument for and against slavery, and the more he read the more he began to think, he became angry. “The more I read the more I began to abhor and detest my enslavers” The book he was reading introduced many ideas that lead him to realize his life as a slave was completely unfair. He became angry and hateful and felt a kind of pain. “Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come, to torment and sting my soul to unutterable anguish. As I writhed under it, 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” In learning to read Douglass learned everything that was wrong about his life and knew nothing he could do to fix it. Reading led him to this point yet it couldn’t tell him how to get out. Now he is stuck knowing something that he never wished he knew “I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity”, if at that moment he could unlearn everything he knew he probably would.
Feeling depressed and still a little angry Douglass listened to everything he could about slavery, kind of looking for a way out. That’s when he heard of abolition. But he couldn’t learn very much about the subject.
In learning to write he learned how to draw four letters by working in a shipyard, and then he would show off to the neighborhood kids. He would show them what he knew and they would show him what they knew. Whenever he was left alone he would practice something form his young masters copy book or from a dictionary, and after years of hard work he could say he knew how to write.
Simone Sutton
9/ /09
AP English III
“The Story of an Hour”
Mrs. Mallard has just received news that her husband was killed, but then an hour or so later she not only learns that her husband is alive, she sees him walk through the front door. Any other woman would be overjoyed to learn that her husband is still alive, and would probably respond to this situation with joy and tears of happiness. Mrs. Mallard responds with a heart attack. The doctors believe she died “of the joy that kills”.
Aware of her heart condition, her sister Josephine and friend Richards try to break the news to her a gently as possible. She doesn’t take the news well but, she seems upset. “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once…” most women who have heard that their husbands have been killed go through a stage of denial. Unable to believe their significant other is gone. Instead Louise immediately believes her husband is dead. She didn’t ask if Richards was sure of the information he gave her. She just started crying. It seems almost like she expected her husband to die, or that she was waiting for something like that to happen. It seemed like she almost wanted it to happen.
She ran to her room to be alone after hearing the news and stared out the window. She had eventually stopped crying and started thinking “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully”. She felt something inside of her but she couldn’t think of what it was. She could feel it all around her and she could see it in the nature around her. “She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she striving to beat it back with her will”. When she was starting to understand what she was feeling she knew it was wrong, that she should not be feeling this way. And that is why she is trying to fight it back. “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath.” She wanted to push it back to where it came from, but it’s inside of her now. “Free, free, free.” She is terrified when she hears herself. She’s happy? She’s happy to be free? Her husband just died but she feels liberated. She thinks she is being silly, she would be sad at the funeral wouldn’t she? “She knew that she would weep again when she say the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her” ,”But beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely” . She knew that she would cry at his funeral, and she knew that she would miss him, but only for that moment. The future was looking bright for her; she could be her own woman. The thoughts left her in a “monstrous joy”. It is the kind of joy that makes you happy for someone else’s misfortune. Her husband is dead now she can do whatever she wants. “And yet she had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter?!” She didn’t always love her husband. He was in the way of her freedom. “She was drinking the very elixir of life through that open window”. The fresh air coming through the window is a symbol for freedom. She was no longer trapped in a room by her husband’s life. She could escape through the window. Probably for the first time Louise was truly happy.
The twist ending is when her husband walks in completely alive and Louise’s plans for freedom are completely shattered. If her husband is still alive she isn’t free anymore. She dies symbolizing the end of her life of freedom, which is the end of her whole life. The doctors said that she was so happy her weak little heart couldn’t handle it and gave up on her. “The joy that kills”, but it was really the joy that she had that was killed that killed her. (I wrote this in one hour) J
Simone Sutton
9/ /09
AP English III
“Aren’t/Ain’t I a Woman”
Sojourner Truth was a slave who became emancipated in 1827. She became an advocate for women’s rights and the abolition of slavery. She gave this speech which was titled “Aren’t I a woman” and it was very powerful. “… Aren’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm!..., I have plowed, and gathered into barns and no man could heed me- and aren’t I a woman.” She makes the point that women are powerful, using herself as an example. She is even stronger than mist men. Men believed that women needed help with everything, but she was a woman right. And nobody ever helped her with anything.
People during this time probably believed that being a slave makes you not a person. But she gave birth to thirteen children like any white woman could, and she was strong enough to plow fields and take beatings like a man. She obviously believed that men and women should be equals.
She also questioned what intelligence had to do with rights. During this time white men believed that they were smarter that women and slaves, and white women believed that were at least smarter than Africans. It was a totem pole like this that made up the social hierarchy of the eighteen hundreds. Sojourner Truth realized the wrongness in this idea because she was directly at the bottom.
Christianity was the dominant religion of this time and people would find excuses in the bible to justify their treatment of women. Like how they used the story of Cain and Abel to justify enslaving people with dark skin. And here, “That little man in black there, he says that woman can’t have as much rights a man ‘cause Christ wasn’t a woman” , just because Jesus was a man that makes all men important, or even because Jesus wasn’t a woman that all women were unimportant. Truth responds with” Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman. Man has nothing to do with him”. Women had a larger role in bringing Jesus Christ; Men probably had a larger role in killing him. This quote could be used to suggest that women are superior to men, but Truth doesn’t want it that way, she just wants equality. “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside-down, these together ought to be able to turn it back”. This lone means the women are stronger than any one will ever know and, that even God underestimated us and, that our influence is just as important, if not more, than men’s.
Years after Sojourner Truth gave her speech, Frances Gage re-published her speech but with one major difference. It was rewritten with a Black/Ghetto dialect. And a debate between whether this was written by Truth or the first one is Truly Truth’s words. The Frances Gage version makes Truth seem a little less educated than the first version. From what we know Gage is a white woman and when her version is published racism is still going strong, so for all we know, she wrote this version to make fun of a black woman.
But considering that Sojourner Truth was a slave she might not have had a good education that is suggested by the first version. But Truth was a smart woman she could have taught herself or learned from other people, the kind of grammar that is suggested by the first version of the speech. And if the First Version of the speech is the one that is edited why would someone so that. Racism was a much stronger idea back then because they had just begun to reluctantly free the slaves. No one with grammar like that would want to make this women seem smarter.
I believe that the first version of the speech is the true speech, from the mouth of Sojourner Truth.
Simone Sutton
9/17/09
AP English III
“Desiree’s Baby”
Desiree’s Baby is the story of a woman who marries a plantation owner and has a baby. The woman named Desiree was of unknown origin. No one knew who she was or what her ancestry was. They just assumed that she was white. “It was no wonder that Armand Aubigny, riding by ad seeing her there, had fallen in love with her”. This it was at love at first sight where thin man see’s her and suddenly and unconditionally loves her. He too not knowing of her origins assumes that she is white. “That is the way all Aubigny's fell in love, as if struck by a pistol shot.” All the men of Armand’s family fall in love this way spontaneously and randomly, unexpectedly and possibly painfully. Using the word pistol could mean that in the end he would end up hurt by his love. Consider Armand’s father who had to retrieve Armand from Paris at eight years old after Armand’s mother died. He would have to have been heartbroken after his wife and mother of his children just died.
“… Wanted things well considered, that is, the girls obscure origins. Armand looked into her eyes and does not care”. Armand was head over heels in love. From his behavior one would think that he would love Desiree even if she was white black mulatto Asian, you name it. “… She had no name…” so Armand would give his name to her. They would get married and have a baby.
It had been a month since Madame Val monde had seen Desiree and her baby. She would be in for quite a shock. The baby had grown and changed so much in such a short time that Madame Val monde could barley recognize “it”. “This is not the baby!” she exclaims. Madame Valmonde knows that something is not right with the baby. She knows that “it” is not white. She held “it”, looked at “it” and gave “it” back to “its” mother. She doesn’t even think of the baby as a human anymore, she see the baby as an “IT”. Desiree is so proud of her child she doesn’t even notice her mother’s change in behavior. Madame changes the subject off of the baby and on to Armand. “Desiree’s face became suffused with a glow that was happiness itself”. Things are so good with Armand and Desiree that she just glows with happiness. Her smile lights up the whole room when she thinks of her loving husband. It is like her life cannot get any better.
“Armand is the proudest father in the parish”, “he hasn’t punished one of them since baby is born” Armand is so happy to have a child, and who wouldn’t be. Babies are literally fun bags full of happy. “Marriage and the birth of his son had softened Armand’s nature greatly” Armand began to change as well. He was normally an imperious and exacting plantation owner and now he almost treats his slaves like equals. And as long as Armand was happy Desiree was too. She loved Armand so much her moods were dictated by his. “Armand’s dark handsome face had not often been disfigured by frowns since the day he fell in love with her.” Armand was happy and it showed.
After three months things start to get weird. “When he spoke to her it was with averted eyes from which the old love-light seemed to have gone out.” Armand doesn’t seem to love her anymore. His eyes have changed noticeably. He would avoid Desiree purposely and his treatment of the slaves has worsened. The exact opposite of what made her happy was happening. Armand is no longer the happy gentle man who was in love, and Desiree hasn’t figured out why yet.
“One of La Blanche’s little quadroon boys stood fanning the child slowly, She looked from her child to the boy and back again; over and over. ‘Ah’”. Desiree has seen something so unexpected and so frightening she can barely speak. It is only when Armand walks in the she regains enough composure to ask him, “Armand, look at our child. What does it mean? Tell me.” Desiree either doesn’t know what has happened or she refuses to believe that her child is black. Armand responds with “it means you are not white”. Armand quickly assumes that she is not white and she is heartbroken that he doesn’t believe her that she is not. And why would he. No one knew where she came from, and he was sure that he was not black. And so, Desiree was forced to leave the plantation. “Do you want me to go, yes I want you to go” Armand was so angry at whoever that he didn’t even say good bye to her. She was in so much pain that she didn’t go home, she just left. And when she was good and gone Armand burned everything he ever bought for her.
Armand found a letter written by his mother and learned his mistake. It turns out that Armand is the one who is black, his mother, who died before he could know her, was black. Armand’s father was more accepting of his wife even though she was black. If Armand was a kind as his father maybe Desiree and her baby would still be with him. And maybe they could still be happy. Armand learns his mother’s secret a little too late.
Simone Sutton
9/16/09
AP English III
“Spontaneous Me”
Sponteneous me is a poem describing man, nature and man;s connection with nature.
Simone Sutton
9/15/09
AP English III
“Phillis Wheatley”
Phillis Wheatley was an African woman brought to America. Compared to other Africans she had a better time of it. The family who bought her obviously saw her worth as a human being and instead of condemning her to a life time of unending servitude, they educated her. Something white women didn’t have the chance to get. Her works were very popular and highly respected scholars like Ben Franklin thought she was awesome.
On Being Brought from Africa to America
The way Wheatley describes it, being uprooted from your home land and sold into slavery was a good thing. Considering her experiences after being brought over, one would expect her to think this way. She was a lucky slave, being brought from a continent with high temperatures and having to work for your own survival into a world where you can learn. Also according to her bio she was very sickly so being brought the New World where she could receive better medical care she might feel this way.
She regards Africa as an evil ‘pagan’ land, Darkness, Evil, etc. Then being converted to Christianity in America seeing the light of Salvation. But being brought from the land of Evil is not enough. “Some view our sable color with a scornful eye”, meaning that the people of colonial America thought their skin color was a mark of cures and reinforced by the following line “… black as Cain”. This line is a reference to the story of Cain and Abel in the bible that says that Cain’s skin was marked black as punishment for killing his brother Abel. This shows that racial prejudice based off of skin color was around even back then. This was the Americans Excuse for enslaving the African people. This next line: “May be refined and join the angelic train” suggest that it is the Africans fault they are the way they are but that there is still a chance for them to be saved. ‘May be refined…’ suggests that they are still a work in progress, that there is something underneath the ‘diabolical’ skin worth saving. This is like saying that they should be sanded down in to something smoother and more Angelic. The last part of this line “… and join the angelic train”. This suggests that in the end we all look the same so that we can be in the same train together, assuming that train means a group.
This poem speaks a lot but I can’t help but shake the feeling of sarcasm coming off of the words. I can’t imagine a woman as intelligent as Wheatley as truly believing that who she was born as wrong. That if she was not sold into slavery than her soul would be damned for eternity. But this might be the effects of being converted into Christianity back in the 18th century. This poem might be a satire on how Africans so easily surrendered their lives and culture to the slave traders.
To His Excellency General Washington
This poem starts off with a little introduction written by Wheatley acknowledging George Washington. Her choice of shows her large vocabulary and intelligence, but she still notes how she can’t be perfect, that she still has the errors of a human.
This poem seems to be congratulating Washington for being appointed General. But with the symbolism and glorious descriptions she might as well be referring to him as a King or a God. I’m sure he was flattered. The poem is also encouraging Washington to lead the country into success.
Simone Sutton
9/14/09
AP English III
“Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence”
This article begins with an excerpt from Thomas Jefferson’s autobiography, during a point before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He speaks of how the colonies are not exactly ready to secede from England but they are going to anyway, and then he wrote the Declaration of Independence himself. The committee that would eventually vote on The Declaration of Independence asked him to do so. He also speaks about they were going to avoid the issue of slavery entirely because the southern colonies relied heavily upon slave labor to maintain their livelihood At first not one of the colonies voted for the Declaration of Independence, they all voted against it, but after about a week of deliberations all thirteen of the colonies finally agreed on it.
But it was not perfected; they didn’t want to offend any people of the British persuasion who still might support them so they omitted many phrases and proofread the declaration before everyone signed it.
The declaration itself is a beautifully written document that still manages to make a point. It stated that the British colonies in America are the United Stated of America. They made it clear from the beginning that they were separating themselves from the mother land, and they were going to tell them why.
The Declaration of Independence talks about how “all men are created equal”, and that we all have the inalienable rights of “life liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. This is ironic considering the fact that Thomas Jefferson, the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence, owned slaves himself. This fact however; does not lessen the importance or truth of those word just the man who wrote them.
The Declaration is like an essay that is explaining what America means to do, what they are doing it and, how they plan on achieving that goal. The people have the right to abolish a government that infringes upon their rights.
There is a long list of wrongs that King George III had done to the colonies and the Declaration elaborates on all of the points. How King George was all-around, oppressive, unfair and unreasonable. How he controlled their government and judicial system for no reason, taxation, forcing people to house soldiers during times of war and peace, cutting of trade, and the list goes on and on and on.
The declaration of Independence ends firmly and clearly that America cuts its ties with England and is its own independent nation with all of the powers rights and privileges of any other country of the time.
Simone Sutton
9/9/09
AP English III
“Huswifery”
Huswifery is a poem written by a man named Edward Taylor in colonial period of America. The word Huswifery is a variation or misspelling of the word housewifery, meaning the things a woman would do in the house, such as cleaning, cooking, sewing etc. Many of the analogies, metaphors, similes and such Taylor makes in the poem have to do with sewing.
This poem has a very simple ab ab cc rhyme scheme in all three of the stanzas. This poem is also very short and simple, and has a very simple message.
The general meaning of the poem is Taylor asking of God to make him in to the good and righteous person He wants him to be. Taylor is asking God to weave his soul into goodness and make it holy. He says things like; “… make my soul thy holy spoole to bee”, meaning make him into Gods own personal spool of yarn or thread in which to,”…weave the web thyself” weave it into,”… Holy robes for glory”. He is using words like Spinning Wheel, Spool, knit twine and web to show the obvious relationship between sewing and his soul
Taylor Pray that God helps him become the best person he was ever meant to be. He is insinuating that it was God who made him in simplest terms, yarn. He implies that it is also God who will make him into something greater and more complex. The last four lines I think are meant to described how Taylor will look like to God after he has died and gone to heaven.
I find it interesting that Taylor used a woman’s work to describe Gods work. Normally in Christianity women are on the bad sides of things, often on the opposite spectrum of God. I would think using Housewifery to describe Gods work as offensive, but as far I know it must have been seen as creative.
The poem was simply written and was very easy to understand. It was almost too easy because the message it portrays is so easy to explain. The spellings of the words are interesting because they are spelled almost how they sound. I know that back in those days the only rules on spelling were if the word looks correct then it correct, so that made reading and understanding the poem that much easier.
Simone Sutton
9/02/09
AP English III
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
Puritans believed in something called predestination that from before you were born God has chosen whether you would go to heaven or hell. Jonathan Edwards is preaching that the Israelites were predestined for hell. “Their foot shall slide in due time”, means they will be cast down into heaven when the time comes.
Edwards is using the name of god to establish a source of credibility. God is his ethos because you can’t ignore the word of God. If Edwards says this is what God, says the puritan congregation he is preaching to has to believe him.
He doesn’t speak of a kind or forgiving God either. He only talks about the “vengeance”, “punishment”, and “destruction” that comes to the so called “Sinners”. Never does he mention any kind of reward for not being a sinner. It’s just “If you do bad things you will go to hell, but if you don’t…”
Edwards mentions a certain passage in the bible that says “Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; though castedst them down into destruction”. He mentions this passage several times, using repetition to make a point. They are in that environment that puts them in bad standing in the eyes of God. Then he says “…needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down.” This indicated that it is not only your environment but your own self and actions that can get you thrown down into hell.
The reason they are in this “slippery place” is because God has predestined them to go to hell. They won’t go to hell yet because it is not their time. God has his own plan for how things are going to go for the sinners. It is too late for them.
The only reason that God doesn’t just get rid of every sinner is because he doesn’t have to. There is nothing stopping him except his own kindness. It would be easy for Him to do so.
In the end if you accept Christ and everything you might go to heaven if you are destined to. If not then oh well. But this brings up an interesting point. If you are chose to be saved from the beginning regardless of what you do in life then you don’t need work so hard to be saintly.
Simone Sutton
9/03/09
AP English III
“Anne Bradstreet’s Poems”
The Author to Her Book
Being an author to a book is synonymous with being a mother, but not in a positive way. The “child” is ill-formed. The child is flawed. Now all normal children aren’t perfect but books meant for publishing have to be flawless. The tone of the poem seems to be disappointment. She doesn’t seem to be proud of her book, she calls it a brat, she points out an endless stream of mistakes and typos that were impossible to correct. “I washed thy face, but more defects I saw”, it would seem frustration to keep fixing something only to have it fall apart in your hands, or the more you wash something the filthier it gets.
But in the end the book is not a real child. It doesn’t have a father, because it’s just a book. “If for thy father asked, say thou hadst none”. This line could mean it has no father or it could mean that is someone asks if you have a father, if you were written by a man, say that you were written by a woman. This could be significant because the author of the poem is obviously a woman even though women in colonial time were not always respected in intellectual fields, and the book is sold or published so the author of the book can make some money because she is poor. The last two lines of the poem would be similar to having a child grow up, even though far less than your expectations, and sending it out on its own to work and make money or the family.
Before the Birth of One of Her Children
A woman is about to give birth and this is the letter she wrote expressing her feelings. From the tone of the whole poem is seems like the woman wholeheartedly believes she is going to die giving birth to her child. She says things like “The many faults that well you know I have let be interred in my oblivious grave, if any worth of value were in me let that live freshly in thy memory” ,That mean remember all of the good things about me and forget the bad.
Even though she thinks she is going to die she wants the kids she has already had to e taken care of while she is gone. She doesn’t want her kids to have to deal with any evil stepmothers.
The woman cries as she writes this letter as indicated by the last line of the poem which means she has practically given up hope. I can only imagine how happy she might feel if she survives the child birth.
To My Dear and Loving Husband
This poem could be a love letter from the author to her husband. She explains in great detail how the two of them are a match made in heaven. How they were meant to be together. If any woman were to be married to her husband it would be her, and if any man were to love her it would be her husband. “Compare with me, ye women, if you can” she challenges her husband to find another woman like her.
The last line of this poem reminds me of a song called (Don’t Fear) The Reaper. That song basically says not to fear death because there is closure and you will soon be reunited with the people that you love. “That when we live no more, we may live ever”, as long as they are together they will live on forever in their hearts.
Anne Bradstreet 1612-1672
Anne Bradstreet was an iconic figure in the history of American Literature. Some even say the she was the first American poet. She was the first woman to write and publish a book. Her works not only detail the hardships for Puritan women. She was sickly but faithful and loving, and very intelligent.
"Anne Bradstreet." Anne Bradstreet. Web. 04 Sept. 2009.
Simone Sutton
08/28/09
AP English III
The Letters of Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus, the man most famous for “discovering” the Americas. By now most people know that this event was a complete accident. He was actually looking for a trade route to the Indies but instead he ran into America. In simplest terms Christopher Columbus was a failure. It just seems like luck that Christopher Columbus made one good achievement that overshadowed his other failures.
Columbus had a string of unrelenting bad luck after his discovery on America. Apparently his luck has never been that good. It seems he became an adventurer in order to make it big. He wasn’t born into a rich family, but he was born near a sea which could have been the source for his love of sea travel.
The first letter Columbus sent was very optimistic seeing as he found a very beautiful continent. He is going around naming all of the islands that he sees after the Spanish monarch and other people of importance. This letter though sounds to me like he is sucking up to Isabella and Ferdinand. Every other word is an attestment to their greatness. But a man like Columbus would be grateful for being given the opportunity to travel the sea in search of riches.
The second letter must have been written after all of Columbus’s problems have started because it tell only of how much trouble he is in , and him begging Isabella and Ferdinand to get him out of it. Columbus is not a young man anymore and probably doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life in jail or exiled or on the run from whatever trouble he has gotten himself into.
Simone Sutton
8/27/09
AP English III
“Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca”
If someone were comparing Cabeza de Vaca to Christopher Columbus it would seem that de Vaca was more heroic than Columbus. De Vaca was descendant from a long ling oh heroes, which is where his strange name “cows head” comes from.
Even though he is kind of unknown by the general population and even though he didn’t discover anything, de Vaca’s adventures were greater than and not as much of a train wreck as Columbus’s. He is also a fighter, as well as an adventurer so he was much tougher than Columbus. He fought in wars as stuff. His journey to the new world was an expedition with a man named Narvaez.
That expedition was a total disaster though. Narvaez was a bad leader and he had a lot of bad luck during the adventure, like having his ships destroyed in a hurricane. After bouts with Native Americans some really bad decisions Narvaez left and disappeared from the adventure leaving de Vaca and three other stranded. At that point his adventures can be described as an odyssey
He encountered many groups. He witnessed cruel slavers and opposed them even though they were in a greater position than he was, and even though they came from the same country. Eventually though he found his way back to his home counter and tried to change the things he witnessed. All that accomplished for him was getting banished from Algeria and America.
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca then wrote down the story of his adventures and had the published. He seemingly downplayed his experiences even thought he had many near death experiences. As if he didn’t want to brag about the numerous times that he almost died but somehow found a way out of his predicament.
