Friday, December 08, 2006
Final Thoughts III, Slavery
Katja
ENGL 48A
Journal # 25, Final Thoughts III, Slavery
8 December, 2006
"'Well, I’ll soon convince you whether I am your master or the nigger fellow you honor so highly. If you must have a husband, you may take up with one of my slaves.'" (Harriet Jacobs 1762).
"’Well,’ said Eliza, mournfully, ‘I always thought that I must obey my master [...] or I couldn’t be a Christian.’" (Harriet Beecher Stowe 1674).
"Had he been a man of pure morals himself, he might have been thought interested in protecting the innocence of my aunt; but those who knew him will not suspect him of any such virtue." (Frederick Douglass 2042).
In response to Wednesday’s essay question I chose the three quotes above for comparison. Harriet Jacobs speaks of sexual violence against women, as does Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Douglss. These three authors want us to perceive how violence against slave women was used as a tool of repression and reformation as implied in the quote from Jacobs above.
In Jacobs’ text the reader gets the notion that if Linda marries one of the slaves approved of by her master, he can of course order his slave to do to her what he says, thus perpetuating another level of abuse. By sexually abusing their female slaves, whether directly or indirectly, owners and traders would keep them "down." Jacobs writes of the right to true love for slaves. The continued rape and physical abuse of slave women may have had the additional ill effect of making them sexually outcast among their peers. Perhaps the mark of a woman’s owner upon her body would render her untouchable in terms of any potential true relationships.
Slaves were taught that it would be "Christian" to obey their masters, as Stowe writes, thus could not reject this form of repression. Indeed, in the scene from Douglass’ text, Aunt Hester does not attempt to fight off her attacker. The evil amalgam of religious obligation and psychological/emotional damage due to repeated abuse translates into these women’s passive acceptance of their torment.
Douglass implies that some slave owners had no particular interest in trying to appear ethical or just, but saw slave-ownership as a sexual free-for-all. Their most important task was to beat the depravity out of their slave women in some twisted attempt at getting them to live up to the moral standards they set for their own wives.
As is evident in these slave narratives, and surely others, sexual violence was a pervasive practice in slavery to the point of being an atrocity that should stand on its own. Generations of women were either directly damaged by this custom or by its legacy, a fact that these three writers tried to give voice to.
ENGL 48A
Journal # 25, Final Thoughts III, Slavery
8 December, 2006
"'Well, I’ll soon convince you whether I am your master or the nigger fellow you honor so highly. If you must have a husband, you may take up with one of my slaves.'" (Harriet Jacobs 1762).
"’Well,’ said Eliza, mournfully, ‘I always thought that I must obey my master [...] or I couldn’t be a Christian.’" (Harriet Beecher Stowe 1674).
"Had he been a man of pure morals himself, he might have been thought interested in protecting the innocence of my aunt; but those who knew him will not suspect him of any such virtue." (Frederick Douglass 2042).
In response to Wednesday’s essay question I chose the three quotes above for comparison. Harriet Jacobs speaks of sexual violence against women, as does Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Douglss. These three authors want us to perceive how violence against slave women was used as a tool of repression and reformation as implied in the quote from Jacobs above.
In Jacobs’ text the reader gets the notion that if Linda marries one of the slaves approved of by her master, he can of course order his slave to do to her what he says, thus perpetuating another level of abuse. By sexually abusing their female slaves, whether directly or indirectly, owners and traders would keep them "down." Jacobs writes of the right to true love for slaves. The continued rape and physical abuse of slave women may have had the additional ill effect of making them sexually outcast among their peers. Perhaps the mark of a woman’s owner upon her body would render her untouchable in terms of any potential true relationships.
Slaves were taught that it would be "Christian" to obey their masters, as Stowe writes, thus could not reject this form of repression. Indeed, in the scene from Douglass’ text, Aunt Hester does not attempt to fight off her attacker. The evil amalgam of religious obligation and psychological/emotional damage due to repeated abuse translates into these women’s passive acceptance of their torment.
Douglass implies that some slave owners had no particular interest in trying to appear ethical or just, but saw slave-ownership as a sexual free-for-all. Their most important task was to beat the depravity out of their slave women in some twisted attempt at getting them to live up to the moral standards they set for their own wives.
As is evident in these slave narratives, and surely others, sexual violence was a pervasive practice in slavery to the point of being an atrocity that should stand on its own. Generations of women were either directly damaged by this custom or by its legacy, a fact that these three writers tried to give voice to.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Final Thoughts II, Evil
Katja
ENGL 48A
Journal # 24, Final Thoughts II, Evil
6 December, 2006
"'I had a fancy [...] that the minister and the maiden’s spirit were walking hand in hand.'" (Nathaniel Hawthorne 1283)
"The brother had been led to his resolution (so he told me) by considerations of the unusual character of the malady of the deceased, of certain obtrusive and eager inquiries on the part of her medical men, and of the remote and exposed situation of the burial ground of the family. " (Edgar Allan Poe 1542)
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Minister’s Black Veil and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher evil is the antagonist. Prominently featured but vaguely personified, evil takes form according to the reader’s will. In contrast to this amorphous evil, stands two females, their aspect messianic.
Hawthorne’s dead virgin plays the sacrificial lamb to Hooper’s depraved clergyman, taking the fall for the "secret sin" (Hawthorne 1282). Similarly, the soon-to-be dead sister of Roderick Usher is offered in atonement for intentionally unmentioned, but intimated, transgressions. The men whose lives have been devastated by female wily ways are forever and irrevocably lost to the psychological fetters that bind them to their crimes. Although scapegoating the women superficially gets them off the hook, Hooper and Usher both suffer the greater trauma of living with their clandestine knowledge. Beseeched by desperation, Hooper tries, like the proverbial ostrich, to hide in plain sight, perhaps attempting to avoid looking Truth in the eyes, whereas Usher tries to obscure the evidence while it is still alive—never a good idea.
Hawthorne, a dedicated family man with female friends, appears to have little in common with Poe, a deeply misogynist eccentric and epic drunk. However, their similarly clever turns of tale offer a fresh look at these classic American Gothic parables. Here two innocents play out their roles as casualties of male oppression. Letting women bear the burden for the sins of humanity is a historically pervasive phenomenon notwithstanding the gender of the Biblical Christ, whose reflection is seen on women’s faces worldwide.
ENGL 48A
Journal # 24, Final Thoughts II, Evil
6 December, 2006
"'I had a fancy [...] that the minister and the maiden’s spirit were walking hand in hand.'" (Nathaniel Hawthorne 1283)
"The brother had been led to his resolution (so he told me) by considerations of the unusual character of the malady of the deceased, of certain obtrusive and eager inquiries on the part of her medical men, and of the remote and exposed situation of the burial ground of the family. " (Edgar Allan Poe 1542)
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Minister’s Black Veil and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher evil is the antagonist. Prominently featured but vaguely personified, evil takes form according to the reader’s will. In contrast to this amorphous evil, stands two females, their aspect messianic.
Hawthorne’s dead virgin plays the sacrificial lamb to Hooper’s depraved clergyman, taking the fall for the "secret sin" (Hawthorne 1282). Similarly, the soon-to-be dead sister of Roderick Usher is offered in atonement for intentionally unmentioned, but intimated, transgressions. The men whose lives have been devastated by female wily ways are forever and irrevocably lost to the psychological fetters that bind them to their crimes. Although scapegoating the women superficially gets them off the hook, Hooper and Usher both suffer the greater trauma of living with their clandestine knowledge. Beseeched by desperation, Hooper tries, like the proverbial ostrich, to hide in plain sight, perhaps attempting to avoid looking Truth in the eyes, whereas Usher tries to obscure the evidence while it is still alive—never a good idea.
Hawthorne, a dedicated family man with female friends, appears to have little in common with Poe, a deeply misogynist eccentric and epic drunk. However, their similarly clever turns of tale offer a fresh look at these classic American Gothic parables. Here two innocents play out their roles as casualties of male oppression. Letting women bear the burden for the sins of humanity is a historically pervasive phenomenon notwithstanding the gender of the Biblical Christ, whose reflection is seen on women’s faces worldwide.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Final Thoughts
Katja
ENGL 48A
Journal # 23, final thoughts, Emerson
5 December, 2006
"Whilst thus the poet delights us by animating nature like a creator, with his own thoughts, he differs from the philosopher only herein, that the one proposes Beauty as his main end; the other Truth." (Ralph Waldo Emerson 1126)
I chose this Emerson quote from Nature in relation to the final yesterday. I think it pretty well captures Emerson’s ideas of the purpose of thought.
Depending on your role in society thought serves different purposes; the poet shapes his thoughts to bring beauty to the world; the philosopher to show truth. The poet creates for others, perhaps preventing others from thinking for themselves, or removing their need to do so, depending on how you look at it. His work is entertaining; a distraction; a naive imitation of creation; a folly. The philosopher, the most serious of thinkers, is concerned with integrity, exactitude, veracity. His brand of thinking will bring order to the chaos of unschooled, freewheeling thought; it will ultimately reveal the truth to the one patient enough to wait for it.
Emerson is trying to convey that every person has a reason for independent thought, in every person’s life thinking will serve an important purpose that will be the means to some end. The goal is not the point, Emerson wants us to be conscious of our thoughts and consider them as important as the purpose they serve. I believe Emerson considers an active intellect a primal part of being human, a drive that should not be ignored but honored and fostered. Mapping the intellect through thought is a way to realize your raison d’être.
ENGL 48A
Journal # 23, final thoughts, Emerson
5 December, 2006
"Whilst thus the poet delights us by animating nature like a creator, with his own thoughts, he differs from the philosopher only herein, that the one proposes Beauty as his main end; the other Truth." (Ralph Waldo Emerson 1126)
I chose this Emerson quote from Nature in relation to the final yesterday. I think it pretty well captures Emerson’s ideas of the purpose of thought.
Depending on your role in society thought serves different purposes; the poet shapes his thoughts to bring beauty to the world; the philosopher to show truth. The poet creates for others, perhaps preventing others from thinking for themselves, or removing their need to do so, depending on how you look at it. His work is entertaining; a distraction; a naive imitation of creation; a folly. The philosopher, the most serious of thinkers, is concerned with integrity, exactitude, veracity. His brand of thinking will bring order to the chaos of unschooled, freewheeling thought; it will ultimately reveal the truth to the one patient enough to wait for it.
Emerson is trying to convey that every person has a reason for independent thought, in every person’s life thinking will serve an important purpose that will be the means to some end. The goal is not the point, Emerson wants us to be conscious of our thoughts and consider them as important as the purpose they serve. I believe Emerson considers an active intellect a primal part of being human, a drive that should not be ignored but honored and fostered. Mapping the intellect through thought is a way to realize your raison d’être.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Harriet Beecher Stowe II
Katja
ENGL 48A
Journal # 22, Stowe II
1 December, 2006
"Profoundly influenced by Lyman Beecher’s ambition and his deeply pessimistic theology [...] many of his children grew up to make their mark o American culture." (Harriet Beecher Stowe biography 1671)
Ambition and doomsday faith is a bizarre combination of human traits. Lyman Beecher was old school in his faith but quite modern in the way he reared his many children. Having lots of children was a way for him to ensure the spread of his message and continued influence on American life, but how he and his wife had the time to influence each Beecher sibling so deeply is astonishing. What is encouraging is that many of the Beecher siblings turned their father’s pessimistic worldview around into something positive. They became trailblazers in the development of an American identity.
Harriet, being one of the middle children, had a great sense of needing to be seen, heard, and noticed coming from such a large family. It seems that she was not content with the quiet, traditional, female role, but needed an outlet for her passions. The way she and other Beechers went about things has a very missionary nature; like they all received a calling they could not reject. Harriet was smart enough to realize she had a voice and fortunate enough to have a father—and later husband—who supported her needs to express herself.
The Beecher legacy is a template for how many Americans conduct themselves, and a very valuable part of American heritage and an institution rare to this culture. The sense of service is very apparent in American life, much more so than in Europe. Where I grew up people would never give up their free time to volunteer for any cause, no matter how thoroughly they identify with it. Even something as small as spending an hour or two per week at your child’s school is completely unheard of. Regardless of whether steeped in Christian faith or not, the idea of service for the benefit of others is an integral part of American culture and a hallmark of the Beecher’s importance in the nation’s history.
ENGL 48A
Journal # 22, Stowe II
1 December, 2006
"Profoundly influenced by Lyman Beecher’s ambition and his deeply pessimistic theology [...] many of his children grew up to make their mark o American culture." (Harriet Beecher Stowe biography 1671)
Ambition and doomsday faith is a bizarre combination of human traits. Lyman Beecher was old school in his faith but quite modern in the way he reared his many children. Having lots of children was a way for him to ensure the spread of his message and continued influence on American life, but how he and his wife had the time to influence each Beecher sibling so deeply is astonishing. What is encouraging is that many of the Beecher siblings turned their father’s pessimistic worldview around into something positive. They became trailblazers in the development of an American identity.
Harriet, being one of the middle children, had a great sense of needing to be seen, heard, and noticed coming from such a large family. It seems that she was not content with the quiet, traditional, female role, but needed an outlet for her passions. The way she and other Beechers went about things has a very missionary nature; like they all received a calling they could not reject. Harriet was smart enough to realize she had a voice and fortunate enough to have a father—and later husband—who supported her needs to express herself.
The Beecher legacy is a template for how many Americans conduct themselves, and a very valuable part of American heritage and an institution rare to this culture. The sense of service is very apparent in American life, much more so than in Europe. Where I grew up people would never give up their free time to volunteer for any cause, no matter how thoroughly they identify with it. Even something as small as spending an hour or two per week at your child’s school is completely unheard of. Regardless of whether steeped in Christian faith or not, the idea of service for the benefit of others is an integral part of American culture and a hallmark of the Beecher’s importance in the nation’s history.
