Best Work for This Semester

Evrin Peavy

12-3-09

Humanities

 

 

Slavery Dehumanizing or Not

 

 

 

 

In Fredrick Douglass’s Narrative he uses contrasting images and animal imagery to show the dehumanization of slaves and slave owners. Throughout his writing he never says slavery is bad, or slavery should be abolished, instead Douglass shows and describes his own experiences through slavery to prove how slavery is dehumanizing.

            Douglass uses contrasting images to show how slavery dehumanizes Mr. Auld. By using opposite words close together, Douglass shows how Mrs. Auld transforms from an innocent motherly woman, to a empty hearted uncompassionate figure. Upon his arrival at the Auld house Douglass describes Mrs. Auld as “angelic” and “cheerful”. However, when Mrs. Auld becomes a slave owner her eyes become “red with rage” and Douglass describes her face as a “demon”. The contrasting images are used to describe the drastic deleterious impact of slavery upon Mrs. Auld’s personality.

            Douglass employs foreshadowing to show what will become of Mrs. Auld. After Douglass describes Mrs. Auld he includes a scene of Mrs. Hamilton who is another women slave owner, to show the sadistic beast Mrs. Auld will become. Douglass incorporates the scene of how Mrs. Hamilton would sit in her chair with her bloody cow skin in her hand, and would demonically whip her slaves when they walked by. By showing the effects of slavery upon Mrs. Hamilton, it foreshadows what will happen next to Mrs. Auld.

            Douglass uses animal imagery to prove the dehumanization of slaves. Through out Douglass’ writing he compares slaves to animals to describe the monstrous uncultured treatment of the slaves. In the scene where Fredrick needs to move to Baltimore because his Master Captain Anthony died, he compares the “men” slaves to “cattle” and the women and children slaves to “pigs”. Also in this scene Fredrick explains that the slaves are “ranked “ with the animals, meaning slaves were treated so atrocious that they were only as high as the animals. Douglass uses animal imagery to prove the dehumanization of the slaves to show that even animals were higher in the social class than slaves.

            Douglass went through slavery and was exposed to the effects of slavery. Douglass wrote a Narrative about his life describing how slavery dehumanizes slaves and slave owners. Through out Fredrick’s writing he uses animal imagery and contrasting images to prove the point of how slavery is dehumanizing without saying the words “ slavery is dehumanizing.”

           

            

The Depressing Day

First day bitter-cold

Annoying clatter

No peace

I cried aloud

People stared at me

I'm now a coward

My spirit was lost

I moaned for my mother

No one came

I was only one of many little animals driven by a herder.

Whose Fault is it?

Evrin Peavy

10-25-09

Humanities

One illegal immigrant dies each day crossing the border. The Mexican government is to blame for the deaths of their people. The government needs to control what happens inside their country, such as the problems they have with drugs and gangs. When crossing the border the immigrants have a lot of challenges they go through. The Mexican government is accountable for their citizens needs.

Increasingly, illegal immigrants have tried to cross the border. Immigrants cross illegally because it is so hard to get a green card and to cross the border. Some immigrants cross through the desert to get to the U.S, but they never make it. 265,000 aliens have been arrested for attempts of crossing the border. As stated before one immigrant dies a day from crossing the border. The immigrants die in the desert from dehydration and exhaustion. Some immigrants die from trusting a smuggler or in other words trusting “coyotes”. Most aliens save a lot of money and trust the smugglers to get them across safely but most of the time the immigrants do not make it across.

If the Mexican government had control of their problems in Mexico then their people would not want to move to the U.S. The big problem in Mexico right now is the drug war; the Mexican people are so scared and feel threaten, so they are crossing the borders illegally so they can get away from the troubles in their own country. 11500 people have died from the drug war in Mexico. If the government would create harsher laws against drugs and gangs people would not try to cross over.

The immigrants want to come over to the U.S because they think the U.S will be a good start for them, and they think they will have the “ American Dream”. Immigrants think that they will be able to get good jobs, and make a better living. When they make it over to the U.S they do get jobs, but they get the jobs that the typical American would not want to do, such as farming and harvesting fruits and vegetables. A good amount of deaths of the immigrants are from the parasites on the food they pick.

If 53% percent of your citizens are in poverty and a good amount of the other half of your citizens are crossing over to the U.S there must be something wrong with how you are running your country. The Mexican government needs to take the blame for all the problems in their country. They need to start making harsher laws so the citizen will feel apart of their own country, and feel safe in their country. So many citizens of Mexico try to cross, and don’t make it. Illegal crossing is now one of the highest rates of deaths in the world.

Age and Race test

Reflection Age Test

For the age test i agree with my results I do prefer young people over old people, but I really don't understand how that will help me in my life, but it was interesting to compare my results to everyone else, i was like 35% of everyone who prefer young people over old people.

Reflection Race Test 

For the Race test it said that I prefer Whites over blacks I don't believe that is true because I believe I like everyone equally, I'm not saying that I'm color blind or anything I'm just saying that I don't prefer any race over each other 

American Icon

Artist Statement

                                                             

 

           “I'm not intimidated by anyone. Everyone is made with two arms, two legs, a stomach and a head. Just think about that.” (Josephine Baker) Those words mean a lot to me because it explains that you should not be afraid or feel less than anyone because everyone is created equal. I live by that quote, because I know that I will do anything I need to do to exceeded and be happy in life. I’m not afraid of anyone because no one is better than me and I’m not better than anyone else; and that’s the motto Baker lived by.

Josephine Baker grew up in a very poor family; she was homeless for most of her childhood, and she dropped out of school when she was 12. In order to get money she used to dance on the street corners. By the age of 16, Baker’s talents were noticed, which set her on the path to be successful. When Josephine knew she was on the way to stardom she realized that this was a chance to set an example for her younger siblings. I admire Ms. Josephine Baker for realizing that she needed to be an example because there are so many people now that don’t think they can make a difference in someone’s life, but Baker knew that one day she would have an affect on some one.

She went on to France and became a dancer, singer, and an actress. While Baker was in France she was still aware of the racism in the United States. Josephine had such a huge problem with the racism that she moved to New York, and became a civil rights activist. She walked with Martin Luther King Jr. and to prove she supported equality she adopted twelve children from twelve different countries, and they were called the Rainbow tribe. Josephine made a very courageous choice by adopting all of the children because it put a lot of pressure on her because she had her career, and from making that choice she played a bigger role in the civil rights movement.

 I may not be an actress or a singer, and I know I was not a civil rights activist; but Josephine Baker and I are similar with the pressure put upon on us. Josephine Baker had a lot of pressure on her, from taking care of all twelve kids, to making speeches to help stop racism, and on top of all that she still needed to balance her performing career. I can relate to the pressure within my own family. My family has certain standards you have to meet. School comes first in my family, when you are in school you are to receive high grades and nothing less, you are to try hard and over succeed. They put pressure on the up and coming generations in our family because they believe that we are the future and one day we will be running this country, and they only want more for their children, they just want us to have the typical American Dream such as a job that can support our family and still be able to give money to others, and multiple homes and cars. Being a part of my family may have challenges but it teaches me to set an example for the generations after me. I want to follow in Josephine Baker’s footsteps by having the courage to set an example to other people and some day make a change in the world.

Josephine knew when she was on her way to becoming famous that she would make a difference in someone’s life, but little did she know that she affected the whole world by living her life

Reflection:

From this icon project I learned a lot about Josephine Baker as a person, and how I can actually relate to someone whose not me. This project really open my eyes about other people and I learned that the smallest thing can be an idol, such as a charity or just a belief.

After peer critique my statement only became more descriptive but i still needed to do have the teacher looked over this.

I think i did very good on this project. I worked very hard, I felt like i did A's work. 

Song Relation

"Lesson Learned"

(Alicia Keys feat. John Mayer)

He broke my heart

And now it's raining

Just to rub it in

I'm at your door

I feel so crazy about it

You'll say I told you so

You saw it long ago

You knew he had to go

I finally came 'round

I'm back on solid ground

Can't let it get me down

It's alright

It's alright

It's alright

Yes I was burned but I called it a lesson learned

Mistake overturned

So I call it a lesson learned

My soul has returned

So I call it a lesson learned

Another lesson learned

Sometimes

Some lies

Can take a minute

To fully realize

His tears

Your eyes

Thirty seconds to apologize

You give it one more chance

Just like the time before

But he already know you'd give a hundred more

Until that night in bed

You wake up in a sweat

You're racing to the door

Can't take it anymore

I was burned but I called it a lesson learned

Mistake overturned

So I call it a lesson learned

My soul has returned

So I call it a lesson learned

Another lesson learned

Life perfect

Ain't perfect

If you don't know what the struggle's for

Falling down ain't falling down

If you don't cry when you hit the floor

It's called the past cause I'm getting past

And I ain't nothing like I was before

You ought to see me now

Yes I was burned but I called it a lesson learned

Mistake overturned

So I call it a lesson learned

My soul has returned

So I call it a lesson learned

Another lesson learned

Yes I was burned but I called it a lesson learned

Mistake overturned

So I call it a lesson learned

My soul has returned

So I call it a lesson learned

Another lesson learned

I was burned but I called it a lesson learned

Mistake overturned

So I call it a lesson learned

My soul has returned

So I call it a lesson learned

This song relates to me because it explains how people can do things that can hurt you or in a deeper way of looking at it, is that you do make mistakes in life. Making mistakes in the song would be explained as being burned because when you get burned obviously its not on purpose, and when you make a mistake you learn from it and forgive your self or in other words you overturn the mistake. Then finally once you made your mistake and learned from it you move on with your life which can be explained as my soul has returned because you have accepted everything and learned from it. Even though this song is talking about a relationship and how it didn't work out, it relates to me because it explains that life isn't perfect and there are going to be struggles in life and thats how we grow as people from the hardships we go through. It also relates to me because it's saying to forgive and forget and to move on with your life, and that's what type of person I am. I do not dwell on things. I forgive and forget, because there are to many more important things in my life, than to just worry about what someone did to me or what ever mistake I made.