Freedumb

Linda was able to finally escape to the north through the help of her friend Peter. At first when he offered her safe passage to the North, she turned him down due to the killing of a fugitive slave in the recent past that had deeply frightened her grandmother. She instead has Peter take her fugitive friend Fanny to the boat with him. However, eventually her grandmother relented, and Linda joined Fanny on the boat to Philadelphia to begin a new life in a free northern state. This does not end her troubles with the Flint family, who continued to pursue Linda to bring her back home until well after the death of Dr. Flint, but this gave Linda her first experience working for herself and gave a glimpse of what it was like to truly be without a master. The one thing that did upset her about this freedom was the fact that she was never able to see her grandmother while they were both free women even though they both died free.

FREE PHILTHY RICH!!!!!

Ahnestee phur Kredibyllitee

"And I was so selfish. I thought more of what I had lost, than of what my brother had gained. A new anxiety began to trouble me." In this passage, Linda is referencing the escape of her brother from the friendly captivity, yet captivity nevertheless, of Mr. Sands. Linda's honesty is important in this passage due to the fact that William's escape does not necessarily please here even though he is free, because she found the relationship between her and her brother to be more important than the freedom of one party or the other. This is a fairly common notion in slave culture at the time: that the sense of community between all of the slaves on a certain plantation is more important than the rights of individual members of the group, something that would not be expected in a situation like theirs.

FREE PHILTHY RICH!!!

Innsidence in the Lyph of a Slayv Gurlll

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl has a certain raw energy to it that cannot be compared to any textbook reading I have done or any encyclopedia entry. This raw energy comes from the course, biting language used throughout the narrative. Without such verbage within the story, I think the story would be less captivating. What makes this so special is the rough texture that the dialogue creates. Slavery was not pretty, fluffy or clean, and the story comes off as a much better representation of real life slavery due to the language it uses. Also, I find this story to be more powerful because it is a true story and not a work of fiction. This is because the sheer fact that this particular story actually happened has a much stronger mental effect. Had this story been just a representation of something that may have happened on a plantation that really isn't based on an actual story, I would have taken the plot to a much less serious degree. However, because of the nature of this true story, I not only have really been absorbed into the story, but I also have taken its message much more seriously.

Free Big Lurch!

Let's talk about racism!

Due to my generally tranquil cheery nature, I tend to avoid confrontation of any kind, especially confrontations about something I hate talking about like race. However, I have been a witness to several different interactions involving heated discussions about whether or not someone has been acting "racist" by the way they have been talking or acting, and believe me, I'm happy I've stayed out of it up to this point. From what I have seen, really there is no winner in these kinds of discussions because the conversation eventually declines into a name-calling shouting match which is utterly useless. I find this disappointing because if there are ever true racial issues that arise in our society, they are almost impossible to discuss without America, the country that cried racist, flipping out and discrediting the real problems. I completely agree with Wachtel in that the word "racist" has totally lost its value because of its massive overuse. It is being used to describe things that should be labeled as prejudice, bias, bigotry, etc. I find it interesting how the misuse of language has actually desensitized the public to an issue that is largely important in today's society.

Free Big Lurch!

Soeshelyz8hun Prahsess

Vincent Parillo's Socialization Process is a process in which individuals acquire what they value, believe, and perceive of different groups of people, usually conforming to the beliefs of their parents or other major role models in youth. The youth in question usually has no other sources of alternatives to the beliefs of his/her parents, so their beliefs are usually accepted as the real ones from a very early age. I believe this process does instill beliefs just from looking at my childhood, and I don't think there is anything wrong with this. It is a parent's responsibility to teach their children wrong from right and how to treat other people. Had my parents been woman-hating white supremacists, I probably would have at least started out as one too! Parillo's socialization process definitely exists in our society, and a cycle of bigotry is created by parents producing hateful children, who then produce hateful children of there own and so on.

Nodes on the Stayt of Vurjinya

Many of the ideas that Thomas Jefferson pushed in the late 18th century as our fledgling country expanded tended to have a very "Do as I say, not as I do" approach. Jefferson, just like everyone else, was very human in that he knew what was best for both him and his country, but did not really want to change his actions in order to achieve these goals. Just like a vast amount of our nations' founding fathers, Jefferson at times showed a desire to end slavery, but he wanted this to take place well after he had died. Also, before declaring Jefferson a hypocrite bastard for what he wrote in the Declaration of Independence despite his slave ownership, one must remember that hindsight is 20/20 and that many things in today's society that are totally unacceptable were considered in Jefferson's time to just be "how life worked", such as challenging people to duels, wearing stupid powdered white wigs, and even owning slaves. I'm not trying to absolve Jefferson from his wrongdoings throughout his life. All I'm saying is that Jefferson was really no different as far as hypocrisy than the other prominent politicians of his era and should be looked upon as such.

Alger Cruise

In the story of Steven Cruz, we find a man who has risen through company ranking and has received high praise from his peers. However, Cruz is judged based on his accomplishments compared to other members of his race, who have been stereotyped to not be as successful or as hard working. This makes Cruz fairly unsatisfied with his situation, and even though he has achieved many things, he does not attribute them to his work, but rather to his race.
This is quite a contrast to the ideas presented in "Ragged Dick"by Horatio Alger. Alger's position is that with hard work and perseverance, anyone can achieve great things in America. However, Cruz's situation contrasts in the way that his position was not earned or judged on merit alone. Although this does not make him unworthy of his position in any way, it does present the fact that the world is not judged on an even plane and in some places, there will be biases that put some at an advantage over others.