The more my mind had become enlightened, the more difficult it was for me to consider myself an article of property;
shows how enslavement is a mental emotional abuse, that a way to control and beat people down is to stop them from educating themselves or prevent enlightenment
y. Poor old man!
how is her grandmother able to have such a forgiving attitude?
I was resolved to stand up for my rights, they concluded to treat me well.
one of the first times in the book she has been able to stand up for her rights and with a successful result
f Mrs. Bruce and the smiles of her lovely bab
motherhood
my troubles had helped to finish the work.
blaming herself
es a resemblance to him.
evidence of his crimes
a mother’s love to shelter her from the storms of life; almost without memory of a mother!
continuing theme of motherhood
ought more of what I had lost, than of what my brother had gained.
freedom or family, there has to be a sacrifice
Dr. Flint made a third visit to New York, in search of me
why is he still so obsessed with finding her after all this time?
as part of the price I had paid for the redemption of my children
theme of good things she accomplishes coming with huge and detrimental sacrifices
ould not be ignorant of many such facts as these, for they are of frequent occurrence in every Southern State. Yet he stood up in the Congress of the United States, and declared that slavery wa
cognitive dissonance
were thrown open for them to pass in and out
to show how innocent she is
source of perpetual anxiety to my kind benefactress
it seems sees herself as a burden in this sentence, not as if she has a human right to the shelter her "benefactress" is giving
trader
Mr Sands
cunning
a racist stereotype that is used in Melville's Benito Cereno
thoroughly examined, and the law against harboring fugitives was read to all on board.
as this narrative is true, I wonder how she came about this information?
ot, of course, with a willing mind.
mental resistance
slavery still held me in its poisonous grasp. There was no chance for me to be respectable.
here we see slavery as a mental/emotional oppression as well as a physical and legal oppression
White man is got all de sense
keeping education and knowledge to themselves was a way white enslavers could keep control over the people they enslaved
er liberated slaves were sent away, with funds to establish them comfortably. The colored people will long bless the memory of that truly Christian woman.
example of "truly christian" white women saving the enslaved people to help motivate Jacob's audience of northern white women to be against slavery and feel like they could have power to change things and hero status as abolitionists
you might think they were happy
often times songs were to communicate things they would not be allowed to say, plans to escape, songs of resistance and shared suffering,
eligious instruction to keep them from murdering their masters
again religion used as a means of control
remind me that my child was an addition to his stock of slaves.
treating people like chattel, and women as means of increasing stock, so disturbing
now what it is that keeps me from killing you.” Again he rose, as if he had a mind to strike me
threatening her and then not hurting her maybe to make her feel indebted to him for not hurting her in those moments? Manipulating her with a sense of false safety so he can better overpower her? he's such a nasty twisted person
hysician there were certain things that he ought to have explained to me.
doctors sexually abusing/harassing/assaulting women, particularly women of colour has been a hidden problem in medical institutions and private practices throughout America's history
you
"you" is clearly a white (northern?) person, this seems to be the audience her book is written for so far
Women are considered of no value, unless they continually increase their owner’s stock. They are put on a par with animals.
disgusting
uncivilized communities
uncivilized referencing the wealthy white plantation owners, this word has been applied differently in other texts we've read (referring to Indigenous people or African people)
jealousy
jealous of the doctor's horrific treatment of Linda?
ade him bear this treatment for many months
bear as in hold "treatment" off? Or continue it without the grandmother knowing?
He that is willing to be a slave, let him be a slave.”
what exactly does this mean here? It feels like resignation but also a kind of agency? Can any one ever be willing to be a slave? I was confused by this
added, “I shall be glad to tell your mother I have seen you. Good by, Ben.”
very unexpected
of feeling a mother’s agonie
continuing theme of motherhood
he did this to prevent the coo
cruel
just fifty years old.
she must've been very young when she had "Linda"'s mother
prefer to dispose of her at private sale.
awful language
were never repaid
of course this was the case because slaveowners have no honour and would not respect her grandmother's trust in them
respected his memory
how did he die?
by teaching them to feel that they were human beings. This was blasphemous doctrine for a slave to teach; presumptuous in him, and dangerous to the masters.
father was not letting his children internalize the dehumanization forced on them by slavery
my grandmother
where does her grandmother live now?
ured this narrative is no fiction. I am aware that some of my adventures may seem incredible; but they are, nevertheless, strictly true. I have not exaggerated the wrongs inflicted by Slavery
this sentence is similar to the beginning of Female American, despite that text being totally made up
romantic
what is the meaning of romantic here?
Editor
who is this editor?
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.
death? Decomposing in the earth? Reminds me of Wendell Berry's poems about dying and nature
Shoulder your duds dear son, and I will mine, and let us hasten forth, Wonderful cities and free nations we shall fetch as we go.
reminds me of his O Pioneers O Pioneers poem
My lovers suffocate me, Crowding my lips, thick in the pores of my skin, Jostling me through streets and public halls, coming naked to me at night, Crying by day Ahoy! from the rocks of the river, swinging and chirping over my head, Calling my name from flower-beds, vines, tangled underbrush, Lighting on every moment of my life, Bussing my body with soft balsamic busses, Noiselessly passing handfuls out of their hearts and giving them to be mine.
he lives a busy life I guess
Making a fetich of the first rock or stump, powowing with sticks in the circle of obis, Helping the llama or brahmin as he trims the lamps of the idols, Dancing yet through the streets in a phallic procession,
not sure what's going on here...
I know perfectly well my own egotism,
haha!
I am one of the citizens,
I feel like he's a little more than a citizen at this point
By my life-lumps
???
I am he bringing help for the sick as they pant on their backs, And for strong upright men I bring yet more needed help.
again the theme of him being a god-like figure
The friendly and flowing savage,
using savage in a supposedly positive way?
embody themselves in me and I am embodied in them,
calm down mate
That is the tale of the murder of the four hundred and twelve young men. 35
wait what is the context for this? I'm confused
I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person,
toxic amounts of empathy that disrespect the other person and yourself, no way to look after the wounded
I am the hounded slave, I wince at the bite of the dogs, Hell and despair are upon me, crack and again crack the marksmen,
this is going to far
I tighten her all night to my thighs and lips.
wow ok
They bring me tokens of myself,
I can never tell if he is infatuated with something because it reminds him of himself or if he legitimately loves the nature/people/etc that he is relating
Landscapes projected masculine
as in powerful grand landscapes? Not sure what masculine is meant to mean here
Straining the udder of my heart for its withheld drip,
surprising metaphor though it works
Turbulent, fleshy, sensual, eating, drinking and breeding.
this all at once rather overwhelming
And these tend inward to me, and I tend outward to them, And such as it is to be of these more or less I am,
so loving/connecting with all these random people is part of how he connects with/loves himself? Either way I keep coming back to Emerson's idea of "Man Thinking" in The American Scholar
What is removed drops horribly in a pail;
vague yet incredibly visceral
m enamour’d
enamored is a good word. He does seem extremely enamored by all the people and nature described in the poem
coarse straight locks descended upon her voluptuous limbs and reach’d
very sexualizing description
red girl,
red?
What living and buried speech is always vibrating here, what
beautiful
The suicide sprawls on the bloody floor of the bedroom, I witness the corpse with its dabbled hair, I note where the pistol has fallen.
a strange kind of voyeurism here, not sure what he's trying to get across
me mine male and female,
is he referencing male/female as potential lovers or parts of himself I wonder
beautiful uncut hair of graves.
gorgeous poetry right here
produced babe of the vegetation.
heheh
pulling and hauling stands what I am,
he's trying to differentiate between his true Self and the person he has become as a byproduct of his culture etc
I and this mystery here we stand.
facing or accepting an undeniable truth or realization of identity? I feel mystery is positive and unapologetic here
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.
critical thinking
origin of all poems,
poems as a state of being, not something you can control or create
distillation, it is odorless,
neutrality of nature
The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.
perfume as a metaphor for conforming/toxic things that everyone around him is buying in to?
Nature without check with original energy.
reminds me of Emerson's focus on speaking/living your original truth over being oppressed by consistency
Hoping to cease not till death.
implies ceasing is possible before death?
. That we must rely on God Himself, and our whole dependance must be upon Him.
The whole text has been repeating this in different ways. It really is like she's trying to write a puritan moral fairytale to teach others to see religion as she does
carried us along
she writes as if she is literally a puppet completely controlled by God
shaking me by the hand
the entire 11 wks she spent disrespecting them and thinking of them "creatures", "heathens" and "inhumane"; they respected and had included her as member of their community--despite how racist, selfish and ungrateful she was.
wonderful power of God in providing for such a vast number of our enemies in the wilderness,
this makes me so mad. She just listed all the lengths the Native Americans go to to seek out and cook all these complicated and different types of meats and plants. THEY are doing the work and providing for themselves, not God. Maybe that's why Mary is so lazy and complaining, because she expects God to do absolutely bloody everything for her.
Lord provide for them
So God doesn't just look after white narcissistic colonizers after all... big surprise for Mary. And ALSO, why can't she see what's right in front of her? The Native Americans don't die of hunger because they are resourceful, smart, and are willing to travel to find food or hunt, even if they feel weak, instead of just falling in a heap and complaining, like Mary
Englishman
I wonder if this was one of the Englishmen that were killed in the previous remove
horses feet;
I wonder if this means horse hooves
eat it myself
she's shockingly selfish, taking food from a child who couldn't eat it fast enough. Then citing the bible straight after!!
barbarous heathens
Had she started to subconsciously let go of these racist beliefs and is trying to remind herself here of what she "should" or wants to believe?
m him.
always always referencing the Bible to comfort her self, I feel it goes beyond a normal amount of praying, to me it reads as obsessive and overly dependent
ddictedness to lying
Mary never considers this could actually be a joke
the good providence of God,
Every time one of the Native Americans is kind or generous and looks after her, she thinks it was all God's doing
almost outrageous
frustratingly self-focused
the redemption
Could be my lack of Christian knowledge but what exactly does she mean by redemption? What does she expect to happen? How will she know when she's been redeemed?
their insolency
insolency growing worse? Mary has been depicting far more kind deeds the Native Americans have done for her as the text goes on.
Nux,
"Nux" definition?
many weary steps
she was on a horse for most of the time...
master and mistress to dinner
same language people use about slave owners
King Philip.
who is King Philip? I feel confused about his role/significance in the narrative
Psalm 118.17-18
the amount of quotes from the Bible reads like she's holding the "comforting Scripture" up in contrast to her "heathen" environment, to make a point about the superiority of Christian values, in a kind of racist moral tale
the English army after them to this river
how does she know? If she knows the English are there why does she not try to escape and go back to them?
their filthy trash
so if she's so starved why isn't she eating?
my mistress
I want to know more about who this mistress is
Lord renewed my strength
the "lord" being on the white person/colonizer's side always, as if endorsing their actions
inhumane creatures, laughed,
That horrible word creatures again. She's so self obsessed and racist and wrapped up in her white misery that she has no idea how generous they are being giving her one of their horses.
“I shall die, I shall die.”
so the baby can speak? This dialogue seems strange coming from a baby
the savageness and brutishness of this barbarous enemy
hideously hypocritical. HER people are actually the "barbarous enemy" and somehow she's in complete oblivion?
as miserable was the waste that was there made of horses, cattle, sheep, swine, calves, lambs, roasting pigs, and fowl
comparing the native americans congregating to the "waste" of dead animals
creatures
again using the same word people would use about animals (particularly wild animals) to describe indigenous people. Disgusting and dehumanizing
we
who's "we"?
that everyone can understand and enjoy.
what specific techniques/methods do the texts and their framing in this anthology employ in order for the whole to be accessible and enjoyable to everyone?
public context
who exactly does "public" imply here?
ontributors to this anthology are as well with each ye
the writers/creators of the anthology are as ever-shifting and diverse as the literature itself. This seems a fitting way to create an anthology representative of the vast and diverse authors who've contributed/are contributing to american lit.
seems
why "seems" here and not "is"?
ave fun while learning.
learning in a "fun" way, whatever that constitutes (varies professor to professor) is proven to boost student engagement with course material
unexpected combination of texts
what does unexpected mean here?
is the difference between American literature and American history?
is there a difference?
framing the texts
how we frame different texts is crucial to the purpose they can serve in shifting or cementing cultural beliefs
Many of these questions remain unanswered
unanswerable questions do really create the most engaging debates