to show how innocent she is

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

Mr Sands

a racist stereotype that is used in Melville's Benito Cereno

as this narrative is true, I wonder how she came about this information?

mental resistance

here we see slavery as a mental/emotional oppression as well as a physical and legal oppression

keeping education and knowledge to themselves was a way white enslavers could keep control over the people they enslaved

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

often times songs were to communicate things they would not be allowed to say, plans to escape, songs of resistance and shared suffering,

again religion used as a means of control

treating people like chattel, and women as means of increasing stock, so disturbing

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

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" is clearly a white (northern?) person, this seems to be the audience her book is written for so far

disgusting

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)

jealous of the doctor's horrific treatment of Linda?

bear as in hold "treatment" off? Or continue it without the grandmother knowing?

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

very unexpected

continuing theme of motherhood

cruel

she must've been very young when she had "Linda"'s mother

awful language

of course this was the case because slaveowners have no honour and would not respect her grandmother's trust in them

how did he die?

father was not letting his children internalize the dehumanization forced on them by slavery

where does her grandmother live now?

this sentence is similar to the beginning of Female American, despite that text being totally made up

what is the meaning of romantic here?

who is this editor?

death? Decomposing in the earth? Reminds me of Wendell Berry's poems about dying and nature

reminds me of his O Pioneers O Pioneers poem

he lives a busy life I guess

not sure what's going on here...

haha!

I feel like he's a little more than a citizen at this point

???

again the theme of him being a god-like figure

using savage in a supposedly positive way?

calm down mate

wait what is the context for this? I'm confused

toxic amounts of empathy that disrespect the other person and yourself, no way to look after the wounded

this is going to far

wow ok

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

as in powerful grand landscapes? Not sure what masculine is meant to mean here

surprising metaphor though it works

this all at once rather overwhelming

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

vague yet incredibly visceral

enamored is a good word. He does seem extremely enamored by all the people and nature described in the poem

very sexualizing description

red?

beautiful

a strange kind of voyeurism here, not sure what he's trying to get across

is he referencing male/female as potential lovers or parts of himself I wonder

gorgeous poetry right here

heheh

he's trying to differentiate between his true Self and the person he has become as a byproduct of his culture etc

facing or accepting an undeniable truth or realization of identity? I feel mystery is positive and unapologetic here

critical thinking

poems as a state of being, not something you can control or create

neutrality of nature

perfume as a metaphor for conforming/toxic things that everyone around him is buying in to?

reminds me of Emerson's focus on speaking/living your original truth over being oppressed by consistency

implies ceasing is possible before death?

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

she writes as if she is literally a puppet completely controlled by God

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.

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.

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

I wonder if this was one of the Englishmen that were killed in the previous remove

I wonder if this means horse hooves

she's shockingly selfish, taking food from a child who couldn't eat it fast enough. Then citing the bible straight after!!

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?

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

Mary never considers this could actually be a joke

Every time one of the Native Americans is kind or generous and looks after her, she thinks it was all God's doing

frustratingly self-focused

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?

insolency growing worse? Mary has been depicting far more kind deeds the Native Americans have done for her as the text goes on.

"Nux" definition?

she was on a horse for most of the time...

same language people use about slave owners

who is King Philip? I feel confused about his role/significance in the narrative

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

how does she know? If she knows the English are there why does she not try to escape and go back to them?

so if she's so starved why isn't she eating?

I want to know more about who this mistress is

the "lord" being on the white person/colonizer's side always, as if endorsing their actions

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.

so the baby can speak? This dialogue seems strange coming from a baby

hideously hypocritical. HER people are actually the "barbarous enemy" and somehow she's in complete oblivion?

comparing the native americans congregating to the "waste" of dead animals

again using the same word people would use about animals (particularly wild animals) to describe indigenous people. Disgusting and dehumanizing

who's "we"?

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?

who exactly does "public" imply here?

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.

why "seems" here and not "is"?

learning in a "fun" way, whatever that constitutes (varies professor to professor) is proven to boost student engagement with course material

what does unexpected mean here?

is there a difference?

how we frame different texts is crucial to the purpose they can serve in shifting or cementing cultural beliefs

unanswerable questions do really create the most engaging debates