Uncle Toms Cabin Essays (Examples)

Uncle Tom's Cabin - Fiction as a Catalyst for Fact
The Origins of a Living Document

Stage Night

North and South Polarized: Critics Respond

The Abolitionist Debates

The Tom Caricature

The Greatest Impact

The Origins of a Living Document

In her own words, Harriet Beecher Stowe was compelled to pen Uncle Tom's Cabin "....because as a woman, as a mother, I was oppressed and broken-hearted with the sorrows and injustice I saw, because as a Christian I felt the dishonor to Christianity -because as a lover of my country, I trembled at the coming day of wrath."1 Stowe was born in Litchfield, Connecticut on June 14th, 1811. Her strong moral convictions may be attributed to the fact that she was raised as the daughter of a well-known Congregationalist minister, Lyman Beecher.

Harriet was the seventh of nine children, which certainly implies an instilled sense of tolerance, fairness and sharing throughout…

Stowe (2005) decided to change all of that.
Stowe (2005) shows what appears to be romantic racialism in that all black people are portrayed as docile, simple, childlike, and very Christian. On the other hand, anyone who is mixed race is not like that at all. He or she is very intelligent, but also very discontented with the position that he or she has in slavery, allegedly because of the white man's blood that flows through his or her veins. What is more important than that, though, is what is truly important to focus on when looking at Uncle Tom's Cabin. Stowe (2005) created an attack on slavery that was basically domestic, because she found a way to associate slavery in the public sphere with capitalism and economy. The slaves themselves she associated with Christianity and womanhood.

During the time in which she was writing the book, the culture was…

hether a character is imprisoned by his own inability to shake loose from discomfort, or enslaved through none of his own doing, the universal human sentiment is to set the character free. Meanwhile I disagree with Hochman when she writes that the book's "direct attack on the peculiar institution subverted its claim to timelessness" and adds that because it "critiqued a social evil in a particular historical period" it failed to "transcend its own cultural moment." ith the strength of novel's characters and their interaction, and the poignant and graphic depictions of the era of cruelty, how can Hochman make the absurd claim that it is not timeless? For one thing, the differences on issues of ethnicity are still with us. Racism did not disappeared along with Jim Crow laws -- it is alive in 2010. Cruelty is still unfortunately part of our society (re: the psychological and sexual abuse…

Uncle Tom's Cabin -- Character Analysis
Eva St. Claire, also known as Little Eva, is an important character in Uncle Tom's Cabin. She enters the life of Uncle Tom, the main character who is a slave, when he saves her from drowning in the Mississippi River. Eva convinces her father to buy Tom and he heads back to the St. Claire plantation, where holds the role of head coachman. Eva is important to the story because she is the character that Tom befriends at the plantation.

From the beginning of the story, it is easy to see why everyone is so enamored with Eva -- she is angelic in nature. Although she is a young girl, she is wise beyond her years and demonstrates an unfailing good nature. She is always talking about God and love and forgiveness. Her influence is most apparent when she convinces a bitter slave girl…

Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe and "Sociology of the South," and "Cannibals All" by Charles Fitzhugh. Specifically it will contrast and compare the two authors' feelings, beliefs, and attitudes regarding the role of the master in the society of slavery. Is the master a fatherly figure or only there to keep the slaves in line? It will also look at the role of the overseer. Were overseers "fatherly" as owners were or were they more brutal and cruel to slaves? These three very different works take two very diverse looks at slavery, one through the eyes of a slave-owner committed to the practice, and one through the eyes of an abolitionist, and they come to quite differing conclusions. Ultimately, history shows, from many other slave narratives and accounts, that the cruelty endured by most slaves was monumental, and their masters were sometimes cruel and inhuman. These two authors…

When she is not utilizing dialogue, she uses vivid descriptions to make even minor characters jump from the page. Later she writes, "Great, tall, raw-boned Kentuckians, attired in hunting-shirts, and trailing their loose joints over a vast extent of territory" (Stowe 124). The rough men become real as they gather around the firelight, and that is because of Stowe's skill with characterization and description. Stowe's depiction and dialogue is vital to the book and the depth of the plot, and is one of the elements combined to create fine writing.
Stowe's reasons for writing this novel are abundantly clear. She was an ardent abolitionist and had witnessed great misery in the black community. She felt an immense need to bring it to the public and show them just a few of the cruelties and humiliation slaves endured. Newspapers and books were the only real media of the day to reach…

Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe [...] character of Simon Legree and his great cruelty toward the slaves he managed. Simon Legree is certainly the villain in this story about a gentle black slave and his life. In fact, the name Simon Legree has come to mean cruelty and bitter hatred in our society. Legree's character may be a larger-than-life villain, but he represents many of the most cruel and inhumane slave owners of the time. He may seem "over the top" now, but when "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was written in the 1850s, Simon Legrees were quite common, which makes the character all the more chilling. Legree serves an important purpose in the novel. He is a metaphor for the atrocities some slaves had to endure, and why they hoped so passionately for freedom, and in addition, he represents the devil, or ultimate evil in the world.
There is…

Uncle Tom
Although President Lincoln might have overstated the importance of Uncle Tom's Cabin as being a singular cause for the war, the statement does capture the fact that literature serves as a reflection for social values and norms. Abolitionism did become a major political force in the antebellum years, which is why Lincoln and the Union were willing to wage war for so many years and sacrifice so many lives. Of course, there were economic motives for the war (Tindall). Unionists were still mostly whites with racist beliefs, and their impetus for fighting was based as much on the need to retain access to Southern wealth and resources. Abolitionist views provided a convenient political foundation for the policies shaping Union efforts to prevent Southern cession. Read as a representation of abolitionism, Uncle Tom's Cabin serves almost as a piece of political propaganda.

"The little woman who wrote the book…

It is entirely through such efforts that the larger impact of the novel is made.
One scene in particular is meant as an especially compelling emotional allegory, and is very effective at making the undeniable and intimate nature of human feelings as a basis for moral decisions-making abundantly clear. When Mrs. Bird catches her two sons tormenting defenseless kittens, she berates them and ultimately succumbs to tears at the plight and pain of the cats and, perhaps even more so, at the cruelty of her own children. It seems to be in man's nature -- and specifically in man's nature as opposed to woman's -- to practice cruelty, yet even the practitioners can usually be made to recognize that their cruelty is wrong simply by dint of being cruel, and for no other logical or deduced reason. Their mother's tears more than her stern admonitions cause the boys to understand…

" Steinbeck's novel was written in a much different style, much more modern, and so it is easier for modern readers to relate to it. Each of the novels places the characters in poor situations, so they all compare to each other in this regard. The reader becomes sympathetic to them because of their plight, and they want them to win. Unfortunately, because of society at the time, for most of the characters, that is not possible. Steinbeck's account of the Joads leaves them in a terrible situation by the end of the book, yet they somehow remain hopeful. Steinbeck is looking at the American people as a whole, and how, when the times are the worst, they still hang on to hope.
As for social impetus, the books did spark change. "The Jungle" actually helped form the first department in Washington to deal with food safety, the Federal Department…

net to acquire background information on the infamous Astor Place Riots in the early 19th Century. B. Do the same with Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom's Cabin. C. Read the play, Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Astor Place Riots: hat happened? (Approximately one page) In what respects was the Astor Place Riots a continuation of the themes found in the play, The Contrast? (Approximately one page) Uncle Tom's Cabin: Discuss two themes in the play. Also, do you find the play still relevant? Did it move you? (Approximately two pages)
The Astor Place riots: hat happened?

The Astor Place riots were a result of the professional rivalry between two great tragedians, that of the American actor Edwin Forrest vs. The Englishman illiam Charles Macready. The two actors had offered the theater-going public of New York their contrasting interpretations of Hamlet, and when both actors were scheduled to play Macbeth on…

Sentimental vs. Realistic Techniques: Modern African-American Questions Addressed in Contemporary and 19th Century American Fiction
Despite critical caveats about literary quality, the use of sentimental techniques in novels that attempt to precipitate social change are ultimately more persuasive than the use of modernist techniques in similarly motivated social activist novels. Therefore, sentimental strategies that encourage readers to identify with idealized characters and familiar, even formulaic plots allow sentimental novels to act as more popularly persuasive vehicles for social change than modernist novels that deploy realistic techniques through less obvious strategies of identifying with protagonists and which present more morally complex scenarios.

One of the greatest strengths of the sentimental novel is its ability to elicit empathy. Although a literary critic may blanch and the use of such devices as stock characters and idealized moral scenarios in sentimental novels, as deployed most vividly in such works as Uncle Tom's Cabin by…

It is due to inadequate "civilized amenities," meaning, that people are subjected to drinking water that is contaminated by feces. It can also be treated with lots of fluids and electrolytes, but these countries do not have the knowledge or resources to save people from dying from cholera.
8. John Updike Down the River In what respectis Uncle Tom's Cabin superior to Huckleberry Finn?

Because the black man, Jim, in Twain's story, is a more realistic person. He is responsible, and has dreams of buying his deaf daughter's freedom, while experiencing his freedom on the raft. Uncle Tom is not a genuine character.

9. Elizabeth Kolbert Dead Reckoning Why have the Turks refused to acknowledge the Armenian genocide?

The Turks are afraid of losing their identity as a nation. They do not want to admit that their existence as a nation is the result of war crimes.

They want the…

In the cinema, women were often sexual, powerful vamps and flappers, portrayed by actresses like Louise Brooks and Clara Bow. Flappers cut off their long hair and shed their long skirts for a more athletic and empowered appearance. However, although the flapper was culturally significant in terms of her image and power, her time in the limelight was relatively brief. Born of the prosperity of the Roaring 20s, during the Great Depression, women faced more sober circumstances. Still, many women continued to work, often because they were now the primary breadwinners for impoverished households. But working away from the home and female independence was less idealized. Films such as The Gold Diggers of 1933 showed women looking to marriage as a way of relieving their economic despair.

Katherine Hepburn: The Next New oman

hile some of the stars to emerge during the 1930s were decorous and feminine, others, such as…

Trip to Chinatown / Hello, Dolly!
One might not ordinarily associate comedienne Carol Channing with formidable erudition, but the Broadway premiere of Hello, Dolly! In 1964 would manage to unite them both thanks to the participation of Thornton ilder. ilder remains persistently underrated in the canon of American drama, partly because his own achievement had originally derived from fiction -- yet an examination of ilder's own notebooks reveals that his own successful stage plays were frequently based on his own critical and scholarly engagement with the most abstruse sort of Modernist texts. ilder would claim that his sprawling 1942 comedy The Skin of Our Teeth, which would win that year's Pulitzer Prize, had been based on James Joyce's Finnegans ake (which presumably would have come as a great surprise to Tallulah Bankhead, who starred in ilder's play). Yet it is my contention that among the many learned influences upon ilder's…

)
Slavery was one, but not the only, cause of the Civil War. In fact, the institution of slavery represents a combination of social, political, and economic forces at play throughout the United States. For one, Westward expansion and the principle of Manifest Destiny gave rise to the important issue of whether to allow slavery in new territories or to leave the question of slavery up to the residents in the new territory or state. he Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, the formation of the new Republican party and the election of Lincoln, the Nat urner rebellion, the introduction of Uncle om's Cabin into popular culture, and especially Westward expansion were among the most important events that led up to the outbreak of the Civil War.

he Compromise of 1850 was disastrous in that it accomplished nothing to promote human rights…

Representations of omen
The concept of slavery in America has engendered a great deal of scholarship. During the four decades following reconstruction, despite the hopes of the liberals in the North, the position of the Negro in America declined. After President Lincoln's assassination and the resulting malaise and economic awakening of war costs, much of the political and social control in the South was returned to the white supremacists. Blacks were left at the mercy of ex-slaveholders and former Confederates, as the United States government adopted a laissez-faire policy regarding the "Negro problem" in the South. The era of Jim Crow brought to the American Negro disfranchisement, social, educational and occupational discrimination, mass mob violence, murder, and lynching. Under a sort of peonage, black people were deprived of their civil and human rights and reduced to a status of quasi-slavery or "second-class" citizenship (Foner). Strict legal segregation of public facilities…

Thoreau, Stowe, Melville and Douglas: Reflections on Slavery
Henry David Thoreau, Harriet Beacher Stowe, Herman Melville and Fredrick Douglass all opposed the intuition of slavery in the United States in the middle of the nineteen century. This matter deeply divided the nation and ultimately led to the Civil ar in 1860. hile southerner's saw the matter as a state's rights issue, abolitions framed the debate from a moral perspective. Most people in the south felt that slaves were their property, and it was for them to decide the moral and religious right of the slavery question. They saw the abolition of slavery as a threat to their very way of life. Abolitionists believed there was no distinction between slavery and liberty, a nation that condoned slavery could not be truly free (Foner). Each of these writers presented their views of slavery in there literary works.

Discussion

Henry David Thoreau

On…

Voice & Identity in "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass"
This essay discusses the book NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS, AN AMERICAN SLAVE: WRITTEN BY HIMSELF, by Frederick Douglass, John W. Blassingame, John R. McKivigan (Editor) and Peter P. Hinks (Yale University, 2001).

Frederick Douglass was an early-19th century American slave who escaped the South and found freedom in the North. Seven years after his escape, Douglass published "Narratives of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave," his story of his life under the brutal system of American slavery, as well as his ability to prevail under and escape such difficult circumstances. It has become an American classic.

Narrative of the Life," published in 1845, was the first book of Douglass' writing and journalism career. He went on from "Narratives" to become an accomplished speaker and journalist, arguing passionately for the abolition of slavery, and describing…

Mis) representations of African-Americans in film:
From the Birth of a Nation onward

Recently, the Academy of Motion Pictures awarded 12 Years a Slave the title of Best Picture of the year. However, it is important to remember that the development of American cinema, racism, and the perpetuation of African-American stereotypes in film has a long and ignoble history. In the essay "The Good Lynching and Birth of a Nation: Discourses and aesthetics of Jim Crow," historian Michele Faith allace examines how one of the great silent film epics directed by cinematic master D.. Griffith consciously and subconsciously validated hegemonic racial ideologies. allace argues that when cinema was in its infancy, although African-Americans were portrayed on screen less frequently than whites, they were not addressed in the same derogatory manner as characterized the Griffith epic and Griffith's masterpiece set the tone for decades afterward. "The film's continued notoriety challenges all…

Life of a Slave Girl
Harriet Jacob's autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, is a traditionally fashioned slave narrative printed around 1861. In it, one sees a fascinating and tragic personal view into the American past that both parallels traditional histories and also highlights elements of those histories that might otherwise escape notice. If it were not for such slave narratives, the dominant literary discourse of the era might have remained in the hands of those who were responsible for slavery or supported it economically in other ways. While one can see in this story a definite sense of bowing to overwhelming white preconceptions and moralities, particularly in terms of the expected behavior of a "virtuous" unmarried girl, there is also a large amount of what must have then been controversial condemnation of many of the aspects of American culture. Through providing this alternate perspective to the…

Over the course of time, this helps to fuel anger and a sense of helplessness, that no can be able to take charge of their own future. A good example of this can be found with the passage that says, "For years, hate had become with them a habit. It had given an object and a target to their impotent anger. Only there was one condition: that was reconciliation. And what did it cost them? A mere gesture, a few steps like walking over a bridge, and they would leave behind bad days of poverty, they would enter the land of abundance." (Roumain, 1944, pr. 131) This is significant, because this passage is highlighting the underlying challenges facing Haiti on a daily basis. Where, everyone becomes focused on themselves and angry about the entire situation (i.e. The poverty and harsh economic conditions). At which point, they will begin to take…

Even "Porter Alexander, Lee's ordnance chief and one of the most perceptive contemporary observers of Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia, called his decision to stand at Antietam 'the greatest military blunder that Gen. Lee ever made'" (Owens 2004). Historians are divided as to the real purpose behind the Maryland campaign, which seems like an "isolated maneuver, another manifestation of Lee's innate aggressiveness as a commander. Some have gone so far as to suggest that Lee's forays into Union territory were undertaken primarily to maintain his claim on scarce Confederate resources that might have been used to greater strategic purpose in the est" (Owens 2004).
hether a demoralization strategy or an effort merely to show Confederate aggression, the focus on Lee in most historians' analysis shows how Lee dominated this conflict, and defined the terms of the battle. Thus, even if Lee acted unwisely, he was clearly 'in control,'…

In another McGraw Hill edition, entitled American History: Early Years to 1877, there does seem to be more of a stress upon being clear and factual, rather than presenting an equal number of women and men than in the Houghton Mifflin approach. Major figures such as George ashington, Abraham Lincoln, and Ulysses Grant are given the greatest amount of attention. Issues of sex, gender, and sexual orientation and gender identity are seldom included in this textbook. There was an avoidance of special 'boxed' topics, segregating female or diversity issues away from other issues.

In most of these social studies books, the issue of female oppression is not at the forefront, although when relevant to the history of the past, such as with the struggles of African-Americans to find their way to freedom via the Underground Railroad under Harriet Tubman's watch, these issues are not ignored. This raises the question, of…

Far from being contrite, Southerners more emphatically held to the perceived, innate superiority of their race and breeding, comparing themselves to Biblical patriarchs as a means of validating these perceptions and justifying slavery (432). If Perry's journey had demonstrated Northern hubris, Stowe's novel generated its Southern equivalent.
Then, there was an ironic unification of the British and the Americans in the development of Samuel Colt's revolver in these years. hile the new gun was proving remarkably effective in aiding American conquest of Native American territories, it meant more than this; it was evidence of Anglo-Saxon superiority, which inspired the British as well (424). Old animosities, it seems, were lost in the greater commonality of a shared idea of racial superiority. On the strictly American front, this belief in Protestant and white superiority was also fueled by challenges coming from other nations. Long before the great tide of European immigration at…

Civil ar and Sectionalism
Even after the creation of the United States of America in 1776, sectionalism guided economic and political realities throughout the union. The United States developed regional economies, regional philosophies, and regional politics. Slavery, its economics and its politics, was the most contentious issue that divided the nation along northern and southern lines, and would eventually cause the Civil ar. As early as the 1790s, the northern states abolished slavery within their borders while the Southern states held on strong to the institution. Sectionalism would become the key cause of the Civil ar, the bloody manifestation of sectionalist issues within the United States.

Early signs of sectionalism became evident as early as the ar of 1812. The New England states still held strong economic ties with Great Britain, so those states generally opposed the war for financial reasons. Clearly, the economies of the north and south were…

Compromise of 1850 was. Was it a successful compromise? Why or why not? The Compromise of 1850 addressed the issue of slavery in the growing Union, and also contained the "Fugitive Slave Act," which stated that slaves who escaped from bondage in the South would be returned to their owners. The Compromise was contentious from the first, and many believe it ultimately helped create the atmosphere in both North and South that led to the South's secession from the Union and Civil War.
Basically, the Compromise of 1850 was an attempt by two sides who did not agree to reach a compromise by altering how states entered the Union, and whether they chose to become slave-holding states or free states. Many powerful politicians worked on the compromise, including Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Jefferson Davis, William Seward, Stephen Douglas, and many others. The Compromise centered on…

black women contribute to the early abolitionist movement? hat types of restrictions did women (both white and black) face in American society at this point? hy did more people at this point accept the idea of freeing blacks than giving women equal rights and opportunity?
American women, black and white, were prohibited from voting in both the antebellum Northern and Southern states. Yet African-American women still played a prominent role in the early abolitionist movement. The most famous such participant is of course Sojourner Truth, a freed slave who protested, 'ain't I a woman,' after listing the many ways she had been denied the traditional middle-class comforts extended to white females, and still survived, despite being a member of the supposedly weaker sex. However, even before emancipation, many black women were participants in the abolitionist movement.

Often these women were liberated escaped slaves such as Harriet Jacobs, who told her…

As the world grows more affluent, it will want more, rather than less meat.
Additionally, meat raised on farms such as Salatin's will likely cost more money. Pollan dismisses this fact, stating: "For my own part, I've discovered that if you're willing to make the effort, it's entirely possible to limit the meat you eat to nonindustrial animals. I'm tempted to think that we need a new dietary category, to go with the vegan and lactovegetarian and piscatorian." Pollan calls the taking of the life of the animal a sacred, special act that must be done with reverence, much like ancient priests used to, and sees the human slaughterhouse at Salatin's farm to be a model for the future. If only people knew what went on behind closed doors, he says, "Tail-docking and sow crates and beak-clipping would disappear overnight, and the days of slaughtering 400 head of cattle an…

Southern vs. Northern
How and why did Southern and Northern white people differ over slavery?

The biggest reasons why Southerners and Northerners had different opinions on slavery was based on the frequency of the practice. In many Northern areas, this was not common as there were tremendous amounts of industrial development taking place. This reduced the need for having additional human labor. (Danver, 2011)

Moreover, many people in the North felt that slavery was immoral. This is because the Constitution stated how everyone is supposed to be created equal. Yet, slavery was allowed to exist in certain parts of the country. For a larger number of people, these kinds of practices had to be stopped. This was the only way that American society could live in accordance with it values and traditions. (Danver, 2011)

While Southerners did not think that slavery was immoral. The reason why, is they felt that…

This person proved to be an honest and God-loving individual who is actually concerned about my well-being and the well-being of other slaves. He brought me a pair of glasses and a book called "Uncle's Tom Cabin" yesterday. I could never understand why many white people in the South can't abandon slavery in spite of the fact that they know that it's wrong, but I am satisfied knowing that they treat their slaves well. I could not stop reading the book ever since I laid eyes on it. I have been awake for almost two days now and I am infuriated with the institution of slavery in general, even with the fact that I did not experience the suffering it provoked from a first-hand perspective.
Some friends of my master visited today and had a fiery conversation as a result of Abraham Lincoln's reelection. My abolitionist friend seemed to agree…

The fact that he chose to use real Black people in the background, but white actors in the lead roles highlights the idea that Blacks were still supposed to be subservient to whites; even lead characters who were supposed to be Black were portrayed by whites. However, it also points to one of the reasons that whites chose to employ blackface: the perpetuation of racial stereotypes. hile many minstrel shows focused on less frightening aspects of Black stereotypes, the Birth of a Nation focused on a fear that people would use to drive anti-Black sentiment in the period following Reconstruction: the image of the Black male as dangerous rapist. Although many people protested the racist elements of the movie, it became an instant success, and remains a controversial but constant member of most critics' best film lists.
Blackface persisted as a staple in American entertainment throughout the early part of…

John Brown's Raid On Harper's Ferry
John Brown and his raid at Harper's Ferry have a symbolic importance, as he himself was well aware, to suggest that not all white people counted themselves complicit in the persistence of slavery within the antebellum United States. In other words, Brown was engaged in what old-style Marxist revolutionaries used to refer to as "propaganda of the deed." His letters from prison were consciously intended as propaganda, as he asked for them to be circulated (and indeed published): "Please let all our friends read my letters when you can; & ask them to accept of it as in part for them."(Earle 98). And although his stated intention at Harper's Ferry -- to seize the weaponry there, arm the slaves of western Virginia, and thus begin Spartacus-style uprising -- failed, Brown craved martyrdom as justification, claiming: "I have now no doubt but that our seeming…

omen to History
omen have contributed to the history of the world from the beginning of time. Their stories are found in legends, myths, and history books. Queens, martyrs, saints, and female warriors, usually referred to as Amazon omen, writers, artists, and political and social heroes dot our human history. By 1865, women moved into the public arena, as moral reform became the business of women, as they fought for immigrant settlement housing, fought and struggled for the right to earn living wages, and stood up to the threats of the lynch mobs. The years beginning in 1865 is known as the Civil ar era and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. It was a time of great changes, especially for African-American women such as Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. omen of all races had to fight for equal rights, even the right to vote (http://women.eb.com/women/nineteenth09.html).omenhave indeed 'come a long…

heart:" the "great design" of Toomer's Cane, William Dow addresses the themes and intentions of Toomer through both and interpretation of the work and through Toomer's own words in personal documents. Dow in fact begins his work with a quote from a letter Toomer wrote to a contemporary: "I want great art. This means I want great design." Jean Toomer, "Open Letter to Gorham Munson" The quote sets the tone for his literary analysis and develops the idea that there are design meanings within the work that transcend the criticism of Cane. Through this imaginative and interpretive style Dow builds a case for his thesis:
Cane's narrator, (1) a teller in a social community, adopts a narrative design that shows us how a self-reflective storyteller (2) can "essentialize" and "spiritualize" experience. At the same time, Toomer undertakes a rhetorical project of positioning his readers in a variety of identifications, which…

American History 1600-1877
In the period from 1600 to 1877, it could be argued that the United States was only basically establishing itself as an independent nation in its own right -- the period in question builds up to the climax of the Civil War, in which the contradictions inherent in the national identity would finally reach armed conflict. Who, then, could be nominated as the best of the American enterprise in that time period? For different reasons, I would nominate Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, and Frederick Douglass.

Franklin is an easy choice: he established America's credibility in the eyes of Europe. Regardless of the military issues involved in the American Revolution, it was Franklin alone who showed Europe that there was a viable independent nation across the Atlantic. This is in recognition of his various accomplishments, which were scientific, technical, literary, and philanthropical (in his endowment of universities and…

Cathay Williams
Born from 1844, died 1892

Age

Single

Ethnicity: Black

Children

She had worked as a cook and washerwoman since the age of 17 for soldiers during the American Civil War. Soldiers had captured slaves like her and made them work under them. At 21, when the war ended, she took some odd jobs here and there until she chose to hide her identity by enlisting as Williams Cathay, as a man, and served in a regimen for several years. They only discovered she was a woman when a surgeon examined her. Shortly after enlisting, she had acquired small pox and visited the hospital several times.

Elizabeth Blackwell

Born in 1821, died 1910

Age

Single

Ethnicity: White

Children

Elizabeth Blackwell was America's first female doctor. Born in England then moving to America due to a Cholera outbreak, she lived in Cincinnati. At first she and she opened a school…

Stand on Slavery
During the 1830s all the way to the 1860s, a development to end slavery within America picked up speed within the northern part of America. This movement was being led by free blacks; for case in point, Frederick Douglass along with a number of white advocates, for case in point, William Lloyd Garrison, who was the editor and originator of the radical daily paper "The Liberator," as well as, Harriet eecher Stowe, who distributed the top of the line abolitionist novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Whilst numerous abolitionists construct their activism with respect to the conviction that slaveholding had been a sin, several others had been more disposed to the non-religious "free-work" contention that assumed that slaveholding had been backward, wasteful and seemed well and good (History.com, n.d.)

What stereotypes do these documents promote about African-Americans?

James Henry Hammond (1858) in Mudsill Theory mentions the U.S. Senate speech,…

Furious that his son had learned how to read and write, Pap considers that Huck wants to prove that he is smarter than his father. As a result, Huck receives several beatings and is kidnapped by Pap.
During his stay on Jackson's island, Huck learns that Jim has a lot of knowledge from observing the nature and its laws, along with tons of superstitious beliefs: "Some young birds come along... Jim said it was a sign that it was going to rain... And Jim said you mustn't count the things you are going to cook for dinner, because it would bring bad luck" (Twain, Mark) Jim proves to be compassionate, loyal and a dedicated friend.

The fact that Jim pays great attention to Huck's safety does not go unrewarded. Huck gradually develops affection for Jim after he finds that the black man is actually intelligent and honest. These features make…

And .E.B. Booker T. believes that education should be limited to the practical realm, as jobs are available cooking and farming. .E.B., however, argues that a person should be able to study whatever he wants. Another element of the back-and-forth argument is that Booker T. says that the fight for civil rights (and the right to vote) is not as valuable as working hard to get money and buy property. .E.B. comes back by saying that property is useless if there are not educated black people who can protect the land that others earn. He also alludes to lynching, by saying that money does not protect a person against the "rope" or "fire."
In the poem, there is a pattern of end-rhyme, where the last words of couplets rhyme (i.e. cheek/Greek, look/cook). In addition, there is a refrain of a pair of lines which occurs at the beginning of the…

The following definitions may be helpful.
Category 1 APUs are installed where in-flight auxiliary power operation is necessary. Category 1 APUs are usually required for essential APU installations. These APUs have been shown to meet all of the test and analysis requirements of the Minimum Performance Standard (MPS) of TSO C77b, Appendix 1.

Category 2 APUs are installed where in-flight APU operation is not necessary (non-essential installations).

Both Category 1 and Category 2 APUs are acceptable for non-essential APU installations. Category 2 APUs are not required to meet all of the test and analysis requirements that Category 1 APUs are subjected to. (See TSO C77b, Appendix 1, for the detailed requirements). (Category 1 and Category 2 APU, 2005). (See Appendix a for another example of an APU)

History (may need something different for this part - raw research) significant early demonstration was of the first liquid-fueled, fuel cell APU on…

O rother, Where Art Thou?
Homer in Hollywood: The Coen rothers' O rother, Where Art Thou?

Could a Hollywood filmmaker adapt Homer's Odyssey for the screen in the same way that James Joyce did for the Modernist novel? The idea of a high-art film adaptation of the Odyssey is actually at the center of the plot of Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 film Contempt, and the Alberto Moravia novel on which Godard's film is based. In Contempt, Prokosch, a rich American dilettante film producer played by Jack Palance, hires Fritz Lang to film a version of Homer's Odyssey, then hires a screenwriter to write it and promptly ruins his marriage to rigitte ardot. Fritz Lang gamely plays himself -- joining the ranks of fellow "arty" German-born directors who had earlier deigned to act before the camera (like Erich von Stroheim in Wilder's Sunset oulevard, playing a former director not unlike himself, or…

River Runs Through Her: River Imagery and Symbolism in Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl"
Water symbolism, and especially that of the river, is integral to Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Rivers, with their winding waters, are not just part of the geographic landscape or the natural world. For Jacobs, rivers and all bodies of water have both practical and symbolic functions. The river forms a physical barrier between places; it divides states and physical locations. Rivers divide cites like Philadelphia and they provide natural borders between cities and states. Rivers also help delineate the North and the South, which in Jacobs' time was eminently significant. Therefore, the river is a metaphorical barrier between slavery and freedom. The oppressive plantations of the south are separated from the Free States in the north by these flowing bodies of water. In Harriet Jacobs'…

It was a love-hate situation, and he would be madly kissing her and letting her stir his carnal urges one moment, and the next he would loudly protest and pull away. So from that standpoint, Eben was changed after the death of the baby. He was not changed in a truly intelligent heart-felt way, but in a kind of acceptance that this is how it is (the current cliche, "It is what it is," fits in here perfectly). For Eben, it feels good to have sex with her, and anyway, being hateful and spiteful of his father, this incestuous affair with his father's wife is another way to get back at him.
The bottom line is that even before they are both punished for the crime of murder (not the crime of incest) Eben's naivete in terms of relationships is disgustingly obvious; he returns to Abbie after having bolted away…

nature in American literature, from earliest writings to the Civil War period. It is my purpose to outline the connection between spirituality, freedom and nature and explain how American writers have chosen to reflect and interpret these themes in relation to their historical realities.
At the beginning of the colonization process there were two congruent depictions of nature. Initially, the tribes comprising The Iroquois League lived in close contact with nature and believed in the importance of maintaining a harmonious relationship with it. In this respect, the Iroquois Constitution imposes a devout display of gratitude to all by-human elements of the world before the opening of any council. On the other hand, the early explorers and founders of the United States perceived an immense natural potential in the country. In this sense, Thomas Hariot describes the New World as a land of wealth, his words and images aimed both at…

Man of the Crowd
By Edgar Allan Poe (1840)

The story significantly depicts not only the preoccupation of the 17th hundred London issues and a trend brought by the progressive industrialization of time, but speaks so much relevance in our modern time as well. The epigraph which sums up the very essence of the story explains the dynamic of a human being too busy to mingle with the crowd for fear of facing the haunting memory of a disturbed self, the lonely person, the conscience and the unsettling disturbances deep within. The epigraph "Such a great misfortune, not to be able to be alone" is rich in context within the story, but also a rich source of reflection of a human and societal struggle. I firmly believe in the relevance of the story not only in its significance to the theme and era when this story was written, but for…