Author: oflores2

The story of Zitkala-Sa provides meaningful input into what it feels like to not belong. In “The School Days of an Indian Girl” by Zitkala-Sa, she is able to describe the life and emotions she endured as a young Native American girl. Zitkala-Sa was taken from her homeland at the young age of eight years old and forcibly entered into a Quaker boarding school for Indians in Wabash, Indiana. During her time at this school, Zitkala-Sa was stripped of her cultural freedoms. Zitkala-Sa was physically punished by instructors at her school. She was stripped of her native clothing and also forcibly given a haircut to get rid of her long hair. She was forced to learn how to dress, write and even eat as a white person (Smith). Due to this forceful assimilation of culture, Zitkala-Sa is left feeling lost in the world she once thought was so simple.

As Zitkala-Sa continues to describe her life, it becomes increasingly obvious how miserable she slowly becomes. Despite this, Zitkala-Sa tries her hardest to resist changing her cultural foundations despite being essentially forced to. She is proud of where she comes from. The more time she spends at her school, the more she wishes she could be back home in the comfort of her mother. Zitkala-Sa wishes to be back home where she believes everything will return to the way it was. Little does she know at the time, nothing will ever be the same again. Zitkala-Sa returns home after three years at school only to realize that she no longer truly has a home. In “Four Strange Summers”, Zitkala-Sa describes her detachment from both her own Sioux culture and that of the white culture that was forced upon her. She is able to accomplish this goal by using figurative language while also appealing to the emotions of her audience.
In order to show her emotions when returning home, Zitkala-Sa shares her immediate feelings with her audience. She says that she seemed to hang in the “heart of chaos” and that she was beyond the comfort of human voice or touch (Four Strange Summers), thus describing her mental state. By instantly sharing this information with the audience, the readers are able to better identify with the kind of situation she is in. By stating she is in the “heart of chaos”, she is implying that she is not at peace mentally despite being home, a place she once found so much happiness. Zitkala-Sa then goes on to describe how she does not belong at home or back at her school for she was “neither a wild Indian nor a tame one” (Zitkala-Sa). It was here that she realized she must try her hardest to find comfort in herself and surroundings.

Zitkala-Sa further expresses her feelings of uncertainty with her audience through her home experiences. As the chapter progresses, Zitkala-Sa takes her brother’s horse and wagon for a ride through the country. By taking the horse on a ride through the beautiful land on which she was raised, she began to feel a sense of satisfaction. During this ride, Zitkala-Sa has a foreshadowing experience with that of a wild coyote chase. Zitkala-Sa chased this coyote away from the village out of a moment’s impulse. As she succeeded in her duty, she did not escape the sight of the coyote. “As I drove slowly homeward, I saw his sharp nose still pointed at me, until I vanished below the margin of the hilltops” (Four Strange Summers). This short story provides transcendent meaning to the audience. The coyote in this story acts as a metaphor for the white man and his culture to Zitkala-Sa. She sees this coyote as a dangerous threat and chases it away without a moment of thought. Just as she believes she has gotten rid of the coyote, she sees it staring right at her once again. This is similar to how Zitkala-Sa feels about the culture in which was forced upon her. She wishes she can get rid of it as easily as chasing it away, but unfortunately it will always be watching her as she goes back home. This leaves a daunting feeling in both Zitkala-Sa and her audience.

Yet another example of detachment shown by Zitkala-Sa, is when she returns home from her ride. As she arrived, a man was there talking to her brother and mother because he was concerned for her safety after watching her experience with the coyote from afar. Here, Zitkala-Sa once again feels despondent. She describes her feelings here as “unrest gnawing at my heart” (Four Strange Summers). This use of imagery effectively describes her feelings after this experience. Zitkala-Sa is losing her cultural spirit quicker than she can hope to recover it. This is important in the story because this is now happening at home rather than at her school in the East. She feels that she is slowly being chewed away by something that is completely out of her control, her mental unrest.
In order to relate to her audience’s emotions, Zitkala-Sa shares her failed attempt of trying to remold herself into her culture. Not long after Zitkala-Sa makes it clear that she is unsure of whether or not she fits in, she decides to try force herself to fit in. By asking to go out with her cousin, and her resulting feelings after this experience, Zitkala-Sa shows her connection to the audience’s emotions. She quickly wishes to join her brother in going out but was soon filled with more disappointment. “No, my baby sister, I cannot take you with me to the party to-night, he replied” (Four Strange Summers). By including this short snippet of detail, Zitkala-Sa is able to appeal to the emotions of the audience by showing her denial of fun by a member of her own a family.

Zitkala-Sa acknowledges the fact that her peers have changed from their Native American roots and began to secede to that of white culture, which causes her emotional distress. “They had gone three years to school in the East, and had become civilized. The young men wore the white man’s coat and trousers, with bright neckties. The girls wore tight muslin dresses, with ribbons at neck and waist” (Four Strange Summers). Here, Zitkala-sa once again appeals to the emotions of the readers in the sense that she feels as though others have moved on without her. She feels lonely yet again, but this time it is at home. Zitkala-Sa makes it clear she does not wish to fully change despite her feelings of loneliness and the fact that she has changed a small amount as well (Laura, Pg. 623). Although she accepts the fact she can speak English well, she did not dress the part, and that alone kept her separated. “Since my return from school I had thrown away my shoes, and wore again my soft moccasins” (Four Strange Summers). This example of strong will can be seen as direct and powerful by her audience which then enables her text to become more appealing (Herzog, Gertrude Bonnin).

Zitkala-Sa continues to appeal to emotion when she seeks comfort from her mother. By being completely vulnerable in the arms of her mother, Zitkala-Sa, like many of us have done, sought her mother’s guidance in a time of need. Little did she know, she would only feel more separation because of it. After seeing her child become so unhappy, Zitkala-Sa’s mother tried to comfort her. “‘Here, my child, are the white man’s papers. Read a little from them,’ she said most piously” (Four Strange Summers). Although trying to console her, Zitkala-Sa’s mother only filled her daughter with more despair by doing this. Zitkala-Sa wanted to feel the comfort of her mother, but she was only handed comfort in the form of a white man’s Bible. This was Zitkala-Sa’s breaking point in her relationship with her mother.

Not long after handing her daughter the book, Zitkala-Sa’s mother walked outside and desperately prayed for her daughter. “After an uncertain solitude, I was suddenly aroused by a loud cry piercing the night. My fingers grew icy cold, as I realized that my unrestrained tears had betrayed my suffering to her, and she was grieving for me” (Four Strange Summers). This is an especially emotional scene for the audience. This short, descriptive language allows for the audience to understand the severity of Zitkala-Sa’s suffering with her mother. Her mother only wished to comfort her daughter, but she was unable to do so because the bond between them has become so scarce due to her daughter’s culture shock. As an audience we empathize for the heartbreak that must be felt by this once loving mother and daughter companionship. (Hafen, Pg. 34)

Zitkala-Sa’s “The School Days of an Indian Girl” is an eye opening story to the struggles of cultural division that is exemplified in “Four Strange Summers” using various forms of figurative language and emotional appeal. While it is clear that Zitkala-Sa suffered due to the effects of her forcible assimilation of white culture, she is able portray this powerful message to her audience in a way that is easy to understand. It is truly exceptional how involved Zitkala-Sa makes the audience become through her style of writing. The story of Zitkala-Sa’s suffering would not have been as powerful if it were not for her effective use of literary techniques. An author’s story can come to life whenever so much emotion is put into the writing of it and this proves to be true in Zitkala-Sa’s work.

Works Cited
Hafen, P. Jane. “Zitkala-Sa: Sentimentality and Sovereignty.” Wicazo Sa Review 12.2 (1997): 31-41. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.
Herzog, Kristin. “Heath Anthology of American Literature Gertrude Bonnin (Zitkala-Sa; Sioux) – Author Page.” Heath Anthology of American LiteratureGertrude Bonnin (Zitkala-Sa; Sioux) – Author Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2016. <http://college.cengage.com/english/ lauter/heath/4e/students/author_pages/late_nineteenth/bonninzitkalasasioux_ge.html>.
Laura L. Terrance (2011): Resisting colonial education: Zitkala-Sa and Native
Feminist archival refusal, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 24:5, 621-626
Smith, Nadine. “An Analysis of the Autobiography “The School Days of an Indian Girl” by Zitkala-Sa.” Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2016. <http://education.seattlepi.com/ analysis-autobiography-the-school-days-indian-girl-zitkalasa-3671.html>.

In “My Neighbor’s Faith: The Heroes I was Looking For” by Eboo Patel, the idea of finding one’s self in community is a key element. Throughout this article, Patel writes about his religious experience after he became an independent college student. He first describes his realization of the world’s problems and wishes to help aid in the fixing of these problems. As a part of his faith journey, he works at a Catholic worker house which he enjoys very much and lives in community with others. He enjoys his work there not for the religion but rather because he simply enjoys helping others and the feelings that came with it. “It was at the Catholic Worker house that I discovered a desire to touch the pure love of elsewhere.” (Patel, paragraph 15) As he goes on, Patel realizes that he likes the idea of Catholicism and the community it brings, but he has no desire to convert to Catholicism. He then moves on to become familiar with other religions such as Buddhism and Judaism. After doing this, he realizes that he still does not wish to convert to these either. “Similar to my experience with Christianity, I felt that my soul did not fit in any of them.” (Patel, paragraph 22) Patel soon realized at the end of his journey, his spiritual soul belonged to where it began, Islam. Patel’s search of a religion to serve his purpose of helping others and finding spiritual heroes were in both his original religion and family. He realized his grandmother was his hero because she helped young girls in need because she felt it was her calling. Patel found his spiritual home by exploring himself by a multitude of experiences, and ultimately made the right decision for him.

In his article, Patel identifies with a hero and uses an anecdote in order to encapsulate his overall feelings and a way to show why makes the decision he does. Early in the story when working in the Catholic worker house, Patel describes his admiration for Dorothy Day. Patel identifies with Day because he too wanted to achieve similar goals to that of day. He wanted to better the lives of others by directly helping those in need. Patel wanted to experience the love Day described in her work. After realizing he was still a Muslim, Patel visited his grandmother in India and shares a short story with his audience. IN this story, Patel describes how his grandmother housed and protected young women in need without batting an eye. When Patel asks her why, she responds, “Because I’m a Muslim. This is what Muslims do.” (Patel, paragraph 30) Patel realizes that his grandmother is a Muslim Dorothy day, and she was his hero. Patel realized he had truly found his religious identity after this experience.

After reading the many short stories in Rivera’s “…And the Earth Did Not Devour Him”, it can be said that Rivera succeeds in portraying the suffering, strength, and beauty of the migrant workers in his novel.The theme of suffering is especially shown in “The Night Before Christmas” short story. Throughout the novel, a common reoccurrence is tragic events such as death and fires destroying both lives and people’s homes. In this short story rather, the suffering felt by the migrant family comes within the family unit itself, rather than an outside force. In this story, a mother decides to buy toys for her children on Christmas because they have never received toys before. In order to make this happen, the mother must face her fear by going downtown and being confronted by large groups of people. The story hints that she experiences what seem to be panic attacks or nervous breakdowns. At the store, the mother became so overwhelmed in the store, she walked out without paying for the toys. “Here she is…these damn people, always stealing something, stealing.” (Rivera, Page 133) She was quickly caught and physically thrown on the ground by a security guard whom was later informed of the true situation. The mother experienced this physical trauma because not only was she mentally disconnected from the situation but also culturally disengaged because of the immediate assumption made my the security guard.

Internal suffering was experienced by the children because of the situation with their mother and downtown. When the mother was explaining to the father what had happened, they both discussed how to tell the children they would not be receiving toys for Christmas. The father even made the acknowledgment that it was better to give the children false hope for toys than no toys at all. Little did these caring parents know, their children were listening to their conversation. Not knowing what to think of it, they went on and waited for their gifts anyway. “When that day came and went with no arrival of gifts, they didn’t ask for explanations.” (Rivera, Page 134) This was a display of suffering felt by the children because it signified their loss of innocence and possibly one of the days they most look forward to in their childhood. Rivera uses this quote as the last sentence of the story in order for the audience to truly sympathize with the children’s position. Rivera appeals to emotion when trying to get his message across in this story. He effectively does so, by creating such a devastating outcome from such a simple task as going to the store and buying toys. Rivera truly allows his audience to realize the difference in quality of life these people experienced.

The idea of government control over its people is something that has been debated about for centuries. How much power should the government have? How influential can people be in the governmental system? Who controls the potential of change within our governmental system? In “Resistance to Civil Government”, Henry David Thoreau attempts to enlightens his readers by attempting to answer these questions and more. By using several literary techniques such as imagery, rhetorical questions, analogies and tone when describing his opinions on the text, Thoreau challenges the morality of our civil government by questioning the people’s influence in the system, identifying the problem of government treatment of its people, and how to change the immorality of civil government as individuals within our government.
In his essay, Thoreau immediately challenges the notion of the people in the American truly having a voice in the government’s decisions and laws regarding moral outcomes that affect the nation as a whole. It is known that Thoreau is morally objective in all aspects of his life. He was against the destruction of the natural environment caused by human activity, he was against industrialism because it encouraged materialistic attitudes, and he was profoundly anti-slavery (Glick). In paragraph 3 of his essay Thoreau relates to the audience when stating, “But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government.” By this statement, he portrays his state of mind towards reforming the government. This initial proclamation of his belief is essential for progressing through the rest of his essay. In the next paragraph, Thoreau questions the idea of the people simply succumbing to the government’s will without first questioning it. He questions, “Why has every man a conscience, then?” (Thoreau, paragraph 4). He claims that every man has a conscience and has a right to use it, Thoreau implores his audience to do more than simply obey, especially over moral dilemmas.
Thoreau reaffirms his belief to the audience that he will always do what he believes is right and asks them to do the same. Later in paragraph 4, Thoreau questions if men are men at all in their current governmental situation. He does this when he proclaims, “Now, what are they? Men at all? Or small movable forts and magazines, at the service of some unscrupulous man in power?” (Thoreau, paragraph 4) He soon after relates to men as machines stating that they do not have free will and solely only serve a purpose with no thought. Thoreau repeatedly uses this analogy throughout his essay when describing the people’s power or lack there of, within the government. Thoreau further attacks the role of men by using a sarcastic tone when he states that perhaps wooden men would serve the same governmental purpose. He questions what can be done to change this sad reality.
Before suggesting how the problem of immoral government power can be fixed, Thoreau first acknowledges how men cannot associate themselves with their own government without disgrace because it also the slave’s government. Here, Thoreau presents the moral dilemma in which his government is facing while also pronouncing his anti-slavery belief. From here on, Thoreau relates his question of morality and governmental power towards this idea that the people need to come together in order to change the government’s position on slavery. Thoreau begins to identify solutions in which could change the government’s immoral view of the slave trade. He states “All machines have their friction; and possibly this does enough good to counter-balance the evil. At any rate, it is a great evil to make a stir about it.” (Thoreau, paragraph 8) in which he quickly rebuts by saying it is not enough to wait for a change to happen on its own, he believes it must happen right away in order for true change to occur.
Thoreau recognizes the problems in wishing for immediate change to occur later in his essay. “We are accustomed to say, that the mass of men are unprepared; but improvement is slow, because the few are not as materially wiser or better than the many.” (Thoreau, paragraph 10) Here, Thoreau is able to define a beacon of hope for those that share his anti-slavery beliefs. He believes change will occur eventually but can be accelerated by affirmative action of the people. He goes on to state how many people actually are opposed to slavery in opinion but do not do anything to change the fact that is happening right before their eyes which essentially means they are supporting it the progression of it rather than the deletion. Thoreau uses a combative and persuasive tone in order to rally his audience to stand up and oppose their government in order to remove slavery from their nation.
Thoreau goes on to defend those who do not actively resist slavery and the laws of the government regarding slaves. Although his message throughout the essay until this point was persuasive to act now, he yet suggests a different but effective option. This choice being too disregard slavery and all that it entails rather than completely doing nothing about it. “It is not a man’s duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even to most enormous, wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it…” (Thoreau, paragraph 13) It is with these words that he proclaims people can still make a difference without actively living an anti-slavery lifestyle. He later goes on to state how it is a man’s duty who holds such beliefs to bring this message to his neighbor as a form or eradication. With this passage, Thoreau provides a safety net for those of his readers that would not want to openly proclaim their rebellion due to fear.

Thoreau passionately fought for rebellion against his government throughout his essay. Despite his fiery rhetoric in which he uses to persuade his readers, it is clear that Thoreau walks the line of pacifism in his rebelliousness. Throughout his essay, Thoreau argues the best way to protest the government is to deny it’s authority. He implored a way of “fighting” the government would be to refuse to pay taxes even if it meant imprisonment. In fact, he welcomed this idea of protest and punishment. He believed this would rally the people and lead quickly to the abolition of slavery. (Newman) Thoreau’s non-violent form of protest was surprising in which the time period consisted of so many violent acts. He was truly a model of moral virtue and consciousness. Thoreau in this way modeled the path for famous activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Ghandi to go and change the world as he once did. (Zielinski, et al)
Throughout the essay, Thoreau examines ideals held by the citizens of time being controlled by their own government. He implores his audience through various methods for them to understand the message he is trying to get across. He wants to put the immoral government to rest by absolving slavery. The only way he believes he can do this is by the immediate action of people who share his beliefs. By his articulate writing, Thoreau was able to compose a persuasive essay that changed the viewpoints of his audience while calling an important moral argument into action.

The story of “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor is one that touches on a variety of ideas. O’Connor opens his story describing the lifestyle of a family of six about to go on a road trip to Florida. A recurring theme throughout this story is that of selfishness. This is immediately clear when O’Connor describes the grandmother’s disrespectful son, the disrespectful grandchildren and also the grandmother’s egocentric mindset. As the story reaches it’s climax, the family is under the evil power of “The Misfit”, a notorious criminal, when the family’s car crashes on the road. Here, the family is frightened, rightfully so, of an even more treacherous individual. As the Misfit and his accomplices divide the family to kill them in the forest, the grandmother is left to have a bone chilling conversation with this serial killer. As she hears the gunshots that put her loved ones to death, the grandmother does not immediately feel remorse, but instead continues to only care for herself. “Jesus!” the old lady cried. “You’ve got good blood! I know you wouldn’t shoot a lady!” (O’Connor, Pg. 30) Rather than caring about the deaths of her family members, the grandmother only cares about herself until the moment before The Misfit guns her down himself. Immediately after he kills her, The Misfit, a horrible person in his own right, relays a truthful message to his companions. “She would of been a good woman,” The Misfit said, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” (O’Connor, Pg. 32) Here, O’Connor effectively raises the idea that selfishness in life only leads to a horrible end, using The Misfit as a key example.
A technique O’Connor uses towards the end of the story is empathy felt by the audience. Although by the time the family is under the control of the murderous crew of The Misfit we as an audience know that the family is not made up of good people. But yet, we feel compassion for them still because they are human beings in a situation of absolute terror. We as an audience are unable to fathom this predicament in which the grandmother is in, and O’Connor effectively makes us aware of the severity of the situation. “There were two more pistol reports and the grandmother raised her head like a parched old turkey hen crying for water and called, ‘Bailey Boy, Bailey Boy!’ as if her heart would break.” (O’Connor, Pg. 31) Here, O’Connor brings the scene to life and fills his audience with emotion as he describes the grandmother’s raw emotion and realization of what is happening. By doing this, O’Connor allows the audience to feel a part of the story, which could have been his point all along.

Throughout her writing of “School Days”, Zitkala-Sa is able to effectively portray her exact feelings to her audience through her descriptive language. She is able to explain her story in a way in which the readers can easily empathize with her and the people whom she experienced the Carlisle school with. This is made apparent immediately as the story begins in Chapter 1 when she describes how she is observed on the train writing, “Sometimes they took their forefingers out of their mouths and pointed at my moccasined feet. Their mothers, instead of reproving such rude curiosity, looked closely at me, and attracted their children’s further notice to my blanket.” Here, Zitkala-Sa makes the reader think about more than what she is saying, but instead how she is saying it. She is obviously describing the embarrassing ridicule in which she experiences by children and adults gawking at her appearance, but the way she writes about this experience portrays the idea of her feeling like an animal at a modern day zoo. By writing her experience in this way, she also instills a notion of fear and uncertainty of the people who are watching her. Zitkala-Sa adequately portrays this dehumanizing experience on the train ride to the Carlisle school.

Zitkala-Sa once again expands the depth of her writing in Chapter 6 when she returns home from three years at the Carlisle school. She does this when writes “During this time I seemed to hang in the heart of chaos, beyond the touch or voice of human aid. My brother, being almost ten years my senior, did not quite understand my feelings. My mother had never gone inside of a schoolhouse, and so she was not capable of comforting her daughter who could read and write. Even nature seemed to have no place for me.” Here, Zitkala-Sa clearly shows her feeling of displacement and loneliness in her life. This much is clear to the reader, but once again how she explains her problem provides new meaning to the reader. When she says she hangs in the heart of chaos, she is saying that she is not at peace which is crucial because she has finally returned home away from the torment of school. She goes on to explain how her family does not comfort and even nature, in which she did find peace before, has forgotten about her. This passage is imperative to her feelings in this portion of her story because she literally feels disconnected the world itself, rather than just her family. The way Zitkala-Sa writes this, portrays her as something from out of this world, a situation in which greatly distresses her.

In paragraph seventeen of Divinity School Address, Emerson touches on a topic we have constantly covered throughout this class and throughout our lives. The idea of self-dependence and the benefits that come with it. In the beginning this paragraph, Emerson praises God for allowing him to be intelligent and strong willed in his life. He then introduces his main point of the passage which is, we cannot expect God to come to us and save us, but rather we need to go to him ourselves in order to grow and find happiness in our life. This made apparent through his strong attitude towards the end of the paragraph when he writes “It is a low benefit to give me something; it is a high benefit to enable me to do somewhat of myself.” Emerson also raises the point that finding God in our lives is not made possible through some sort of overwhelming miracle, but rather through simple means such as beautiful sentiments and natural goodness shared with one another.

Emerson portrays his message in a very interesting way. Rather than stating his beliefs in a manner that makes it clear these are his beliefs, he states them as if these are absolute truths. In doing this, he uses a superior tone in stating his message. He uses this tone while seemingly scoffing at the idea of conversion when he says, “To aim to convert a man by miracles, is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made, by the reception of beautiful sentiments.” He actually attacks the idea of miracles being reason for conversion, stating they taint the soul rather than purify it. This aggressive tone is shocking considering his audience is of those devoting their life to God and his miraculous works. Emerson ends this paragraph by once again returning to his authoritative, know it all, tone when he states “The time is coming when all men will see, that the gift of God to the soul is not a vaunting, overpowering, excluding sanctity, but a sweet, natural goodness, a goodness like thine and mine, and that so invites thine and mine to be and to grow.” Emerson’s message here is made to be powerful and straightforward due to the style he uses here.

There were many common themes pointed out by our peers within their annotations. Within the assigned reading, Uncle Tom’s Cabin chapters 9-14, Stowe exemplified various details and character themes that helped bring her story to life. The first of these common themes raised by our classmates come from the chapter 9 annotations when Senator Bird and his wife are discussing Christianity versus morality. Mrs. Bird was imploring her husband to not follow the law he just voted for because it was against Christianity. In his annotations, Jeremy commented on this scene stating, “This feels like Stowe’s way of condemning the politics and laws of her time, and seeing the good that religion can bring if used in the right way (not justifying slavery).” (jeremylohr) This was interesting because according to him, it is no longer Mrs. Bird’s position on Christianity, but also that of Stowe, our author.

A common them represented in chapter 11 is the idea of the freedoms slaves have in America at the time. Obviously during this time slaves were not free to do what they pleased when they had masters that decided how they lived. In an interesting piece of this idea came when George was arguing with Mr. Wilson in chapter 11. Here George points out what white people would feel like if they were slaves. This is interesting because it flips the perspective of the slave trade on the white people, something they may have never thought about. “Very strong point here from George. I bet the reader of the time never considered this, and had an impact on their thoughts. I think Stowe is giving George a lot of strong arguments against Mr. Wilson.” Later within the chapter, Angeles comments on the reality of George’s circumstances when he is claiming America is not his country. “He realizes that the country he lives in will not do anything for him and those like him.” (abarrer6) This is powerful because George realizes the freedom of America at the time did not exist for everybody although the people in power tried to make it seem that it did.

Lastly, a common theme portrayed in chapter 12 by our classmates was of morality. During the scene Haley was on the boat, Stowe gave us an interesting piece of information towards his morality. A few students commented on this passage but we found this comment to be especially intriguing. “Haley would never be able to see slavery for what it truly is, rather than a way to make money, and I find it disturbing that the only reason he would stop is because of external factors, not a change in his morals or beliefs.” (mcgrainr) We clearly recognize through this comment that Haley explicitly states that he is not stopping his practice because he believes it is immoral but rather because he is only trying to protect himself.

By trying to persuade her readers to realize the wrongs of slavery, Stowe implements different tactics of enlightenment in order to get through to her audience in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The first example of this is using the rebellious character George, a brilliant, hard-working slave for his master, Mr. Harris. In this passage, George was harshly punished for being too smart for his own good. When describing the situation which George was wrongfully placed in, Stowe writes, “He was waited upon over the factory, shown the machinery by George, who, in high spirits, talked so fluently, held himself so erect, looked so handsome and manly, that his master began to feel an uneasy consciousness of inferiority. What business had his slave to be marching round the country, inventing machines, and holding up his head among gentlemen? He’d soon put a stop to it.” (Chapter 2) This part of Stowe’s text contributes to her attempt to prove that slavery is wrong. This is powerfully true because it shows the immoral and cruel nature some slave holders had towards their slaves. Mr. Harris simply punished George because he had the power to do so. He was jealous, and therefore enraged by his slave’s intelligence and acclimation to society. so Harris punished George the only way he knew he knew how. This passage is important because it specifically attacks the moral aspect of owning and controlling another’s life. Stowe shows why this is wrong.
Throughout chapter nine, Stowe attacks the emotions of both the characters in her story and her readers. Using emotion is a powerful form of persuasion that Stow effectively uses in this passage. This is made apparent towards the middle of the passage after Senator Byrd and his wife have a long argument about why or why not they should help fugitive slaves. Senator Byrd believes they should not help or house slaves because it is against the law and they have to consider possible punishments they would endure while Mrs. Byrd says it is their duty as humans and as Christians. An exceptionally powerful and emotional moment is when the Senator’s human nature comes out as he goes against what he says to his wife by helping a fugitive slave in need.”I say, wife!” “Well! What now?” “Why, there’s that old bombazin cloak, that you keep on purpose to put over me when I take my afternoon’s nap; you might as well give her that,—she needs clothes.” (Chapter 9) Here in this moment, the Senator becomes a conduit for helping escaped slaves and later realizes he cannot stand by the law he just voted for. He has a change of heart when confronted with a real life situation, in which many white people did not experience for themselves. Her use of dialogue between the Senator and his wife is especially impactful because it is a powerful conversation amongst opposing views over a sensitive topic. This scene makes the reader truly think about what he or she would do in this situation. Would they support the Senator or his wife in the argument? Would we help if faced with the same situation? Stowe invokes these thoughts into the minds of her readers beautifully.

Ben Franklin discusses a variety of American values he believes are of quality within his two works we have read in class. Specifically, he constantly revisits the value of self-reliance within “The Way to Wealth” and within his “Autobiography.” Self-reliance is exactly what it sounds like. It is relying on one’s own powers and resources rather than others. This value inhibits other values such as hard work, and individualism. Franklin, among many others then and today, believed that self-reliance could improve your life financially and mentally. In his “Autobiography”, Franklin quotes a proverb of Solomon saying “Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men.” Franklin uses this proverb perfectly to exemplify his belief of self-reliance. He is saying that if you work hard enough, you will elevate yourself to the company of “kings” or riches, and not be in the presence of “mean men” or impoverished. In “The Way to Wealth”, Franklin uses a short excerpt from his almanac stating “God helps them that helps themselves.” Franklin once again affirms his belief in self-reliance with this quote. He is saying that we cannot solely believe God will save us from our current situation, but we must work our way out of it ourselves in order to earn his help. Franklin’s belief of self-reliance is something to be inspired by and strive towards in our own lives.
Franklin uses an array of strategies both rhetorical and literary in his style of writing in an attempt to persuade his readers. Immediately, Franklin’s humor is shown by the way he chooses to portray his message in “The Way to Wealth”. Instead of writing to us in the first person in a serious manner, Franklin chooses to use comical, fictional characters such as “Father Abraham” and “Poor Richard”. By doing this, Franklin’s rhetorical strategy is providing means to lighten his message to the readers which allows them to absorb the message in a more relaxed way. His overall message is strong and true although placed in a comical form of explanation. Immediately in the third paragraph of “The Way to Wealth”, Franklin uses his humor in the Poor Richard quote of “If you’d have my advice, I’ll give it you in short, for a word to the wise is enough, and many words won’t fill a bushel”. Here Richard is comical because he in fact does not keep his message short but instead goes on and on over the topic throughout the work. Franklin successfully illustrates his message to his audience by making it a more enjoyable read for his audience.