Uncle Tom’s Cabins Blog post 2

“If it were your Harry, mother, or your Willie, that were going to be torn from you by a brutal trader, tomorrow morning,—if you had seen the man, and heard that the papers were signed and delivered, and you had only from twelve o’clock till morning to make good your escape,—how fast could you walk”. This passage describes the night of how Eliza was running away with her son so their master wouldn’t sell and separate them. Stowe tried to give an emotional passage here in attempts to gain sympathy from reader for the reader for the black character. It is very relatable to ask a parent what you would do for your child and using that as a point of common interest for the reader with the plight of the black characters.

 

“The trader was not shocked or amazed; because, as we said before, he was used to a great many things that you are not used to. Even the awful presence of Death struck no solemn chill upon him. He had seen Death many times,—met him in the way of trade, and got acquainted with him,—and he only thought of him as a hard customer”. This text from the passage describes the numbness that Slave traders have felt toward the slaves that they had with them when Tom was on the ship at the sale. This is another example of the brutality that the author is trying show. Not only the mental and physical abuse that slaves but also numbness, cruelty, and death that the slaveholders has come to be to accustomed to in this line of work.

Ben Franklin

In Franklin’s Autobiography he speaks a lot about his own life and identity as an American. He tells the reader of his own opinions about his ideals and what he has strove for to be the Best American He could be and attempted to no avail be perfect. He created a list of virtues that he planed to hold himself for the sake of; as he would put it in Franklin’s Autobiography “vicious actions are not hurtful because they are forbidden, but forbidden because they are hurtful”. He was thought to be a proud man and had a tendency to criticize those thought were wrong in attempts to stop this he added humility to his list. He states that he didn’t truly master this virtue but learned to appear more humble. As it’s writes in “Franklin’s Autobiography” “I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue, but I had a good deal with regard to the appearance of it. I made it a rule to forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of others, and all positive assertion of my own”.

Franklin in this passage is making himself more relatable to the reader, as he presents himself as fallible. He acknowledges that he is imperfect and to a certain length shows that he has room to grow as the reader dose. He encourages the reader to understand their own flaws as he did, and at least make attempts to try quelling their pride as well.

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