After semester 1 of english has speedily flown by, I am going to have to go with true on that statement. I really enjoyed English 213 and had fun with the many things we have done in class. The topics that we have done in class are very interesting and thought provoking and I loved hearing and participating in class discussions on these topics, such as evil. All of the different people in the class really lead to some interesting views, which is really important to a learning enviroment. Another thing that I really enjoyed was when we did the MacBeth project. Having a competition really motivated me and my group and made the project much more fun. I really enjoyed working in groups and talking to people that I had never really talked to before. By working together for a common cause of defeating McGeary, it really brought the class together. And of course the blogs are a large part of sharing ideas and getting thoughts into writing. I feel that the blogs really help in expressing ideas with worrying about being too informal for an essay or whether or not the ideas fit into the essay. Writing blogs has helped me enjoy writing a lot more in the short time that we have been using them because it is much easier to share my ideas and still be open to ideas of others. English 213 was awesome and I am sure that under Mr. Wasserman’s guidance, English 223 will be just as good or better.
As I read A True Tale of Slavery by John S Jacobs, I found many similarities and differences between it and other slave narrative. One interesting thing that I read was how much John Jacobs was impacted by his family, specifically his father, when growing up. Many times, slaves were separated from their families, so it was interesting to see how Jacobs lived his life differently because of the initial involvement of his family. Jacobs’ father was an important figure in the early part of his life because he taught many values and behaviors that Jacobs would need in order to gain his freedom. For example, Jacobs’ father provided him with his initial hate for slavery:
Yet, it is said by slaveholders and their apologists, that we are happy and contented. I will admit that slaves are sometimes cheerful; they sing and dance, as it is politic for them to do. I myself had changed owners three times before I could see the policy of this appearance of contentment. My father taught me to hate slavery, but forgot to teach me how to conceal my hatred.
Jacobs had the hate for slavery and the motive to be free of it, but in order to do that he would have to remain calm and make it seem as though he was content as a slave. When Jacobs mentions singing and dancing, it reminded me of the excerpt from theh Frederick Douglass narrative that we read in class. Douglass says that the singing and dancing of slaves was a way for slaves to act like they were happy, yet still express their unhappiness. By mentioning this, Jacobs shows that while he was young, he could not grasp the concept of hiding his anger, but as he grew older, he was able to conceal his feelings, which allowed him be under less suspicion of running away.
Another interesting thing that Jacobs did in his narrative was the way he named all of his owners and other white people. Instead of using their full names, he calls them by only their last initial, such as Mr. C, Dr. N, or Mrs. K. By doing this, Jacobs makes these people seem less human to go along with thier cruel actions towards slaves. This was a very subtle, yet strong technique that became very effective when characterizing these different people and it showed Jacobs’ feelings toward these people.
Overall, I couldn’t really find much that related to Huck Finn in this narrative. One thing that was similar to it was often treated fairly by his owners, yet could never be content with the life style of a slave. This is similar to how Jim was not treated unfairly, yet was still upset that he was a slave and separated from his family. Both of these show that the life style of a slave would always be unfair because it would never have the same luxuries as the white owners did. Jacobs’ narrative is a strong view into his life and shows his unique experience as a slave. I felt that it clearly showed that although slaves were uneducated, they were still able to plan escape and anc intelligently. Jacobs’ experiences were important in empowering other slaves and helping them gain freedom.
Becuase I forgot to do the pre-reading post, I will quickly say what I initially wanted to find out when reading the slave narrative. From reading slave narratives previously, I knew that the individual experience of each slave is different in many ways, yet they all have similar aspects. Most narratives are stories of how slaves break free of slavery and the oppression of their owners. While reading the narrative, I expected to find out about the unique experience of the slave that wrote it as well as how similar it is to the other slave narratives that I have read in the past.