Phillis Wheatley

i feel her work shows the intellegent that Africans would have if the whites allowed them to become educated and ended slavery. she has great penmenship, and expresses her opinions openly. one poem i found interesting what To the university of Cambridge in New England. She is telling the audience how to live life. Most people become shocked at this because she was a black women; however, her higher status and christian faith allowed to to state her feelings openly. She starts off by talking in a physical sense and then leads to the spiritual. Like stated in class, Wheatley knows how to appeal to her audience and make them accept her. there were many critics i bet at the time of her writing just because she was a black women. they didnt feel she should be able to write and publish her works. I think her writing gives the white people of the time knowledge of how educated people of a difference race could become if given the chance.

Columbus

Columbus takes great interest into the living styles and location of native settlements when coming to America. i find it extremely intersting that he writes in detail days, senery, people, and traditions. one example is when they first came across the natives, they thought the white men were from heaven. they beg the white men to land on their shore because they feel blessed just by seeing them for they see them as Gods spoken people. thinking about it now, what would i have thought if coming across something so completely different then anything i have ever seen. The natives didnt know what a ship was, why they wore the clothes they did, or even their language. Columbus takes notice to this a discusses how valued the white people felt just being around the natives. However, Columbus ended leaving some of his men there when he returned to England but when he returns they are al dead. that speaks volumes about the two races living together. they over look the incident and move onto the native land and over power them. other things Columbus took notice too was the people. he states how in one tribe the married women where cotton shirts, while the others dont. Also, there are no more then fifteen houses in one area, which explains their seludedness from other tribes about them. The writings of Columbus are extremely informational about the new land he comes acrross. he clearly was well educated which allows him to make such a clear image.

Crevecoeur

Crevecoeur had many segments in his writings but one that struck me as most interesting was, A Singular Punishment. When he discusses the encounter with the African who was hanging in a tree, it brought out the most emotion for me compared to the other parts in his writings. How difficult would it have been to live in a society where people took it in their own hands to punish one another. Im not saying that the man shouldnt have killed his owner, but i bet that he didnt have a trial or case. While thinking about the story i thought to myself, if i lived in that time period and came accross the same man, what would i have done? It is true that our beliefs are completely different then back when slavery existed, but how would have incident have affected me. It just seemed like such a cruel way for another person to have to die, with the birds eating away at him.
i also feel the sotry tells about the government. the white man oviously felt that he didnt have the right or authority to truly help the African. While the scene startled him at first, he was calm and rash about it, then went into town and discussed it with his friends. Who does that, but thats all he really could do. If he would have helped and saved that mans life then the governemt would have come after him and the African and punished them both to death. To me, it feels as if a extremely controlled society where the citizens have little or no say in their own actions.

Henry timberlake

this man went over to america and stayed with the Cherokee Indians for some time. his whole experience amazed me because of how advanced this culture was. many other Native Americans were thought of as naive but the Cherokee's had agriculture and homes. They even established their own form of government for their people. when the white settlers came over they created a trade guideline for the the whites. an example would be that so many grains from their garden is worth an axe.
however, timberlakes opinion of his experience surprises me. he clearly believed in manifest destiny, and that the Europeans were the supreme people on Earth. He was very smug the entire time and even stated that he felt the Cherokee will become great learners. he wanted to convert them into Christians and in his mind, modernize their way of living.
I ended up discussing this article for the topic of my paper, and i believe his opinions clearly speak for Europeans at that time, that these men thought white surpremacy was a way of life and it was their duty to expand it.

Witch Craft Trials

after reading the work by cotton Mathers it was quite interesting to see a ministers view about the witch craft trials. he truly believed that the devil was present upon the earth with the intension of tryin to destroy man kind. he also saw it as a test by God to human beings. he says that it is up to the individual to fight him off. the devil can make himself known but the individual is that one who needs to resist the evil.
i found it interesting also the symptoms of the afflicted. some of them included bite marks, bruises, scratches, and even teats. Most of the people the witch craft trials centered around are women. it appears to me that is was a mob mentally. all the of women would go against one women and no matter what they did everyone was like..Thats because she is a witch. the whole incident sounds reduclous now. it reminds me of highschool and when people in a certain group dont like an outsider so they all gang up on the person. not only that but all the people exussed were young women and even children. there was one case when they said a five year old was a witch because a girl found scratches on her and said it was the child. to me, the child is only five years old. she probably had a tantrum and they are saying he is possessed by the devil.
over all the cases and therology of the witch craft trials have been extremely interesting and mind bogling. These people truly believed that people were witches. in their religion and with the limited knowledge at the time the only explaination was spiritual.

Comparing the narratives

in all of the narratives religion gets brought up. It becomes clear that during their life time faith played an important part. For Edwards his life waws nothing but religion, the reader doesnt get a good sense of what his life was like outside of religion. Here he clearly implies that life is all about religion and nothing else. He wants to show how religion plays the ultimate factor in ones life, and being close to Dod in is opinion is the only way to get to Heaven. Ashbridge is different to Edwards because while she believes in God, her narratives tells us about other aspects of her life. It shows the hard times she faced and the seperation between her and her family. the first part of her life wasnt as religious as the latter. Even so, i get a better image about her life and its events and not just her thoughts. At some times she even heres voices in her head and she thinks it is God talking to her. This isnt the first time that we have read about people hearing voices in their heads. I get the image like Wieland, Ashbridge could possibly be menally disturbed. I feel she wrote her narrative to express why she went through all the trials and tribulations she did and the importance Quakerism played in her life. Her narrative is extremely pro Quakerism. For equiano, he has a difficult childood, with the fact that he was taken from his home and brought across the ocean to work for whiteslae owners (if that really happened to him). His narratives tells me what a strong individual he was to stick through the kdnapping, the ship ride, and even being raded numerous times.He tells in his narratives about the horrible condictions on the ship for example, and how people couldnt even breathe. these images were put in his narratives so people would now the horrible conditions that occured and hopefully stop them in the future. he wanted to stop the slave trade by righting his narrative. Franklin discusses the success he has in his life and also the hard times he has to go though to get to his success. While i feel he is extremely arrogant in his writtings, it is clear that people looked up to him and thought he was a intellegent man. His writings were supposed to impower people to become successful just like he has done. People started to believe if they followed his examples then they would be successful too. I also feel his writting was for his fame. He was a smart man. He wanted people to praise him and he also wanted money. i think this biography was a good way for him to have both.

Virtuous

Franklin was a Presbyterian. it states in the second part of his biography that he even used to help out a minister. it didnt last long because he found the priest uniteresting or bland. after that he decided he wanted to reach moral perfection by going through one virtue and week and then moving down through the list. i find it interesting that he didnt master humility. i feel that speaks volumes about his personality. Throughout the entire biography, i felt Franklin thought himself superior to the people around him. That personality trait doesnt mesh well with religion because people are supposed to be humble. Also, it is interesting that although Franklin is a presbyterian, he doesnt believe in all of the teachings of the church. He does think there is one God, but he never discusses or brings about the idea of God guiding him in his journey through life. That imagewas presented in many of the other readings done in class. Some of those included Jonathon Edwards and Elizabeth Ashbridge; both people that lived during Franklin's life.

franklin and his ancestors

Franklin does discuss his ancestors quite abit in the beginning of his autobiography. i feel he talks about them because he wants the readers to understand his background and where he came from. He states that his family lived in poverty, but Franklin clearly respects his family members and speaks highly of them all. by him doing so, it speack volumes about his personality. I also feel he talks about his ancestors to show how far he has come in life. His family is a big part of that. Growing up he worked with different family members and learned about many different jobs.
i think he wanted the readers to see his families determination and pride in what they do as a living and their family. By him talking in great detail about many people in his family, it showed their love to help one another out, im talking about working for one another, and how they helped one another learn. One of the people he mostly talks about is his father. His father raised him and even takes the inniciative to show his son different job opportunities since he didnt like the candle shop. His father even helps him with some of his writtings. One day he found out that Benjamin was writting back and forth with a friend and told him to open up his mind more and express himself better.
His family clearly means a lot to him, and he wanted to show that in his writting. if gives the reader a better understanding of the type of person he is.

ashbridge compared to edwards

Elizbeth Ashbridge's personal narrative is completely different then the one i previously read Jonathan Edwards. While they both relate their religious views, i feel Ashbridge discusses more about her life outside of religion and the different struggles she went through. some of these struggles included becoming an indentured servant, marrying a man she didnt love, and becoming shunned by her fater for some time. Something unique about Ashbridge's life was how her views on religion were altered through her life. Growing up and for part of her adult life, she never took an interest in religion. However, when she goes to visit her aunt and uncle she reads from a Quaker book and changes to those beliefs. Her husboand feels she isnt the same women he fell in love with. It is ironic ho Ashbridge looke ddown on all these religious females in her life but in the end became one of them. an example is when she shes a women speaker for the Quaker religion and says she would never convert to the religion and if did never speak out like that. However, in the end she becomes a preacher. Looking back at Edwards life, he also saw a strong connection with God and tried to live his life accoringly but that isnt the case for Elizabeth.

Jonathon Edwards

Jonathon Edwards lived an extremely religious life. At a yound age he felt connected to god and had a select group of friends that would pray together. Edwards also saw the grace in all parts of life. some examples he gave was the sun and moon. As he grew up he moved to New York to preach. While there his religious connection to God grew. He even reflected back on his beliefs when he was a child and said how much his views have changed while he has. While in New York he swore Northamptom. Throughout his entire journey through life Edwards's faith grew alon with himg. It is important to note, however, that he never thought himself as great as any other man. He refered to himself as a sinner many times throughout his life but was greatful to the kindness of God to have created such a great land full of wonder, awe, and forgiveness.

i really dont know why think CBB would want the vice president to read his book. to me the book was so far fetched that i dont know if it resemebles life at that time period or not. if it does, the book portrays how people felt guided by a bigger force in life then themselves. While in the book the guidence implies spiritual maybe it is supposed to imply political as well. All the characters are kept into their roles and feel that they connot escape.
the book would also get the vice president to stop thinking in the norm and start thinking outside the box maybe.

the end of wieland

i still stick with what i origonally thought of as the major themes of the novel. i feel that fate and unpredictability of life plays a major role in the novel. wieland Sr. couldnt get out of his fate and thus it was passed down to another, and in my opinion, it was passed down to Wieland junior. however, through the entire book, unexplainable and unpredictable eventts kept happening. The hearing of voices to the killing of family memeber. while, in the end, everything was explained, itwas all still extremely crazy events that just kept leading to a more horrible situation. i have to bring up the point also that this novelwas completely told through claras eyes and thus the truth can be altered. i do accept her as a down to earth human being, she could alter certain aspects of the novel because either her understand isnt clear or for her own respect in society.

i want to know more about the connection of characters. i feel if we would know how Wieland Sr. died then it would better explain the restof the novel and what happened to Wieland Jr. Also, it was brought up in earlier classes the connection with reliegion and the time period. was religion a big factor for the people of this time, and if so, how did it shape their lives? that would also explain Wielands quick acceptance to the voices her hears.

Wieland

in my oponion some majr themes of the story have to do with fate and uncertainty. Wieland senior saw his fate that he was going to die soon, and he did. in the instance he acceptedfate. Also, it showed that he could not over come what was meant to be. Before he died he said that he didnt follow the directions from the Lord and that he will die a horrible death. well, he went to the temple to pray, in my thoughts he was praying for forgiveness, but he couldnt overcome what was meant to be and he died. we also get the theme of uncertainty. Multiple suprises occur during the novel. Some of them include voices bering hurt, thoughts of someone killing another, and even relationships among family members. What i mean with the relationships is it seems that Wieland isnt stabble and that creates rocky relationships among family memebers. Also, i think that Pleyel has feelings for Clara and by versa but neither one is willing to come clean so it creates a suspense of what could happen every time they meet.

visual portfolio

the pictures were very intersting to me. something that struck me interesting was the different between the houses in the cities and those in the country. in the towns people seems to live so close to one another and i am guessing it is because towns were very populated. then in the country people live farther apart and have more land. something i was wondering is if people in the country have more money then those in the city? there is also a big difference in the interior decoration of people that have money and those that dont. the furnature is more ellaborate alond with the rugs and walls. then looking at the picture from the farm house the walls are bare and without barely any furniture.
i found the chirches interesting as well because of the construction of the buildings. when looking at christs church. the outside structure is very ellaborate with the windows and pillars,but then on the inside there are no paintings on the walls and the inside looks very plain. then looking at the Quaker church the entire building inside and out seems rather plain. does that have to do with money or location of thecurch?
lately Benjamin Rush had extremely unique ideas about mentally handicapped individuals. the chair doesnt look like anything i would want to sit in. What was the purpose of the chair? it appears that people that were thought to hae problems were greatly seperated from society.

novice readers vs. expert readers

it greatly depends on the the type of literature I read, but i would say I am right in between. sometimes i just get so caught up in the stories that i read just to find out what happens next. other times i see myself formulating a hypothesis about what will happen and even asking questions about why the author wrote something a certain way. I would greatly concider myself a expert reader in the fact that i take positions quickly. it doenst matter on a sitution or just a character. i make judgements and it is difficult to change my opinions once they are made. i am more likely to use expert reading skills when reading for a class in school and knowing i have to look for certain information. Also, i thought about my job and how reading plays a big role in that as well. i am more likely to pay attention to the writting so that i can connect and undersand what the situation is and how to relay it the boss. i use expert skills when i know they are needed or on something i deem more important. if i am just reading a piece of literature for fun i dont find myself serseaching to ask questions or forming a hypothesis, i just want to enjoy my reading. on the pther hand, why i know communication of what i am reading will occure, i pay more attention and analysize often.