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8) Through analytical narration, Dana’s commentary shines light on the role of power in corrupting its hosts. Back to nineteenth century Maryland, Dana lands in the middle of a southern field, and witnesses a fight between Rufus and Isaac, the slave husband of Rufus’s childhood best friend and free woman, Alice. Evidently spurred from Rufus’s attempt to rape Alice, the two ferociously brawled it out much to the dismay of by standing Alice. As she conversed with Alice, she wondered, “If Rufus could turn so quickly on a life-long friend, how long would it take him to turn on me?” Despite Rufus’s attempt of rape, he truly loved Alice and only violated her because it was his only way to obtain her. Dana had already recognized this, but did
not know the extent of his passion for her until now. As children, Rufus and Alice were seen as equals due to negligent skin color and class principle when young. They eventually drifted ways and experienced extreme differences in power; Rufus’s access to land, slaves, and inherent white maleness all attributed to his rise in power. Alice, adversely, experienced little upward mobility as a free black. Before Rufus’s full-fledged power kicked in, he had fallen in love with Alice, but held back because it risked a friendship too phenomenal to gamble. Once he came into terms with the immense amount of power he held over blacks, even those born free, he accepted the opportunity to finally give in, valuing his desires over their established friendship. Both failed, as their friendship officially ceased with the attempt in rape, and the fight with Isaac led to Alice running away with him.Power— depending on its use, can either lead to immense prosperity, or a sudden crumble.
...his seemingly routine case of fornication and premarital pregnancy proved to be significant for early American legal history. The unfolding of this story and the legal changes that it brought about makes evident that by the end of the seventeenth century, The Eastern Shore had shaped a distinct legal culture. The characters involved in each case also revealed the extent the powerful players were able to shape the law to their own self-interests. The goal of the powers to be was to protect property interests, protect personal reputation and liberty, and to maintain social order.
In The Murder of Helen Jewett, Patricia Cohen uses one of the most trivial murders during the 1800’s to illustrate the sexiest society accommodations to the privileged, hypocritical tunneled views toward sexual behavior, and the exploitation of legal codes, use of tabloid journalism, and politics. Taking the fact that woman was made from taking a rib from man was more than biblical knowledge, but incorporated into the male belief that a woman’s place is determined by the man. Helen had the proper rearing a maid servant, but how did she fall so far from grace. Judge Weston properly takes credit for rearing her with the proper strictness and education. Was Helen seduced at an early age and introduced to sexual perversions that were more persuasive that the bible belt life that the Weston’s tried to live? Was Helen simply a woman who knew how to use what she had to get what she wanted? Through personal correspondence, legal documentation, census reports, paintings, and newspapers we are able to make our own determinations. Cohen provides more than enough background and history to allow any one to make their own opinion how the murder of a woman could be turned into a side show at a circus.
This scandalous case centers on a woman named Katherine Watkins. On Friday, August 18, 1681, Katherine accused a slave by the name of John Long, also known as Jack, of rape. There was some evidence of violence, but there were also outstanding questions about her character and conduct. Those who testified, however, painted a different picture about certain events preceding the crime. They were John Aust, William Harding, Mary Winter, Lambert Tye, Humphrey Smith, Jack White (Negro), Dirk (Negro), and Mingo (Negro). Whether these individuals were so inclined because Katherine Watkins was a Quaker, rather than an Anglican, we can never really know. That certainly fueled the fire, though. The day in question involved an afternoon of cider drinking. Several of the witnesses in the testimonies recounted Mrs. Watkins sexual advances to multiple of Thomas Cocke 's slaves, particularly, a mulatto named Jack. John Aust pleaded that Katherine, at one point, had lifted the shirt of one slave and announced “Dirke thou wilt have a good long thing” (Sex and Relations, 53). She allegedly had thrown another on the bed, kissed him, and, “put her hand into his codpiece” (Sex and Relations, 53). The most interesting piece of evidence that Aust brings forward is that Jack was actually avoiding Watkins at the party, an apparent attempt at avoiding any intimate entanglement with her (Sex and Relations, 52). Finally, he reported that Watkins and Jack had gone into a side room (Sex and Relations, 53). Later in the trial, Humphrey Smith seemingly referred to Aust 's testimony. His deposition suggested that he and Aust had some reservations about Jack 's guilt (Sex and Relations 54). Clearly, the character of the plaintiff was considered important evidence in the trial of a slave for rape. The reasonable extenuating circumstances of the case might have granted the magistrates leave way
In this paper I will explain and discuss the historical events that took place in a small rural town in early Massachusetts. The setting for which is Irene Quenzler Brown's and Richard D. Brown's, The Hanging of Ephraim Wheeler. I will explain the actions and motives of Hannah and Betsy Wheeler in seeking legal retribution of husband and father Ephraim Wheeler. I will also discuss the large scope of patriarchal power allowed by the law and that given to husbands and masters of households. Of course, this will also lead to discussions of what was considered abuse of these powers by society and the motivation for upholding the Supreme Court's decision to hang Ephraim Wheeler.
The first book in Cinda Williams Chima’s Seven Realms series, The Demon King, takes place in a world teeming with its own social issues. One such topic that is prevalent in the book, is the conflict between the different political powers in the queendom. The main character, Raisa, also battles with the role she is expected to fill as the heir princess and what it means to be of the royal line. Readers can also see the familiar pattern where winners shape how history is perceived, often skewing what really occurred.
In her novel, Kindred, author Octavia Butler addresses the challenges of interracial relationships. She touches on both consenting and non-consenting relationships. While Dana and Kevin are in a consenting relationship, their experiences and difficulties are similar to that of Rufus and Alice. Conversely, there are also many aspects of the two relationships that are very different.
Personal motive is visible in two specific situations as a cause of oppression, involving Abigail as well as the Putnams. Abigail Williams, a young woman, is one of the oppressors
With the use of character development, Douglass retains an important component in his argument by illustrating the alteration of Sophia Auld whose “kindest heart turned…into that of a demon”(39). He states that a human being having control of another has a soul-killing effect on his moral righteousness and results in the loss of innocence. At first Douglass writes, “The meanest slave was put fully at ease in her presence, and none left without feeling better for not having seen her. Her face was made of heavenly smiles, and her voice of tranquil music”(39). Douglass’s initial description fixes his argument that the slaveholder is not necessarily evil. His choice of words reveals his complete astonishment of her gentleness that he had never experienced before. However, Douglass’s tone appears to be disturbed of her behavior for she is “unlike any oth...
From the displays of power that have been shown through out this essay, we see that this story is a story about power. Power is the story is primarily about peoples need for some small amount of power to survive in life and to feel that hey have a purpose within their society which every society it may be whether its is Gilead or Nazi Germany or modern day Britain.
“The Affair of Coulter’s Notch” is a short story in which Ambrose Bierce, the author, presents an often unusual view of war. Captain Coulter, Bierce’s main character, experiences the transformation from white officer to black slave, then, is the result and the reflection of a racial definition forced on him by an act of recognition. According to Wade Newhouse, “It occurs because of the visible effects of his having successfully carried out his military responsibility, an act that simultaneously marks him as black and destroys his family.” Published in the late 1880s, the overpowering nature of war in “The Affair of Coulter’s Notch” may reflect that period.
White men could abuse their wives and slaves and it was perfectly normal, no one would say a word about it. If a woman or person of color harmed somebody they would immediately be put in jail or they could even be hanged. This oppression of women and people of color is weaved into Chains by showing Isabel's relationship with colonial women like Hannah, Mary, and Madam Lockton as well as Isabel’s relationship with other slaves like Curzon, and Grandfather.
Often, too much power can go to that particular person’s head, and he/she can become corrupt. As readers have seen in literature, abuses of power are often harmful to the abuser and their subjects. Corrupted authority and abuses of power eventually lead to the collapse of society. This concept is shown many times throughout the novel Lord Of the Flies and the short story “I Only Came to Use the Phone”. Displayed through characters and actions, abusive power has dominated what should be morally correct in literature.
Connection between the early slave narrative and the Romantic literature exposes the thread of patriarchal tyranny. These power shifts between Frankenstein
“The wretches have proceeded so far as to concert and consult the methods of rooting out the Christian religion from this country, and setting up instead of it perhaps a more gross diabolism than ever the world saw before.” (Mather 153) Perhaps the “gross diabolism” that he refers to is a world where women, similar to Martha Carrier, are not easily silenced or controlled by the authority of white, Puritan men. While Mather claims to be a historian and not an activist, and tells the reader that he was not there so he could not form any prejudice against those convicted. Despite this, he contradicts himself by slipping in extreme sexist comments towards Carrier, referring to her as a “rampant hag” (Mather 155). Through this, he assumes the role of the unreliable narrator because he is unable to keep his writing
Though at first glance, the sexual act seems mutually lustful, the development of contradicting diction, sexually austere allusions, and suggestive metaphors, allow even further implicated sexual means to be deciphered. Revealing a pseudo-lewd nature, initially when referencing to the woman as “pale” (4) and “a plantation” (2), the woman is perceived as pure and cultivated. However, after the sexual encounter, the woman is described as a “pastur[e]”—wild and suitable for animalistic benefit (24). Comparing himself to a “snake” (5), the speaker directly alludes and associates himself to the capability of corruption. Therefore, one could assume that the speaker’s inhuman penetration of rough sex taints an initially, unblemished, woman.