Sarah Grimke, a strong believer in racial and gender equality, challenges the definition of morality by her actions in Kidd’s novel. Sarah lived in a slave-owning household, where slaves were nothing more than servants serving their masters. On Sarah’s eleventh birthday, she received her first slave, Handful, as a gift from her mother. In the 1800s, the slaveholders of South Caroline believed that it was normal to own a slave because the bible justified their practice. Brinton, the author of Balancing Acts: Obligation, Liberation, and Contemporary Christian Conflicts, says, "slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling" (Ephesians 6:50), or "tell slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect"
When I mention the names Sarah Grimke and Frederick Douglass what comes to mind? Abolitionists? Equal rights activists? Of course, these two individuals are making great strives to fight for what they believe in. The sad thing about it is that we don’t have enough people with the likes of these two. England abolished slavery in 1834 so how long will we go on with this inhumane cruelty toward people. Our country is in a state of denial and if we don’t wake up soon, we will all pay the price. I’m going to discuss a little bit about these two abolitionist speakers, than compare and contrast their roles of rhetoric, morality, ideas, and backgrounds.
In “The Eyes Were Watching God” Janie is hurt by Starks. More importantly, Janie becomes emotionally hurt by Stark’s demand of obedience. Starks jealousy and insecurities leads him to force to Janie hide her beautiful hair, Starks doesn’t let Janie give a speech when they were outside inaugurating the lamp, and also, Starks make everyone call her the Mayor’s wife. Essentially, Starks takes Janie’s identity (Prof. Haynes class) in addition to actually physically hurting her in an argument over dinner. In the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” we see slaveholders beating and whipping the African American slaves daily. Additionally, from Douglass’s perspective, he was so emotionally pressed that these beatings led him to suicidal thoughts and depressions which were caused by being oppressed every day knowing that there could be something better out in the world for
Still, her deviation from the confederate mindset did not cause her to necessarily promote total equality between men and women. As an abolitionist, Grimke suggested that women use their submissive positions in the household in order to influence heir husbands. Furthermore, Grimke’s tone and proposals differed as she targeted women from the North and the South. Grimke recognized that in the common Southern household, the woman would take the place of a homemaker and nurturer, qualities still primarily associated with women, and she used these stereotypes to the abolitionist advantage. In her four pronged “An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South”, Grimke states that the Southern Christian Woman has four duties in regards to abolition: to read, pray, speak and act. These four steps to abolition use the place of white women in the common household to circumvent around the little power that they had at this time. Grimke’s tone changes in her “Appeal to the Women of the Nominally Free States”, as she now refers to black women as not just slaves but “sisters” to whom white women owe humanization. In a
For example, Northup introduces the reader to a slave named Eliza Berry, who was forced to become her master’s lover, as well as to live with him on the condition that she and her children would be emancipated (25). This exemplifies how white men would use their status to sexually harass their female slaves, while avoiding the consequences because no one would believe them, and they were threatened with being whipped if they uttered a word. In addition, Northup introduces another female slave named Patsey, and he states, “Her back bore the scars of a thousand stripes; not because she was backward in her work, nor because she was of an unmindful and rebellious spirit, but because it had fallen to her lot to be the slave of a licentious master…” (116). Overall, this quote corroborates how severe their masters would penalize them both physically and mentally, as well as how unfair they were to
In Harriet Jacobs’ autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, personal accounts that detail the ins-and-outs of the system of slavery show readers truly how monstrous and oppressive slavery is. Families are torn apart, lives are ruined, and slaves are tortured both physically and mentally. The white slaveholders of the South manipulate and take advantage of their slaves on every possible occasion. Nothing is left untouched by the gnarled claws of slavery; even God and religion become tainted. As Jacobs’ account reveals, whites control the religious institutions of the South, and in doing so, forge religion as a tool used to perpetuate slavery, the very system it ought to condemn.
Douglass’ explains his view of religion as “When I think that these precious souls are to-day shut up in the prison-house of slavery, my feelings overcome me, and I am almost ready to ask, “Does a righteous God govern the universe? And for what does he hold the thunders in his right hand, if not to smite the oppressor, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the spoiler? (p.48).” He wonders how a righteous God can rule the universe, and yet still allow cruel things like slavery to exist. One of the ways Douglass shows himself to be a Christian, is by quoting the Bible, “Dark and terrible as is this picture, I hold it to be s...
The Grimke sisters were born into a wealthy, well established southern family in Charleston, South Carolina. Their father, John Grimke, was a plantation owner and well known judge who had previously been a lieutenant colonel in the Revolutionary War, as well as part of the South Carolina House of Representatives. Sarah and Angelina were two of fourteen children in the Grimke family. Sarah was born in 1792, making her the sixth child. She loved to learn and was well educated in the aspects of reading, writing, and simple mathematics. Although her education was full, and at a high capacity for a woman, she yearned for more. Sarah secretly borrowed her brother's history books and taught herself, hoping to one day go to college alongside her brothers. Having lived on a plantation her entire life, Sarah became well aware of the brutal treatment of slaves. At a young age, she witnessed many beatings and torture of the slaves. In a minor attempt to help, she secretly began to teach her maid to read so that she could read and learn t...
Sarah Grimke, who grew up in a wealthy, white family, had always seen, been aware of, and against racial inequality. Sarah personally knows the effects of inequality, for she has both been a witness and a victim to it. For example, throughout the book Sarah has a speech impediment, which was brought on by a traumatizing event that happened when she was little. She
In the well-written narrative The Life of Fredrick Douglass, the author, and former slave known as Fredrick Douglass, uses multiple examples of brutal whippings and severe punishments to describe the terrible conditions that African American slaves faced in the south. Douglass’s purpose for writing this narrative was to show the physical and emotional pain that slaves had to endure from their owners. According to Fredrick Douglass, “adopted slaveholders are the worst” and he proves his point with his anecdotes from when he was a slave; moreover, slave owners through marriage weren’t used to the rules of slaveholding so they acted tougher. He also proves that Christian slave owners weren’t always holier, they too showed no mercy towards their slaves and Douglass considered them religious hypocrites.
The fictionalized portrait he penned in “The Heroic Slave” is similar to the personal experience related in his autobiographical work. Both works illustrate the cruel and inhumane treatment of slaves by their masters. Physical abuse, in the form of beatings and inadequate nourishment, is a common prevalence as was mental abuse, in the forms of derogatory language and the separation of family units. The pursuit of freedom from slavery is a shared theme of these two compositions. Douglass felt his pursuit was best served by an education. Madison used his innate intelligence, bravery and perseverance to secure his freedom. Slavery’s direct conflict with fundamental Christian values is illustrated in several places in each work. Abuse of any kind is oppositional to the Christian values of kindness and charity and the subjects of these works endured many instances of abuse. Douglass’s own eloquence is apparent in “The Heroic Slave” in his word choice. Phrases such as “made merchandise of my body” (B: 1263) and “children of a common Creator” (B: 1272) masterfully articulates the inhumane act of owning other humans. The passage describing how a snake would not “stop to take my blows” (B: 1256) illustrates the further degradation of humanity when mandatory compliance is coupled with the cruelty of physical abuse
Grimke, Angelina. "Appeal to the Christian Women of the South." The Public Years of Sarah and Angelina Grimké: Selected Writings 1835- 1839. ed. Larry Ceplair. NY: Columbia U P, 1989. 36-89.
As a freewoman, Alice tries to take possession of her life by choosing her lover and marrying a slave, which results in her getting raped, running away, and getting dragged back, now under slave status. She doesn’t see her body as her own, “Not mine…Not mine, his. He paid for it, didn’t he?” (167). As her rebellion, Alice submits her body, but not her spirit—she never fully accepts her sexual enslavement, continuing to plot her escape as the years go on. She fears that she will lose her sense of self and “turn into just what people call” her—saying she enjoys being Rufus’ (235) girl. Her motherhood is one of opposing feelings—to have kin, but for that kin to also be enslaved and a constant reminder of her loss of agency. Butler shows how black motherhood during enslavement was a complex thing. Alice has no voice about what happens to her children, and they become objects that Rufus uses to control Alice’s affection and sexual behavior toward him (Mitchell 63). Alice loves her children, but the institution of slavery constricts that love due to her inability to own herself or her children. This usage of children as a bargaining chip and a weapon against the mother is also seen from Butler’s employment of Sarah. Sarah’s three sons were sold to pay for material things, leaving her with Carrie, who she protected and loved with her entire being. Tom Weylin uses
Friedrich Nietzsche’s “On the Genealogy of Morality” includes his theory on man’s development of “bad conscience.” Nietzsche believes that when transitioning from a free-roaming individual to a member of a community, man had to suppress his “will to power,” his natural “instinct of freedom”(59). The governing community threatened its members with punishment for violation of its laws, its “morality of customs,” thereby creating a uniform and predictable man (36). With fear of punishment curtailing his behavior, man was no longer allowed the freedom to indulge his every instinct. He turned his aggressive focus inward, became ashamed of his natural animal instincts, judged himself as inherently evil, and developed a bad conscience (46). Throughout the work, Nietzsche uses decidedly negative terms to describe “bad conscience,” calling it ugly (59), a sickness (60), or an illness (56); leading some to assume that he views “bad conscience” as a bad thing. However, Nietzsche hints at a different view when calling bad conscience a “sickness rather like pregnancy” (60). This analogy equates the pain and suffering of a pregnant woman to the suffering of man when his instincts are repressed. Therefore, just as the pain of pregnancy gives birth to something joyful, Nietzsche’s analogy implies that the negative state of bad conscience may also “give birth” to something positive. Nietzsche hopes for the birth of the “sovereign individual” – a man who is autonomous, not indebted to the morality of custom, and who has regained his free will. An examination of Nietzsche’s theory on the evolution of man’s bad conscience will reveal: even though bad conscience has caused man to turn against himself and has resulted in the stagnation of his will, Ni...
In his book, the “Moral Sense,” James Q. Wilson defines the Moral Sense as a sense of being connected to others. Wilson explains how people from different cultures and societies all have a similar set of basic principles, which they follow. The author brings up the example of fairness in his 3rd chapter. Within the chapter, Wilson explains how everyone, has their own perception of fairness from a very young age even though we come from different cultures and societies. He justifies his idea by bringing to light the simple, basic, but also very natural statement all children make when they are young “That’s not fair.” This is seen throughout all cultures because everyone has a basic idea of what fairness is within them. To Wilson, we have this sense of fairness because we are all humans who are based on evolution and culture, and as a result we all have these commonalities. However even though everyone has a basic consensus of fairness, there is no single universally accepted definition for
James Rachels' article, "Morality is Not Relative," is incorrect, he provides arguments that cannot logically be applied or have no bearing on the statement of contention. His argument, seems to favor some of the ideas set forth in cultural relativism, but he has issues with other parts that make cultural relativism what it is.