The way that Odell Rhodes breaks down what he actually thought about Jim Jones after the massacre in his hotel room in Curacao. His evaluation of Jim Jones is interesting due to the fact that he had all these reasons to not follow him but since no one else said anything, Odell wasn't able to stand up for what he believed in much like many of the other survivors. The group mindset had worn off and Odell started to list all of the things he was against that Jim Jones did, such as Denigrated sex, but he slept with women constantly, beat homosexuals in front of everyone and still had sex with men, he believed in equality yet he ate meat while everyone else ate rice with maggots, and then finally Jim Jones also preached racial equality due to his
Another literary technique that Douglass uses in his narrative is ethos. Ethos appeals to a writer’s character or credibility. Christianity is Douglass’s focus throughout his narration. He uses it to show the ethical irregularities essential to the practice of slavery. It’s particularly moving in chapter ten in the character of Edward Covey. Mr. Covey looks at himself as a very religious and spiritual Christian and attempts to swindle himself and God, however his evil actions expose him to be nothing more than a two-faced sinner. Douglass stated that Mr. Covey’s “…life was devoted to planning and perpetrating the grossest deceptions. Every thing he possessed in the shape of learning or religion, he made conform to his disposition to deceive.” This linked the readers by portraying an extremely clear sample of the ethical paradox of being a Christian and a slave owner.
Jim Jones and Jesus Christ, two names of two very known people, they share many similarities. Yet only own of them is praised and the other is demonized. Even comparing the two is almost forbidden, how could someone compare the savior of mankind and a man who is responsible for the death of hundreds? Both managed to gain a large following, had people who feared them, and they both made the ultimate sacrifice. While they share many similarities they both are remembered very differently. Jesus is known as the savior of all and he is celebrated furiously, while Jim Jones is demonized and only remembered for his cyanide kool-aid. They both went about their lives in different ways, while Jesus was a peacemaker who helped others and sacrificed himself
In the essay I Hear the Mournful Wail White Simone and Billings… (p. 393) Frederick Douglas an escaped slave and a member of the Massachusetts antislavery society was invited “to commemorate Independence Day in Rochester New York”. P. 393 Douglas immediately sets himself apart from the rest of the audience by calling Independence Day their holiday. Frederick Douglas uses questions to draw the audience in asking them to question why indeed do they celebrate Independence Day when equality does not reign for all. White Simone and Billings state that an introduction should “engage the reader” and Douglas accomplishes this well in his essay. P. 126 Douglas then talks to the audience about the inequality of slavery and the rights of the slave, Douglas ask the audience if a Negro is a man. Douglas contradicts the argument that God has ordained slavery. Douglas States that “slavery is not divine” nor “did God establish it instead the doctors of divinity or mistaken”. P. 396 Douglas’s essay rails against slavery and ask the audience to lay aside their beliefs on slavery and instead see slavery for what it is “revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy”.
William Robbins’s plantation. “The boy Luke was happy. When Shavis Merle, a white man with three slaves to this name, sought to hire Luke during the harvest...for $2 a week. Merle believed in feeding his workers plenty of food, but they gave it all back in the field, from sunup to sundown, and no one that year gave up more than Luke did. After Luke died in the field, merle protested up and down about paying compensation, but Willy Robbins got him to pay Henry $100 for the boy. ‘Fair business is fair business,’ Robbins had to keep telling Merle. Moffett was early to the boy’s funeral, which Merle attended, and Moffett said some words at the gravesite, but no one said more than Elias and at the last his new wife had to put her arms around him to bring an end to all the words.” (Jones 103). Personally, this was the point in the novel where I began to get attached to Jones’s characters. This is an example of Jones’s use of imagery which is used not only show the meaning of the work, but as well as to leave an impact on the reader at the end of the chapter, which personally is why I really enjoyed this novel. Another example of imagery that Jones’s uses that leaves an impact on the reader is when when Sheriff John Skiffington shoots Mildred, Augustus’s wife, for hiding Moses, Henry’s first slave which ran
In Frederick Douglass’s autobiography, The Narrative of Frederick Douglass, he writes in depth about his life as a slave. His intent for the book is to abolish slavery. He targets the white Northern men by using the three rhetorical appeals: logos, ethos, and pathos, to convince his goal. He also portrays the religious aspect, in Christian values. Narrating his personal experiences with his masters and fellow slaves, he states reasons of the immorality of enslavement. Douglass argues that slavery ultimately dehumanizes slave owners and demonstrates that slavery is immoral.
In some ways, Douglass’ message of the cruelty in slavery is most effectively portrayed through his word choice and language, rather than the actual presentation of evidence. At one point, after witnessing several acts of extreme violence towards slave, and even some murders, Douglass sums up the events with a common phrase among slave holders, “it was worth a half cent to kill a nigger, and a half cent to bury one.” While this may not be an actual fact, it is very logical, and shows why the courts would never convict a white man for murdering a slave. By choosing to use this statement, it shows how well Douglass understands his surrounding, and how corrupt and violent they are. This statement devalues an entire race of people, and that alone speaks to the reader’s heart. The logic of the statement
“Prior to the 9/11 attack, the tragedy at Jonestown marked the single largest loss of U.S. civilian lives in a non-natural disaster”(Jonestown Massacre 2). Jim Jones, a cult leader of the Peoples Temple, was responsible for the loss of the 900+ people that died in Guyana on November 18, 1978. Before all of this Jim Jones was a normal man living a life as a preacher who preached against racism. Throughout his life he was very popular by “currying favor with public officials and the media, donated money to numerous charitable causes and delivered votes for various politicians at election times”(History Staff). Jim Jones was a cult leader that preached to 900+ people of the Peoples Temple, made hundreds of people commit suicide, and made history of the biggest loss of U.S. civilians before 9/11.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the
The mass suicides, that took place under the influence of Reverend Jim Jones, can be explained from a sociological perspective. By looking at how the group dynamics played into the outcome one gets a better idea of the whys? of the massacre. The sociological explanation is but one way to explain this horrific event. It is , however, the only one explored in this essay for reasons of concision.
For my paper I have chosen to analyze the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird.” This movie is based on the novel – by the same name – written by Harper Lee. The story has two major plotlines. One follows Jem, Scout, and Dill as they try to uncover the secretes behind the infamous “Boo” Radley. It’s only at the end of the movie that we learn “Boo’s” real name to be Arthur, and that we discover he actually tries to protect people, as he saved Jem and Scout’s lives. The other major plotline, and the one more relevant to this class, follows Atticus Finch, Jem and Scout’s father, as he tries to represent Tom Robinson. Mr. Robinson is an African American man who has been charged with raping Mayella Ewell. The movie then follows both the trial and the
The mass suicides, that took place under the influence of Reverend Jim Jones, can be explained from a sociological perspective. By looking at how the group dynamics played into the outcome one gets a better idea of the whys? of the massacre. The sociological explanation is but one way to explain this horrific event. It is , however, the only one explored in this essay for reasons of concision.
life. Hughes still feared for the future of urban blacks. His point of view became immense and
And when Colonel Lloyd asked Mr.Gore his reason for doing that, Gore argued that if one slave refused to be corrected, then other slaves would soon start doing the same thing. The last example is when the wife of Mr.Giles Hicks murdered Douglass’ soon to be wife’s cousin. The cousin was watching Mrs.Hicks baby and when she fell asleep the baby began to cry and because she had not gotten any sleep the past few nights, she did not hear the baby cry. Since Mrs.Hicks was in the same room with them, when she saw the girl asleep, she got up and seized a oak stick of wood from the fire place and broke the girl’s nose and stabbed her in the breast bone, ending her life. And even though there was a
When one of the plantation owners talk down to his wife, and treats her like she has nothing to say about stuff, it shows how he thinks of her as less than himself. He discriminates her infront of the slaves.
Hughes’s descriptive writing prompts the reader to visualize strong images of oppression in America. The speaker provides an image of an extremely suppressed group of people in the statement: “I am the red man driven from the land” (Hughes 21). This simple phrase creates a picture of the Native Americans being driven from their lands and forced to live on undesirable land, and, as a result, this invites the reader to acknowledge their severe oppression. Similarly, the speaker mentions the people who were “torn from Black Africa’s strand” (Hughes 50). This generates an image of boats packed with a depressing amount of broken people, waiting to be sold into slavery. These visual examples portray the severity of the situation that many Americans found themselves in. These