Imagination And The Abolitionist Movement

To be imaginative is to be a child. As a person ages, he is expected to mature into adulthood and to live in the real world. He is expected to abandon his childhood dreams and cultivate practicality and factuality. However, imaginations are not limited to unicorns and dragons; it is a skill a person must nurture to realize his dreams and desires. To be imaginative is to be a visionary. Without a vision, a person lacks the sight for compassion, curiosity, and self-consciousness. In this sense, imagination is not only to think outside the box, but also to search deeper inside. In the short story, “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, Carver develops the idea that a lack of imagination limits a person to the physical and visible world which leads to the blindness to the abstract world and rejection of the uncertain future. It is when a person opens his eyes to the unseen that he can create emotional connection with others and discover the profound truth inside himself.

Chopin addresses emotional freedom through small waves of fear and insecurity which are ironically surpasses by great waves of joy. When told about her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard “did not hear the story as many women heard the same, with paralyzed inability to accept its significance” (Chopin 65) instead she was immediately filled with grief. The idea of her husband being dead was not unbelievable, possibly because she had thought, or even fantasized about it before. Mrs.Mallard

In the years leading up to the Civil war, many anti-slavery abolitionists spoke out on their feelings against slavery. New Christian views, and new ideas about human rights are what prompted this anti-slavery movement. Abolitionist literature began to appear around 1820. Abolitionist literature included newspapers, sermons, speeches and memoirs of slaves. Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Douglass were two abolitionist writers. They were similar in some ways and different in others (“Abolition”).

Abolitionism is a movement that deals with racial inequalities in early America and slavery. This movement impacted the economy, because people wanted to keep slaves around to use them in the south, which has an agriculturally based economy. Leaders like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and William Lloyd Garrison were instrumental in freeing the black slaves and helping draw attention to the grave inequalities between the races in the United States. Through Harriet Tubman’s growth from a slave to a “criminal” who helped free over 300 hundred slaves in her lifetime, and Frederick Douglass’s amazing literary works which were inspired by his life, such as, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave, which truly showed

Although some people react dramatically when facing a situation, after reflecting on their initial reactions, their previous emotions may be affected by a previously unknown feeling of freedom. In Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, receives some sad news. Initially, Mrs. Mallard reacts with great sadness over the news of her husband’s death. As the story progresses, Mrs. Mallard begins to reflect on her previous emotions alone and begins to develop her true emotions towards her husband’s death. Finally, Mrs. Mallard realizes that the wonderful feelings of individual freedom overpower her feelings of sadness. Therefore, although Mrs. Mallard reacts with sadness over the death of her husband, Brently, after reflecting on her previous emotions, she discovers that the feelings of individual freedom overtake the relationship with her husband.

Nineteenth century America was a nation wracked by hypocrisy. While asserting notions of equality and liberty for all, the young land coveted these values for its white majority. African Americans, held in bondage for economic exploitation, were robbed of the principles of democracy and freedom so championed by the United States. This dissonance in American rhetoric was omnipresent, for slavery was a constant and fundamental aspect of life in both the North and South for decades. This duplicity of American equality was not lost on all whites, and a growing sect of reformers arose to combat the wrongs of African enslavement. These

The rapid advancement has enabled the level of achievements within the last decades to be beyond belief. However, people seldom reflect about how these progressions were achieved: through learning from the past. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass enabled people to understand why abolitionist movement in America during the 1800s was necessary and broadened their views by explaining how slavery, an idea so disturbing and unacceptable was the norm in the relative past. Douglass shares his story in hopes of changing the perception of some while firmly expressing his belief that people should stand against slavery.

This essay seeks to explore the strengths and weaknesses of the abolitionist perspectives in the Singaporean context. The critique of abolitionism in this essay is targeted at specific elements of the criminal justice system. Four common themes of the abolitionist perspectives will be applied to the Singaporean case: domestic violence, interactions with youth crime, discretionary capital punishment, and racialization of imprisonment. The value of the abolitionists argument stems from the criticism made to hegemonies about penal institutions, practices, and processes. Discretionary capital punishment presents itself as the most compelling argument for abolitionism in this respect.

The Abolitionist movement was a reform movement that pursued to terminate the enslavement of Africans and people of African descent in American, Europe, and Africa. Abolitionist thoughts and ideas became more and more noticeable in Northern politics and churches starting in the 1830s, which subsidized to the hatred and bitterness between North and South leading up to the Civil War. One important abolitionist in this movement was William Lloyd Garrison. He was an American journalist and a militant abolitionist who helped lead this popular and successful abolitionist movement against slavery in the United States.

The young nation of America was not a liberated country, regardless of its freedom from British tyranny. Nineteenth century abolitionists and women arose against the inequality towards relegated women and those with dark complexions. However, organized protests and insurrections by the firebrands inadequately obliterated the racial and gender discrimination. Literature and writings, which exposed the flaws occurring in the republic, were the most effective contributions towards the social reformers’ achievement of egalitarianism in the United States. Abolitionists’ writings revealed the humanity and horrific lives of slaves, female writings exhibited the injustice shown towards women, and the additional amendments to the Constitution unveiled

The writing of Douglass shows how slavery survived into the 1800’s. The slaveholders led a campaign of terror against their slaves. The laws forbid teaching slaves to read. This was a well-respected principle of the slave-owners, “that education and slavery were incompatible with each other”. The attempts to keep slaves illiterate served to keep their minds as well as their bodies from being freed. With no knowledge of the abolitionist movement in

By definition the word abolition means,” The act of abolishing... the state of being abolished... the legal prohibition and ending of slavery, especially of slavery of blacks in the U.S.(Definition).” When Frederick Douglass wrote his personal narrative it had a profound effect on the abolitionist cause. People were astounded at how it opened their eyes to the horror of what slavery genuinely was. The book allowed people to recognize how slaves felt, and reminded them that they were intellectual beings who had thoughts and feelings. Many repeating themes throughout the novel changed the lives and beliefs of many northerners, especially regarding education, equality, and freedom for slaves and

In Southern areas of the United States, very few African Americans were free, and they were forced to pay increased taxes and live apart from white people. African Americans in the North were not allowed to vote, be part of the government, or attend any schools or churches where white people were present. Elaboration of point and evidence: African Americans did not have as many rights as white people had in the 1800’s, and were treated with disrespect at the very least. Whites were violent and malicious towards African Americans and it was nearly impossible to survive in the conditions that whites were providing. Clincher: This required abolitionists to take a stand and promote the freedom of all races.

Freedom is the ultimate goal—this intrinsic desire has been manifested within human civilization since the beginning of time. Although, humans crave the idea of complete freedom, they do not understand what complete freedom entails. I believe freedom is a social construct that is conceptualized. The definition of freedom almost always varies from person to person; my interpretation of freedom is being given the ability to act, reason and believe with the condition of minimal constraint. Moreover, the terms freedom and free-will must be differentiated between, they cannot be defined within the same realm. Free-will is a psychological capacity, directing ones behavior in a way responsive to reason, while freedom is constrained by rules that govern us through social order. Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor proclaims that it is not freedom that brings man happiness, but security. On the contrary, Socrates a famous Greek philosopher, places much emphasis on freedom that he accepts death over living a slave.

The term ‘imagination’, in turn, is used originally used by Mills (1959) (rather than ‘perspective’), because the concept also fits with cultural and literary understanding. It seeks to combine some of the qualities of art that it prizes (capturing and expressing the needs of the individual), and some qualities already in literature (presenting the social norms that shape individuals), with a “social and historical reality”, a “big picture in which... [individuals] can understand themselves” (Mills, 1959: 20). In this way it hopes to blend “the scientific and the humanistic” (Mills, 1959: 16) to form a comprehensive basis for the study of the social sciences.