Literary Analysis : Virginian Luxuries Essay

Can you name any historical fiction author who has written stories with a balance of both historic education and an intriguing story that hooks you in every time you read their book? One of these authors is Elisa Carbone, who writes historically accurate books that are intense, interesting, and touching. One novel that she wrote is entitled “Blood on the River: Jamestown 1607” which is a suspenseful story in which an orphan from the streets of England in the year 1606, “Samuel Collier” is shipped to America as an indentured servant of John Smith, who believes they will find fortune in Virginia. What they found is a nightmare. In order to make books such as these, Carbone uses powerful, crucial literary elements.

This is proof that this terrible act was very typical within slaveholding societies. Now, just because this relationship seems usual in the south, it does not mean everyone condoned it. The wives of many slave owners proved they were not okay with a white male and a black female relationship by the way they acted with “anger and resentment” towards other slaves (McLaurin, 26). Wives chose to ignore this behavior simply because if they didn’t, not only would their lives be in danger, but so would their children’s.

Breen clearly depicts the Virginians attitude by saying that if they would have landed in a “cold, rocky, inhospitable country…they would probably have given up the entire venture…” Throughout this essay Breen reiterates the fact that the Virginians were out for private gain. They took it to such an extent that they isolated themselves throughout the land, which they exploited to all ends. Their relationships between each other and social behavior clearly portrayed the individualistic attitude they had. Slaves were used as a resource to increase profit. In Virginia you seemed to either be a resource used for profit or an exploiter who utilized those resources.

In the article ‘Black People in a White People’s Country’ by Gary Nash, he explains how slavery gave Africans a low role in America’s society, and how because slavery was allowed in the New World, they were “Socially and legally defined as less than people...”. It wasn’t just the fact that they were enslaved that made people treat them horribly, but also where they came from. In the eyes of a European, Africans were very different,

In reviewing the book American Slavery, American Freedom, historian and author Edmund S. Morgan provides a chronological approach to the growth of slavery in North America. Morgan starts his journey with the first settlements in Virginia and continues until the start of the American Revolution. Morgan gives explanation of how ideals of freedom and English sense of superiority came to be a major stepping stone for independence and racism. Morgan’s question of how a country that proclaims liberty, equality and religious virtue can at the same time foster the opposing ideals of slavery and subjugation is the underlying question throughout the book. Morgan puts the critical issue on display, broken down into four areas or books, to guide our understanding of colonial Virginia, the development of slavery, and the link between racism and equality.

Passions drive people, and the townspeople in “The Lottery” and Paul in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” are no different. Each of the members of the unnamed town has a strong passion for tradition. The original black box used for the lottery is described as being, “lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born” (Jackson 251). This sentence gives the reader an understanding that the lottery is an ancient tradition that has become an integral part of the town’s lifestyle. Such a tradition can only be carried on for this length of time if the people are passionate about preserving the tradition. Paul had a passion to be wealthy as a way to prove to his mother that he was lucky. From a young age, he saw that his family always wanted more money to support a better lifestyle, yet

The slave owner’s exploitation of the black woman’s sexuality was one of the most significant factors differentiating the experience of slavery for males and females. The white man’s claim to the slave body, male as well as female, was inherent in the concept of the Slave Trade and was tangibly realized perhaps no where more than the auction block. Captive Africans were stripped of their clothing, oiled down, and poked and prodded by potential buyers. The erotic undertones of such scenes were particularly pronounced in the case of black women. Throughout the period of slavery in America, white society believed black women to be innately lustful beings. The perception of the African woman as hyper-sexual made her both the object of white man’s abhorrence and his fantasy. Within the bonds of slavery, masters often felt it was their right to engage in sexual activity with black women. Sometimes, female slaves made advances hoping that such relationships would increase the chances that they or their children would be liberated by the master. Most of the time, slave owners took slaves by force.

Perhaps one of the strongest elements of slavery is honor. Honor has had a wide range of impact in history, whether it was shaping major dynasties and hierarchies, deciding an individuals’ role in society, or family ties and marriages. This sense of worth, high esteem, or virtue was also manipulated by slave masters in order to control their slaves. “The slave could have no honor because of the origin of his status, the indignity and all-pervasiveness of his indebtedness, his absence of any independent social existence, but most of all because he was without power except through another” (p 6). This element is not just a physical force, such as coercive power, which one can heal and

Breen and Innes do a great job suggesting that a person’s conduct, not necessarily their race, played the major role in early Virginia. They make an inadvertent argument that dominance and submission were the real issue when it came to owning property at the time, not race. The large plantation owners intimidated the smaller farmers and landowners. Blacks were on the same playing field when compared along with the small farmers and landowners. Sadly, this did not last with the entrance of racial mindsets as aforementioned. There is also an argument that even though the hardest working blacks could work their way out of slavery and into freedom, they could maintain the wealth it took to perpetuate that freedom. The growing plantation system and the growing black population is what brought an end to the equal status of the free, black

The similarity of his history with that of white servants of the time seems to be that while he started out in Virginia as a servant, or slave, he had worked his way up to freedom, had a family and established himself as a trustworthy land owner over the years. These too were some of the values he shared with his white neighbors. Having a family, a farm, and freedom. He was also trusted by the white people enough to be allowed to testify in an issue involving white men, and his wife and daughters were excused from paying taxes. At the time that would have classified them as equals to the white women.

White explores the master’s sexual exploitation of their female slaves, and proves this method of oppression to be the defining factor of what sets the female slaves apart from their male counterparts. Citing former slaves White writes, “Christopher Nichols, an escaped slave living in Canada, remembered how his master laid a woman on a bench, threw her clothes over her head, and whipped her. The whipping of a thirteen-year-old Georgia slave girl also had sexual overtones. The girl was put on all fours ‘sometimes her head down, and sometimes up’ and beaten until froth ran from her mouth (33).” The girl’s forced bodily position as well as her total helplessness to stop her master’s torture blatantly reveals the forced sexual trauma many African females endured.

The limitation of this book is that this book could only dedicate about 10 pages in the slavery in Virginia. Since it covered so much time period, some details were overlooked.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," says the Declaration of Independence. This phrase encompasses three major values shown throughout early American literature. The strong belief in religion, freedom, and a strong will for a better life. Each piece had one or more of these themes within them.

To the picture number 10 in the PowerPoint; we can see a rich white man who try to kiss his female black slave. As we see the black lady fist her hand and her eyes looking up, it means that she is forced and she can not show any reaction because the slaves were as slaver’s merchandise that the slaves were not as a human and they did not have any right. So, the slaver could do any thing with them.

Puritan values, ideas, and beliefs are evident in the works of Anne Bradstreet, William Bradford, and Jonathan Edwards. Through her poetry, Bradstreet reveals her Puritan values and ideals. Bradstreet was aware of a woman’s role in Puritan society and tried to portray herself as a humble, pious, obedient, and modest wife. William Bradford’s work also encompasses beliefs, values, and ideas of Puritan life. One can see that in Bradford’s writing such as Of Plymouth Plantation, Bradford emphasizes Puritan suffering specifically through the Mayflower journey and how, with the grace of God, they prevailed. Jonathan Edwards’ work also displays Puritan beliefs, values, and ideals through the installation of fear. In an excerpt from Sinners in the