Symbolism In The Slave By Isaac Bashevis Singer

Today’s slavery is one of the most diabolical strains to emerge in the thousands of years in which humans have been enslaving their fellows. In the modern global society, there are not just only one kind of human race that specifically victim of human traffic, today it come in all races, all types, and all ethnicities, which became the “Equal Opportunity Slavery” that Bales and Soodalter were mentioned in their book, The Slave Next Door. It is proving itself to be worse than the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade that historically took place from the 1500s to the 1800s.

While literature is can be for entertainment, it is also used to teach a lesson or get a point across. Throughout a literary work, an author will include many possible topics, themes, theories, archetypes, symbols, and ideas to teach their lesson or make their point. As one reads through “The Old Man Slave and the Mastiff,” written by Patrick Chamoiseau, it is important to know that the author is not only highlighting the life of a slave, but also expressing everyday struggles through the parallels of the story. While the story focuses on the life of slavery, the Master of the plantation, and a mastiff, it is imperative to analyze the different archetypes in the story. The archetypes are “recurrent as a symbol or motif in literature, art, or mythology” (Archetypal). “The Old Man Slave and the Mastiff” is comprised of the following literary archetypes: a hero, a dog, a master, and slaves.

In convincing people to be aware of the rights of slaves, Douglass wrote a slave narrative to argue people should be equally treated even a slave. In his novel, he effectively uses pathos, ethos as persuasiveness to make claims more powerful and logos to make people easily accept. His primary audiences should be guilty and shameful after read his Slave Narrative.

Today, there are many different social classes in the world. They are seperated by properties, an education, and a social position. Because it is democratic society, people can say their opinions and put in the action if it is not against the law. For equal punishment, we have law; all people can be equal by law, but we are not equal by money. We are also living in capitalistic society. Who ever have more property, is high class, and they can distort the story to their own advantages. Many people are obedient to money and sometimes they have no choice. people get treated differently depend on race, classes, and educational background, so all people cannot be equal. All these discriminations from quite a while ago. In America there were many african slaves. The book “The Big House And The Slave Quarters” talked about an environment and life of slaves in America. According to the book, the slave population is about 3 million in 1850 and 4 million on the eve of the Civil War. They didn’t have any human rights and personal privacy, and their environment were bad.

In Western culture we are born with the right of autonomy. It is believed that this right can never be taken away from us. We are born into this privilege of liberty and are given opportunities to grow and make our own choices without being oppressed or discouraged for them. We are free, or so we think we are. In the book Slave My True Story by Mende Nazer and Damien Lewis (2003), Mende a 12 year old girl, is stripped of her happiness, childhood and most of all, her freedom.

(1) The use of natural dialect can be seen throughout the slave narrative interviews through words and phrases used that were common during the period of slavery, but are not used today. One example can be seen in the dialect used by former slave Mama Duck, “Battlin stick, like dis. You doan know what a battling stick is? Well, dis here is one.” Through incomplete sentences and unknown words the natural dialect of the time can be seen. Unfamiliar words such as shin-plasters, meaning a piece of paper currency or a promissory note regarded as having little or no value. Also, geechees, used to describe a class of Negroes who spoke Gullah. Many examples can be seen throughout the “Slave Narratives”

In this book Fredrick Douglass finds shows himself growing up as a slave in Baltimore, Maryland. He eventually escapes from his master and becomes a run away slave as he flees to the north. Douglass however is most popularly known for his pressure on the supreme court to obtain equal rights for African American citizens. He made huge advances in civil rights for his fellow African American brothers and sisters. His contributions have caused a balancing of society that is still getting better to this day.

“Clarkson’s Essay” is a narrative by Thomas Clarkson to show his audience the reality of what slavery is and the terrible conditions they are living in. He scouted England over seven years to get testimonies from the suffering that slavery had on its victims. From hard facts, he described actual slaves on the hell ships that were barely surviving. Clarkson questions the faith of the slave traders when he claims “What is Christianity, but a system of murder and oppression?” (92). If they are Christian how could they do such things? God created everyone equal, so he must be wondering where the love for your brother and sisters in Christ is. Murder is a sin. In the Old Testament of the Bible it says, "He who kidnaps a man, whether he sells him

Slavery was a challenging and uncomfortable life for the slaves such as Jacobs. Her mistress watched over her when she was sleeping trying to provoke Jacobs into accuse herself of attempting to seduce the mistress’s husband. Slave narratives have gothic elements to it because Jacobs was fearful of her life and her mistress watched over her when Jacobs was variable from being asleep. Jacobs describes how she was in her grandmother’s attic for seven years and

Incident in the Life of a Slave Girl had a different explanation narrative story than any other slavery stories we had read, especially with male-authored narrative because Jacob was engaging the readers with the issue she had challenged in her time period. Jacob mentions that her family was the most important people in her life because she gave us an idea that her family were depended to her emotional support (153-155). In fact, family was the most important mechanism for many slaves because they were dependent on each other for friendship, especially to maintain their confidence no matter what the situation they are going through.

In the book 12 Years A Slave written from a primary source by Solomon Northup based on a true story describes the triumphant journey Solomon Northup goes through as he never lost hope of regaining his freedom and resisted the dehumanization of enslavement in many ways. Solomon was born a free black man in New York in 1808 while his father, Mintus was born a slave and gained his freedom as their master passed away also inheriting their masters last name "Northup". Growing Solomon worked on a farm with his dad and soon after his dad died in 1829 he soon married a women named Anne Hampton in which they soon moved to Saratoga Springs, New York and had three children of their own. They were living like any other free person was and soon Solomon was working in many industries and Anne established herself as a cook and in the 1830 's Solomon had a reputation of being a well played violinist. In 1841 Solomon had became unemployed and was looking for an occupation, he ran into Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton in who then offers him a job in a circus playing the violin. As they arrive in Washington D.C. which is slave territory, he begins to become sick and passes out which was planned by Merrill and Abram to poison and kidnap him in the slave territory and sell him in which he soon wakes up in chains in a slave pen. Solomon 's first master was James H. Burch who he was sold by the two men who had

Prior to the publication of any slave narrative, African Americans had been represented by early historians’ interpretations of their race, culture, and situation along with contemporary authors’ fictionalized depictions. Their persona was often “characterized as infantile, incompetent, and...incapable of achievement” (Hunter-Willis 11) while the actions of slaveholders were justified with the arguments that slavery would maintain a cheap labor force and a guarantee that their suffering did not differ to the toils of the rest of the “struggling world” (Hunter-Willis 12). The emergence of the slave narratives created a new voice that discredited all former allegations of inferiority and produced a new perception of resilience and ingenuity.

Imagine, if you will, rising earlier than the sun, eating a mere “snack”- lacking essentially all nutritional value - and trekking miles to toil in the unforgiving climate of the southern states, and laboring until the sun once again slipped under the horizon. Clad only in the rags your master provided (perhaps years ago), you begin walking in the dark the miles to your “home.” As described by the writers Jacob Stroyer and Josiah Henson, this “home” was actually a mere thatched roof, that you built with your own hands, held up by pathetic walls, over a dirt floor and you shared this tiny space with another family. Upon return to “home,” once again you eat the meager rations you were provided, and fall into bed

The view from outside is stressed by the fact that the main characters are presented as Sangora van Java, Noria van Malabar, and Somiela van de Kaap, using the designations given to them by slave-owners and used in the records. over the sales of slaves. Sangora is renamed February but insists on keeping his own name and, in the end, persuades Martinus to give up the derogatory slave name and call him Sangora. As Robert Shell points out, the naming of slaves was one aspect of a hegemonic apparatus of control, “an aspect carefully adumbrated, meticulously recorded, deeply embedded, and universal” (246). It is therefore significant that the enslaved characters in The Slave Book are introduced through this naming apparatus and that Sangora, the character who in the end is revealed to be in charge of the story, has the power to keep his own

The narrative begins with the tale of Jacob’s childhood. She tells tales of a childhood oblivious to slavery being allowed to enjoy the pleasures of child’s play. Her mother died when she was six years old and was left under the mastership of her white foster sister. On her deathbed, her mother’s white sister promised to protect her slave sister’s children. While, this was true during her lifetime, upon her death, Jacob’s expected that she would be freed. Jacob’s first painful realization that despite what appeared to be a good relationship, her mistress viewed her as a slave and did not free but bequeathed her to her five year old niece. From this point Jacob’s has a new master and mistress .