how did being a slave owner affect a person?

How did being a slaveowner affect a person?

    The topic of slavery may seem controversial to some now, but back during those times this was the norm, and when people talk about how they would never do such a horrible thing to another human, it’s interesting considering how much the context and environment of that time period contrasts with our current time. Obviously now the idea of slavery is completely unacceptable, it says so in the constitution how all men are created equal. Back then however, what they really meant was all white men are created equal, and blacks, were not considered men at all, rather property. Once a human is appointed the role of slave owner I think that they start to get a little hot headed, and may even go mad with power. An example of this in the book would be Douglass’s first mistress when he was moved to baltimore, she had started sweet and kind, but eventually the job corrupted her and she became more cruel and more nasty as it was earlier mentioned in the book how this particular job may corrupt one's heart. It's similar to the idea that once someone becomes popular, they let fame get to their head and they have a new perspective on the people below them. I think the reason for this would be that sometimes it's necessary to try and push others down to feel better about yourself, a way you could think about this would be a teeter totter, when one side goes up another goes down, and I think this is what's happening in this case, the slave owner finds satisfaction by a slaves misfortune.  

What was the reason for the harsh punishment of slaves for minor offenses? Blog post assignment

What was the reason for the harsh punishment of slaves for minor offenses

By Francesco Argentina

In the narrative of Frederick Douglass, it is mostly about life during slavery and what hardships and experiences they went through during this time. In the book, Frederick accurately describes everyday life of the average slave and how they were treated. One important question about slavery is why they were arguably unnecessarily, treated so harshly for minor offences? Given this example from the book, the answer is quite simple.

Mr. Gore once undertook to whip one of the slaves by the name of Dumby, he gave him a few stripes, when, to get rid of the scourging he ran and plunged himself into a lake. Mr. Gore said that he would count to three and once he finished he would have to get out of the lake or he would be shot. Mr. Gore then shouted the number one, with no sign of acknowledgement from Dumby. Two and three were the same, and Gore proceeded to shoot Dumby leaving the bloody mess to be devoured by the lake.  Mr. Gore’s response to the Colonel who had asked about why Dumby was shot, was that Dumby was becoming unmanageable. He was setting a bad example for the other slaves, He argued that if one slave refused to be corrected and got away with his life, the others would soon copy.

So to put it into other terms, the reason slave masters were so harsh was that they were afraid of rebellion, and they believed it was the only way to keep the slaves in line.    

Reflection on the MFA

Recently I visited the Museum of fine arts, The experience was very refreshing. I mainly directed my attention towards the Victorian era artworks, as that is the time period I am studying for ELA class. One of the pieces I saw in this specific exhibit, accurately reflected one of the characteristics of the Victorian era poetry, which was isolation or despair. This piece of art presented a hill with a lonely farmer and a few sheep. I appreciated this painting because the mood of it, corresponds a lot with some of the poems in my reader. The picture to me, represented the characteristic of isolation because of how still the picture was and how sad the figures in the painting seem.

     

Victorian era characteristics

Victorian era poetry is very interesting to me because of the characteristics they introduced into their style of poetry. One big characteristic about Victorian era poetry was the use of religion and the importance of the spiritual world in their writing, some what influenced by the romantic period. Not exactly believing in one almighty being, but religion simulating a personal relationship expressed through poetry. Another characteristic about this period, was that their intention was not so much on imagery, but rather they focused on using rhythm and rhyme as an element inside their work.
The idea of despair was also a common theme in the Victorian writing. Often these poets would use isolation, hopelessness, and depression as points of interest when trying to write, which is quite interesting, and I'm not sure why this was so common.