Penelope- the Odyssey

          This week I have decided to write about the role Odysseus’ wife Penelope plays, in the the book the Odyssey. For the first 5 books she isn't introduced a whole lot, but is still extremely significant as she is some of the motivation behind Odysseus’ return. The premise of the first 5 books are about how Odysseus is being held captive by a goddess called Calypso, and Athena and some of the other gods are trying to help him return home, Poseidon, however is still enraged by Odysseus killing his favorite cyclops and thinks he should pay a price. Meanwhile, Penelope, is back home at Odysseus’ estate where the suitors are trying to persuade Penelope that Odysseus is dead and that she should remarry one of them. Penelope doesn't want to believe them and she still has some fate that her beloved husband is alive somewhere (which he is). One of the suitors, is always aggressively encouraging her to select a new husband and she claims that she will do so once she completes her weaving project for her father in law, however every night she is undoing her work she has done during the day, therefore making no progress. So far it has been a struggle for her with Odysseus missing, but that has pretty much been her contribution to the plot for the first 5 books.
Thank you for reading my blog this week, and what do you think the outcome of Penelope's situation will be as we continue reading?

Blog post and respond to disscusion leader

For my blog this week I chose to write about the period of the book in which Douglass starts learning how to write. This part really fascinated me and really illustrated how tricky Douglass really is. I am referring specifically to the part of the book in which Douglass starts challenging little white boys to writing competitions, and as he is always losing he is being taught every time because the boys are showing him the correct way to write and spell. In the book, he also says that he mainly targets the young boys who have not yet learned that slaves and Negroes are not really considered humans. This part of the book was absolutely remarkable to me, and it had me asking again and again how Douglass developed this cleverness and level of persuasion. I also truly believe that Douglass was indeed a special slave with a gift because I don't really see another slave that would do anything that he has done with the level of determination Frederick has shown throughout the book.

how is education related to human freedom?

Blog Post #8

In the context of Frederick Douglass and slavery, Freedom and education had a lot to do with each other during that time. The way they are related, is that once you start learning things, the more you start to become aware of certain situations, and discovering problems and contradictions in things which could lead to being more free. There are plenty of examples throughout the book, such as halfway when Frederick is learning how to read he starts to realize the bigger picture of slavery and that sort of sparks his energy for rebelling against some of his masters and trying to run away. I would definitely argue that the claim “education relates to freedom” is definitely one of the many themes included in this book. I think that without the education Douglass was granted during his life he would most likely be a slave his whole life and never do any of the amazing things he has done including the completion of his book.   

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.