Two Views of Slavery - 1006 Words

Two Views of Slavery During the time prior to the twentieth century our world accepted slavery as a normal part of life. Aphra Behn and Phillis Wheatley, both female authors born about 100 years apart, had their own views of slavery and wrote poems and stories about the subject. These women were physically different, Aphra was a Caucasian, and Phillis was an African American, and their lives were rather different as well. Aphra was a spy and playwright, who lived the middle class life and Phillis, was a slave who was taken from her homeland, brought to America, sold into slavery, then later freed. I believe that both writers’ views were difficult to figure out, especially by just reading their works. Phillis was born in Senegal/Gambia and†¦show more content†¦(Behn 180) Although her description makes Oroonoko seem rather stunning, it is a rather disrespectful description to the native Negro people. Her description makes it sound like slaves are not equal and due to fact that Oroonoko was a Prince, they did not put him in the same category as the other slaves and treated him with decency and respect, almost as if it was a double standard. Her story gets even more confusing when Oroonoko is kidnapped and sold into slavery himself by the same person that once helped Oroonoko traffic slaves. After he was captured and enslaved, he is treated humanely by his captor, which seems rather odd since most other slaves were treated very poorly. He is renamed Caesar (slaves were renamed at that time), I assume for his strength and nobility. Once at the slave camp, â€Å"he is received more like a governor than a slave† (Behn 209). He was even given land away from the other slaves, as if to separate him and treat him more like a king. He then finds his love , Imoinda living in a cottage with a cute little dog, which paints a very pretty picture, almost like a fairy tale, which again, is in sharp contrast of most depictions of slave quarters during this time. Caesar has elaborate feasts prepared in his honor, and it seems that there is, for lack of a better word, a party atmosphere in the camp. He was also given more freedoms than the slaves he must live with; he is even allowed to accompany the narrator of the story on a tripShow MoreRelatedTwo Contrasting Views of Slavery in Literature: Beloved and American Negro Slavery2068 Words   |  9 Pagesworks of two authors on the topic of slavery in America: Ulrich B. Phillips American Negro Slavery (1918) and Toni Morrison Beloved (1987). One writes as a Southerner and a historian who is defending southern slaveholders and draws upon contemporary racial theory to justify the system as beneficial to African Americans. The other writes as an African-American woman who is looking to write women into history and in doing so, add a female voice to the past. The purpose of comparing these two textsRead MoreSlavery and Racism1509 Words   |  7 PagesO’Donnell Development of Western Civilization Dr. Carlson November 17, 2011 Slavery and Racism: Are They One in the Same? Aphra Behn was an extremely significant and influential English writer in the 1600s. One of her more famous works, Oroonoko, discusses the issues of slavery and racism in the Americas. Many people believe that slavery and racism go hand in hand. In fact, these two ideologies are awfully different. Slavery is the act of forcing humans to be treated property whereas racism is theRead MoreMark Twain : A Man Beyond Color1541 Words   |  7 Pages2003). Just before the death of Clemens’ father, because of financial distress, his mother took a job as cook for a local man (The Mark Twain House Museum, 2015). Clemens’ empathetic nature for black Americans were adopted from his mother and his views on antislavery later became evident upon his successful career as a writer, when he would later adopt the pen name Mark Twain (as referred to throughout) in 1863 (Mark Twain Boyhood Home Museum, 2015). Dempsey (2003) asserts that Twain’s earlyRead Morewhat were the different views towards slavery DBQ1258 Words   |  6 Pagesattitudes of my understanding the document. These documents are all based on the institution of slavery and the attitudes about slavery. I put these eight documents into two groups and those are for slavery and neutral attitude thought about slavery. These eight documents are all sorted by attitude and are going to be from the beginning of time to modern day. The first group is the thought that slavery was a good thing. The first document in this group is document number one. 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Just bear the knowledge in mind, we are stronger as a whole.† The Missouri Compromise kept inevitable split of the Nation at bay when it prohibited slavery north of the parallel 36ï‚ °30’Read MoreComparison of Roman and American slavery760 Words   |  3 PagesRoman and Western Slavery Slavery is one of the most common entities between the Roman s society and the Western society in the late 1800 s. Both civilizations have many differences and similarities between their views on slavery, treatments of the slaves, and economics of slavery. Such similarities include the imprisonment of slaves, the cruel treatments towards slaves, and the legal status of slaves as their owner s property. However, despite the many differences, slavery between polar societiesRead MoreLincolns view on Slavery and How it Evolved Essay1676 Words   |  7 PagesLincoln’s View on Slavery†¦.And How It Evolved Abraham Lincoln spent most of his political career as a member of the Whig party endorsing policies that aided economic development, supported free soil and opposed the expansion of slavery. Lincoln was instrumental in creating the voice of the Republican Party and during that process his own views on slavery were shaped. He played the middle ground and therefore appealed to both former conservative northern Whigs, and radical Republicans. The CivilRead MoreEssay on Emancipation1140 Words   |  5 Pagesdifferences between the North and the South. Slavery was a major issue that triggered the American Civil War. Basically the South wanted and needed it and the North did not want it at all. The South was going to do anything they could to keep it. Slavery and slave trades had become a big part of the South’s economy. The slaves were needed to work on plantations which helped the South prospered. During the 19th Century, the North worked hard on abolishing slavery, which they thought was a disgrace toRead MoreDifferences Between the North and South1016 Words   |  5 Pages Different Views DBQ For many years the North and the South tried to live in harmony even though they had opposing views. The North was slowly growing a strong hate for slavery while the South strongly depended on it. So for years they try to avoided confrontation, but the question of slavery still threatened to divide them. You see this in the Missouri Compromise – Maine would enter as a free state