Aren't I a Woman?

Taylor Cole
AP-English
9-28-09
“Aren’t I a Woman?”
I am very inspired by Sojourner Truth’s “Aren’t I a Woman?” She was very brave to be speaking her mind so thoroughly at this time in history. She is speaking of how African American women get different treatment than white women. Now as we all know back then it was common for black women to be treated of lower class than whites, but Sojourner thought to bring it to everyone’s attention since they we’re trying to stress women’s rights they might as well stress if for everybody including blacks.
She went into detail about how she goes thru daily struggles that white women don’t even have nightmares about. She can handle pain like a man and even eat as much as much as a man or more but she still isn’t even considered a woman. She used pathos and very descriptive words when she told of how she had to watch all thirteen of her kids which she gave birth to almost be sold in to slavery. I felt her pain, she felt as if only God can hear her cries. She doesn’t see how she can go above and beyond for things and still not considered a woman.
I like how she gets straight to the point with facts and continues to repeat her question of aren’t I a woman? I know it has to make people really sit back and think about how much African American woman go thru. She makes the point if white people naturally having the upper hand, and would it be such a burden just to help out the less fortunate for a change. I also like how she flip script on the men who said that women shouldn’t be treated with respect because Christ wasn’t a woman, but it takes a woman to deliver a boy so that it can become a man. I also have a though that they shouldn’t b comparing men to Christ, because just because Christ was a man doesn’t mean that man should be treated like Christ.
As for the re-written copy of Sojourner Truth’s speech, I feel like that was disrespectful. She has her speaking as the typical uneducated black woman. Why does the typical black woman have to talk like an ignorant slave? I think that Sojourner had haters back then because white woman might have been jealous that they didn’t have enough courage to stand up for their rights earlier in the past. I know it is a good argument because she could have presented herself that way. I just can’t believe that she would do something like that, if she had enough respect to stand up for her rights and demand them then I know she had more respect for herself then to go out and speak as if she had no education.

Spontaneous Me

Taylor Cole
AP-English
Spontaneous Me
Spontaneous Me is a poem talking about a number of subjects. This male author doesn’t want to be the typical male macho author when it came to writing a love poem. In a way this poem kind of confuses me as to what he is talking about. Though I will say he was very descriptive with whatever he did.
In the beginning it seemed as if he was describing a beautiful day. He described it so well that I wanted to be there myself. He wanted to stay away from the typical male poem, so when it came to love he left out no details. It seemed as if he was describing making love to the love of his life. He talked about the images that popped into his mind while this was going on.
He talked of lots of beautiful things like how every curve of her body was an aspect of love. It showed that he cherished every part of her body and he took none of it for granted. He talked of how he would lay and cuddle with his love and how peaceful and serene it can be. He feels so attached to her.
As he gets into the subject of them parting, the story takes a twist. He begins to get into a negative drone. He speaks of a motherless child and other lonely scenes. This shows how much he is in love with this woman. He is more than mentally and physically attached. It’s almost like he gets depressed just thinking about it. He places a dark image and feeling in your head , for example a dead leaf hitting the ground.
It begins to sound like he can’t live without her. He even sounds as if he wants to start a family with her. He is so deeply in touch with her, my only concern is does she feel the same. He really doesn’t speak of the mutual feelings they have. I wonder if there is a reason for that.

Desiree's Baby

Taylor Cole
AP-English
Desiree’s Baby
I really enjoyed Desiree’s baby just because it kept me confused right up until the end. There was little moments when that I had the whole story in the bag, little did I know it was more complicated than that. This story kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. i did have to read certain paragraphs over and over again but it wasn’t a problem.
I think the purpose of this story was to stress this racial problem that I’m sure was happening back in the slavery times. It shows the great lengths that people would go just not to be considered black. Armand knew the entire time that his baby could have been turning out a little brown skinned. It was almost like when the baby was first born he was so happy and relieved that it appeared to be white. But as time progressed he noticed a difference and decided the only way out would be to blame his wife.
At first I couldn’t believe he would choose to abandon the love of his life just because of his mother being mixed with black. This self conflict he is having has nothing to do with his wife. But I took time to reconsider how much he valued his family name. A man’s ego will lead him to make a lot of decisions he might regret in the future, and I’m sure losing his wife and child would be something he will definitely regret.
The other half of me was feeling very bad for Desiree. Here she is a new mother looking to her husband for support and he suddenly turns on her. She was also concerned about the color of her child but the story never really made it clear if she questioned herself. Actually the story made me think maybe she had an affair with one of the slaves. The uneasiness and the guilt she had forced me to believe she had cheated on the love of her life. She loved him so much and it was hurting her how he was pushing her away, and that gave me the idea that he knew she had been cheating.
I felt relief when her mother told her to come home to her so she could take care of her. I just thought the story would change and maybe Armand would confess at least to his wife, just to put her out of her misery but I guess not. The truth of the situation is that Armand will never be able to have kids without the fear of them coming out black.
The sad part is this child will grow up with no father figure and depending on how dark he gets Desiree might be forced to send him out to the fields to be a slave. Hopefully her mother will be able to prove to her that this situation is not her fault. I think that the end of this story will have a moral that says “whatever is done in the dark will come to the light.”

Sinners Response

Taylor Cole
AP- English
9-1-09

I found this Jonathan Edwards sermon to be really frightening but at the same time straight to the point. Although I felt a variety of feelings and some parts I couldn’t understand I still go the gist of the sermon. He was trying to convince his congregation that they could do no wrong at all or they would go to hell. I feel that in this passage there was no escaping any of the criticism given.
He felt that the majority of the people were doing wrong by God and that they thought that they could get away with this. If people were thinking this he made it clear that there was no way that you could out smart God. Every little wrong thing you do will catch up to you in the end and you will go to hell. I feel that he is scaring these people into doing “right”. What is the definition of doing “right”? I know this pastor was not a saint simply because n o one is a saint. So whatever he was accusing the congregation of he had to have done himself.
During the sermon he gives you the feeling that everything he is saying is fact and can be referred back too. He does this by using ethos; he refers back to certain quotes in the bible. Everything he is saying about the punishment that will come to the sinners can be found in the pages of his bible. It’s almost like he is taking everything that is said in the bible literally. In his eyes every sin that you commit is you fault and there is nothing you can do about it that is after the act is committed.
Staying away from God would be considered a sin that would send you straight to hell, and in his eyes this would of course be your fault. But I would like to poke logic at that statement. What if you lived your life that right way but didn’t know of God your whole life? How could that possibly be your fault if you were brought up that way?
He also used pathos by describing hell to a tee. If gave you the feeling of being frightened or wanting to crawl under a whole and make sure your not breathing in a sinful way. But in the end of the sermon he starts to put a twist on it. First he says that you can convert your life to Christ and then you will be okay to go to heaven. So this gives you hope that since you’re in church you might get a chance at heaven. But then he says that if you wait long enough it doesn’t matter who you are or how old you are you will go to hell.
My question to Jonathan Edwards is would he consider himself being able to go to heaven after writing this sermon? By the time you’re done reading this sermon, it’s almost like there is no way to go to heaven. I can applaud him on scaring the people in to living the right way but at the same time he could have been turning people away, giving them the feeling that they might as well live a bad life since every one’s going to hell anyway.

Anne Bradstreet Poems

Taylor Cole
9-3-09
AP-English
Anne Bradstreet was a very bold woman in my eyes. She was Puritan women who wrote poems expressing her feelings and views. Puritans didn’t really elaborate on feelings unless they were about God and surely a woman wouldn’t be expressing any feelings. In fact they weren’t shown much respect or dignity at all during those times. So as you can see this was a huge deal for women commit such acts.
Her first poem was explaining how she had published her first book. She talked about how she came up with brilliant ideas but her non-trustworthy friends were trying to still them. She used pathos by expressing feelings in such ways that I could relate. I could feel every ounce of pain and joy during this poem. She walked us thru how she thought everything was so perfect but indeed it was not. She tried sugar coating it without totally fixing it but all the critics did was tear it apart.
I felt her embarrassment as people began to know more about her work that she thought could have been better. Though she thought her dressing up her book would make it better, it only made it worse. As things began to spiral out of control she finally informs us that the reason why she could no longer take care of this book and claim it is because she’s poor. All along she really couldn’t afford these great ideas. I particularly enjoyed this poem because she walked us thru as if we were her, then kind of confused us, and then led us to some sort of closure at the end.
The other poem she wrote called To My Dear and Loving Husband was also enjoyable. This poem was very deep and passionate. This brings me back to my first point of the Puritan woman being very brave. Puritan women were supposed to “love” their husbands to a certain degree but they weren’t supposed to really love their husbands. Most Puritans women probably passed like ships in the night with their significant others but she told of an unconditional love she had for her husband. This was the kind of love that you can’t live eat, sleep, or breathe without. Some love that I personally have never experienced but this love she was explaining was beautiful.
She also used the pathos technique in this poem. She explained how if man could become one with women then she would become one with her husband. She cherished this man more than any riches in the world. She wouldn’t give him up for the world. In fact she knows that they love each other so much that even in death they’d still love each other.
I really enjoy her poems because they aren’t just straight to the point. They are very detailed, yet they make you think and question yourself too. I like how she didn’t refrain from telling all her feelings no matter if it was acceptable or not. She most likely motivated other Puritan women to go beyond the ordinary.