Blog Post #6

The literary theory that I found gave me the most insight in my novel, The Book of Negroes, was feminist literary theory. This novel was about a woman's life and how she used her experiences to help end the trading of men and to someday end slavery. In history women's voices have been ignored. the ending of slavery is one of the most important event in our history and the fact that Aminata, a black woman, played a role in that is very important.

As a black woman, Aminata was the lowest on the totem pole but she proved herself to be very valuable several times throughout the novel. Men doubted that she could read or write but she proved them wrong and surprised them with how well she could do it. She help many women give birth to their babies, something the father of those children couldn’t even do. She was sneaked out many of time to help not only black women but men, white men at that.

Women were seen as objects for sex to the white men but when it came to Aminata she stood up for herself and protected herself from what they could have done. Even though women were seen as the weaker sex and black women were seen as barely human Aminata defended herself more than some of the white men did and this shows how gender and race have nothing to do with how strong and valuable someone can be.

When creating my thesis I think that it should involve how amanita showed strength and courage equal or greater than that of a man and her skill set made her no less valuable than a man in many situations. My thesis statement is: The gender of a person does not determine how valuable they are to a society.

Blog Post #5

For this post I am going to look at the novel, The Book of Negroes, while considering readers response theory. When beginning to read this novel I had previous knowledge of slavery and how people were taken from their homes in Africa and sold as slaves in america with no say and how they were treated with little to no respect. I live in a world where we still experience some degree of racism each day but not nearly as much as there is in the novel. I have previous knowledge of slavery and war but have never experienced it for myself so as i am reading the book I can only use the knowledge i was taught in school.

I came into this with the mind that slavery is wrong and everything that happened back then is ridiculous and should have never happened. Someone from down in southern america for example who still has the old beliefs that white men should rule the world would interpret this book completely differently and may see Aminata as an antagonist or someone deserving of the way she was treated.

As my experience with racism first hand is very limited as I come from a small town with nearly no minorities, when i move to a large city my views on this book may change. I may think that what they did is even worse and that we should still be making it up to them on this very day but right now i do not believe that. I do read this book with an open mind because of my limited life experience but if i were older I would probably have a more cement opinion on what i am reading and therefore interpreting it differently.

“I had learned that there were times when fighting was impossible, when the best thing to do was to wait and to learn.” (pg 523). I interpret this quote as Aminata being smart and making the best decision for her safety. Some may see her as being weak for not fighting at all times but i see her as a hero for knowing when to take your battles.

Blog Post #4

The second literary theory I have decided to use to analyze my text in post-colonialism criticism. Colonial oppression is visible through the entire novel as it is a novel taking place in the american revolution. The British are basically the leaders of the world at this point and they are using their power over black people making them have no rights at all because they are not of British descent. the British even have power over the settlers in the american colonies which shows to be problematic when the war breaks out because the american colonies do not want to be ruled by the British.

Black people are described as other or stranger and are treated as property and as human. they are not treated with respect because they are just worker to the white people but their human characteristics give them more or less value when being sold. They are described as being dirty and thieves. the text reveals that the american colonies do not want to be ruled by Britain and they want their freedom just as the black people do not want to be owned by the white people and they just want their freedom as well.

In the novel there is a clear oppression of minorities. For example Lindo being a jew makes people respect him less and he is not seen as powerful as the anglican British people. Just as the black people are not seen to be equal on any level to the white people in the novel, and the men are seen as more powerful and respected than women. This is visible when Aminata is close with Ms. Lindo because they are both woman they are both seen as less valuable. “To gaze into another person's face is to do two things: to recognize their humanity and to assert your own.” (pg47). This quote shows how Aminata was not always seen as human and she knew that everyone was equal but she had to make sure that other people saw her as equally human too.

Blog Post #3

The novel The Book of Negroes is a story of a woman who is enslaved during the American Revolution. I know little about the American Revolution and because of that I’m going to look at sources and learn about the American Revolution and what exactly is was about and what took place.

The American revolution was the American colonies fighting for independence from Britain in the 18th century. It was the first time independence was demanded from colonies. America wanted to have their own laws, regulations, constitutional rights, and politics. The revolution started due to Britain's tightening the reins on the american colonies and their was increasing amounts of conflict. Britain prohibited settling in the west and the cost to keep up the empire cause a lot of anger for the americans.

The British army was favoured to win the battle but the americans ended up defeating them with help from France. Some of the consequences of the war include up to 50000 american deaths, the outlaw of slavery in the northern states and a quarter of the slaves from southern states escaping, and the american constitution, laws, and taxation.

Sources

"Digital History." Digital History. Web. 14 June 2015.

Blog post #2

In the novel The Book of Negroes there is an obvious representation of feminism which is why I chose to look at feminist literary theory in this novel. Aminata’s feelings towards men and women have been fairly equal so far, she has not made a judgment on people based on their sex but rather just how they treat her. She doesn’t like the men that own her or have abused her because they have not treated her right at all. She was very fond of Solomon Lindo’s wife because she treats her well and doesn’t act as if she owns her.

In the novel women are represented as not being as intelligent or worth as much as a man if they are being sold as slaves. They are sexually abused by their owners and are judged based on their ability to have children. Even the wives of the rich men are not given respect by their husbands and are supposed to do what they are told. The men are the workers and the women are sex objects and servants.

In this time period women had little rights and were expected to just have kids and please their husbands so that is why they are being treated this way but Aminata uses her voice and her intelligence to stand up for herself and not let herself get pushed around so much by her owners and uses it to get a more equal relationship with solomon even though they are nowhere near being equal still.

“I remember wondering, within a year or two of taking my first my first steps, why only men sat to drink tea and converse, and why women were always busy. I reasoned that men were weak and needed rest.”(pg 24). This quote shows how Aminata doesn’t believe she is worth any less than men even though she has been living in a society that thinks that way.

Blog post #1

The book I have been reading is The book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. So far I have enjoyed the novel and the main character Aminata Diallo. What I like about it so far is how strong willed and courageous she is and shows great intelligence as well. My predictions for this novel is that she will be of great help to the people she is with in dealing with the hardships they are going through and she will boldly challenge what her and many others are going through.

What I have asked myself is why she is so courageous compared to the others, not that they aren't brave as well but she seems to have such a greater will to live and return home and I would like to know what the other people have experienced compared to her that makes her stand out. It could possibly just be because she is so much younger that makes her seem like that much more powerful in the reader's eyes for going through what they are.

When the author described her mother “catching” babies and Aminata learning from her I could really imagine in my head Aminata sitting there with great concentration in her eyes really soaking in what is happening. I imagine this scene well because it is an important part of Aminata’s role in the story because she is being used for intelligence and her ability to help in the birthing process of a woman's baby which in result saved her from being thrown off the boat. It also shows her connection to her mother and and her role back in her village that she is so determined to return to one day.

The feel i get from the author is someone who is very sympathetic of what happened in the past and they want the story of how brave the people who were being brought over for slavery was. I feel it is very important to them that people know what they had to go through not only by being slaves but the pure torture that was imposed on them right from the beginning to the end with no reason except a lack of acknowledgment of their humanity.

The ideology of this text could be interpreted different ways. It could be seen as the way things were seen in the time period of the novel or the ideas that we have today. I’m going to go with the ideas that we have today because that is what I believe the author is trying to get across. The idea of this novel then, is that the way blacks were treated in that time was inhuman and unacceptable by today's standards, which is crazy to believe that just so long ago it was acceptable to treat a human with such disgrace. It speaks to us today because we know from history what happened but a lot of the history we are taught is about  white people and told by white people so the reader is interested and touched by what other races went through and the difference in today's ideology versus centuries ago.

Essay Writing

Writing essays has never been one of my strong suits but I do have some strengths in this field. As an essay writer I have interesting introductions that are intriguing and make the reader interested in the topic. Once the reader has started reading I start losing their attention, just stating the facts and not going into much further depth than that. When I create my thesis, I make a clear statement about what I’m arguing and make a good transition into the next paragraph to fight my argument. My essays sometime lack proof in my argument, and I don’t ask myself “so what?” and going into further depth with how everything I’m saying is related to my thesis. When writing my essays I am not in a persuasive mindset, I explain why my thesis is correct but I don’t try to really convince the reader and make them think my thesis must be right. My ideas are usually well articulated and the relationship between concepts is well analyzed and explained to the reader. My ideas are not always the most creative and I do not have deep critical thinking skills when it comes to coming up with ideas for my essays. My essays are well organized and flow nicely from beginning to end. I quite often use rhetorical remarks to keep the reader engaged and interested in what I am saying while getting my point across. My essay writing skills do indeed need to be further developed but I do have my strengths while writing as well.

Blog Introduction

Hello everyone, My name is Morgan Fleischman. I'm from Ingersoll, Ontario and go to IDCI. I am 17 and currently in grade 12, I also work at McDonald's. I am the youngest of three kids My hobbies include playing the cello and the alto saxophone. Here is a link to one of my favourite cello concertos called Nocturne No. 20. My favourite animals are cows and I will find any way to relate cows back to anything I talk about. I have a dog named Odis, he is a soft coated wheaten terrier and is in the picture to the right. I also have a rabbit named Meezlee. Math, science, and music are my favourite subjects. My birthday is the same day as national mole day (October 23 from 6:02 am to 6:02 pm) as in the mole in chemistry (6.02x10^23).

When finished high school in June I am going to be going to university in Ottawa for Chemical Engineering. I plan on working in the field of batteries for electric cars because I like cars and would like to help in making a greener environment.