Comparison Of Kaepernick And Sarah Penn's The Revolt Of Mother

Every generation presents its hurdles. Society has always relied on strong men or women to blaze the trail and help overcome adversity. Colin Kaepernick and in the story "The Revolt of ‘Mother’," Sarah Penn both took up the fight for justice in their respective times. However, the sincerity of the two seems to be on different levels. Clearly, Kaepernick and his actions were not as righteous as those of the noble Sarah Penn. Although their ways appear dissimilar, both Colin Kaepernick and Sarah Penn in Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's "The Revolt of ‘Mother’," took action with the intention of promoting fairness for all.
Both Colin Kaepernick and Sarah Penn took steps that were contrary to social norms to stand for their beliefs. Kaepernick stood …show more content…
Colin Kaepernick kneeled for the National Anthem where there is an accepted custom to stand for the flag. As a professional athlete in the National Football League, he was not known to be a great sports player. According to Jackson, he is described as a young quarterback who many, outside of the circles of football fans had never heard of before and became an overnight sensation. When Colin performed the horrific act, "Americans were arguing for and against Kaepernick's protest” (Jackson). In comparison, Sarah moved her family into a structure created to be a barn when her husband was away, to the shock of her neighbors. As soon as her husband went away, "she moves her family into the new barn” (Reichardt, A Web 48). With that being noted, in the story "The Revolt of 'Mother'," "the little house in which the Penns had lived for forty years had emptied itself into the new barn” (Freeman 37). The people around town were in extreme shock that Sarah decided to move without her husband's permission. According to the story, Freeman addressed that the neighbors thought she was crazy and "some of lawless and rebellious spirit.” After the family had moved into the new barn, the minister had an incompetent visit with Sarah. She already knew the reason for his arrival and insisted him that, "There ain't no use talkin', Mr. Hersey" (Freeman 38). She accepted on herself that it was …show more content…
Kaepernick is protesting at a point in history where it's essentially a style to do such things. "The tension between the black people and the cops" was the key to Kaepernick's rally (McWhorter 42). His point was to show that the country he's residing in "oppresses black people and people of color” (Jackson). The idea Kaepernick protest is a significant one is that black history makes it almost impossible not to sense or suspect racism" (McWhorter 42). Therefore, he puts on his act during the time of the Black Lives Matter movement. According to McWhorter, Mr. Kaepernick falls in such a matter of unpatriotism. In Sarah's case, she stood firm at the moment in time where women were considered subordinate and would not go against their husbands. As Adoniram built the new barn her daughter, Nanny, felt humiliated that it won't be their new house. Thus, the Mother had to explain to Nanny that the ways of “men-folks” diverge considerably from those of women and are behind understanding, "You ain't seen enough of menfolks to. One of these days you'll find it out, an' then you'll know that we know only what menfolks think we do” (Freeman 26). Sarah's purpose was to show that women were not treated the same as men. The Mother, in the end, was proven to be an example of "paradigm for American experience which makes the lives of nineteenth-century