Preliminary Essay Assignment When looking at the novel Trampoline by Robert Gipe and other sources, including our guest speakers, Shannon Elizabeth Bell, Dr. Scott, and some notes that we took in class discussing the local citizens fight for rights against the big coal companies. I see negative stereotypes, such as drug use, the lack of education, and poverty, that are often brought onto the region and Trampoline solidifies these stereotypes throughout the entire book, it adds onto the assumptions people have about those that live in the Appalachian. But I do believe the speakers are showing an act of good citizenship that the novel does not provide, by discussing the laws and rights citizens have fought for to improve there communities.…
Kindred: Critical Book Review Kindred, written by an African-American Octavia Estelle Butler, is a novel with the combination of fantasy and science fiction themes about the slavery of African-Americans. This novel is unique and successful as the first person narrative is being used, making the characters more vivid and actual, and the scenario of the first scene truly makes the readers wonder about the following plot. In addition, the context of the book engirdles Afrofuturism while the history of the African-Americans in this fiction is running through the novel. Each portrait of these black people is characterized exclusively even though they all are under the control of the slavery, evincing their hopes through different actions. Through that way, she has tried to imply that even though the inhumane political system once existed in the past era is revised over time, that kind of racist thought still can be buried in people’s mind, just in a subtle, and maybe instinctive, way.…
Kindred CRR: Question 4 In the early antebellum South, there was a clear power structure ranging from white, property owning males down to black, enslaved women. In the novel “Kindred” by Octavia Butler, Black females are treated subhuman and sexually abused by whites on the plantation. The protagonist, Dana, is involved in these situations but is not complicit, for she has very little power to stop the actions of whites in the antebellum South. Throughout the novel, Dana time travels back and forth to the South to try to keep Rufus, an ancestor of hers alive, and also has the power to talk to him and convince him thing because he treats her differently.…
Despite the importance of the book’s messages and Douglass’s impressive storytelling techniques, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass simply lacks a certain je ne sais quoi that makes a truly riveting story, at least from an entertainment…
The United States in the eighteen hundreds was, and still is, a disgraceful era in history. White privilege is enforced by society, as well as by the law. White people enslaved Africans and treated them in many inhumane ways on their plantations. Dana, a black woman living in twentieth century, is somehow taken back and forth from her era to the age of slavery. Butler introduces the Weylins as the slave owners of the time, as well as a symbol of white privilege in the nineteenth century.…
In “Kindred”, Octavia Butler represents the ongoing struggle of slavery through time travel. Dana travels many times through time, but Butler never gives a real explanation to how it happens. She only focuses on what happens thanks to Dana’s fantastical trips. Butler argues that Dana slowly and partially accepts slavery as she accepted her journeys through time and space. This can be seen throughout the book.…
In Octavia Butler’s Kindred, Dana and Kevin is an interracial couple that experience conflicts from the past and from their own present-day lives. Dana and Kevin’s marriage is clearly a marriage of equals, but they face prejudice from their families that do not approve of their marriage. They can travel to the antebellum south through the Afrofuturism aspect of time travel which exposes them to the harmful effects of slavery. The harmful effects are seen by them firsthand between Rufus and Alice, an interracial couple of the past. Within these time jumps, Dana and Kevin’s relationship adjust to the past social structure, changing them but not their feelings for each other.…
After taking the StrengthsQuest assessment test, I found out that my results are Futuristic Communication, Maximizer, Belief, and Strategic. I have taken this quiz a couple different times for previous classes and each time I had similar results. I am definitely the type of person that always believes everything happens for a reason. I believe my faith guides me in everything I do.…
Abby, I agree with you; the book does not serve an educational purpose. Slavery is not an easy subject to explain to young children and using this book would provide inaccurate information. I think the article provided very good examples of why it is problematic. The one that stood out to me the most were children assuming that the slaves were having fun because they were smiling and hiding in the closet. That makes a lot of sense when considering that hide and seek is still a popular game among children and they will hide in the closet while playing.…
Through the use of descriptive language, Frederick Douglass explains the cruelty and harsh conditions slaves faced at various points in their live. He gives detailed accounts of different scenes that he experienced or witnessed during his life as a slave. By the end of these introductory chapters, the reader has a good visual of the daily struggles of a slave, what they were punished for and how they were punished. From Douglass’ use of descriptive language, the audience witnesses a few cases of the day-to-day hardships slaves faced. One of these cases is about the separation of a mother and her child.…
Growing up, we had to take around fifteen years of history classes, teaching us of the past and what our ancestors did. Did you ever think they not only taught us those things so we’d have bar trivia knowledge, but also as a warning? Unlike textbook readings of the past, where you have to wonder what it must’ve been like, Octavia Butler makes the readers of Kindred to actually place themselves in the 1800s, making them emphasize with Dana-our time traveling heroin-and the other slaves. Reading Kindred, one has to wonder, has anything really changed? There is still horrible cases of racism and prejudice in the United States, more than 300 years later.…
Octavia Butler’s novel, Kindred is a novel full of love, hate, power, violence, slavery, and racism. Throughout the book the protagonist Dana time travels back into the 1800’s during the time of slavery. She lands on a plantation in Maryland owned by the Weylins. Dana must travel back in time when her ancestor Rufus is in great danger or it can jeopardize her being born almost a century later. Butler’s novel includes themes on Violence, Race, Power, and the symbolism of the whip.…
Chapter 1: The author depicts the relationships between slaves and their masters in Kentucky. Outside characters like the slave trader help the reader identify with the economic and social issues that inundate slavery and southern living. Chapter 2:. As depicted in chapter two, slaves are not permitted to marry, and some masters even prohibit their slaves from succeeding in factories to force them to “know their place.” Slaves who are treated poorly by their masters often lose their faith and struggle to find meaning in life.…
I love Mindvalley. Some of the courses and ideas that they come out with are what I consider essential to my personal growth. I've taken some of their courses, followed them on their blog and social profiles, used their insights for business, and most recently, I signed up for Soulvana! I've almost finished the first course, and the insights I've gained from it are awesome. I know that I'm in for quite the personal journey with this academy.…
The novel Beloved by Toni Morrison is a very honest and thought-provoking novel that gives the reader a deeper insight to the horrors and aftermath of slavery that other novels fail to mention or reveal. Beloved is a story told between two time periods. The first being while the protagonist, Sethe is attempting to escape slavery and the second being about twenty years later, after she is free and has established her new life and family. The novel also switches focus and point of views between many secondary character including Baby Suggs who is Sethe’s mother in law, Denver who is Sethe’s youngest daughter, Paul D who is Sethe’s most recent love interest, and Beloved who is thought to be the resurrection of Sethe’s eldest daughter who died…