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Blog Post #10 Equiano and Johnson.

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The excerpts from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African focused on the dreadful Middle Passage and Equiano’s travail in obtaining his freedom. There are different types of slavery our class has encountered throughout our readings. There is the slavery of Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko which fulfills the requirements of Locke’s acceptable form of slavery: slavery through conquest, however, Oroonoko makes it clear that slavery as a form of commercialism is not correct. Another form of slavery is that of marriage. This is described in Daniel Defoe’s Roxana by the titular character who knows that in marrying, her equality to her husband disappears in accordance to the law. There is the slavery of the poor to the rich as is seen in Jonathan Swift’s “Modest Proposal.” I think the word slavery to all these writers was not just the traditional form of slavery but the concept of absolute authority upon another human being, this perhaps a retaliation ag
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Blog Post #9 Locke and Hume

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Thanks to political thinkers like Locke and Hume, we live in a time that abounds in freedom. Though Locke’s ideas on acceptable slavery would not work today (as the U.N. would likely not allow conquered people to become slaves) his statement still holds true: “The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but have only the law of nature for his rule.” Of course, this law of nature is given up when we accept a society but I believe it is a necessary trade deal considering that so few of us nowadays could actually live in the wilderness. This acceptance over to society, however, does not mean oppression. This society, according to Locke, is meant to protect us and our property.  That is why we have the Fifth Amendment today. Moving on to Hume, though I completely agree with his freedom of the press, I also believe there are dangers without restrictions. Hume’s ideas work in a rational society, howe
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Blog Post #8 Fielding and Swift

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If Henry Fielding and Jonathan Swift took a stroll through social media today, the latter would take to Twitter to harass politicians and the former would begin a personal blog detailing the attempts of low people to imitate who they perceive as high people (celebrities, models, etc.) but are low people with better lighting, photographers, and facial structures. High people, in a non-parodic way, would be wealthy individuals who have shaped reality by innovation and ambition. People who come to mind are Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Jeff Bezos. While Fielding busied himself with explaining the dangers of worshipping those of higher society, Jonathan Swift would be delivering scathing remarks to Donald Trump, Nicolas Maduro, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un. He might also send a message to Prince Harry to ask if he (Swift) could be the representative of Ireland in the upcoming royal wedding. A modern “Modern Proposal” would have Swift asking those Americans who
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Blog Post #7 Journalism, Then and Now

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The journalism of the eighteenth century seemed more of a commentary upon everyday life as opposed to the journalism of the modern times that is focused on the occurrences of everyday life. Steele and Addison set out to “…enliven morality with wit and to temper wit with morality, that my reader may, if possible, both ways find their account in the speculation of the day.” The Washington Post slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is symbolic towards the dangers of silencing information. Modern journalism is focused on the delivery of said information before any competitor hence the inception of breaking a story. From the writings of Johnson, Addison and Steele one can infer that they strived to elucidate the reader. Nowadays, the focus is centered on skewing the reader’s perspective to whomever funds the newspaper or network. For example, Fox News caters to conservatives while CNN leans more for liberals. This doesn’t mean that what’s being reported is not true, but that the facts are
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Blog Post #6 Anonymous Lady Poetry

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I every substance would resign To clasp thy aerial breast to mine; Or if, my love, that could not be, I would turn air to mix with thee. (57-60) This excerpt is from “A Letter to My Love—All Alone, Past 12, in the Dumps” from the Anonymous Lady. Unlike others of the time, she revived the amorous ardor of some metaphysical poets such as Andrew Marvell and John Donne. Though she doesn’t necessarily use a metaphysical conceit, her poems do express the passions and pangs of love but, most importantly, from a female perspective. What I really appreciate about her poetry is her unabashed approach to it. She easily could have conformed to the norms of that time and written like her male counterparts, focused more on criticisms and satire yet because she did not receive their similar education, “Who were the slaves of Busby's nod,/And learned their methods from his rod” (15-16) she developed a truer style to herself. Her ability to maintain the couplet form throughout the poem’
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Post #5. Aphra Behn: A Slave to her Bias

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Though Warren Chernaik argues that Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko is anti-slavery, I would counter-argue that Behn’s portrayal of Africans de-humanizes them as much as a pro-slavery stance. Oroonoko’s extreme solution towards the fate of Imoinda could not have been well received by the Christian audience of 17 th century England, however, if the audience already had a mindset stereotyping Africans or savages, Oroonoko’s actions would have seemed justified. Therefore, Behn’s portrayal would only serve as reinforcement to these stereotypes. Behn’s acknowledgement of Oroonoko’s beauty is based entirely on Oroonoko’s physical characteristics that mirror the ideal values of a fellow Briton. In a way Behn is implying that she and those of her race, are suited in determining the worth of others. In eschewing Oroonoko original name, giving him the name of Caesar, and then referring to him as such throughout the rest of the narrative, shows cultural belittlement. Perhaps in the narrative, Oroonoko was
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Blog Post #4 Locke and Modern Thought

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It can be reasonably argued that the liberties of modern Western society stem from the Enlightenment period. The case is especially strong for the United States considering that Thomas Jefferson used John Locke’s phrase “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence. The American and French revolutions can both attribute their inceptions to Locke’s tenacity for advocating independent thought. By independent thought, I mean thought and ideas the thinker has come to by method of his or her contemplation and who’s thought and ideas align with the thinker’s own philosophical systems. In this regard, even if the idea is detrimental to others, the idea comes from an unshackled thinker. Once thought was freed, the body followed. Both the Church and the Crown, entities whose survival depends on governed thought, were weakened by Locke’s ideas. This weakening, however, pre-dated Locke by half a century. The Scientific Revolution of the 16 th century champione
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