LiteratureWork

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

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

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