Jasmine Eccles Ms.Clarke April 26, 2023 African American History Nate Parker's The Birth of a Nation tells the story of Nat Turner, a Virginia slave and Baptist preacher who led an uprising in 1831. Nat knew how to read and write and grew up reading the bible. This opened doors for him in the future allowing him to preach to other slaves to make Samuel his owner's money. While Nat was traveling to preach he realizes the severity of the bondage that holds him as he witnesses some horrific gruesome treatment towards other slaves. The inhumane treatment he sees sparks something in him and he decides that he can't Turner’s Uprising, claiming more than 50 before he is eventually caught and hung. Nat believed that he was chosen to lead the rebellion …show more content…
It makes you want to cry, turn your head, look away, and step out of the room which is all understandable considering the severity of some of the scenes. For me, the scene that had the greatest amount of impact on me was the scene where Nat went to preach at another slave master's house. They went to a shed in the back of the house and when Not entered there were men shackled and chained up. They were starving and the slave owners touted them and asked if they were hungry yet. Upon no reply, they forced a slave's mouth open and chiseled at their teeth until they broke. The slave owners force-fed the slave their feces with a shovel til it was dripping out of their mouths. This scene hit home with me, it opened my eyes to not only how cruel and brutal the owners could be. Not only this but also how slaves would go as far as trying to pass from starvation to escape slavery. This was the scene that sparked Nat's drive to free slaves from the bondage of white tyrants. Nat was brainwashed from the day they started teaching him to read and write that they were right and that slaves were to subject themselves to whatever the owners pleased. Nat was taught to read the bible, but it was corrupt and not the true word, but a slave bible that read that slaves should obey their …show more content…
It's important to not only show the plantations of hundreds of slaves forced to work against their will but also the inhumane treatment, and the mental and physical abuse they endured. The film accomplished its overall goal of opening the viewer treatment slaves faced. From when Esther was raped by a white man, to when Nat found that Cherry had been attacked and assaulted by a group of men. The film did an amazing job portraying emotions through the character's facial expressions, as well as the music and color choices in specific scenes. The humiliation and shame Esther felt were heartbreaking to watch and the music and dark colors in the scene made the time even sadder and more impactful. The look of pain and agony Hark had knowing what was happening to his wife, but he couldn't stop it without risking Hark or death to himself or her. Some scenes were really heavy like when Cherry had been attacked and assaulted by a group of men. You just stop breathing for a second already assuming the worse is going to happen, but it made me realize how often this happened during this time. Despite these hardships and battles Nat and his family faced he stayed strong believing in the word of God and that God would make a way. Between families being split up females were raped, whipped,
Some of these whites were boiling mad and wanted to avenge the atrocities they had found” (99). When Nat and his men killed the White slave owners and their families—the black insurgents made it worse for their fellow slaves that had been left behind. Around 60 whites and 200 blacks were killed during this rebellion. It is hard to see what was accomplished when so many lives were lost. Before Nat is brought to his death he said, “Was not Christ crucified?”
Reality. This shows the irony of the book. One is Ned's beheading. Now we know that they were cruel towards slaves but some readers didn't know that they would be head Ned for protecting his owner by shooting. ”Ned’s head jumped off his body and popped into the air” (Collier and Collier 145).
The Fires of Nat Turner In the book The fires of Jubilee, we notice and go through a lot of Nat Turners violent “rebellion” as a former slave in order to get back at what they have gone through. Nat turner takes a complete different approach than what we saw with our letter from Hammond. Nat Turner with the help of a few other former slaves, have created the highest fatalities during his “rebel” from any slave up rise ever recorded. The book was written from a man who has caught his first ever taste of what freedom was like, which is what initially fueled his need for the rebellion.
The governor of Virginia was afraid that they weren’t going to have slaves anymore due to the uproar of the slave revolt. I truly believe Nat should be remembered as a Hero due to the fact that he stood up for what he believed was right and he took action. Nat started this monumental rebellion not even realizing that being publicly hung would be his death sentence. Nat was courageous and listened to signs God shown him. Nat believed in his heart that he was doing the right thing.
To begin, Douglass masterfully hooked the reader by relating his experiences to those of the readers. When Douglass related to the reader's experiences it helped him create a deeper connection between them, leading to a deeper understanding of his arguments. He emphasizes: “It caused me more pain than anything else in the whole transaction. I was ready for anything rather than separation.”
The third paragraph shows us the "behind the scenes" and details of what it took to be a slave in the U.S. while being forcefully beaten. It also makes the paragraph complex because of its well thought out syntax, figurative language elements to describe the feeling of
The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass challenges and enhances information from the textbook America a Narrative History. In Chapter 13 of the textbook, the Second Great Awakening is mentioned, and the author talks about how large camp meetings were held, which resulted in many converting to Methodism. Similarly, Douglass, as his master attended one, mentions a camp meeting, where Douglass hoped his master would become kinder or emancipate his slaves, however, instead it made his master crueler. In addition, in Chapter 15 the conflict between a true Christian and a Southern Christian is brought up. In both the narrative and the textbook, the fact that slavery is endorsed by the bible is brought up as part of the pro-slavery movement.
The story of Frederick Douglass’ is one of the most gruesome stories ever written in American literary history. The narrative goes in-depth about how the process of slavery was. It talks about how people would get whipped for the smallest of issues, dying if they resist enough, and even the process of the slave trade. It even shows how people become very different after the entire system of slavery gets into their minds. Through his powerful narrative, Frederick Douglass demonstrates how slavery dehumanizes not only the enslaved but also the enslaver, as it strips individuals of their basic humanity and perpetuates a system of cruelty and oppression.
Did you know that Frederick Douglass was never whipped after he overpowered his slave masters? Frederick Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, Maryland, in 1818, there he lived a life of deprivation. Since he was born, Douglass did not know how to read, write, or even be aware of his own age; yet he would face these adversities through food exchanges with the white kids and taking advantage of their stupidity. As he grew older, Douglass was cursed with his new treasure of knowledge, he was more aware of his circumstances and often found himself longing for freedom. When Douglass escaped the chains of slavery, he deserted his original name, Frederick Bailey, to not be trapped once again.
Through his story, Douglass proves that slavery has negative effects on slaveholders. He uses imagery, flashbacks, and characterization to persuade the reader of the true nature of slavery. His deep thoughts and insights of slavery and the unbalanced power between a slaveholder and his slave are unprompted for a social establishment. Douglass insists that slaveholding fills the soul with sadness and bitter anguish. In addressing effects of slavery on masters cause one man to rethink his moral character and better understand the laws of humanity.
When I watched most slavery films or plays, it usually takes place during the worst times of slavery. However, in this play it took place during a more good point in the history of slavery. The moment when slaves finally get their freedom. I never saw a play or film involving slavery, that the story lines tells the struggles of slaves dealing with their
He truly tapped into the reader’s emotions to allow them a deeper connection with the story. To see the way that the slaveholder would dehumanize the slave to the point of seeing the slave as just a piece of property was truly heartbreaking. It was at moments such as this that the reader saw a glimpse of the mood, tone and theme. Douglass makes clear his tone of understanding, the theme of both the slave and the slaveholder being affected, and the mood of the reader being
Throughout the narrative, the author includes his personal stories about experiencing the violence of slavery first-hand. For example, on page 20, he writes about the first time he witnessed a slave, his own aunt, getting the whip. “The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest…I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition… It struck me with awful force. It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery…” The author including his experience of his aunts whipping, in detail, appeals to the emotions of the reader.
The amount of details made it feel as if you were right there watching it happen, especially when he was describing all of the time that he had to spend in the starvation cell. That part of the book had to resonate
He uses these experiences to show just how unjust the treatment towards slaves was. As a child, he was not allowed to learn like many of the white children were, they wanted to keep the slaves ignorant