Analysis part 2

Robert Murillo                                                                                   10/24/11
Tanis                                                                                                Period 5

                                                                Analysis 2 (pages 63-64)


Imagery:

"She watched while Mistress trained Sorrow to sewing, the one task she liked and was good at, and said nothing when, to stop her roaming, he said, Sir made the girl sleep by the fireplace all seasons." This is a description of how Sorrow, who can apparently do nothing right does somthing that she is finally good at and enjoys, which is sewing, like a person who weaves clothing and etc. (pg 63)

"Her people had built sheltering cities for a thousand years and, except for the deathfeet of the Europe, might have built them for a thousand more." (pg 63) This form of imagery shows the darker side of how native americans were used and treated as dirt, in this case Lina's Ancestors, and it is bein described how the europians would literally work them to death.

Literary Devices:

"In fact, said the old women in charge of the children, he had apologized for his error in prophecy and admitted that however many collapsed from ignorance or disease, more would always come." (pg 63) This is an example of Irony because the shaman/ fortune teller to the natives had said that they shall eventually flee when the direct opposite had happened.

Values:

"They would come with languages that sounded like dog bark; with childish hunger for animal fur. They would forever fence land, ship whole trees to far away countries, take any woman for a wuick pleasure, ruin soil, befoul sacred places of worship a dull, inimaginitive god." (pg 63) This is an example of ignorance of when somone does not know the value of what they have, in this case it is the Europeans with everything that is explained in the passage above.

Characterization:

"They let their hogs browse the ocean shore, turning it into dunes of sand where northing green can ever grow again." (pg 63-64) This is yet another description of the europeans of how the Europeans are piggish, and indulge in almost all the land that they can get their hands on.

Language/word choice:

"It was thier destiny to chew up the world and spit out a horribleness that would destroy all primary peoples." (pg 64) The wording and literature in this piece is used almost in a plural fashion which is sort of confusing especially when you dont know what Lina is always talking about. She also likes to talk in Metaphors alot, relating nature to the uncivilized world that they live in.

Analysis

Robert Murillo                                                                                      10/24/211

Tanis                                                                                                                Period 5

                                                                        Analysis 1 (passage on worksheet)

Imagery:

“Mistress could not keep the smile off her face.”, this to me is a cocky image only based on her character because she is an evil and spiteful person.

“Florens mindless as a fern in the wind.”, to me this is an image of Florens being a kid for once in the story and having a crush on an older man which is a blacksmith

Literary devices:

“Like everyone else Willard, Scully, hired help, delivery men, she was happy, cooking as though it were harvest time." This is a similie comparing hapiness of her new house and food which implies that she's fat

Values:

"The last few years he seemed moody, less gentle, but when he decided to kill the trees and replace them with a profane monument to himself, he was cheerful every waking moment." This shows how much that he valued his sons and his Mistress because he had built a new house especially for them to make sure his family would have a nice place to live.

Characterization:

"And Sir--she had never seen Sir in better spirits" This is characterization because she is explaining the expression of Sir to be very happy or ecstatic that he had built his brand new home.

Language/word choice:

"Florens mindless as a fern in the wind." This is an odd use of wording because i personally am not really sure what a fern in the wind looks like or what it is supposed to meen directly, or indirectly.

3 questions

Robert Murillo                                                                                                                   Period 5

Teacher: Tanis                                                                  

Short Answer Questions

1.       How does” Equiano’s account of his journey to the new world” compare with the narrative of William Bradford in “Of Plymoth Plantation”?  Please use textual evidence to support your writing.

Equiano’s journey was all about a young boys childhood on a slave ship, where he was experiencing tortures and mistreatment among slaves, but he was confused wondering why people were doing this and couldn’t wait to be on land.  “Of Plymouth Plantation” was about slave traders heading to Africa in search of slaves to bring home, yet along the way he believes that god is punishing him in trying to do this because of the harsh seas.  I believe that Equiano’s experience was similar from when the slave traders in “Of Plymouth Plantation” finally arrived in Africa, because they were not sure of what to expect, such as the natives being savages and etc., while Equiano felt the same way of when he would reach land. The fear between both the slave traders, and Equiano was very harsh on both of them, for Equiano he thought he was going to be eaten from the way he was being treated, for the traders they were afraid of dying out at sea with no burial, and no word home.

2.       How do you account for the attitude and behavior of the Europeans toward the Africans, as described in the selection?

The attitude towards the slaves was as if they were nothing more than currency traveling back and forth from country to country. The traders from “Of Plymouth Plantation” haven’t even seen the slaves and their first impression is that they could be complete savages. The Africans themselves were excessively scared for the fact that they were treated like animals, and because of that treatment they thought that they would have gotten eating alive. They were used for hard work and they were treated like dirt. Slave women were raped for amusement and no slaves had a say in anything.

3.       Some of the Africans in this selection prefer death than slavery, while others do not. Why is that. Please provide at least 2 reasons that you were able to gain from the reading.

There were many reasons that the slaves wished for death, one of them being the fear that the Americans were cannibals and wished to eat them. Another was there was lack of air in the hull where they were kept from too many occupants, so some would actually begin to suffocate. Even worse was where they slept, which was on raw wood which would eventually turn into sores and cuts and etc., and to make that even worse they were bathed in salt water which would burn they’re wounds. There were also a small few who wished to live, the main and probably only reason they hoped to live was in hope of a better place for when they had reached land.