Hannah Meyer
ENH 241
June 30, 2008
Shelley Rodrigo
Reflection on the Critique of Slavery
The final literary era that I did not cover is the Critique of Slavery. This era focuses on slavery in the United States, the culture it created among the slaves, and the slaves and other authors that spoke against it. One of the websites reviewed said that this era lasted form the start of slavery all the way up to the Civil War. While not all of the authors in this era were or had been slaves themselves, the majority of the big names are former slaves.
This era of literature helps me to understand the progression of literature in early America better. The Critique of Slavery spans almost the entire timeline of literature that we have reviewed in class and therefore had a large influence on many of the authors covered, something that was revealed in their biographies and some of their works. While it did not particularly help my comprehension of the Romantic era, it did help me take a closer look at the other three periods, as almost all of the readings I reviewed for those eras mentioned slavery in some way or another.
It helped me to understand the theme of the American Dream much better. One of the readings I did for that theme was based on an African-American perspective and so after reading all of the information on this era that has been posted, I feel that I have a better grasp on what the American Dream means from this perspective. For freed blacks, the American Dream was to have their own property and lives; for slaves, the only “Dream” was escape. This also affects my understanding of identity because the slaves had their identities taken away from them. The Critique of Slavery movement was helping them to build their own identities as African-Americans, and hopefully, as free men and women.
If I had done this period, one of the authors I would have selected would have been Frederick Douglass. Reading through the postings about him, his life looks interesting. He was only briefly mentioned in the history books in high school. I have never read anything of is and would find it interesting. If I were to choose one of his texts I would have chosen the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. As mentioned previously, I think that I would be fascinated by his life story and I think that it would help my understanding of the Critique of Slavery literature.
Another author I would have chosen would have been Harriet Tubman. I would like to know more about the Underground Railroad, and while the postings about Tubman were very limited, I do remember something from history class and I would have liked to expand my knowledge on her. However, there is only one of her texts listed on the class website and it is only a spiritual, so I do not think I would have chosen one of her texts to read. The text I would have chosen would have been Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I have only heard about this novel but have never read it and again, I feel it is a piece of literature that would truly expand my understanding of slavery and the critique of it.