T F 07 (382)

Jacob Dellinger

Tuesday, February 7th

Inequality and Freedom: The Interesting Summary of the Class of Dr. Christofer C. Foss

Tuesday’s class began with Dr. Foss’s introduction of the much-anticipated Wiki page and involved two small group discussions of Equiano, Prince and Wollstonecraft. Dr. Foss introduced the small group discussions with two brief lectures explaining context and history. The small groups focused on the effectiveness of the authors and differences in each, as well as an assessment of how they would be seen nowadays.

If you’re reading this, you’re either Dr. Foss or you’ve made it onto the Wiki. Congratulations. On the Wiki, you have the option of creating a discussion about a previous post. To do this, scroll down to the end of the page and click the “discussion” button on the bottom bar. Dr. Foss also reminded us that the first exam is coming up, and you can access the exam preview on the Wiki as well. Thursday, February 16 is the big day. Dr. Foss pointed out that the painting on the Wiki pictures the cremation of Percy Shelley. Standing by is Lord Byron. Dr. Foss noted that Percy’s abnormally large heart was not burned and was given to Mary Shelley, who perhaps kept it as a pet.

Before the first small group discussion, Dr. Foss gave a brief description of slavery at the time to contextualize the two texts by Olaudah Equiano and Mary Prince. 40,000 slaves were captured yearly, and between 15,000 and 20,000 died in transit every year. The 1780’s oversaw the abolitionist movement in England, which technically forbade slavery starting in 1807. However, owning slaves was still legal in English colonies. This meant that if slaves in England could find supporters, they could simply declare themselves free. It wasn’t until 1833 that slaves were emancipated throughout the British Empire, but there was still a gradual process that actually resulted in slave owners being reimbursed for setting their slaves free.

Dr. Foss prompted us with several questions going into small group to help us discuss these two pieces by Equiano and Prince that attempted to change the minds of the English about slavery. One of the questions was to weigh the similarities and differences in the two works, and another asked if the texts allowed the English to remain comfortable in their assumed superiority over Africans. Dr. Foss also asked us to discuss what strategies Equiano and Prince used in their writing and to what extent they seem to write blatantly or if they carefully weighed what might be offensive.

In my small group, we first discussed the differences between Equiano and Prince. We all agreed that Equiano seemed more cautious and tactful in his writing than Prince, who took the harsher, more shocking route. Although both were appeals against slavery, Equiano’s borders on flattery towards white people. For example, after Equiano buys his freedom, he writes that “Every one I met I told of my happiness, and blazed about the virtue of my amiable master and Captain,” (238).This inclusion of details admiring his former white master reveals an unnecessary flattery not found in Prince’s text. Indeed, Prince’s text seems more genuine and emotionally-charged. We agreed that although Equiano’s story is better (he writes about a chain of different events, rather than only getting beaten), Prince’s is more effective because of its moral and strong emotional appeal. We concluded our small group by agreeing that Both Equiano and Prince achieved political ends by different strategies: Equiano’s as more of a subtle moral appeal and Prince’s as a more blatant moral and emotional strategy.

Dr. Foss then gathered everyone’s attention to set us up for the second small group session on Mary Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Women,” which contains the argument that society and culture need to change if the equalization of women is to come about. Dr. Foss called to our attention the interesting 2nd-to-last paragraph that states: “Let woman share the rights and she will emulate the virtues of man; for she must grow more perfect when emancipated, or justify the authority that chains such a weak being to her duty.—If the latter, it will be expedient to open a fresh trade with Russia for whips…” (326). Essentially, Wollstonecraft states here—somewhat sarcastically—that if there is a change for equality and women do not live up to her claims, then women should be enslaved. Dr. Foss asked us to discuss in small groups if Wollstonecraft would say everything is fine today, and whether or not it is okay to manipulate the traditional picture of degrading women to their advantage.

In small group, we debated whether or not Wollstonecraft seemed self-centered because of all her references to herself. Jess argued that she had to because not many women of the time broke the mold. We discussed how she doesn’t actually believe women are inferior (that was a rhetorical strategy), but she would blame them for participating in exploiting their own sexuality. In response to Dr. Foss’s question of whether Wollstonecraft would see everything as fine today, we all agreed that she wouldn’t be pleased. With modern-day slavery, workplace inequality, and a host of other problems, women generally still bear the brunt of society. However, she would be pleased, we agreed, at the direction in which things are going. We also examined how Wollstonecraft showed her worth by her criticism of famous works such as Paradise Lost, and Jordan pointed out the irony found in her biography of how she tried to kill herself because of a man. When small group ended, we were dismissed from class to enjoy the wonderful day.

This class was significant because it was the first Tuesday class in February—Black History Month—and we discussed two very important and early texts about that topic. In a time filled with inequality, it is important to recognize those who fought for freedom, such as Equiano and Prince, whose stories showed the hardships faced by blacks. Wollstonecraft, too, who struggled for liberty by painting a picture of inequality shown towards women at the time.

Word Count: 1,011