Barn Burning

I found it very interesting to read how someone can be caught between family blood and doing what is right ethically. The boy in the story, Colonel Sartoris Snopes, was always taught from a young age by his father that family blood is most important that everyone else is the enemy. This includes judges and anyone in authority.

The boys’ father seems like a very abusive person. He would abuse his animals and I am sure that he would abuse his son if he ever did anything that he did not like. He always told his son that if he ever went against his family blood that no matter what Sartoris would have no one to go to if he needed help. “You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you.” This caused the biggest problem for his life.

Kate Chopin

For the time period i think it was astonishing how well Kate Chopin did with her works. First off it wasn't easy for women to get much education let alone be educated enough to write the level she has accomplished.

When reading her stuff it becomes clear that her point of view is a lot different then other authors that we have read. She brings up points that a very skeptical for the time and that many people in society would not agree with.

In Desiree’s Baby I believe she portrays the male as the figure who takes control and what ever the male says goes. He said at the beginning that he loves Desiree but by the end he ignores her and wants nothing to do with her. As much as Desiree doesn’t like it, she obeys her husband and leaves and is never heard from again. However, in The Strom, Calixta shows her self to be more independent from what her husband has to say and even has a very friendly experience with a man in a different social class.

Frederick Douglass

I personally enjoyed this rather long passage of reading that we had to do. The name Frederick Douglass is well known throughout history. We learned about him in high school but we never were told his whole story. I remember only learning that he was taught the Alphabet and the rest is a blur.

Reading the Life of Frederick Douglass has been an enlightening story that tells about his life as a slave. Starting off from the time he was very young till after being sold many different times. I believe while he was a young man that he went through so many different stages of slavery that he at times didn’t even know what to think. At some points it seems like he was not aware of what was going on around him, while other times he seemed like he was right on top of society. He has had masters that were the meanest people in the world while others were a little less cruel.