The End

Welp.  That's it.  We've reached the end.  I had a mixed experience with the class.  Sometimes the class was fun.  Other times it wasn't.  Some of the reading was boring and too long for me, personally.  Other times it was long and fun.  Other times it was shorter and nicer and more to the point.  Honestly, I did a lot of skimming in this class, but I still learned quite a bit.  My only regret is that I maybe didn't take it a little more seriously, especially toward the end.  I just tend to get demotivated or distracted toward the end of spring semesters in school, no matter what grade I'm in.

Walt Whitman "Song of Myself"

"Song of Myself" is a bunch of different poems put together in one huge poem.  I just want to focus on a two segments or parts, however.

The first part of the entire thing is very nice to me because it shows that he has some self confidence.  He believes that he is a wonderful being who has learned much and wants to share all of his knowledge with others, a.k.a. - the readers.

The second segment I want to focus on is in part two.  It is the lines beginning with "Have you reckon'd a thousand acres much?" and ending with "You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self."

I like this part of "Song of Myself" because he is asking the reader if they have learned as much as he.  If not, he invites them to learn from him.  He doesn't want the reader to learn exactly as he has, though.  He wants the reader to take everything in, everything he says and then look at their surroundings.  He wants the reader to filter everything they see and hear and learn to create their own views on different matters.  This moment I find so precious because he's addressing the reader directly, and very early on, too.

Slavery, Race, and the Making of American Literature - William Lloyd Garrison

William Lloyd Garrison is trying to make people see something about the slaves.  That thing is that slaves are real people, too.  I believe he's not just talking about the ones still enslaved, he's also talking about the ones who have been freed.  He wants people to give full equality to African Americans/blacks/slaves not because it's the right thing to do, but because it's what they would want if they were in the same situation.  He wants them to see them for who they are... people.

Slavery, Race, and the Making of American Literature - Martin R. Delany

Martin R. Delany had some very good points.  His biggest one was, "...no people can be free who themselves do not constitute an essential part of the ruling element of the country in which they live."

He uses this point to call for slave freedom.  Not just for slave freedom and equality, though.  No, he calls for an entirely free state/country where the slaves can rule themselves.  That is the only way he can see them being truly free.  If they don't make up the ruling element of the place they live, there will always be things working against them, for all of time.  That's his main point.

I see this main point and I kind of agree with it.  Even in today's world, you can see long held prejudices against different races, whether you personally have them or not.  It would be nice to tell everyone to stop being that way and they do, but that's just not going to happen.  So maybe the best choice would've been to give slaves their own country.  We'll never know now.  I just hope that prejudices and stereotypes against African Americans can be lessened.

Slavery, Race, and the Making of American Literature: Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson is an odd case.  He makes a lot of seemingly racist remarks.  Lots of people call him racist because of this.

I just want to pose a few questions.  Could this be because this was the "normal" way people talked about blacks and slaves at the time?  Could this be to make a point of how foolish people sound when talking like that?

I personally can't see how the man who wanted to abolish slavery with the Declaration of Independence, and even with the Constitution, could be so abhorrently racist.  I just don't see it.  So there has to be a reason behind what seems racist to us in today's world.  I think it's because we have gotten so much more focused on "political correctness" that anything that could be taken offensively could be seen as racist or bad.

Margaret Fuller "Four Kinds of Equality"

Margaret Fuller talks about four types of equality between men and women.  The first is called the household partnership which means that the man furnishes the house and woman regulates it.  She calls this one good as far as it goes, but she really thinks that it could be better.

Then there's the closer ties of intellectual companionship and mutual idolatry.  The mutual idolatry she doesn't like because it focuses just on looks and not actual feelings for one another or partnership with one another.  She says they usually don't end or go well.  The intellectual companionship she says is more like a friendship based on ideological similarities.  She says this one leaves little room for love as they are more like friends than mates.  However she does like that they do tend to lean toward people with similar goals working together to obtain them.

Basically, the last one is the best one.  It is kind of a combination of them all.  The couple has a mutual idolatry of each other to a point (they have sexual attractions to one another).  There is an intellectual attraction as they have to help each other work toward each other's goals.  And each one must have abilities and jobs the other simply can't do so they compliment each other.  This last one is very similar to what I believe my fiancée and I have.

Abraham Lincoln "The Gettysburg Address"

What I find funny about this speech is that it probably only took a few minutes to say, President Lincoln wrote it quickly on the way to the event, and he says that no one will remember what is said there that day, but it is one of the most famous speeches in American history.  Also, there was someone else who spoke either before or after him for at least an hour and no one remembers what he said.

One of my favorite lines from the address is, "...we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow - this ground.  The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."

To me this is Abraham Lincoln saying, "What are we doing here?  This war is not an easy one, and what our soldiers are doing is dedication enough.  It's time to come together and work to make this place better so their dedication will not be in vain."

This address is short, sweet, to the point, and memorable.