Biography of Kate Chopin Literary Response

In Kate Chopin’s biography, it explains the ups and downs this devoted writer had gone through to get where she is now. She had to experience so many deaths and tragedies with her family that she had to learn how to be independent and support herself and her family. Even though this probably was a hard task for Chopin, she could achieve it because she came from a long line of smart, independent, single women. Kate began to write to support her family and became very successful with her writings and sketches. Some of Chopin’s writings were even based on events and people she knew within her lifetime. People stand on what they know and Chopin took that into play when writing her short stories and essays. For example, The Awakening was a novel that was based on “a true story of a New Orleans woman who was infamous in the French Quarter” (Bio. of Kate Chopin, Paragraph 7).
Like stated before, some of Chopin’s writings were based on events and people knew. Therefore the root of her stories was influenced widely from her experiences. Another example of these influences is her novel The Story of An Hour. In this novel, Mrs. Mallard, the main character, was ecstatic when she found out that her husband had pasted away, not because she didn’t love, but because she had no freedom with him. By him dying, Mrs. Mallard was finally taken out of bondage. Many women in that century did not have that advantage. They were ultimately controlled by their husbands and had no say whatsoever in their life. Though this isn’t what Chopin had to go through because her husband allowed her to have some freedom, she believed that is was still necessary to show women how they were being treated by men. Chopin voiced her strong opinions through her books that led to consequences, such as not being admitted to the St. Louis Fine Arts Club.
Kate Chopin had proven herself to be just like all the women in her family. She was intelligent, independent, and single, but was also triumphant in every novel she wrote. Chopin stood on what she knew about life, society, and success; as a result, her life and success shaped her career and her fiction novels.

Disturbia

I chose the murderer, Mr. Turner because it seemed as if he had something really wrong with him. Turner was really crazy and wasn't in his right mind at all. He had so many sides to him, it was irritating trying to distinguish him from all his personalities. The movie makes this character look like he's insane, which he clearly is sense he is going around the whole state killing people. You can't get anymore crazier than that. In any movie, the music is very important to the suspense of the movie as a whole. It brings thrill and personality to each character in the movie. Mr. Turner played his role so well that everytime I saw him I saw a mass murderer. His character really comes to life as the music builds up tempo and momentum.

Sojourner Truth Comparison

Now that I have read both writings, they are very different from one another. The biggerst difference was Sojourner's speech, as in the way she talked. In the 50 Essays book, her speech was so much better where the reader could clearly understand what she was saying. The derivative version of the speech took away from it's authenticity. I believe the original version loses it's appeal to pathos. A Caucasian audience may have thought Truth was another ignorant black woman who didn't know what she was talking about. Even though one probably didn't understand a word that was written, the speech still conveyed the same message. That is was Truth was trying to do, get her point across.

Slavery Essay

In both Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and An American Slave by Fredrick Dougllas, these books appeal to ethos, pathos, and their audience are very similar. Dougllas establishes his credibility when a Caucasian author vouches for him in the preface of the book. “Every one who has heard you speak has felt, and, I am confident, every one who reads your book will feel…the whole truth” (Paragraph 5, Preface by Wendell Phillips). It can be inferred that Wendell Phillips vouches for Dougllas because he has heard one of his speeches and feels that he speaks the truth. Phillips agrees with Dougllas’ ideas and beliefs and supports his book. Jacobs establishes ethos when L. Maria Child, the editor of the book, states that “I willingly take the responsibility of presenting them with the veil withdrawn” (Paragraph 4, Introduction by the Editor). Chile was ready to take responsibility of what was being said because she strongly believed that people needed to hear Jacobs story.

The authors’ appeal to pathos was very strong. They both used vivid imagery and diction to get the audiences emotions tied into the stories. They described whipping and romantic scenes so well that it would touch the hearts of the readers. “He commenced to lay on the heavy cowskin, and soon the warm, red blood (amid heart-rending from her, and horrid oaths from him) came dripping to the floor” (Paragraph 11, An American Slave). In the last quote, Dougllas uses such distinct diction; it makes the audience feel exactly what the slave was going through and made them feel her pain and suffering. “I loved him with all ardor of a young girl’s first love. But when I reflected that I was a slave, and that the laws gave no sanction to the marriage of such, my heart sank within me” (Paragraph 2, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl). Jacobs made the audience feel her agony and sorrow towards how she felt. The authors wanted the audience to experience the life of a Negro slave.

Since the authors wanted the audience to have that experience, it can be safely assumed that the audience was steered more to Caucasians rather than African Americans. At the time only whites and probably freed slaves could be accessible to books, so they were the only ones who could read the novels. The authors are most likely writing to this particular audience because like stated before; they wanted to put them through the same experience. They wanted whites to see how much torture, humiliation, and anguish they put African Americans through.

Poets Corner

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”

Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home

I looked over Jordan, and I what did I see
Coming for to carry me home?
A band of angels coming after me
Coming for to carry me home

If you get there before I do
Coming for to carry me home
Tell all my friends I coming too
Coming for to carry me home

I’m sometimes up, I’m sometimes down
Coming for to carry me home
But still my soul feels heavenly bound
Coming carry me home

MY VERSE
My God is looking right over me
Coming for to carry me home
I can’t wait to go up for me to see
Coming for to carry me home

Civil Disobedience

Is it better for a government to govern under salutary neglect? Or, should a government watch their country like a hawk stalking its prey? “Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe, --- That government is best which governs not at all” (Part 1, Paragraph 1). It seems that Thoreau can concur with this statement very closely. Thoreau reveals his tone of anger and disapproval. I personally can’t say that I agree. Yes, our government has problems, needs construction, and is not perfect, but without it our country would be in shambles. People have so many different concepts on how the country should be run that all these ideas would soon clash together. This wouldn’t unite the country. One purpose as a nation is to have unity among all the people you share a country with. Disarray and the disagreements will in turn result in rebellion.
“All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable” (Part 1, Paragraph 8). Just because Americans are aware of their use to revolutionize and rebel, that doesn’t mean that every time they don’t like something the government does that it is time to revolt. If that were the case there would be a war every day out of the year. I know as an American citizen that wouldn’t be good for our nation and as individuals. The government would probably have to come to the people to get money and pay off national debts. That will cause another reason to rise up and fight against the government creating more confusion within the nation. Sometimes government has good reasons for doing some things that it does.
On the other hand, I am in agreement with Thoreau’s tone of disapproval. “Some years ago, the State met me in behalf of the Church, and commanded me to pay a certain sum toward the support of a clergyman whose preaching my father attended, but never myself…I declined to pay” (Part 2, Paragraph 12). This would be one of those events where one should resist the demands of the government. There was no reason for Thoreau to pay a tax to a church he didn’t attend. One has to know when the right time to voice their opinion. Surely he was not happy with the government’s decision to put this tax on him so he did something about it.
Through the whole passage Thoreau conveys this tone of anger towards the government for the actions that they take. He doesn’t believe that it is needed and it needs to remove itself. “It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate” (Part 1, Paragraph 2). The government does not do anything that is supposed to do and that frustrates Thoreau. He assumes that the government is just there for the benefit of itself. It wants control and money and that is exactly what it is going to get from the American citizens.

Literary Genres

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism_(dramatic_arts)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/195896/history-of-Europe/58412/Romanticism-and-Realism#tab=active~checked%2Citems~checked&title=history%20of%20Europe%20%3A%3A%20Romanticism%20and%20Realism%20--%20Britannica%20Online%20Encyclopedia

Gettysburg Address

1) Lincoln should have mentioned some ways of how the people should honor those who fought for everyone's freedom. He did not clearly specify who was fighting who. He did not state where or when these people were fighting.

2) Lincoln states how he believes that being the citizens of the nation, which people fought for, the society should give respect towards the deceased by continuing to fight for colonial freedom as they did. Since Lincoln's main point was to convince his society to continue to fight for freedom for all, this sentence used pathos to grab the audience's hearts and strongly express to them how important it was to not allow the deceased to have died for nothing. This sentence allows Lincoln to try to convince the audience through their emotions. The function that it performs is implementing pathos in his address to the audience. I think it reached the audience's appeal to sorrow for those who died for freedom. My sentence would go like this: Why shall we allow our deceased- those who died for our freedom, justice, and overall equality- to have given up their lives for nothing.

3) Both were written to convince the colonials to fight for freedom, from the British government and both described how their ideas were best for the people. The address was created to describe to the colonials how they should continue fighting for their freedom, so those who died did not for nothing. The Declaration of Independence was made to attack the King's quality of ruling and to list all the injustices the king committed. The Declaration of Independence had a harsher tone which was used to attack the king. The address had a more persuasive tone which was used to try to persuade colonials to continue fighting for freedom.

4) During my speech class, I heard many persuasive speeches and informational speeches. The address, Declaration of Independence, and other speeches I have heard all use techniques of persuasion and facts to support their beliefs and main ideas.