Week 100000

This week was quite busy for how short it was. Sojourner Truth’s “Aint I a Woman” speech was rather striking. I particularly appreciated the argument that “man” played no part in the birth of Jesus, I had never considered that before. I thought that the alternate version of Soujourner’s speech was less powerful because of the dialect. Which reflects a bias towards eloquence over rural dialects I suppose. My first thought was that the writer was trying to discredit her and make her seem less intelligent. I read Gone With the Wind in fifth grade and remember really struggling to understand Mammy’s lines. I didn’t understand that speakers of that dialect are not exactly unintelligent, it’s just the way they talk. Not sure if I’m explaining that well… I hope you know what I mean. In class it was brought up that the writer of the later version may have been trying to alter the speech to reach a different audience or make a point. This does make sense, but it still seems like a strange move to me.

I thought that Rachel’s presentation fit in well with the two readings since it concerned an African American speaking for the better treatment of people of color. It is sad that anyone has had to defend their status as a human. Reading about the metamorphosis of the wife of Fredrick Douglass’s owner was saddening. Violence and fear are terrible forces.
I was reminded of this reading upon reading Lane’s Facebook post today about Violence when a “Good Man” develops into an evil man by committing domestic violence. As it progresses he still thinks he is a good man and justifies his mistakes. Douglas’s mistress may have justified her actions out of fear and the belief that she was still a good woman; but fear, power, and violence turned her heart to stone.