{"content":{"sharePage":{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"66517892","dateCreated":"1394607445","smartDate":"Mar 11, 2014","userCreated":{"username":"KelechiNdionionyenma","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/KelechiNdionionyenma","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/boyleclassroom.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/66517892"},"dateDigested":1532128322,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Original Post #2","description":"Whites have longed argued that slavery was good for slaves because it civilized them and that slaves were content to be held in bondage. But such is not the case, at least not according to the evidence provided in the second part of this book by Northup. Through this book, we learn that slaves were not content to remain in slavery, but as prisoners of fear of the own as incapable of doing nothing to rectify their situation. In the same vain, they so called \u201cwhites,\u201d who claim it their duty to civilize slaves for their own good, become the ones in need of civilizing. \u201cIt is not the fault of the slaveholder that he is cruel, so much as it is the fault of the system under which he lives. He cannot withstand the influence of habit and associations that surround him. Taught from earliest childhood, by all that he sees and hears, that the rod is for the slave's back, he will not be apt to change his opinions in mature years\u201d (Northup 206). Although true, I disagree with his transcendentalist ideology natural goodness in man and corruption of man by institutions, in this case political. Yes, man can be corrupted by the government and its practices, it is also possible for him to reject or if not entirely reject twist the system in which he lives. William Ford was able to do show kindness to his slavery and was paid back with their labor, this is an example of a \u201cgreat man\u2026who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of [truthfulness].\u201d The suffering of slaves like Patsey under Epps, because of his lustful nature, and Platt under Tibet\u2019s because of his jealousy, cannot be justified as influence of the system, although the system was partially to blame, but I believe that a man is capable of great evil, as well as kindness, but it is up to him to decide which he allows dominance. <br \/>\nSomething that baffles me is Northup\u2019s willingness to excuse\/forgive the cruel nature of some slave owners as is shown in his statement on page 206. I was also disgusted by Epps delight in the \u201cscreech,\u201d and \u201cscreams\u201d of his slaves. Are humans really capable of such height of cruelty? What then is the value of life, if we can afford to treat our fellow humans with such cruelty? In the end does it skin color, or superiority matter that much? Isn't it the same red blood that flows through all our veins? Are we as humans that vain as to treat other because of something they have no control over, such as race, and skin color? In conclusion what is the motivator of such cruelty or kindness?","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"66305984","dateCreated":"1393397959","smartDate":"Feb 25, 2014","userCreated":{"username":"KelechiNdionionyenma","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/KelechiNdionionyenma","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/boyleclassroom.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/66305984"},"dateDigested":1532128322,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Original Post #1","description":"Learning about slavery, I always taught slaves where African war captives or Africans\u2019 kidnapped and sold into slavery, never did I think that in the United States \u201cfree\u201d black people were kidnapped into slavery although they did not live in the south. Twelve Years a Slave made me rethink my ideas and beliefs on what slavery is or the emotional and physical wreckage of being a slave. Despite years in history classes, when I think of slavery of slavery, physical bondage comes quickly to mind. \u201cThe existence of Slavery in its most cruel form among them has a tendency to brutalize the humane and finer feelings of their nature. Daily witnesses of human suffering \u2014 listening to the agonizing screeches of the slave \u2014 beholding him writhing beneath the merciless lash \u2014 bitten and torn by dogs \u2014 dying without attention, and buried without shroud or coffin \u2014 it cannot otherwise be expected, than that they should become brutified and reckless of human life\u2026There may be humane masters, as there certainly are inhuman ones\u2026nevertheless, the institution that tolerates such wrong and inhumanity as I have witnessed, is a cruel, unjust and barbarous one\u201d (Northup 157-158). After hearing and reading, so much on the topic of slavery from various history teachers, textbook, and authors, I never sat down to consider what it ever meant, but reading this passage and trying to picture the imagery conveyed, for the first time I taught about slavery not just in terms of a historical event, but as a system of living, for the first time I placed myself in the shoes of a slave, and like Northup realized that having been born free I have been \u201ctoo ignorant, perhaps, too independent to conceive of how anyone could be content to live in the abject condition of a slave\u201d (Northup 9).<br \/>\nLiving in a free society without fear of being a slave or the racial discrimination of this time period I have always been able to distant myself to a certain point on the issue of slavery. Having read To Kill a Mocking Bird and now 12 Years a Slave, I feel privileged and humbled by the experience of these individuals, realizing that despite my state of affair I have always had the right to choose and decide on my fate, which was less than Tom Robinson had as black man or Northup had in terms of his kidnap and life as a slave. So far with the few insight gained from the Northup\u2019s experience, my respect have grown for slaves as they lived through the callous treatment dished out at them by their fellow human, for slave owners good or bad, for their moral stand and for human capability when it comes to relationship with the minority.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]}],"more":false},"comments":[]},"http":{"code":200,"status":"OK"},"redirectUrl":null,"javascript":null,"notices":{"warning":[],"error":[],"info":[],"success":[]}}