Life Path Of Frederick Douglass - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1962 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2019/05/29 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Frederick Douglass Essay Did you like this example? The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: The Final Step in Becoming a Free Man For to be free is not merely to cast off oners chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others (Nelson Mandela). Born in 1818, Frederick Douglass was a biracial slave in the 19th century. His life and the details of it are seen to many as a representation of what it meant to be a slave in America. To many his narrative was influential and inspiring as it was not a commonality for slaves to become free in the way that Douglass did, most were born and died a slave. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass serves as a reminder of Americars dark past, even though it was written with the intent to convince Northerners to act against slavery. Throughout his narrative, Douglass is telling the story of his life while simultaneously criticizing slavery in America through anecdotes and personal insight. Douglass use of sincere language regarding themes such as family, education, and religion exerted his desired effects of convincing northern whites to act against slavery by offering criticism to the hypocrisy and inhumanity of white slaveholders; in doing so, Douglass gives an honest testament to his readers as to what life was like for an enslaved person. After reading the narrative, it can be believed that regarding American political developments the ideas about America and what was truly happening were two very separate realities. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Life Path Of Frederick Douglass" essay for you Create order Ideas about family are also explored often throughout Douglass narrative as a way of criticizing the harsh realities of slave ownership in America. Towards the beginning of the narrative, we learn that Douglass father is unknown to him and there is the possibility that his father could be his white master, or another white man who took advantage on an enslaved black woman. Not only does Douglass never know who his father is but he also saw his mother only a few times in his life and wasnt allowed to attend her funeral after her passing. The simplicity behind Douglass relationship with his parents can be used to represent the basic human rights that were taken away from those who were slaves. In never getting to truly develop a relationship with his mother Douglass Never enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, [he] received the tidings of her death with the much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger ( 1.4). The first relationships humans build in their lives are with their parents, by taking this right away from slaves, who were typically raised by women too old to work in the field, slaveholders also took away a sense of home and comfort. Slavery prevented Douglass and most other slaves from getting the chance to ever fully develop a relationship with their families. Throughout their lives, slaves were deprived of family relationships and given a false idea of what family meant. Masters wanted their slaves to believe they were treated like family, even though family could never inflict the pain and suffering upon each other than white men inflicted onto African American slaves. Upon leaving to go to a new home and master, Douglass found no severe trial in [his] departure. [His] home was charmless; it was not home to [him [His] mother was dead, [his] grandmother lived far off, so that [he] seldom saw her. [He] had two sisters and one brother, that lived in the same house with [him]; but the early separation of [them] from [their] mother had well-nigh blotted the fact of [their] relationship from [their] memories (5.6). His use of language in this quote is sincere in a way that readers can tell he wrote with truth. Douglass not only admitted the faults of his masters in his narratives but would also admit his own faults to allow for a fair argument in his writing. This reveals to us that enslaved people were deprived of lifers great gift of the unconditional love amongst family members. Its possible this family deprivation may explain why Douglass still felt a sense of loneliness even after he became a free man, he still had a large part of his life missing that he could never make up for. Education was another theme in the lives of slaves and in the life of Frederick Douglass that played a great role in his narrative and thus also played a role in convincing northerners to act against slavery. Douglass discussed the importance of education and the role it played in his escape to freedom all throughout his text. At this stage in America, it was economically beneficial to own slaves and if you did not own them, to hire them from people who did for months or years at a time. Masters attempted to hold power over their slaves by keeping them ignorant- not allowing them to think for themselves or even to access the educational tools to help them better develop their own thoughts and opinions about all topics, including slavery. As far as a master was concerned, the less slaves knew (aside from in the aspect of how to do labor), the better. This is likely because as (FIND NAME) once said after his wife began teaching Douglass to read, Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now, said he, ?if you teach that nigger (speaking of Douglass) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy. It was with these words, spoken with the intent to hinder Douglass he learned his path to freedom would not come through obedience to the white man, the first step was to learn to read and write. Thus, unlocking a whole new world of intellect and understanding of America, slavery, and freedom. In chapter 6, Douglass states Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained from my master (6.3). To not allow a person to think for themselves is inhumane, and this is something slaves were deprived of for years. When Douglass created the Sabbath school he made it known that just for the offense of attempting to read and write, slaves were subject to getting whipped upwards of thirty times. Slave owners feared the loss of the salves for without them their wealth could not be possible. This is when we begin to see the idea of hypocrisy in the form of needing slaves but not providing them with the sort of life that would encourage them to stay. The final theme of importance that Douglass touches on which plays a role in criticizing hypocrisy and giving an honest account of slavery is religion. Just like today, religion has always been a large part of American life. Most slaveholders Douglass had identified as Methodists. However, to Douglass, their ideas of religion were backward. He did not believe religion was about attending church and praying louder than the man next to you, he believed religion was about self-improvement and humanity towards others, including American Americans. An important quote to analyze is the following You are loosed from your moorings, and are free; I am fast in my chains, and am a slave! You move merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before the bloody whip! You are freedoms swift-winged angels, that fly around the world; I am confined in bands of iron! O that I were free! O, that I were on one of your gallant decks, and under your protecting wing! Alas! betwixt me and you, the turbid waters roll. Go on, go on. O that I could also go! Could I but swim! If I could fly! O, why was I born a man, of whom to make a brute! The glad ship is gone; she hides in the dim distance. I am left in the hottest hell of unending slavery. O God, save me! God, deliver me! Let me be free! Is there any God? Why am I a slave? I will run away. I will not stand it. Get caught, or get clear, Ill try it. I had as well die with ague as the fever. I have only one life to lose. I had as well be killed running as die standing (10.8). Here, Douglass is going through an internal crisis in which he questions how God could let men treat other men the way he and his fellow slaves were treated. However, this quote also contradicts the belief of many that Douglass had criticisms of religion. His criticisms were not of religion itself but of the ways slaveholders could use religion to justify their immoral and heinous actions. Douglass calls upon God in the above quote to help him to his freedom, never denying that there is a God but putting his faith in the fact that a just God would lead him to a life worth living. Another important point to note is that Douglass saw the religion of the south [as] a mere covering for the most horrid crimes,-a justifier of the most appalling barbarity,-a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds,and a dark shelter under, which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection (10.19). In his appendix, Douglass finds it necessary to defend himself in that his discussion of religion was not to criticize religion itself but criticize the hypocrisy of white slave owners to use something as peaceful as religion to justify horrid and crude actions. Throughout his narrative, Douglass not only recounts his life as a slave but also does so in a way through his language that makes the reader feel while also letting the reader know his stories are true and unfortunately, far from exaggerated. The tales of watching family members and friends, as well as himself, experiencing the pain of a cowhide to the back brings his mid-nineteenth century readership to stop and think about how inhumane these actions were. He makes it a point to not exaggerate his tales or make them only the fault of his slaveholder when necessary he too admits to his own faults yet none of them are ever enough to justify the treatment from his masters. This text fully exposes the disheartening truths of what it meant to be a slave. In the eyes of slaveowners, slaves were not human, even in the eyes of the government, an African American was only considered to be three fifths a person. There is irony in the fact that slaves did not ask to be Americans, they were stolen from their homeland and brought to this country unwillingly; from the origins of slavery, it was flawed. Whites wanted slaves in their country but didnt want them taking away any of what they believed to be rightfully theirs. Furthermore, one of the biggest takeaways from the narrative is that the whole basis of American slavery was hypocritical when compared to the values upon which this country was founded. Douglass compares the fight for freedom amongst slaves to the fight for freedom the founding fathers made to gain American independence, he believed In coming to a fixed determination to run away, we did more than Patrick Henry, when he resolved upon liberty or death (). With this, his mid-nineteenth century readership is left with the question of: Are slaves truly just as American as the rest of us?

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Oil Is Destroying The Environment ! - Argument Essay

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Israels Economic Transformation Economic Growth

Question: Discuss about the Israels Economic Transformation for Economic Growth. Answer: Introduction As per the report of Bank of Israel, Israel has witnessed the highest economic growth. There is a surprising rise in the Gross National Product of the economy. It thus indicated the real value of the economy in spite of inflated currency. The population level increased two times after the modern state of Israel came into existence in 1948. The per capita GDP of the economy has increased remarkably since 1960. The economy went ahead of USA in terms of innovation as explained by the Bloomberg innovation index. The report studies the factors that caused the economic transformation in the economy. Gelvin (2014) mentioned that the economic transformation is influenced by the occupation of the individuals, income patter, infrastructure and facilities, market demand, availability of resources and others. This study, therefore, identifies the particular factors that caused economic transformation in Israel. Further analysis is made on the ways in which the economy has changed or time since the young nation had been founding. Economic Policy Settings that Led to the Remarkable Economic Transformation As per the statistics of Israel, it has been observed that the population level grew from 806,000 (1948) to 7.2 million in 2007 (Knesset.gov.il. 2017). The average annual growth rate was 3.8% during the time period 1948 to 2007. With the increase in the population growth, the geographical distribution of Israel has also increased to a significant level. It was 43 individuals per square kilometres in 1948 while it has reached to 316 individuals per square kilometres in 2007 (Mfa.gov.il. 2017). Moreover, after the World War II, the level of education in the economy has gone up to a higher level. In 1955, 631,000 people were there in the labour force count, and this rose to 2.9 million in 2007 (Merkin, Arditi-Babchuk Shohat, 2015). Similarly, there has been growth in the other factors of the economy in terms of standard of living, foreign trade, and technological advancement, manufacturing process, construction, transport, and tourism and accommodation services. The overall growth in t he economy of Israel resulted in mass immigration. According to Horowitz (2014), such an advancement in the economy has been an outcome of the economic policy setting that Israel considers in order to bring about the economic transformation. In the opinion of Webber Smith (2014), among the several economic policy settings, the major factor that contributed the economic boom of Israel was the establishment of Occupation-Settlement Enterprise. The last three or four decades identified Israel as a westernized country, which is wealthy to the world, not only in terms of lifestyle but also regarding self-image. However, this was not the scenario during the 1960s. While studying the reason that helped Israel to achieve economic boom over the same time frame, it can be identified that like Japan, South Korea or Taiwan, Israel too showed a keen interest in export. The other economies became global industrial export powers. Enyedi Volgyes, (2016) pointed out that the export of Israel has not reached the Tiger level, which the above mentioned economies had achieved. The export level of Israel never exceeded the imports until 2010. Thus, the author states that Israel is not an Asian Tiger.' It can therefore, be stated that there are other policy settings that gave way to the economic advancement. The agricultural position of Israel has been outstanding during the 1930s to 1960s. The economy further experienced effective traditional industry from the 1950s to 1980s (Webber Smith, 2014). The concept of neo-liberalism was also a factor that contributed to the economic transformation. In the mid-1980s, the neo-liberal dogma was followed in the macro-economic policy of Israel. This led to continuous improvement in the neo-liberal marks. However, Kazziha (2015) mentioned that neo-liberalism was not the only factors. The massive persistent growth period that Israeli economy experienced was the six years after the 1967 war. There was a doubling in the per capita GDP of Israel in this time duration. Pollock (2017) cited that the indicators that helped to thrive the economy was a rise in the export-import ratio of Israel from 1: 7 in 1948 to 2:3 in 1973. There was also a high jump made by the economy in the industrial labour force from 80,000 in 1950 to above 250,000 in 1973. Simultaneously, there was an increase in productivity in agriculture (Mfa.gov.il. 2017). The farmers of Israel were capable of offering 85 percent of food needs along with exporting nearly about $160 million of food products (Knesset.gov.il. 2017). The economic growth was possible because of the influx of $12 billion in foreign funds since the last 25 years and the immigration of efficient and skilled professionals who were trained from abroad (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 2017). The government of Israel was recommended to participate n the establishment of $100 million foundations in order to build job opportunities for the new immigrants. The foundation tends to be concerned with the activity of providing jobs to those individuals who held degrees from universities in humanities and social studies. However, the reports suggest that Israel became wealthier due to the start up period of Israels occupation. As observed by Kleinberger (2014), the attributes that to the remarkable economic transformation was education. It acted as a long term growth engine in Israel. The encouragement of the Ultra-orthodox and Arabs to take part in the labour market by providing job scopes and skills also played an active role. The cutting down of the rigid regulations promoted business in the economy. Nevertheless, there was a large amount of investment in transport infrastructure in Israel (Enyedi Volgyes, 2016). The investment involved activities like constructing roads and railways. This investment was made with the intention of connecting the Galilee and Negev together. The Ways in Which the Changes Over Time has Occurred In the initial condition, the Government extensively controlled the economy of Israel. However, with the passage of time, the economy converted itself into a free market economy. The changes came into existence since the 1960s. The policy makers of the economy realized that the government intervention played a huge role. Thus, a slow and gradual process of economic liberalization was considered by Israel. The noticeable change was first observed in the foreign trade. The tariff protection took over the quantitative restrictions on imports. Moreover, the import substitution and export were encouraged using realistic exchange rates. Israel further considered several partial trade agreements such as free trade area agreement (FTA) in industrial goods in 1975, European Economic Community (EEC) in 1964 and the FTA agreement with the US in 1985. The Israeli economy tried to bring changes in the economy over time since the foundation of the Young nation with the support of these policy chan ges (Eh.net, 2017). There was a change in the degree of trade liberalization by the end of 1977. In that duration, the fixed exchange rate system was changed into a floating rate system. This supported the Israeli economy to liberalize the restriction on the capital movement. However, the liberalization process of the capital soon seemed ineffective because of the inflation that came up in Israel. The capital liberalization was possible only after the new century began. The economy considered other liberalization measures during the 1980s and 1990s that were in the form of monetary policies, domestic market capital, and government intervention in the economic activities. However, there was a drastic reduction in the level of government's role. Despite some of the economic function of the government was increased. There was an introduction of health insurance systems and private health providers within the nation. Other social welfare payments such as child allowances, pension to the older person, unempl oyment believes and minimum income support to the individuals, below the poverty line were also increased (Chyutin, 2016). This helped to increase the overall performance of the economy. With better medical facilities, the life expectancy increased (Aharoni, 2014). There were lesser health issues, which further gave rise to individuals productivity. The issues of income inequality were addressed to a large extent. 15 percent of the government's budget was used in the health services by 2003; other 15 percent was for the education and 20 percent was kept for transfer payment through National Insurance Agency. The Israeli economy has been able to achieve this level of growth and prosperity due to the continuous adaptation of economic innovation and ability to cope up with the economic fluctuations (Austin Kumar, 2016). However, there still prevail economic issues such as lack of knowledge regarding reconciling innovation, dislocation of labours, and increased income inequality. It is thus important for the policy makers of Israel to reconsider the policy settings that will help to address the prevailing issues in the economy. Conclusion It cannot be denied that the important growth engine of the economic boom in Israel was the Israeli hi-tech. However, Israeli hi-tech came into consideration during the mid of the 1980s and had matured during 1990s. Thus, the hi-tech was a contribution to support the growing economy. The changes in the policies, reducing the power of government to operate the market, signing treating with partners were some of the approaches. These approaches were considered by the policy makers of Israel in order to bring about the economic transformation since the foundation of the young nation. References A Brief Economic History of Modern Israel. (2017).Eh.net. Retrieved 14 January 2017, from https://eh.net/encyclopedia/a-brief-economic-history-of-modern-israel/ Aharoni, Y. (2014).The Israeli Economy (Routledge Revivals): Dreams and Realities. Routledge. Austin, C. M., Kumar, M. (2016, February). Sovereignty in the global economy: an evolving geopolitical concept. InGeography Research Forum(Vol. 18, pp. 49-63). Chyutin, D. (2016).A hidden light: Judaism, contemporary Israeli film, and the cinematic experience(Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh). Enyedi, G., Volgyes, I. (Eds.). (2016).The Effect of Modern Agriculture on Rural Development: Comparative Rural Transformation Series. Elsevier. Gelvin, J. L. (2014).The Israel-Palestine conflict: One hundred years of war. Cambridge University Press. Horowitz, D. (2014).The Economics of Israel: The Commonwealth and International Library: Social Administration, Training, Economics, and Production Division. Elsevier. Israels Economic Growth Since 1948 Reported As Highest in the World. (2017).Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 14 January 2017, from https://www.jta.org/1973/05/21/archive/israels-economic-growth-since-1948-reported-as-highest-in-the-world Kazziha, W. W. (2015).Palestine in the Arab Dilemma (RLE Israel and Palestine). Routledge. Kleinberger, A. F. (2014).Society, Schools and Progress in Israel: The Commonwealth and International Library: Education and Educational Research. Elsevier. Knesset.gov.il. (2017). Retrieved 24 January 2017, from https://www.knesset.gov.il/govt/eng/GovtByNumber_eng.asp Merkin, S. S., Arditi-Babchuk, H., Shohat, T. (2015). Neighborhood socioeconomic status and self-rated health in Israel: the Israel National Health Interview Survey.International journal of public health,60(6), 651-658. Mfa.gov.il. (2017). Retrieved 24 January 2017, from https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/Pages/default.aspx Pollock, G. (2017).Whats behind Israels biggest economic boom? The occupation | +972 Magazine.972mag.com. Retrieved 14 January 2017, from https://972mag.com/whats-behind-israels-biggest-economic-boom-the-occupation/81038/ Webber, M., Smith, M. (2014).Foreign policy in a transformed world. Routledge