Authors during
the antebellum period took a personal interest in finding possible
solutions to various social issues occurring in their lifetimes.
One of the biggest issues writers sought to resolve was racial and
slavery tensions between different social groups. Abolitionists and
scholars used literature to address African Americans concerns and
work within the public eye to better others lives. While authors
like Ralph Emerson and Henry David Thoreau choose to describe a
specific social issue and its association with nature, others as
Walt Whitman explore explaining interconnectivity to answer the
problem of racial relationships. In The Leaves of Grass, Whitman
depicts how people have more in common with each other than they
realize and
show more content
Leaves of Grass
does a great job of showing how body parts can be utilized to
display the similarities between people. A clear and effective
moment is when Whitman stated, You settled your head athwart my
hips and gently turned upon me, / and parted the shirt from my
bosom-bone, and plunged your tongue to my barescript
First
concepts to note in the quote is Whitman's diction, he uses words
like gently, settled, plunged all of which implies a progress
people undergo when pursuing an interaction with others. In the
case of
slaveryin 1800s
United
States, frequent interactions occur between Caucasian citizens
of different social groups and limiting communication between
slaves and masters. For slaves and masters, a forceful sexual
relationship would occur and cause biracial children to be the
result of the affair. Biracial children were not largely accepted
by their fellow African slaves, nor by their white family
counterparts because society associated addressed mix-
racekids as
abominations. As a result, pure-blood African slaves strengthen
their connections to one another through racial and color
alignment. Though the degree of racial exclusion between Caucasian,
mix-race, and slaves varied in local areas, certain sentiments
continually appear to bring groups together and foster areas for
show more content
Even though
shared the identity between the various working classes and races
was not visibly apparent, the characteristics were established and
integrated into daily life. Characteristics like working hard,
respecting superior officers, and avoid challenging the current
social order. Division amongst social groups may benefit the
upper-class to remain their status, but diversity does not have to
stop groups from treating each other with respect and understanding
that they all have a similar identity. At the end of the day,
everyone is connected to each
Other samples, services and questions:
When you use PaperHelp, you save one valuable — TIME
You can spend it for more important things than paper writing.
