Pride and Perseverance

A detailed Summary of Pride and Perseverance

African-American Literature consists of numerous themes or characteristics. Each story, poem, or slave narrative can be linked to an oppressive time, when the major character of each piece tried to overcome such hardships. Taking this into consideration, the two characteristics I chose to explore in our assignment are struggle and pride. In many of our readings we were exposed to characters that were dealing with difficulties in their life. However, their perseverance and pride allowed them to overcome the obstacles they fought in daily life. The slave narratives show us an in-depth illustration of pride helping to overcome one's struggle. For years and years we have heard stories about slavery and they are usually all negative, but in excerpts from "To My Old Master," "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," and "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," each of these slaves overcame their struggle and came out on top.

In "To My Old Master" it does seem as if Jourdon Anderson feels as if he owes his master something, but his instinct is not to go back. "I would rather stay here and starve and die if it comes to that than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of

their young masters (Young 16)." He and his family have made a better life for themselves. Jourdon has moved his family to another area of the country, his children are in school, his wife is involved with church and he has a decent job.

Frederick did not give up. He tried to get help from his master but did not succeed so he finally figured out that he had to stand up for himself. Standing up for himself could have gotten Frederick killed but instead it turned his life as a slave around. "This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. It recalled the departed self-confidence, and inspired me again with a determination to be free. The gratification afforded by the triumph was a full compensation for whatever else might follow, even death itself." (Young 25) Frederick remained a slave for four years after his battle with Covey, and although he had several fights, he was never severely whipped again.

While reading these narratives, especially the last one, it made me think about slavery and the struggle these people had to go through. It is hard for me to grasp the idea of being enslaved to someone else, or being severely beaten for not doing as one is told, or havin

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Approximate Word count = 883
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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