While reading the large amount of text we’ve had to read so far, one thing really stuck out to me as interesting, and it came from both the short stories/novellas which we had to read. In both Frederick Douglass’ “The Heroic Slave” and Herman Melville’s “Benito Cereno” we see shipboard slave rebellions. While this plot point is similar, otherwise the two works are very different. One of the biggest differences has to do with the portrayals of the revolt leaders, Madison Washington in Douglass and Babo in Melville. So in my paper I am interested in comparing these two revolt leaders, who other than being smart and leading a revolt, are quite dissimilar. Perhaps addressing what each author’s characterization says about what the author values? I’m not really sure what the full focus will be.
About Me
- Patrick
- I am a nerd. I feel the need to let random stuff out, unfortunately this is where it will end up.
1 comment:
Comparing Madison and Babo will certainly lead to an interesting discussion, Patrick. In this short paper, it may be difficult to try and ascertain "what [each] author values" without calling on quite a bit of biographical research. Your examination might allow you to make a more convincing argument about about differing cultural conceptions of slave revolt -- its origins, its organization, its necessity. Deciding on the specific similarities/differences that you find most provocative (and the way these similarities/differences play out in the texts) might be a place to start. -- MD
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