Emily Dickinson, Frederick Douglass and Walt Whitman were three authors that lived around the same time period, and while they came from very different backgrounds, the circumstances of their lives compelled all of them to question the idea of freedom.
Poetry was a great liberating force for Dickinson, in a society that hindered the opinion of women severely, prose was the one, if not only, outlet for her to establish a powerful public voice; in "They shut me up in Prose / As when I was a little girl / They put me in the closet / Because they liked me 'still' " society is trying to limit Dickinson's power by making her adhere to the ideals of true womanhood which were prevalent at this time. These limitations, however, only made her more determined to write poetry as we can see with the line: "I dwell in possibility / A fairer house than prose." This very clever metaphor depicting poetry as a house serves to show that prose was not only a realm of men and politics, but served as a tool for women situated in the home.
While Emily Dickinson was trying to free herself through poetry from the strict gender roles of her time, Fredrick Douglass was trying to free his mind from the firm grip of slavery by education. While serving as a slave in Baltimore as a child, his mistress Sophia Auld taught him the A B C's and how to spell a few small words; but, Mr. Auld drew the line here, he maintained that "Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world." If he learned how to read, he would become unmanageable and discontented. At this moment, Douglass had one of the biggest insights of his life, he finally understood that slavery was not only about physical coercion and brutality, but almost entirely mental; if they kept slaves ignorant, they could control them, therefore, Douglass concluded that his only way out of the system of slavery was through learning (education). He made it his life goal to escape the lifestyle he was born into, he used his resources creatively and enlisted the help of neighborhood children to help him learn how to read and write. Although part of his freedom was the desire to be physically liberated, Douglass placed more emphasis on the encagement of his mind that was the logic of the slave trade.
Unlike Dickinson and Douglass who were fettered by gender or race, Walt Whitman was a free white man; however, he saw many problems with society, and therefore defined freedom as a step towards democracy and individual rights. In section 10 of "Song of myself" he describes aiding a runaway slave by clothing him, feeding him and letting him stay in his home. This would have been a very controversial subject at the time; but, it supported his idea of democracy and equal rights for all men. In section 19 he talks about setting a meal where all are welcome, and none are turned away; this too supports the idea that people should have the freedom to be equal and have their voices heard. Whitman was highly criticized for his work seeing that it contradicted many of the established ideals held by the white population in early America at this time; but, he felt a free nation was essential for happiness.
Although Dickinson, Douglass and Whitman all have different definitions for freedom, given their special circumstances, they all wanted to be liberated from strict societal norms. All three found something inherently wrong with the system that their country was operating under, and they all wanted to find ways to overcome the obstacles of gender, race and democracy.
Very nice!
ReplyDeleteSince I accidentally wrote about Emily Dickinson in my first post about Freedom when I was supposed to write about Emerson, I will write about Emerson in my second entry (comment) :p.
ReplyDelete"In self-trust all the virtues are comprehended. Free should the scholar be—free and brave. Free even to the definition of freedom, 'without any hindrance that does not arise out of his own constitution.' Brave; for fear is a thing which a scholar by his very function puts behind him. Fear always springs from ignorance." In the commencement speech "The American Scholar", Emerson greatly emphasizes freedom as the ability to be creative and produce work that is new and innovative; he discourages the religious use of classic works because he sees them as dated, and while the ideas they present are still relevant, Emerson really wants scholars to come up with their own interpretations and go out to make their own experiences of which to write about. As displayed by the quote, Emerson sees fear as the main hindrance to academic freedom, fear of rejection, fear of dismay. The ignorance Emerson talks about comes with the idea that everyone will either love or hate your work, or that perhaps it will be an epic failure; however, Emerson encourages scholars to set that ignorance aside and be brave enough to get themselves heard. In relation to the other authors' definition of freedom, I found more similarities between Dickinson, Emerson and Whitman. Dickinson's work was new, innovative, all her own; she embodied many of the ideas that Emerson advocated but she was shut up in the closet because of her gender. Whitman's work relates to Emerson's in that both believed that each individual should have the freedom to express their individual voice.