"How It Feels To Be Colored Me" - Zora Neale Hurston

The author of this piece used an analogy, comparing slavery to an operation. She wrote, “Slavery is sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient is doing well,” (Hurston 115). By comparing slavery to an operation, Hurston showed that she viewed slavery as a thing of the past, and thought that everything was alright now that slavery had been abolished. This particular rhetoric device helped show that, as a young girl, Hurston didn’t understand segregation and the hardships faced by colored people. It also shows how she didn’t want to look back at the tragic past of her heritage.

            “How It Feels To Be Colored Me” is a narrative essay in which the author, Zora Neale Hurston explores her colored identity and pride. In the beginning of her essay, Hurston wrote about how she didn’t understand that there was any difference between races, and was not aware of segregation. Later in the essay, Hurston was aware of the social differences in race, but she did not believe that there was any significant difference between characters of different race, and that we are all intrinsically the same. Hurston wrote this essay for the general public, using a conversational tone to direct develop her points and meanings. Hurston’s credibility is simply that she was colored, and therefore experienced segregation and racism firsthand. As a colored person, she was able to identify and understand that people of her race were given inferior treatment.

            “How It Feels To Be Colored Me” was written in 1928. Even though slavery had been abolished before the author was born, she still faced the hardships of segregation. Hurston wrote this essay after understanding that white people believed her inferior due to the color of her skin.

            Hurston’s argument is that all people are intrinsically the same, regardless of the color of their skin. I believe that Hurston was able to successfully convey this message, as she described all people being like paper bags filled with worthless bits and bobs. They could all be dumped out and refilled, and no one would know the difference. Hurston wrote, “The bags refilled without altering the content of any greatly” (Hurston 117). The junk in each bag is all the same, just as the things that make up each person, regardless of their skin color, is the same.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Wg9wBwh5XeO6NPZB2WWn_aJGMoKozhfohXeBvw2_qcahReu4oJAnQubFB9qKS7Fa_xTh2yhkVAuenN6YNAfVwJn3b9meDDROxkyHw1RkGU5lrHByajpKzeuRCOyrfjyPUw3oNJfpOao/s1600/lego-party-favor-bag.JPG

This image shows paper bags containing random junk,

just as Hurston described people. 

"A Law Of Acceleration" - Henry Adams

Henry Adams, author of this essay, was descended from the American Presidents John Adams and John Quicy Adams, causing his family to lead him in a very traditional upbringing. He was an American historian. He had an education from Harvard University. He wrote many books around the turn of the 19^th to 20^th century. “A Law Of Acceleration” was written for persons uniformed about the developments of modern science. It was written in an informal tone, using words such as like. I believe the informal writing displays that it was written for those who are uniformed, because it is not scholarly. In “A Law Of Acceleration,” Henry Adams views the history of the human race in terms of scientific progress. Adams discussed the different periods of intelligence and development, and expressed concern for the future, which he believed might require a new kind of intelligence.

One rhetorical device used was the hyperbole. Adams wrote, “Nothing so revolutionary had happened since the year 300” (Adams 24). Obviously, very revolutionary things had happened between then and the time period Henry Adams chose to discuss. This particular use of hyperbole shows how important a certain fifty-year span of “mental inertia” was to the world of science.

 “A Law Of Acceleration” was written in 1906, shortly after the turn of the century. In his essay, Henry Adams reflected on other time periods, and the developments that were spurred in the sections of history. The last section of time was the future (currently the present) in which Adams believed rapid development would continue. The context of this essay was simply that many developments had been made in the end of the 1800s, and Adams was pondering what would come next.

            This essay argues that it is possible for development to happen too rapidly. It is possible that the people could be unready for the future. If advances increased at a consistent acceleration, there is no way of predicting how the world will change, or what it will become. I believe this essay did achieve its purpose, as it makes me feel cautious about the future. I understand this essay was written a hundred years ago, but I feel that Adams’s point is still valid.

Still from I, Robot

I chose this image because it shows how far technological

advances have the potential to go. In this movie, The robots,

built with good intentions, try to control people, showing that

developments could possibly go too far. We will probably use

a new intelligence in the future, just as H. Adams predicted.

“The Moral Equivalent of War” - William James

William James was an American philosopher. James studied at Harvard, first as a scientist before becoming a philosopher. William James wrote that war kept civilizations unified. He believed that a threat kept political unity and prevented people from stepping too far out of line. However, actions taken by nations to create credible threats have often caused them to stumble into war with other nations. People have tended to rely on threats for civic bonding. The author’s purpose of this essay was to enlighten readers on the struggle of the darker side of human nature. This dark side only falls in line when there’s a threat to the safety of the population. This essay argues that people need a threat for them to join in unity. I believe the audience of this essay is the general population, as it can serve as an eye-opener. The eye-opener is that it enlightens people on how our darker natures keep us from being at peace. Because we need a threat to fall in line, people are constantly at war, threatening each other, or finding ways to hurt one another. One analogy that James used was comparing the soldiers in the wars of ancient Greece to pirates. He wrote, “Pride, gold, women, slaves, excitement were their only motives” (James 46). Pirates are thought of negatively, as they plunder and steal. By saying the people in these wars were like pirates shows that they had bad intentions. James wrote this essay in 1910. During that time, America was involved in a border dispute with Mexico. This Border War began in the same year that “The Moral Equivalent of War” was written. I do not think that William James accomplished his purpose. Throughout this twelve-page essay, I was very confused as to what I was reading, and frequently had to look things up. I feel as though twelve pages give ample time to convey a message, but James fell flat.

http://www.cagle.com/2013/04/national-anthem/

This image shows how a nation tries to create its

own threats to keep the people unified. These

threats end up backfiring, causing more danger.