Age of Reason

Literature

 “Oroonoko”
o Written by Aphra Behn in 1688 during European expansion
o Woman writer…special b/c very few at time
o Ahead of her time writing on slavery…no one had been thinking or writing of this
 Shows shift toward observable realism
 Criticism on the age of reason
o Oroonoko is a prince and warrior from Africa
 He comes across a European “who looks civilized”… supplies him with slaves
 He isn’t against it
o Oroonoko thinks he has a free pass b/c he is supplying the slaves
 Invited onboard where he is then enslaved
o Brought back to new world (South America)
o Slaves were given new names to dehumanize them (Caesar=Oroonoko)
o Slave master falls in love with one slave girl… she shows no interest
o Misleading ending… she faints when Oroonoko and slave master come to see her…
appears happily ever after, but actually ends with a revolt and beatings, during which
Clemen the master kills the girl b/c he can’t have her love

 “Candide”
o Written by Voltaire a French writer
o Another critique of the age of reason, but it is a general one pertaining to (People
thinking reason could solve anything
 Deism justified slavery (god made a perfect universe)
 Accept your fate
 Made fun of these ideas with satire (church state & nature)
o He believed in improving the world
o Story is of Candide who lives in Prussia
 Cant marry with Barren because there wasn’t a long enough line of nobility in
family
o Lives in the house with the tutor who is a chatter box
o Tutor teaches
 There is no effect without a cause
 This is the best of worlds
 “we have legs for pants, and noses for glasses”
o Tutor has sex with nanny in bushes…Candide watches interested
 Later Candide runs into a sick old man covered in cyphalis sores.. it turns out
it’s the tutor
  He got it from the nanny who got it from a monk…funny how
imperfect the situation seems
 Tutor justifies having cyphalis because he has chocolate..more satire
the world is not perfect
o Candide meets Bulgarian soliders who make him draft into the army
o Shows how terrible war is…symbolized by torn apart town
o We have no control over nature no matter how much knowledge or reason we posses
o Candide and Panglos (tutor) get arrested for thinking they can perfect world around
them
o 3 philosophies
 1.Best of possible worlds
 2. Not best possible world
 3.Cultivate your garden (work)… rids of boredom , vice, and poverty

Revolution and Romanticism

Contexts

 Industrial Revolution
o New technology and machinery revolutionized agriculture
 Agriculture was the main focus of the economy at time
 Machines replaced workers
o A new economy emerged
 Cities=Factories no longer just Farms=Agriculture
o Cities sprouted up around towns
 Crowded slums with poor conditions
o No gov’t restrictions on hours, pay, accidents, and child labor
 Exploitation of labor
o Created the new western world
 Adam Smith
o Scotsman who contributed to classical economics
o Introduced the idea of “Laissez-faire” system
 Called for abolition of mercantilism
 Where economy is at service of state…he wanted the economy at the
service of the individual entrepreneur
o Free market system based on private property (self interest) would automatically
regulate prices profits to the benefit of all
 Thomas Malthus
o Influenced by Adam Smith’s work
o Lent his support to changes during the Industrial Revolution
o Thought that population would grow faster than the food supply
 He took a stance that war was good…anything to thin the population
  Pop grows at geometric rate
 Food supply grows at an arithmetical rate
 Forecasted humans would exceed supply at one point
 Dave Ricardo
o Iron law of wages
o Workers will never be able to improve their standard of living beyond that level

The changes from industry and economy led to political revolution

 American Revolution (1776)

o Revolt due to the injustices of Great Britain
 Ex. Taxation without representation in Parliament
o Influenced by political writers and philosophies
o War for 7 years
o 4 years later “United States Constitution”
 Set up gov’t and bill of rights
 French Revolution
o Civil war between classes
o Louis XVI took throne in 1774
 Confronted with social unrest, economic inequalities, and financial crises
o Bourgeoisie took side with nobles and supported laissez-faire economics
 Also joined king in calling for end to aristocrats feudal privileges
o Lower classes were oppressed by high taxes and had hatred for classes above them
 Schemed to get ahead of the tax collecting upper class
o Phases
 1.Dominated by well to do middle classes
 Embraced the laissez-faire system, overhauled legal system, and
restricted voting right to property owners
 2. Most violent phase, Dominated by leaders from lower Bourgeoisie and
working classes
 Executed king, set up French Republic, and replaced Christianity with a
state religion organized on rational ideas
 Voting rights given to all males (blacks + jews too), state education to
all, slave trade abolished, women not citizens or able to vote
 Loss of political liberty, but gained internal stability
 3. Emergence of Napoleonic Code
 Expanded empire, ruthless conquests
 Romanticism (ART)
o Pantheism
 Worship of Nature, God is everywhere and in everything
 Different than Deism where God is just a “clockmaker”
o The Sublime
 The awesome power of nature
  Earthquakes, storms, fire..
o Interest in common people
 Shown as subjects of art, more personal subjects
o Cult of non-conformity
 Sexual, adventures, drugs, dreams, non-rational…(like modern celebrity
lifestyles)
o Emotionalism
 Feelings and inner life of artists is expressed
o Supernatural comes into form/gothic novels

 John Constable
o “The Hay Wain”1621 (English)
 A rural or pastoral landscape is painted
 Landscape is combined with peasant life
 Constable tries to show the viewer the divinity in nature by focusing on an
ordinary scene (Pantheism)
 One which a person might encounter on a country walk…Romantic style
showing common people and nature
 Humans shown very tiny… shows the relation btwn nature and humans
 Nature is main focus

 Turner
o “Snowstorm: Hannibal and His Army Crossing Alps”
 In this painting Hannibal and his troops are not the focus
 Only shown in bottom third
 Above is a dominating snowstorm (sublime)
 Very romantic in style with the energy being placed on the storm
 Gothic element

 Friedrich
o “Monk By The Sea”
 This painting worships nature with its huge sky and sea
 The monk is painted very small against a huge background
 Low horizon line makes a limitless sky and sea…a vast sublime nature
 Friedrich paints the monk with his back to the audience
 This encourages the viewer to see what the monk sees
o Common in his paintings
 Francisco Goya
o “Execution of 3rd of May 1808”
 This painting has political ties to it
 It shows Spanish resistors to French occupation
 Killing poor rebels by firing squad…Common people
 3 groups
 Dead, at gunpoint, and waiting
 The focal point of the painting is a man with his arms out dressed in all white
 The use of lighting makes this figure glow …maybe Goya was trying to
link this character to Jesus
o Embracing his fate for a higher cause (Spanish Freedom)

 Gericault
o “The Raft of the Medusa”French
 Huge painting 16’x23’
 Another political painting
 Depicts an actual event
 A ship was sailing and wrecked in the South Atlantic
 Survivors boarded a raft and after 2 months they were finally rescued
o People at home were told they had been killed, so there was
little rescue effort… govt cover up
 Focused on the moment they are rescued
 People on raft overwhelmed by savage forces of nature…Sublime
 Uses a classical pyramid structure to organize the bodies on the raft
 Emotion in painting and despair
 Survived the odds of death, cannibalism to survive

 Delacroix
o French
o “Massacre at Chios”
 Another political painting
 Focuses on Greeks trying to break free from Turks
 The massacre scene shows strong emotion…Romantic style
 Scene is of common people
 Foreground full of dead and dying Greeks
 2 Turkish soldiers are painted killing the innocent Greeks
 o “Liberty Leading The People”
 Takes a contemporary event and turns it into a symbol of France
 Marked the end of the French Revolution
 Lady liberty serves as a political allegory
 Shows common people and all different classes triumphantly marching
 Strong emotion in painting is brought by the fact they are marching over
the dead

Romantic Literature

 Percy Shelley
o Romantic author who lived an unconventional lifestyle
o Atheist…lack of faith got him kicked out of Oxford
 Father disowned him b/c of this
 Politically engaged in his poems
o “Ozymandias”
 Sonnet
 Walking in desert finds two legs of a statue
 There is a statue that has been destroyed by time, all that’s left is its
base
 3 voices are speaking in the poem( Narrator, Traveler, and writings on the
pedestal)
 Ozymandias says “Look on my works”
 There used to be a city on this land, but no longer remains
 Probably addressing Gods…telling to look at his kingdom
o Time has destroyed it though
 “Mans accomplishment is illusory’
o Political statement on tyrants…they will pass with time
o “England in 1819”
 (Context) Protests in England…national guard was called in and killed 11 people,
injuring 500
 Reflects Percys support for protestors and his radical political ideas
 Mentions in the poem feel and not reason
 Criticizes long reign of King George III
 Kings are leaches clinging to country
 Captures spirit of revolution in the ending…”From these graves in society a light
will come with time”
o “Ode to the West Wind
 Most famous poem
 Political statement that incorporates sublime power nature into it
 Romantic styles
 1. Leaves 2. Clouds 3. Waves
  Elements used in poem
 Dead leaves symbolize old ideas
 Blow them away, seeds will then rebirth it in the spring
 Wind is a destroyer and preserver
 Seeds=New Ideas
 Pantheism=preserver
 Sublime=Destroyer
 Tidal waves destroy and the vegetation below waves preserves
 Political agenda… if only he can harness the power of the wind for his
voice+words than he could spread his ideas+message
 Mary Shelley
o Married to Percy Shelley
o ”Frankenstein”
 This work combines themes of birth and death
 Mother dies giving birth to Mary and this troubled her
 Dr spends all his time inside consumed with building a new creature from
tortured souls and spare body parts
 Significant=the beginning of gothic novels and supernatural ideas
 A part of romanticism
 After the birth of the monster he denounces and rejects it
 Criticizing science and the possible misuse of it
 Created new genre of Sci Fiction

Triumph of the Bourgeoisie

Context

 Socialism
o Began as a reaction to industrialism
 Critical of it
o Projected a vision for what society could be like if only certain reforms were made
o 2 main groups represented socialism
 Utopian socialists
 Believed that the problems of industrial society could be overcome
through cooperation btwn workers and capitalists
 Marxists
 in contrast to utopian socialists…called them naïve idealists
 called for revolutions, and the triumph of ‘scientifical socialism’
o the inescapable laws of their theory of history

Science and religion during Industrial Revolution

 New Technologies
o Steamboats, Steam locomotives, and water turbines for mills
 Rise of evangelicalism
o A Protestant movement derived from Methodists that focused on personal salvation
 BELIEF ONE MUST BE BORN AGAIN
 HOLY SPIRIT TO REDEEM SINNERS AND CREATE NEW LIVES
 o Wanted to transform society one person at a time
 Through revivalism and the holiness movement (reborn than live a holy
lifestyle)
o Created self help groups/ uplift organizations
 The Salvation Army
o Grounded in biblical faith… tried to fight new changes emerging in science and
thought that were against their beliefs
 Higher critics chipped away at foundation of Christianity from inside
 On outside science was beginning to do the same
o New science challenged the creation of the earth
 Evolution theory gained support
 Charles Darwin
o English scientist that provided data to prove evolution was a principle of biological
development
 Over millennia natural selection allowed organisms to evolve
o He applied this theory to humans, saying we are the product of millions of years of
evolution

 American Civil War

o America underwent expansion and centralization
o Economy was mixed and regionally divided
 Northeast=national leader in commerce, trade, banking, and growing factory
system
 South=dominated by huge cotton plantations cultivated by black slaves
 Unsettled West= 3rd region
o The question of slavery intensified
 Expansion west brought debate whether slaves should spread to theses
territories
 Aggravated sectional interests
 South secedes from the Union provoking war
o Resulted in huge casualties on both sides
o North prevails in 1865 and Abraham Lincoln saves the Union and guaranteed freedom
for slaves
 Realism (Art)
o Focus on everyday situations, people, and critiques society
 Did not idealize or romanticize
o Tried to show what they saw around them
o The spread of democracy influence realists to take an interest in ordinary people

 Daumier
o “The third class carriage” 1862 (French)
 This is an oil painting with a great amount of social observation
 In Paris the 3rd carriage was the cheapest of rail travel
 Daumier shows this cramped and plain accommodations
 Foreground dominated by 3 figures
 Mother w sleeping baby
 Old Woman
  Sleeping boy
 The characters that fill this cart are all middle class and represent social types
 Shows the growing democratization of society aided by railway

 Millet
o “The Gleaners” 1857
 Another oil painting
 Depicts a realistic scene of peasants
 Said to be inspired by biblical quote “in the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread”
 Gleaning= scavenging grain left over from the harvest
 Shows plight of the women in a barren landscape
 Colors in painting reflect somber nature of the subject

 Matthew Brady
o “Abraham Lincoln” (1860)American
 Photography was a force in the shift toward realism and detached expression
 NYC supporters urged him to take a photo
 Helped Lincoln get elected President by printing this photograph and circulating
it as a calling card
 Shown standing in a three quarter length frontal pose
 Western traditional portrait painting pose
 It enhances the Honest Abe image

Realism in Literature

 Charles Dickens
o Father was in debt, as kid his family was in debtor prison …had to work as a child (no
restrictions on child labor)
o Later used his popularity to criticize social problems
o “Hard Times”
 A written story that addresses three current topics; Class Struggle, Education,
and Utilitarianism
 Starts off with a school scene and display of corporal punishment
 “teacher Mr. Mcchockemchild”
 Bounderby=powerful with money, supporter of the school, pretends he
is self made from the streets…but he is a fake
 Sissy Jupe=daughter or clown in circus
 Bitzer=Good Student
 Tom and Louisa Gradgrind one day are tempted to go to circus which their
father had tried to shut down
 They see Sissy Jupe with a bottle (presumed to be booze)
o Actually turns out to be BenGay like oils for performers in Circus
 Describes Coketown
 Uses realism and detail
  Industry smoke, colorless town, polluted, poor living…
 Criticizes water + air pollution from Industry
 Negative of material progress
 Describes people/workers as cookie cutters…sameness
 Upper class blamed poor for their own poverty
 Wanted to drink all day and do drugs
 Dickens is hinting that something from Coketown was missing (Break, humor,
or entertainment)
 Circus + Coketown=negating or antithetical
 Circus beats out “fact, fact, fact” attitude of town in the end
 Gustave Flaubert
o “Madame Bovary”
 French commentary on Bourgeoisie
 Deals with adulterous affair
 Starts with a middle class married woman, Emma, who is unhappy
 Emma was educated in a convent- she is addicted to romance novels
 Her mind is blurred by readings (like Don Quixote)
 She is married to Charles Bovary a doctor
 Rudolphe Boulanger comes along and seduces her
 He is a wealthy landowner who knows how to seduce women
 Scene at state fair provides a good description of Emma’s face
 Shows realistic style with its detail
 Describes animals/fair in a similar realistic style
 Flaubert uses a modern cinematic intercut technique two alternate between
two scenes happening at the same time
 Politicians speech praising govt & Rudoplhe’s seduction of Emma)
o Shows parallel between two both arts of seduction
 Brings Emma to balcony during speech
 Rudolphe puts his hand on hers and she first moves away
 Politician is wooing the crowd and it shifts back to the balcony
 Emma doesn’t move away this time
 He leaves her showing love =illusion and progress=illusion
 Kate Chopin
o “The Story of an Hour”
 About a woman named Louise Mallard who had a heart condition
 She receives news that her husband has died in a train wreck
 the sad tale maker her cry as she sits in her room alone
o Her mind changes, maybe this is a good thing b/c her husband
is bossy
 (Shows status of women) needed freedom
 She foresees happiness to come
 Surprise ending… her husband returns b/c he wasn’t killed, Louise has a heart
attack and dies
 Relatives think it was out of joy, but it was caused by sorrow from
seeing he was alive

Modernism and Contemporary World

Context

 Modern Psychology
o Both Freud and Jung agreed that the conscious mind is only a small part of the individual
personality
 Cornerstone of Moderism
o Freud (Austrian)
 Argued that the human personality is product of an intense struggle btwn
instinctual drives and social reality
 This struggle is constant and inescapable
 Founded psychoanalysis
 A school of thought based on the principle once roots of neurotic
behavior is unraveled patient can than live freer healthier life
o 1. Procedure for investigating minds processes
o 2. Method for treating mental disorders based on investigation
o 3.Data obtained from these studies which establish new
scientific authority
o Jung(Swiss)
 Developed a theory of a universal collective unconscious shared by all humans
 Exists in union with each individuals personal unconscious
 Speculated the secrets of the unconscious could be revealed by studying
archetypes
 (ancient images that occur again and again in human experience,
dreams, and folk tales)
 Influenced modern artists and writers with this source of images
 WWI
o Was supposed to be the war that end it all
 (1st and last world war)*
o Sparked by the assassination of Arch Duke of Austria
o Central Power=Austria, Hungary, Germany, Turkey
o Allied Powers=Russia, Serbia, France, Italy, Great Britain, USA
o Depersonalized warfare emerged (pessimism)
 with use of planes
 poison gas
o 1917 USA gets involved in war & Russia steps out (Russian Revolution)
o 1918 Treaty of Versailles
 War over
 Germany weakened by treaty b/c they lost war
 SAID TO BE FACTOR IN SPARK OF WWII
o 10 million people died

 Great Depression
o 1920s (Roaring 20s)
 People live good until 1929
 o NY Stock Exchange collapses
 No govt bailouts or govt assistance
o 1924 bank fails…leading to mass unemployment
o FDR proposed New Deal to revitalize economy
 Social security, unemployment insurance, public works projects, and Wall St
regulations

 Japan becomes expansionists

o They wanted to dominate Asia and control Pacific
 Rise of totalitarianism in Japan, Russia , Hungary, and Spain
 Russian Communism
o Threw out Czar Govt
o Very different than original Marx Idea where Govt was ruled by people
o Govt was supreme power, controlled by a small elite group (Bolsheviks)
o Press, education, economy all controlled by party
 European Fascism
o Based on idea; the masses should participate directly in the state—not through
legislation or parliament, but by fusion of population into “one spirit”
o Germany
 Hitler rises out of depression in 30’s
o Spain
 Franco (ruler)
 Civil War in Spain so he obtained power
o Turned to Germany and Italy for help and power
o Practice run for WWII for Italy and German

 WWII
o 50 million died and Europe was devastated
o Origins from Treaty of Versailles
o Started in England and moved to Russia
 Fought on two fronts which was a mistake like Napoleon
o Japan bombs Pearl Harbor
 America joins war
 Uses atomic bombs for 1st time
o Depersonalized warfare is magnified
o Ends war and geography and politics are reformed
 Two superpowers emerge (USA, Russia)

Modern Art

 Impressionism= art shifted from reflection of natural for to the artists inner vision
o Art moved out of the studio thanks to technological advances and railroads
o New techniques in painting thanks to movements of modern life
 Monet
o “Impression:Sunrise”
 Illustrates the immediacy of impressionism
 Painted what he saw out his window
  Transformed a world of nature into broken color
 Recreated optical sensation he experienced…very impressionist like

 Post Impressionism=more organized approach to impressionism, took more time

 Seurat
o “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”
 Unlike most impressionist Seurat took his time working on this
 Organized the canvas and painted thousands of dots (Pointillist)
 When viewed from the right distance these dots merge to create a
seamless color picture
 Lots of detail was necessary to achieve this harmonious effect

 Van Gogh
o His paintings got little recognition during his lifetime
o His personal pain is reflected in his expressive style
o “Starry Night”
 A symbol of the unstable world of early modernism
 The sky swirls into wild patched of color
 Wanted to depict nature using color without copying reality
 Tormented brush strokes
 His psychic turmoil and artistic vision were inseparable

 Expressionism= the artist attempts to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective
emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in him
 Munch
o “The Scream”
 Expressionists responded to the uncertainty of the modern world
 Images of despair, anxiety, and hopelessness
 Depicts a nightmarish vision of life never free from pain
 The scream is a visual metaphor…modern alienation
 Shows a alien like figure screaming covering its ears
 Typical of expressionism the world is painted as unnatural
 Cubism=fragments three dimensional objects and reassembles them in a pattern that stressed
their geometric structure and relationships
 Picasso (Spanish)
o “Demoiselles D’ Avignon”
 This painting gets its name from Picasso’s native Barcelona, where Avignon
Street runs through the red-light district
 Tried to deconstruct reality
 First intended as a moral work to warn of the danger of venereal diseases
(Provocative poses)
 Changed as his horizons expanded
 Left this painting unfinished
 Prelude to cubism…PERHAPS MOST INFLUENTIAL PAINTING OF 21ST CENTURY

o “Guernica”
 A very large painting 11x25
 A symbol of the violent 20 yrs btwn WWI &WWII
 Depicts the bombing of the unarmed town of Guernica by Nazi Planes during
the Spanish Civil War
 The bull represents Franco the leader in Spain
 Transforms local struggle into and international battle btwn totalitarianism
and human freedom
 Its black, white, and gray color is similar to a newspaper= telling the
world of the horror by the Fascists

 Abstraction
 Mondrian
o “Composition of Blue and Yellow”
 True to the abstract style which ignores the physical world
 The design is purely abstact with its grid of vertical and horizontal lines
 Its lack of symmetry is stylistic of abstract art and negates classical values
 Extreme no connection to world
 Purity…anticlassical
 O’Keefe
o “Cow’s Skull with Calico Roses”
 Shows simplified forms of a skull she found and roses
 This piece is part abstract but also surreal
 Face devouring flower symbolizes death eating life
 Surreal style; realistic images with double meaning
 Few colors used…typical of abstraction
 Surrealism=created a deeper realism, influenced by Freud and psychology
o Tried to tap into dreams, fears, and subconscious
 Dali
o “Persistence of Memory”
 This piece stylistically is very surreal with its intended symbolism and display
of illusions
 It shows clocks melting into amorphic shapes
 The setting for the piece is a deserted beach landscape
 Used his optical effects to reflect his belief life was irrational
 Kahlo
o “Self Portrait”
 She had many physical complications growing up (Polio, car accident, and
operations)
 This piece is dedicated to her doctor
 Uses thorns around neck to show her suffering
 Symbolic of Christ and the crucifixion
 Modernist sensibility that blends Mexican and Christian heritage
 A earring is shown that is a gift from Picasso, it symbolizes the hand of fate
 Wild jungle behind her gives the sense nature is out of control

 Abstract Expressionism=energetic style that claimed their spontaneous method brought out
the human spirit
 Pollock
o “White Light”
 Refusal to use traditional methods
 Reflects his belief that rational approaches to art are flawed
 Faith that subconscious feeling will reveal hidden truths
 Typical of abstract expressionism
 Splatter painting technique where canvas was on the ground
 Has no center, no top, no bottom
 With no focus it made early viewers confused and angry
 Shows an improve style
 Similar to Jazz music emerging
 This style was controversial…”THIS IS ART?”

 Pop Art
 Andy Warhol
o Came from commercial art not an art school
o Merged the two and created synthesis of art and commercial art
o “Elvis I & Elvis II”1964
 This is an homage to celebrity culture
 Pokes fun at society’s shallow worship of commercial brands + celebrities
 The poster has symmetry and balance splitting it into quarters
  The same image is manipulated 4 times
 Goes from dark--- to light

Modernist and Post Modern Architecture

Practical aspect or architecture and artistic aspect too

 Saarinen
o Studied at Yale
o “TWA Terminal”
 Made to look like a bird taking flight
 Combined form and function to make a piece of art
 Whole roof resting on a like a bird taking flight
 JFK airport
 Gehry
o “Guggenheim Museum”
 Pushed boundaries of architecture…no longer just a box in form
 Form and function combined in sculptural approach
 This is a work of art itself, never mind the art its built to house inside
 On river, blends the building into its landscape, and reflects on the metal
coated exterior

Modern Literature

 Franz Kafka
o “The Trial”
 This piece presents the antihero character that is starting to emerge
 Expressionism is incorporated (dreams, nightmares) explored
 A bureaucrat banker, Josef K, lives in a boarding house
 A strange men come to his house and tell him he is being charged with crimes
 Don’t tell him what charges
 The guards tell him he will be told of the charges, but never is
 He is spooked out by his neighbors staring into his house while this is all going
on…maybe it is a joke on him
 He doesn’t run away typical of the antihero and he follows orders
 Still in his bed clothes the guards begin to debate what he should wear in front
of the inspector
 Anti hero cant decide what to wear
 Like the guards the inspector doesn’t know anything and is just following
orders
 There are 3 of his co workers in the room so they go to work…he is so
confused
 Is he arrested or not?
 He later gets a note with an address, its not a court house but it is a
warehouse
 Later 2 men come to his house in top hats and they stab him and leave him for
dead in a field
 ANTI GOVT RUNNING OUR LIVES
 Frederick Douglass
 o “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”
 Born on a MD plantation, son of a slave woman and a white man (probably his
master)
 This was written 20 yrs before Civil War
 Tells of dehumanization slaves were subject to
 Didn’t know their bdays made them ignorant to their age
 Separated early from his mother early to keep him emotionally
detached
 Mother was field slave..didnt see her much, wasn’t told of her illness nor
death
 Slaves born from slave master were hated more by masters wife
 He learns to read and write while living in master Hughes house
 Masters wife teaches him at first but stops
o Slavery and education don’t mix
o “If they can read Bible they are no longer slaves”
 He exchanges bread for lessons how to read from white boys in neighborhood
 Carried a book around and the more he hated his masters
 Freedom becomes his new goal…
 Meets 2 sailors on ship who advise him to runaway to north
 His account helped the abolitionist movement
 Langston Hughes
o After civil war there is still race issues and segregation
o Dubbed Shakespeare in Harlem
 Born in south moved north to Harlem (Harlem Renaissance)
o “Poems”
 1. The Negro Speaks of Rivers
 Inspired by his father who hated his own race and being black
 Black history is displayed through metaphors (rivers)
o Blood flow of blacks
o Soul deep like rivers
 2. Harlem
 Anticipates civil rights movement
 Dream of blacks deferred
o Told to wait their turn