FINAL THESIS

After giving my presentation, I took into consideration many of the ideas/suggestions that my classmates offered me. I'm always open to hear any thoughts, therefore hearing it first hand was very helpful. After gathering everyone's input I decided to revise my thesis and make it stronger and this is what my final thesis will look like for my paper.

Prior to the Civil War, William Wells Brown a former mulatto slave and abolitionist creates and publishes the first play ever written, The Escape; Or, a Leap for Freedom (1858). Brown generates a Drama in which the main features are true. Many of the events were drawn from Brown’s own experiences of his eighteen years in the South. He explores the complexities of the United States culture in the late 1850s, an era where tensions between the North and the South were threatening to explode into civil war.

Brown endows us with characters that depict the crisis and hardships that many black enslaves faced when white Americans were slaveholders. Due to the cruelty against the slaves from their oppressors, the slave characters in the play become more aware of their inequality in the United States and appoint to break away from slavery in the south. When Brown fled from slavery he believed heading north was the best solution, especially Canada where slavery did not exist. Harmonizing with Brown’s escape, the slaves in The Escape also head towards Canada through the Underground Railroad. “Canada became the most secure safe-haven for slave fugitives in North America; seen as the "Promised Land" in the slave imagination” (208, Reese). Brown’s struggles of living as a slave and journey to freedom are portrayed throughout this piece of literature as well as his other famous works, such as Clotel.

Comapring Brown's works of literature and contributing it in a part of my essay

During Clotel and The Escape, enslaved women are being desired by their owners. It was common during this time for white men to want a relationship with their enslaved women, which many were and became known as their mistresses. In both stories, Brown uses mulatto characters to demonstrate the theme of mixed-culture. Both Clotel and Melinda are mulattas that are embraced by their owners.  “When slaveholders developed feelings of affection for enslaved women, the emotional and psychological cost of holding their enslaved partners as property occasionally won out over their fiscal need for human laborers” (24, Millward). Clotel however, was a much more depressing story than The Escape, the female characters in Clotel were forced to marry their owners and have sexual intercourse, which caused some women to commit suicide. “The power of kidnapping, forced migration, rape, brutality, starvation, natal alienation, and family separation gave slaves readily imaginable motives for suicidal responses to their captors and owners” (42, Snyder). In The Escape, Brown does not go into detail if Melinda was forced to do anything with Mr. Gaines but it is important to grasp that both of these women dealt wanting marriages that they actually wanted, denied. Clotel and Horatio Green were not allowed to marry because he is white and she is a mualatta. Melinda and Glenn are denied their marriage because Dr. Gaines would not allow it, and they were constantly separated from one another. Melinda and Clotel are characters that demonstrate the sexual violence that enslaved women had to go through, and the only way to flee from the uncomfortable physical actions of their masters was to escape with their true loved ones. A scholar of African American studies such as Deborah Walker King argues that sexual violence during slavery acted as one of the key imprints in the African American "culture of pain" (23, Millward).

Created a new thesis- I believe it is a lot better and improved than the last

If you've read my last blog about my thesis, and read my new one- I hope it is a better understanding of what I am going to try and get across in my research paper. I think this one is 10x better.



            Prior to the Civil War taken place, the first play ever written and published by a former slave and abolitionist was created. The Escape; Or, a Leap for Freedom (1858), by William Wells Brown is a work that covers many of the struggles that African Americans faced during the 19^th Century. Slavery, racism, sexual violation, and denied marriages are many of the obstacles of hardship that African American slaves faced during their time under the order of their white owners. The play focuses on Melinda, and Cato who are slaves that are under the watch of Dr. Gaines and Glenn, who is the slave of Dr. Gaines’s brother-in-law. Glenn and Melinda who face forbidden love, due to Dr. Gaines’s obsession towards Melinda and hatred against Glenn, creates a battle to keep their marriage united and therefore sneakily decide to escape to the North, in this case- Canada. Cato then renounces to his slave duties as well and follows. Their experience as slaves under white control allows us to understand why African American Slaves during this time started escaping in search of a better life.

Stressed

Being that this is a liberal course that is required, it is not my favorite. I wish I was better at writing and expressing an argument or thesis in a better way. I hate struggling with this because I enjoy the readings that we've done in class, and the reading that I chose for this research paper but I'm honestly stressed, concerned and scared about how my final draft will end up. I'm trying my best to Google formats for research papers on books and hoping I can do the best I can. I truly wish I was better at writing, but it is unfortunate- in the end, this was a good class, that taught me a lot even though I've struggled through it for the most part. Hope everyone does well on their research paper ! Lots of luck to all.

Maybe a thesis? Might change it...Give your thoughts to it if you read it please

Prior to the Civil War taken place, the first play ever written and published by a former slave and abolitionist was created. The Escape; Or, a Leap for Freedom (1858), by William Wells Brown introduces us to a play which focuses on white racism, and the maltreatment towards slaves during this time. A focal point in the play other than race issues is also the concern of attempted sexual violation on enslaved woman, in this case being Melinda, a mulatta slave who is desired by her owner, Dr. Gaines. Brown makes clear to emphasize the “vulnerability and degradation of female slaves by involving marriage in this story of enslavement” (Ernest, xix).

Topics for Presentation

-A brief background on William Wells Brown

-The role of "Mr. White"-the importance of his character. A northerner who in the South for his views on slavery and who responds to this attack by hiding and returning to the safety of the North.

-Black self-determination, coordinate action in the The Underground Railroad, and the songs that they sang.

-Marriage Issues, (Dr. Gaines & Mrs. Gaines) and (Melinda & Glenn) differences between a white marriage and a forbidden enslaved marriage, and their battles.

-Views on Race

-Religion 

-Sexual violence under slavery

-Mixed Race- Melinda and the slave whom a visitor takes to be the child of Dr. and Mrs. Gaines

-National Identity: William Wells Brown being a former slave, and a northern "free black" the child of a white father and black mother, embodied these roles, containing within himself a collective drama of national identity.

-The character, Cato a slave (as suggested by Brown's other writings) is the black-face minstrel type who is a presence throughout the play. Interesting character because he is the character in The Escape who is based most directly on Brown's own experiences.

Overall thought of the Play

This was a very easy ready. Sometimes the dialect of the slaves were a bit difficult but the lengths of their dialect were not that long so it did not make it complicated for me to understand what they were saying to one another. It was a good story, and I did like how it had to do with the 'Escape' of slaves and how they conquered  it and Glen and Melinda managed to stay together after the difficulties they had to face with their slave owners. However, the ending was a bit too fast for my liking. I feel like Brown got a bit lazy and ended it quick, and made it seem like it was an easy escape when I believe it was definitely harder to just over-come Dr. Gaines and the police at the end. It was a picture in my head that I could not imagine being put together. Overall, the story was good and did not take a long time to read so I did not mind it. I also enjoyed the different themes that were brought up throughout the story instead of concentrating on just one main struggle, because it was not just racism that the blacks had to go through, it was also a lot more than that and this story proves it.