Up From Slavery

This biography of the life of Booker T. Washington is a fascinating account of how his family went from being enslaved to forming new lives away from their plantation after the Civil War. There are so many aspects of this story that I have taken me completely by surprise and are really astounding. The tone in which the story is written is especially unexpected considering his background in slavery. The story is not angry and Washington is not trying to persuade the reader’s opinions. He is simply telling the events that occurred in his life. I found it especially fascinating and unexpected when Washington told about his feelings for his white masters and plantation owners. “One may get the idea from what I have said, that there was bitter feeling toward the white people on the part of my race… In the case of the slaves on our place this was not true, and it was not true of any large portion of the slave population in the South…” (page 35). Washington then goes on to explain how distraught the slaves were when one of the sons of the plantation owner was wounded in the war. I would have never guessed that the slaves would feel this way. Every other historical account I’ve ever seen has conveyed how the slaves loathed their white masters, and who could blame them?
I have really enjoyed reading this story so far. It is easy to read and surprisingly intriguing. The way in which it is written is refreshing as well. I’ve never read a story about slavery, from a slave’s point of view, that has been so optimistic and has displayed such surprising feelings toward the people who had mistreated them. It is really impressive to witness Washington’s eagerness to obtain an education. It makes me realize how much we take it for granted now because we have to go to school and most people see it as more of a chore than an opportunity. I never knew much about Booker T. Washington before reading this book, but his story definitely makes me want to know more. I also would like to know what he would say about our culture today. I wonder if he would be disappointed in how we so easily overlook things that he had to sacrifice so much for.

Diary of a Shirtwaist Striker

So far I have really enjoyed this story; it is very interesting and also easy to read. The aspect of that I have found the most fascinating thus far has to be the transformation of the main character as the strike progresses. On the first day of the strike she is very disconnected. She does not take the strike seriously and does not act as if it even affects her. She talks about how she will have some time off and she continually tells of how she is laughing or finding amusement from the whole ordeal. As the strike progresses, however, her demeanor changes drastically. She goes from being jovial about everything to involving herself and taking the mistreatment personally. Her entries go from being bubbly in the beginning and become harsher as she describes the constant hardships of the women. After she sees how her fellow strikers are being beaten and battered she throws herself into the strike and is determined to see that justice is reached.
In the beginning she is not bothered by the strike and is not motivated to take part in it because she is not as hard up for money as most of the other girls. However she begins to notice how the women that she works with are often times the primary sources of money for their families, yet they make next to nothing. Often times she refers to the “Jew girls” which she comes to admire because of their desire for change and their unwavering work ethic. After witnessing these women return beaten after fighting day in and day out just to survive, she is awakened to the outrageous injustices of the working place. From that point forward, she internalizes the strike and it is no longer strictly monetary. It becomes a true fight for women’s rights. She seems to have found more of an identity and sense of self. She transforms from a somewhat carefree worker to a dedicated reformer. I hope as the strike progresses that she will continue to take bigger roles and have more of an impact.

Blade Runner

I, personally, did not like the movie Blade Runner at all. I did not like the story line or the character played by Harrison Ford. The voice-overs were very corny and often times detracted from the movie as a whole. However, there was only one instance when I enjoyed the commentary made in one of the voice-overs. I thought it was very interesting when Harrison Ford’s character was pondering why the replicant spared his life. Why would the replicant appreciate Ford’s life all of the sudden? The replicants lived an extremely unfair existence. They lived on the inferior planet which was incredibly bleak. They spend their lives in fear of these Blade Runners that were committed to exterminating them. Roy, the lead replicant, even asked, when he was pursuing Ford in the end of the movie, how it felt to live in constant fear. From that statement alone, it is easy to deduce that the life of a replicant was not much of an existence. To top that all off, Ford had just killed his only companion and the girl he was in love with. Why, after all of that, would he suddenly appreciate life, especially that of his enemy? What life had he even witnessed that was worth appreciating? His own consisted of constant fear and misery and Ford’s was not any better. Ford even went so far as to call himself a killer in his own introduction; he was clearly not too thrilled with his occupation either. So what, in that moment, did the replicant come to appreciate?