Read the assigned sections from Douglass’s My Bondage, My Freedom, and our two critical essays, Lance Newman’s “Free Soil Abolitionism” and Cristin Ellis’s “Amoral Abolitionism,” offering two interesting arguments about how Douglass uses descriptions of nature in order to make a case for the abolition of slavery. Then, to help you generate ideas for this week’s CR 3, complete the Close Reading Practice (TBD).
For CR 3, choose any passage from the assigned chapters of Douglass’s My Bondage and My Freedom to help you answer the following two questions:
1) How is Douglass’s view of the natural world shaped by the context of slavery?
2) How does Douglass use (pastoral and/or anti-pastoral) descriptions of nature (or the city) to advocate for an end to slavery?
Integrate EITHER Newman or Ellis’s arguments to help you build your arguments.
You may compare Douglass with Apess or Thoreau, if you find it helpful.
Your goals for this exercise are to:
Your response should be at least 500 words long (two double-spaced pages), written in clear and precise academic prose.