It is amazing how insightful an author can be over 150 years in the past. That is what makes a classic piece of literature so amazing. If young readers can get past the heavy dialect and connect with the characters, the story comes to life. It is not long before you realize that freedom is more than just having a roof over ones head and your belly full of food. Freedom is about being able to decide you own destiny and being able to live your life according to the dictates of your own heart.
American Capitalism: In referring to the slave trader Harley ... he is "not a cruel man exactly, but rather a man of leather, - a man alive to nothing but trade and profit, - cool and unhesitating, and unrelenting, as death and the grave. He would sell his own mother at a good percentage - and not wishing the old woman harm either."
ReplyDeletePolitical Willpower: In referring to Senator John Bird on the topic of slavery, from his wife Mrs. Bird ... "I hate reasoning, John, - especially on such topics. There's a way you political folks have coming round and round a plain right thing: and you don't believe in it yourself, when it comes the practice. I know you well enough John. You don't believe it's right anymore than I do ..."
ReplyDeletePain of Living: "Of course, in a novel, people's hearts break, and they die, and that is the end of it; and in a story this is very convenient. But in real life we do not die when all that makes life bright dies to us. There is a most busy and important round of eating, drinking, dressing, walking, visiting, buying, selling, talking, reading, and all that makes up what is commonly called, living ..."
ReplyDelete