Argumentative Essay On Slavery

📌Category: Poems, Slavery, Social Issues
📌Words: 676
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 19 June 2021

I was asked to write this argumentative essay to prove two points of slavery. “The Witnesses”  and “The Slave’s Dreams” were both written by the same author Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. These poems will be compared to a clip I watched by the name of Amistad Produced by Steven Spielberg in 1999. I will prove the point of slavery of the two poems and the point in the movie clip. 

First of all, In the poem “The Witnesses” It explained how the ship sank with the slaves in the ship “... with shackled feet and hands.” In addition they cried from yawning waves “ we are the witnesses” (Longfellow, lines 15,16). The slaves from “ The Witnesses” were chained at their necks and their wrists were cramped with gyves (Longfellow , lines 19,20) .

In “The Slave's Dream” Poem The man that was getting abused by his slave owners he followed the slave owners  flight through day and night and did as he was told so he wouldn't get whipped. 

 The man, who is a slave , went through getting whipped and slapped everyday and he had to work in the burning hot sun (Longfellow, lines 40, 41) .  Eventually he died from the hot sun and got whipped by his slave owner.

Moreover, In the movie “Amistad'' One of the African American tribes was captured by another African American tribe. They were put on a ship to go to America to be sold. They would tie a chain to a brick and tie the sick slaves to the chain and wet the deck so the slaves couldn't hold onto the deck. They would decide who got food and who didn't. For example: If you were sick you didn't get to eat, you would sit there and starve to death or until they decided you were better. The women were forced to dance with the crewmates on the ship while the men were forced to watch their fellow brothers or tribe members get wacked by a whip and the blood off of him would splatter all over their faces. This one woman had a baby and took her and the baby’s life by jumping into the ocean so they didn't have to have a miserable life. The slaves had no clothes, no way in leaving  once they reached America they were given clothes washed up and sold. The leader of the American tribe that was forced into slavery was asked question by the American's. They asked: if he had slaves in his village ? He didn't respond. A summary I believe he was told was “ Why should I relieve you from slavery when you have slaves as well” I guess he knows how it feels to those who were a Slave to him. 

Furthermore, My opinion on slavery right now is I don't like it if I could burn the word slavery I would. People are not objects, you can't  boss around someone because you feel like hitting someone or you got upset about something and you need a way to take that anger out. Slavery never should've happened I don't know who thought it was a good idea but it definitely was not when  I watched the movie clip I felt like crying seeing that vivid and terrifying thing that could've happened to my stepdad and  my sister I would kill for them. I could feel the man's pain every time he got hit with that whip. The whole movie clip scared me a lot and gave me a better understanding of how I feel about slavery there is no feelings it should be illegal and done and over with non-existent. 

In conclusion, The poems and the movie had very different ways of describing slavery. The poems made rhymes and it didn't seem vivid, But the Movie was very vivid. Despite the fact of the image of the stories they have very different perspectives and tell you something different. The poems are in the perspective of the slaves as the movie is about the slaves but focused more on one man who is the leader of the tribe. By reading this essay I believe it will give you my perspective as well as well as the prospect of those individuals whom were slaves or endured a type of Slavery.

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