Looking into a Mirror

I think the title of this post is self-explanatory. My Colombian War, as far as I have read, tells the audience what it is like to be Colombian. That is the reason I say reading this book is like looking into a mirror. I find it very interesting how the author is projecting what it is to be Colombians, but explained in such a way so that it is easy to understand by any foreigner that has never visited or knows nothing about Colombia. 

I always felt identified with many of the things the author mentions in the daily life of being Colombian. Things such as always being suspiciously questioned in airports of the US and Europe just for holding a Colombian passport and doing long lines at embassies to get visas are things that I myself have experienced, so its very easy for me to understand what the author is trying to say. The author mentions the impact Pablo Escobar had in Colombian society. She mentions he blew up an Avianca plane going from Bogota to Cali. My grandfather was supposed to be on that flight but he missed the plane. He was very lucky. I also liked how she "Americanized" some Colombian elements, such as saying that the River Magdalena is the Mississippi of Colombia and that the departamentos are the states of Colombia. She also mentions the characteristics of different Colombian people which I totally felt identified with, such as the lazy costeños, the proud paisas, the agressive santanderianos, and the well-dressed and haughty cachacos. Myself being a chachaco, I understood the stereotypes my city has in the country, like being the nevera (the fridge) and for being overly haughty. Something very important about being Colombian that I liked that the author emphasized was political ideology. It sounds strange, but in Colombia, politics run in through your veins, you are born with it. You are what your family is. It is considered rebellious to be a of a different political ideology than the rest of your family. This quote from page 15 pretty much sums up what it's like growing up in this complicated country:

"Growing up Colombian, one soon learns that identity is defined by two things: region and political orientation."

Into a New World

During the final two chapters of this narrative, Douglass, for the first time in his life, has the opportunity to see the other side of the world to which he has been hidden since he was born. Before he enters this life-changing transition, he does see some improvement in his life, even as a slave. 

While working William Freeland, he has a totally different experience than what he lived before. Douglass described Freeland as an owner that expects hard work but is fair at the same time, thing that Douglass enjoys: "He worked us hard, but from sunrise to sunset. He required a good deal of work to be done, but gave us good tools to work with...My treatment, while in this employment, was heavenly, compared with what I experienced at the hands of Mr. Edward Covey." (83) This clearly shows the readers that the respect of human dignity, even with the hardest work is essential for our own well being, and that is the main difference between Covey and Freeland. Anyone reading through this chapter would be astonished with Douglass' immense will to give despite nothing has ever been given to him. I think that is the reflection of his own well being while working with Freeland, but most importantly, it teaches us a lesson. The act of giving, despite what has been given to us, will bring great personal satisfaction. Douglass' holds a school for free colored men, which at a point had forty students. It's remarkable that Douglass chose to do this knowing it was forbidden by the law, however, this fear was overcome by his perseverance. At the end of the day, it made him happy to help the members of his community: "They were great days to my soul. The work of instructing my dear fellow-slaves was the sweetest engagement with which I was ever blessed (85)."

Moving into the final chapter, it is clear that Douglass' will for freedom surpasses any well being he is experiencing at the moment. After one failed escaping attempt, Douglass is sent to work in Baltimore, where he asks his owner to seek employment, with the condition that he must give his salary to his owner, even though he thinks he should stay with the money. After some time, he is allowed to stay with part of the money. After lots of planning, he finally escapes to New York City: "How I did so, what means I adopted, what direction I travelled, and by what mode of conveyance, I must leave unexplained, for the reasons before mentioned. (105)". 

Blog Entry 2

As I read through chapters three and four, I began to realize something I did not have clear in my mind before I began reading this book. That is, that there is no more accurate description of slavery than a autobiography of someone who lived it purely and entirely. Not even the best school textbooks can give us a more clear image of how slavery was at the time because the people who wrote those can't describe the experiences fresh in their mind. As the book progresses, it submerges us into the world of slavery without any sugarcoating. This is the real thing.

Ever since I was taught about slavery, I was told that slaves were mercilessly beaten and forced to work in the fields under the blazing sun. In other words, it was mainly focused on the physical abuse that owners would do to their slaves. The book does describe these abuses very graphically and I could have no better image of this after reading this book. However, I had never been so aware about the psychological distress these slaves were at all times. For example, Douglass says that Austin Gore, his owner at the time, had a garden full of fruits that slaves were not allowed to go to. Slaves were not fed properly and the garden was an easy source of food slaves could have resorted to in cases of extreme hunger, which I assume was the case most of the time. Gore had the garden surrounded by a fence with tar so that slaves that went through it would end up with their bodies stained and therefore get caught. I can't imagine being in such a situation in which I would have to choose between eating and getting beaten up or not get beaten up but be extremely hungry doing hard physical labor under the hot sun.

When Douglass talks about the fence that surrounds the garden, I was immediately reminded of the movie The Boy in the Striped Pijamas. The hungry slaves seeing food right in front of them but not being able to have it is a similar situation which happens in the movie. The young Jewish boy is hungry and has no method of entertainment while right at the other side of the fence the German boy is basically a spoiled brat that gets everything he wants. The feeling the Jewish boy felt in the movie must have been similar to the feeling the slaves felt when the say they couldn't eat the food that was right in front of them.

Blog Entry 3

As Chapter 10 begins, it came as a huge impact for me that Douglass is actually looking forward to stop working with Auld. The surprise to me was the reason behind Douglass being happy to go to live with a person that had such a reputation. I always knew, of course, that slaves received brutal treatment, more brutal than what we could ever imagine. But I never thought this treatment would get to the point were the slaves were not fed properly. Food is a basic human need, and in order to keep a human being alive, no matter how brutally you treat them, the person needs to be fed. So adding up to the current treatment he was receiving, he was now hungry. However, now that he is moving, he is happy that we will be in a place that will feed him well, despite the bad treatment he very well knows he will have while there. Unfortunately for Douglass, this glory doesn't last long. As I continued reading through the chapter, I was not able to believe the person Douglass becomes when he begins working with Covey.

As Douglass described Covey's behavior and the way he punish slaves, it seemed to me that Covey was mentally ill. No other owner he had worked with before had these types of behavior. For example, one time he didn't comply with his orders, Covey actually ripped off Douglass' clothes and whipped him unlike any other time: "Upon this he rushed at me with the fierceness of a tiger, tore off my clothes, and lashed me till he had worn out his switches, cutting me so savagely as to leave the marks visible for a long time after." (Pg. 68). Covey knew why Douglass had not been able to do his job properly with the oxen and he still recurred to beating him in such a dehumanizing manner. It is true that all owners would beat their slaves for no good reasons, but there seems to be such a rage and anger in Covey that I didn't perceive in his past owners. Shortly after this Douglass states that he would be brutally beaten on a weekly basis just for being awkward: "During the first six months of that year, scarce a week passed without his whipping me. My awkwardness was almost always his excuse for whipping me." Douglass also describes how Covey would spy on his own slaves to catch them not doing their work properly and have an excuse to beat them up.

Edward Covey instantly reminds me of a character of the famous series Game of Thrones, Joffrey. He is just so full of himself just because he becomes King at a very young age. He would treat everyone brutally just for the fact that he was king and everyone else was inferior to him. He even beat his own mother on one occasion. This is just like Covey's behavior. Beating up his slaves just for the fact that they are black and according to the time's mentality, inferior to him.

The treatment Douglass receives during his stay with Covey eventually hits very hard on Douglass. The person that once had hope and energy was now gone. He says how the work was beginning to seem impossible for him to do, and how he would often end up with blood all over his body after he was beaten. As I read the chapter, I would say I also lost hope just as he did, but was then really surprised when he finally rises up against his owner in such a brave manner. I believe this chapter is just one more demonstration of how slavery is such an efficient tool at degrading the human being in the most cruel and disgusting way.