Margaret Kantz

Top Three Annotations... where am i supposed to start? The irony in writing comments about a paper about looking further into sources and not taking what you read for the words written on the page is overwhelming.

1. The interesting aspect of taking a source and not only looking at what the source is saying but to really put yourself in the shoes of the write is something very important.
   
2. Strong bias gives explanation to many of the facts that "just don't match up" this whole text really pushes me to contemplate if there are true facts beyond scientifically proven numbers such as pi.
3. I enjoyed the part where Kantz was not hesitant to pass some of the blame on to the teachers. All to often it seems that Professors get a class of students that fail miserably at something and the professor passes it off as "they" did not do the work well enough.
   

Interesting piece. Should i believe it... parts of it perhaps. Everyone has a bias.

the end.

The end of books for me always makes me step back and take a second to try and realize what the author through this book is really trying to say. I know cliché in many ways but authors have so many prejudices that they bring out through their texts and I find that most interesting. What causes someone to put this much of them on paper for something that in the minds of many is still not over? Is it the fact that slavery exists but is hidden that angers him or perhaps it is the fact the he wished he could have been a part of the spark that started the fire.

For me it is more important to find where his prejudices lie. Are they with society and the means in which are taken to inflict change or is it with religion and the hierarchal structure of the church and the beliefs of those that take part in the religion, specifically Christianity. Perhaps it is the clashing between races that perpetuates itself despite intervention.

Through his long verse and moments where the reader starts to ponder if the end is at sight he exposes the true idea that change will always occur, however it does not come freely nor overnight. This idea of inevitable change is due to the fact that there will always be the few in society looking out for the whole who will fuel the fire underneath those who can make a difference.

18-21

It is only to be expected that eventually the slaves would turn things around and a revolt would be spurred. Can you really be surprised at the grotesque nature of the revolt, I cannot. In comparison to the amount of oppression and hatred that had funneled through society negatively towards them it is not at all surprising that the events transpired in this fashion. Is it possible to really consider how else an extremely oppressed society would react when given the opportunity? There is so much hatred, anger and disgust. I can only imagine for those involved with the revolt that it was as if they were returning the white man’s favor.

In some sense I feel like a broken record but economics rules. If it does not have an economic implication then it might just as well not exist. I am not surprised by the effects of the revolt on society.

Chapter 15-17

What happened to the author? Chapter 15 shed new light on a lot of topics that i had only thrown around in my head. It was nice to see that this book took a turn that i expected it to for once so that i could follow the story line a bit closer and put objects together that i had not previously connected. This explanation about how these events came to be is the perfect linking pin.
Chapter 16 really points out the fact that money trumps. It is tough to overcome such oppression when your opponent has deeper pockets than you. Those who were for slavery could publish and get their message out there easily because they could always pay for it. While this tactic is not long sighted it works well initially. "Keep cool and say little" interesting ending i feel.

Chapter 17. Government. Interesting how it can oppress how their people think and take part of their daily lives. It makes you appreciate the freedoms that you have and it makes you look at those that feel we are oppressed and tilt your head in hopes of understanding them further. The concept that a meeting pace was shut down because they have liberal and radical ideas is a bit to extreme for me even as someone with a conservative bias.

Mr. Brookhiser ... wow

I find myself questioning the point of the article by Richard Brookhiser from Boston.com more than the point he made to personally jab Hochschild. The article starts with the first page rambling enough to give the reader information about the book and then in the second to last paragraph, he explodes and everything he has build up about the book comes out in 50 words.

This style of writing I find highly ineffective. However, in looking past this and on to the point that he is attempting to make in this article I am also confronted with a conflict as I do feel that Hochschild takes every opportunity to jab at the Christian way of life. While I feel it is a good point to bring out that he is a biased author comparing his ideas and style to a color-blind art critic is a bit out there. It is a logical progression to make due to the style of the book as well as the constant talk of Christianity, however there are a variety of reason that this deliberate choice to bring religion into the writing was made. These reasons include but are not limited to: give the characters more depth, enhance the story line, provide insight into the time period.

A more purposeful attempt on Hochschild side would have to be made to convince myself as a reader of the book that he has a negative bias towards the religion. I agree that much of this book needs to be read subjectively, the reader needs to actively read between the words to find the books inner truth.

Chapters 12-14

Lying is a common theme. By this section of the book you start to wonder how the blacks went on. Now i know you could wonder that at any stage of their lives but when they have been promised a new life with fertile ground and they get there with nothing of the sort, why even go on. I do not know how they could have believed that life would ever get better. It is sad.
Moving past these details with which Hochschild brings into every chapter, i found Chapter 13 to be extremely interesting as for me it showed the true changing of everything. Sugar on the decline. The movement for me in this chapter became very real. For once people were getting the message that change needed to come and it needed to come now. The fact that these groups were able to get hundreds of thousands of people to stop using sugar in their tea is amazing. I could not agree more with the bottom of 195 "At a time when only a small fraction of the population could vote, citizens took upon themselves the power to act when Parliament had not."
Through chapter 14, Clarkson didn't have the best of times to put it mildly. pg 205. "At another point, after he had remained still for many hours, the ship's doctor pronounced him dead. Crewmen were preparing his body for burial at sea when he stirred." That should be an indication of the severity of diseases that swept the boats on a somewhat regular basis. THe chapter also brought up how respected Clarkson really was.

Chapter 9-11

Hochschild likes to make the reader work at what he is really saying. The broad examination of the text provides good clues as to what is going on but the struggle between characters and within characters is only apparent when you take a deeper look at what they are really trying to say.
Chapter 9 for me was one of the best chapters in my opinion as it time and time again took familiar faces and flipped them upside down, distorting my views of previously established characters. Early in the chapter he one again brings up the ever tormented idea of happiness of the slaves and juxtaposes it to the mistreatment of the slaves by saying that you cannot force happiness on people. That provided an interesting twist to how we have always looked at the situation. This chapter also shines a new light on Newton whom now comes to confession.

Chapter 10 pointed out that London was in trouble. "but Blacks needed jobs that London didn't have" p 148. This whole idea of betting the blacks life that is carried through chapter 11 really overlooks how much in shambles the London economy really is. They have to many problems to move forward with. War, unrest within their country, everything that is going on does not lead to a prosperous growth. The slaves to me are the backbone of the society. While they were not making money they were picking up slack in the system and producing heavily to increase efficiency and lower prices, when the blacks/slaves are taken out of the picture the cost of making a good goes up exponentially because they now have to pay for the labor.