Exploration 2 from Rishat Ahmed

Last name, Ahmed. First name, Rishat. I was born in New York City, and moved to Columbus, Ohio when I was about 5 years old. I graduated from Olentangy Orange High School and am now a freshman here at Ohio State Marion. My fun fact I shared with the class last Thursday was that I love watching soccer and I plan to own $300,000 worth of cars in the future.

The inspiring author, Frederick Douglass, shows that even through tough struggles. he not only struggled for himself, but he struggled for every other human who was being oppressed. He not only believed in equality of black people, he felt the same way towards Native Americans, recent immigrants, and females. As present day teenagers, we take for granted the opportunities we have to read and write. We do not realize the importance or the freedom of being able to do so. One way Douglass would try to obtain individual freedom was by freeing himself from the ban of being taught to read and write. At around the age of twelve, he was taught the alphabet by the wife of his owner, Sophia Auld. Unfortunately, Douglass' owner banned his wife from continuing this act. Douglass who was reluctant to give up, started looking elsewhere for lessons. So he engaged in learning with the white children. He continued the struggle to achieve literary education to the point where he became a better reader/writer than all other white men. A link to the source I used to obtain this information: http://www.biography.com/people/frederick-douglass-9278324

The poem I read was Bury Me in a Free Land by Frances E.W. Harper. What I really loved in this poem was the tone the poet had. Harper expressed her desire to witness equality of black people and women before her death. She expressed it by portraying a hypothetical situation of laying in a grave while there is still no equality of all races and genders. "I could not rest if around my grave.. I heard the steps of a trembling slave...". All the poems were great from the handout, but this one was the most interesting in that it had such a strong meaning to make sure of equality as being a human right as soon as possible.

The word I chose to research from the poem written by Frances E.W. Harper was 'trembling'. "I could not rest if around my grave, I heard the steps of a trembling slave". This context hints to the fact that trembling must be an adjective or a word that describes a slave. The denotation of trembling is: to shake involuntarily, typically as a result of anxiety, excitement, or frailty. Or to be in a state of extreme apprehension. This word was a very good choice to use by Harper. Rather than using a more broad term, Harper portrayed the exact feelings of the slave. Rather than writing 'shaking slave', Harper chose to use 'trembling slave' to also explain WHY the slave would be shaking. Ex:  The family members of the patient in the ICU were trembling after the doctor had told them the patient did not have a high chance of survival.