Difference between revisions of "Week 13-14 Questions/Comments-327 09"
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(→Eva Jones to Mary Jones, her mother-in-law, 1865) |
(→Eva Jones to Mary Jones, her mother-in-law, 1865) |
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The line that struck me the most in Eva's letters was "Adeline, Grace, and Polly have all departed in search of freedom without bidding any affectionate adieu," this clearly shows the paternalist ideal the southerners still had. Eva obviously believed that she and her husband had been doing her slaves a favor performing the role of father and providing them with a home and food. She could not understand why her slaves were so eager for freedom and didn't even goodbye before leaving. -Megan Mc | The line that struck me the most in Eva's letters was "Adeline, Grace, and Polly have all departed in search of freedom without bidding any affectionate adieu," this clearly shows the paternalist ideal the southerners still had. Eva obviously believed that she and her husband had been doing her slaves a favor performing the role of father and providing them with a home and food. She could not understand why her slaves were so eager for freedom and didn't even goodbye before leaving. -Megan Mc | ||
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| + | Commenting on Emma's point about the bitter tone used by Eva Jones in her letters, its seems at least one source of her frustration stems from financial difficulties. While the war negatively effected the economies for both sides of the conflict, the Confederacy's economy was especially crippled. Through Eva Jones's experience, we see some specific economic woes for Southerners; Eva complains that her farm has "only a third-crop planted" and the "promising fields are now under water" (267). Additionally, she claims that "the Negroes and Yankees broke into our smokehouse and swept it of every piece of meat," which left her family starving. When comparing this source to Mary Livermore's experience with the successful, family-run farms in the North, I wonder if the roles among family members of southern farms changed in the same ways as northern farms. -Seth Mintzer | ||
== Accounts of former slaves, 1865-1937 == | == Accounts of former slaves, 1865-1937 == | ||
