journal #8

After the reading I noticed a strange connection between Brown's last speech and the segment of a Diary from Dixie. Both of these people came from opposing views, Brown being a liberal abolitionist and Chesnut strongly believing in the way of life in the south. I found it interesting that she knew the fallacies of slavery but wished there was a way to keep it going in everyday life. This contradictory idea bridge to Brown's last speech, for me, because he seemed to be a little contradictory himself. Although he did admit to helping slaves escape to Canada, it seemed he was trying to lessen the abolitionist aspects of his other intentions. The prologue to his speech made him seem more like a more violent and active abolitionist, but in his speech he claims to be doing nothing more than helping slaves escape the country. No doubt this was a way to try to gain some form of sympathy from those in the south and those in the north, but to me it seemed almost like a cop out. This man is about to be hanged and could make a powerful speech calling for an uprising and demanding people to take a serious look at what slavery is doing to them, but he seems to just give up. If I was a 19th century citizen I feel it would be moving to witness this stand against slavery. Although it was good of him to try to keep others involved out of trouble, but the entire message seemed to far less enthusiastic than I would have expected from a doomed man. 

Chesnut wrote in her Diary about the General Lee's capture and the inevitable overtake of the south by the north. Her depiction of these Yankees and how much her family and friends were troubled seems to shed no light to her awareness of the evils of slavery. She seems almost aggressive against the way of life in the north and wants nothing to do with it. She seems more enthusiastic to her views of slavery then Brown who is about to die. Even her reference to the plagues of Egypt is more powerful than Brown's speech. This related to how the slaves viewed Moses as their savior but Chesnut is changing that entire metaphor around to mean that the slaves are the plague on the civil world. This seemed like a clever blow to that form of praise for the slaves and quite brutish.