Ah, Woe Is Me

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

and segregation are words that describe the conditions under
which the blacks (the native Africans) live perfectly. The blacks nearly have no
rights and must accept being oppressed by the whites. Sarah is only one of many
poor blacks who only just manages to earn a living by working as a servant for a
rich white family (the narrator). Slavery does not exist anymore, but it can be
difficult to distuingish the life of a slave from that of a native African in
the 50's except from the fact that they do after all get paid for their work.
Sarah is very concerned about her children getting a good education. She
probably wants them to have a better life than she has had so far, and while
that is a very noble thought, the facts speak against it. Her children do not at
this time have a very good (if any) chance of getting a good solid education
because it is very expensive, and their mother does not make that much money.
Even if she did make enough money, her legs are bad, and at the end ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

strike her at any
point in the story. Her servant is her servant, and servants' children are not
someone she thinks about. This point is also very clear to see when one reads
the description of the narrator's thoughts about Sarah's children. She is
surprised at how well they behave, how good their manners are; as if she was
expecting a horde of wild animals instead of normal human beings. She is
undoubtedly not the only one to think this way about the blacks, they were
considered animals by many white people at that time. However, the narrator
seems to excuse her treatment and behaviour towards Sarah and her family with
ignorance (see lines 99-103). I find it hard to believe that this ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: