Hi all! Here are a couple questions I had about the Sojourner Truth Speeches:
1. Since a good number of her speeches were translated by later recollections of white participants in her audience, how accurate can they be? Are we getting skewed information? Her native language was Dutch and she spoke in a stylized dialect, so in order to get an accurate account, would it be in our best interest to get a number of different translations and compare and contrast the similarities and differences in the speech/tone/message/ect.? Or should we just trust the speech that has been printed and distributed the most? (Since that is what is the most referenced...and therefore must be accurate?) What do you think?
2. In the May 1851 speech she says, "But the man is in a right place, the poor slave is on him, woman is coming on him, and he is surely between a hawk and a buzzard." What does she mean by this statement? Who is she addressing? White men? Black men? Is it a bible reference?
Have a good weekend everybody! :)
Coral
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Thanks for getting us started, Coral! I forgot to mention in class that in the reader you have TWO "recollections" of the speech commonly known as "Ain't I a Woman" - and I too am interested in how people compare them...
ReplyDeleteI also questioned the accuracy of the speeches, especially since the 1851 speeches have different tones. The first translation (The Feminist Reader) carries a conciliatory tone - Truth is making a plea for women's rights. She is bargaining for a pint-full of access. The second translation or "Ain't I a Woman" has more fire behind it. This speech sounds more like Truth was making demands at the Ohio Woman's Rights Convention.
ReplyDeleteTo Cora's second question, I Googled "hawk and buzzard" and found this from Bartleby.com: "Of doubtful social position—too good for the kitchen, and not good enough for the family. Private governesses and pauperised gentlefolk often hold this unhappy position. They are not hawks to be fondled and petted—the “tasselled gentlemen” of the days of falconry—nor yet buzzards—a dull kind of falcon synonymous with dunce or plebeian. In French, “N’être ni chair ni poisson,” “Neither fiesh, fowl, nor good red herring.” http://www.bartleby.com/81/8046.html
I think that Truth is recognizing the black man's difficult position in society - he has more rights than a black woman but far less than a white man.
Rats! I just lost everything I wrote in attempting to post. Going to try and recreate...
ReplyDeleteOn the "hawk/buzzard" line, I was intrigued by this passage as well. I feel that the man who is between the hawk and the buzzard refers to the slave-holding man because she makes a point of differentiating between this man and the slave and women who are "upon him."
The more I read these speeches the more I am struck by how many important points truth is making about women's agency. She is placing women in a Biblical-historical time-frame by alluding to the Virgin Mary. Giving women an historical significance, even a Biblical one, really helps to raise the status of women. Furthermore, Truth makes her statements about women's strength and capability self-evident by giving the speeches, which are an historic act in and of themselves. Finally, I really appreciated her statements regarding the success of society as a whole relies on each of its members receiving equal rights and recognition. Surely she gives credence to this by communicating so earnestly and successfully.
With regard to the issue of the "translations" (is that what they are? translations? transcriptions maybe? seems like they were written by members of the crowd...could be hearsay even...), I found it interesting that in TEFR version, there's a bit of stage direction. Line two begins with "Receiving an affirmative answer, she proceeded..." Nothing is done to differentiate this from the rest of the dialogue. Interesting.
After reading, I couldn't help but think that Truth was comparing the white men/masters to hawks in reference to their prey aka buzzards, aka slaves, aka black people.
ReplyDeleteI also thought that the white men could be seen as both a hawk and a buzzard because compared to the slaves that they own, they are supposed to be respected and held in high regards, however, this is not the case because of the things they do and the way they treat their slaves. This also brings up the point of the masters being hypocritical in that they believe themselves to be "good Christians" but are in fact,a long way from it.