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Primary Document Analysis.
Section 1
The Author worked in a Massachusetts factory where she was treated like a slave. She was subjected to mistreatment that ruined her purity and self-respect. She was beaten up and pinched by her overseers. She worked for long hours under the harsh conditions. The wages of were not attractive since each worker was paid based on the turnovers.
The women did not have rights to own property, and this affected the author since she was a woman. Property ownership has been a problem for the author since even with the earned money she could not own any fixed asset. Moreover, the author due to the law, that did not identify her as a legal spender, experienced the problem of personal budget spending.
After some years, Robinson turns out to be a drawing-in girl. This position was more desired in the mill, and her role was to facilitate the weaving. Moreover, Robinson was intelligent, and she read while she was still working in the mill (Merish 2012).
The early factory labour in the United States was not fair and just. Women were discriminated in the labour market. The age limit was not a special attribute in the labour laws for children of minor age were overburdened. The female employees were mistreated and disregarded, as they were paid peanuts without any benefits. This document relates to the economic changes in the Northeast. The strike that took place initiated for reviews of the labour laws later. Economic changes were related to better labour laws whereby United States tried to close the gender gap in the labour market.
Section 2
The Oregon Trail facilitated the westward expansion of the United States. It was one of the extensive overland roads that the immigrants originated following in 1841. Catherine and her family encountered severe hardship in the journey that involved wagon trains. Natural calamities like rivers that were flooded were involved. Moreover, Indians attacked the wagons of the Americans, causing several deaths. Other causes of the death were diseases and shotguns accidents.
Catherine and her family run into a problem of access to clean water and food. Catherine had a broken leg when she was young, that caused to a long-lasting limp. Catherine lay on the wagon that bumped and wavered over the potholes and rocks for long hours. She did not get the alcohol to dismal the pain since she was a child. Catherine was anguished due to death of her parent that was sudden and caused by illness.
Catherine Sager was prayerful, and this made her stronger. She had endurance and tolerance for the fact that she was an orphan did not make her loss hope in life. The Oregon Trail involved many hardships and deaths of the Americans. Indians fought the whites and caused several deaths. Furthermore, diseases like typhoid and firearms caused several deaths. The Oregon Trail was the best route to travel to the west of the United States. It influenced the expansion of the western United States that would otherwise be part of Canada or Mexico (Lusted 2011).
Section 3
Harriet Jacob was born a slave, and she suffered several bodily and sexual abuses. Harriet master Dr. Flint made several advances towards her that she had no option of resisting due to the threats to beat her up. The slave was viewed as the possessions of the master and Harriet was subject to Dr. Flint authority. Harriet was misused sexually and injured by her master who she escaped by having a fair with Samuel.
Harriet made a desperate move by having a relationship with Samuel to prevent Dr. Flint from making sexual advances. Harriet looked for refuge in her grandmother`s house for several years where she sewed and read the bible. Moreover, she was looking after her children and communicating with Dr. Norcom to surprise him of the whereabouts (Babu 2008).
The lives of American slaves are full of sexual and physical abuses. When a slave is a woman and is employed in a household with men, she is subjected to sexual abuse. Their masters expose women slaves to sexual abuse and mistreatment. Image one reveals that Black American women who are slaves are subjected more to sexual abuse than their male counterparts. On the other side, Black American males are slaves are subjected to physical abuse from their white masters. Image 1 relates more to this document since it reveals how the white man is sexually making sexual advances to the woman.
Section 4
From “A Lowell Mill Girl Story”, women were discriminated in the labour force in the nineteenth century. The existing laws disregarded ownership of property by women. From “Across the Plain”, women were not treated same as men and they were not given good and special care. When Catherine had a wound, she was not given proper medical care. From “The Trials of a Slave”, Harriet was sexually abused by her masters since she was a slave, she did not have an objection, since she was a woman and women did not have a say in the United States then.
Image 2 reveals the struggle for gender equality. Men seem to be resistant toward the equality due to fear of change, of power in the society. The endless fight by women will probably bring the equality.
Works Cited
Babu, Dinesh. “Portrayal Of White Women Characters In Harriet A. Jacobs’incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl, Written By Herself, Harriet E. Wilson’s Our Nig And Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” 2008. Retrieved From< Http://Oaji.Net/Articles/488-1396610472.Pdf>
Lusted, Marcia Amidon. The Oregon Trail. ABDO, 2011. Retrievd From< HYPERLINK “http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=9jh9c7r8yogC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=across+the+plains+catherine+sager&ots=jVKSGmpENL&sig=2sTdsLaJRPVDabUB53K02yT-go8″http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=9jh9c7r8yogC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=across+the+plains+catherine+sager&ots=jVKSGmpENL&sig=2sTdsLaJRPVDabUB53K02yT-go8>
Merish, Lori. “Factory Labor and Literary Aesthetics: The” Lowell Mill Girl,” Popular Fiction, and the Proletarian Grotesque.” Arizona Quarterly: A Journal of American Literature, Culture, and Theory 68.4 (2012): 1-34.Retrieved From< HYPERLINK “http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/arizona_quarterly_a_journal_of_american_literature_culture_and_theory/v068/68.4.merish.html”http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/arizona_quarterly_a_journal_of_american_literature_culture_and_theory/v068/68.4.merish.html>
