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HUM 3306 (online): History of
Ideas--The Age of Enlightenment to the Age of Anxiety
Summer A
2007/ Profs. Harvey & Fantina
THE MIDTERM IS DUE JUNE 3 SUNDAY
AT MIDNIGHT. LATE SUBMISSIONS, IF EVEN ACCEPTED, WILL RECEIVE
LOWERED GRADES!!!
MIDTERM QUESTIONS
Read the Midterm
Instruction sheet (on the syllabus) for instructions.
Remember that you respond
to only
SIX of the eight passages below.
1. To understand political power aright, and derive it from
its original, we must consider what estate all men are naturally in,
and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and
dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit, within
the bounds of the law of Nature, without asking leave or depending
upon the will of any other man. A state also of equality, wherein
all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more
than another, there being nothing more evident than that creatures
of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to all the same
advantages of Nature, and the use of the same faculties, should also
be equal one amongst another, without subordination or subjection,
unless the lord and master of them all should, by any manifest
declaration of his will, set one above another, and confer on him,
by an evident and clear appointment, an undoubted right to dominion
and sovereignty.
2.
Again, if he would give his
nuts for a piece of metal, pleased with its colour, or exchange his
sheep for shells, or wool for a sparkling pebble or a diamond, and
keep those by him all his life, he invaded not the right of others;
he might heap up as much of these durable things as he pleased; the
exceeding of the bounds of his just property not lying in the
largeness of his possession, but the perishing of anything uselessly
in it. And thus came in the use of money; some lasting thing
that men might keep without spoiling, and that, by mutual consent,
men would take in exchange for the truly useful but perishable
supports of life. . . . But, since gold and silver, being little
useful to the life of man, in proportion to food, raiment, and
carriage, has its value only from the consent of men- whereof labour
yet makes in great part the measure- it is plain that the consent of
men have agreed to a disproportionate and unequal possession of the
earth- I mean out of the bounds of society and compact; for in
governments the laws regulate it; they having, by consent, found out
and agreed in a way how a man may, rightfully and without injury,
possess more than he himself can make use of by receiving gold and
silver, which may continue long in a man's possession without
decaying for the overplus, and agreeing those metals should have a
value.
3. Secondly: I
answer, such revolutions happen not upon every little mismanagement
in public affairs. Great mistakes in the ruling part, many wrong and
inconvenient laws, and all the slips of human frailty will be borne
by the people without mutiny or murmur. But if a long train of
abuses, prevarications, and artifices, all tending the same way,
make the design visible to the people, and they cannot but feel what
they lie under, and see whither they are going, it is not to be
wondered that they should then rouse themselves, and endeavour to
put the rule into such hands which may secure to them the ends for
which government was at first erected, and without which, ancient
names and specious forms are so far from being better, that they are
much worse than the state of Nature or pure anarchy; the
inconveniencies being all as great and as near, but the remedy
farther off and more difficult.
4. To the honour of humanity, I knew
several gentlemen who managed their estates in this manner; and they
found that benevolence was their true interest. And, among many I
could mention in several of the islands, I knew one in Montserrat
whose slaves looked remarkably well, and never needed any fresh
supplies of negroes; and there are many other estates, especially in
Barbadoes, which, from such judicious treatment, need no
fresh stock of negroes at any time. I have the honour of knowing a
most worthy and humane gentleman, who is a native of Barbadoes, and
has estates there This gentleman has written a treatise on the usage
of his own slaves. He allows them two hours for refreshment at
mid-day; and many other indulgencies and comforts, particularly in
their lying; and, besides this, he raises more provisions on his
estate than they can destroy; so that by these attentions he saves
the lives of his negroes, and keeps them healthy, and as happy as
the condition of slavery can admit. I myself, as shall appear in the
sequel [i.e. in another chapter of Equiano’s memoirs], managed an
estate, where, by those attentions, the negroes were uncommonly
cheerful and healthy, and did more work by half than by the common
mode of treatment they usually do.
5. In short, the fair as well as black people
immediately styled me by a new appellation, to me the most desirable
in the world, which was Freeman, and at the dances I gave my Georgia
superfine blue clothes made no indifferent appearance, as I thought.
Some of the sable females, who formerly stood aloof, now began to
relax and appear less coy; but my heart was still fixed on London,
where I hoped to be ere long. So that my worthy captain and his
owner, my late master, finding that the bent of my mind was towards
London, said to me, 'We hope you won't leave us, but 'that you will
still be with the vessels.' Here gratitude bowed me down; and none
but the generous mind can judge of my feelings, struggling between
inclination and duty. However, notwithstanding my wish to be in
London, I obediently answered my benefactors that I would go in the
vessel, and not leave them; and from that day I was entered on board
as an able-bodied sailor, at thirty-six shillings per month, besides
what perquisites I could make. My intention was to make a voyage or
two, entirely to please these my honoured patrons; but I determined
that the year following, if it pleased God, I would see Old England
once more, and surprise my old master, Capt. Pascal. . . .
6. "How can I move thee? Will no entreaties cause
thee to turn a favorable eye upon thy creature, who implores thy
goodness and compassion. Believe me, Frankenstein: I was
benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity: but am I not
alone, miserably alone? You, my creator, abhor me, what hope
can I gather from your fellow-creatures, who owe me nothing? they
spurn and hate me. The desert mountains and dreary glaciers
are my refuge [now]."
7. Find what for you is the most key
passage in "Frankenstein". Very briefly quote part of the
passage so we know what it is. Imagine that the passage is the
passage, in fact, Prof. Fantina and I have quoted here. Now
respond to it per the regular instructions for this Midterm.
8. For this you have the option of
interpreting one of two Romantic era poems.
Do either A: Provide a mini-interpretation of the poem that is
about a bird. Read the caution for "B" below.
Or do B: Below are a set of lines from one of the
Romantic poets you've been reading. Basically, you should just
provide a mini-interpretation of the poem, but try to emphasize the
key lines below. And try to fit the poem into the larger
context of the "history of ideas". This passage gives you wide
latitude; please, please resist looking up interpretations on the
internet. We've read them all, and will know if you are
cheating (Prof. Fantina and I hate having to give warnings like
this; but plagiarism is a real problem, so we have to!).
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body, and become a living soul;
While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things....
And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things.