The similarity between the writing of Wollstonecraft and Douglas
Both Fredrick Douglas and Mary Wollstonecraft’s writing are about morality and social reform. They both fight for women’s rights and the rights of the slaves. They use their work to portray the unjust works that happen in society because of discrimination due to gender or race. They both use rhetorical devices as a means of capturing the readers’ attention, which acts as an element of persuading their readers into their radical view of matters. They both show using the different narratives of how humans are equal and only that they are not granted equal opportunity to prove it. Wollstonecraft and Douglas’s writing apply to our modern world since they both advocate for equal rights (Antal,102). Today a woman has equal rights to a man and an equal black right to a white man. Therefore, their writing is still applicable in modern days since they portray a world without social injustice if equality is not maintained.
The economic theory of the Friedman and Reich
Friedman’s economic theory is based on the idea of monetarism. He was of the idea of deregulation in almost all areas of the economy; hence he wanted the people to go back to a free-market economy. He shows the importance of having free trade, a smaller government, and having a slow but steady increase in the money supply. He also shows that economist should base their focus on the results they get and not the intentions they have. Reich economic theory also reaches the same conclusion as Freidman. They both show that those that are poor continue to be oppressed by the current economic factors while the rich are barely affected. They give a solution to the economic problems as giving more funds to the middle class and the poor as a means of creation of a balance.
Fredrick Douglass and Jefferson
Fredrick Uses narrative about his life as a slave and the many troubles that he faced as a means of fueling the abolitionist movement. He is keen on showing the sorrows that he had to go through as a young man from an early age (Douglass). He paints a picture of a young boy born in an enslaved family, which means he does not even know his age, and he even losses his mother at an early age, which forces him to learn how to survive. Therefore, Fredrick chooses to use narrative about slavery to ensure that people get to understand the struggle one to go through as a slave. The same way Jefferson uses narratives to pass across the message to about the problem with the government of England (Jefferson). The narration made it easy for people to understand his point. He uses the machine symbolically to show that the crown has a role in helping to manage the great machine which represented the government. They both use narration to make sure the message is passed across clearly.
Wollstonecraft and Jefferson Argument
Jefferson declares that the most effective means of fulfilling the natural law is by the establishment of a social contract, and this should be between the ruled and the ruler (Onuf,1743). He shows that all men are equal despite their color and social status. According to Jefferson, all men, despite their race or social status, should have the inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness, life, and liberty. Wollstonecraft uses the dame argument like Jefferson, where she portrays that all men deserve equal rights only that she expands them to women (Antal, 100). She does this by portraying the roles and responsibilities assigned to women in western society. He criticized the king of education given to women and called for a revolution of female manners. She used Jefferson’s idea of men having an inalienable right to liberty and pursuit of happiness and showed the importance of women in the society receiving the same rights.
Howard Gardener work and Wollstonecraft
Gardener theory shows that people have different types of intelligence. He shows that one does not have to be specifically intelligent in one area. He shows that people have different abilities; hence intellectual capacity is not the only thing that makes a person intelligent. According to Gardener, there is eight type of intelligence; hence one can be referred to as intelligent due to their unique ability in music, interpersonally, or even linguistic. The same way Wollstonecraft shows that people are equal, and if given the same opportunity and platform, they can perform equally despite their gender or race. According to Wollstonecraft, women possess the ability to do things just like the men in a society only that they are not given the same opportunity. Therefore, just like Gardeners’ work, people have different abilities, and anyone, despite their color or gender, can have a certain type of intelligence.
The major problem with modern education, government, and society is that people are not granted equal opportunities to portray their capabilities. Those who are wealthy tend to attend the best performing schools, and society rewards them with good jobs. The society also grants them the opportunity to lead them because of their social status. The results are those who are poor continue suffering, and the wealth gains more wealth. Despite equal right being a common phrase in the modern world discrimination still happen in the education system and society. People are still discriminated against because of their gender despite the knowledge that al people are equally capable of performing similar activities when presented with equal opportunity.
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Work cited
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Dreamscape Media, LLC, 2019.
Antal, Eva. “Irony and Culture in Feminist Educational Writings: Wollstonecraft, Macaulay, Edgeworth.” Practice and Theory in Systems of Education 12.2 (2017): 100-108.
Onuf, Peter S. “Jefferson, Thomas (1743–1826).” The Encyclopedia of Political Thought (2014): 1937-1947.
Jefferson, Thomas. The declaration of independence. Verso, 2019.