Everyone Being Egual In a State of Nature

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 Today in class Mrs. Elliott introduced us to our next unit. I found the transition from Gender and Class Inequality to Race Inequality to be very interesting. The parallels between being a women and a minority are pretty similar. Today I was fortunate to read the article about African-American migration from the South to Chicago. Several things in the article really stood out in my mind.
  In the beginning of the document in the pre-read part it talked about the newer generations of African Americans wanting to travel to the city to have a new life. Each generation of African Americans, as they moved farther and farther away from their slave ancestors, received more rights and education. As time slowly went forward they were awarded more opportunities than their forefathers. Until finally they got the courage to branch out and travel to the city.
 Of course their move to the city wasn't all sunshine daises. Hearing about the violence in Chicago and the amount of racial tension was unbelievable. It got to the point where African Americans were too scared to even come to work. The Red Cross, who usually comes to third world countries after disasters like floods and famine, had to be brought it to pass out supplies. It's hard to believe that in one of the finest cities in the world race riots and hate could escalate that high.
 To me the most difficult part to hear about is the innocent people being hurt. Whenever one person of one race does something to another person of a different race, their race has to retaliate. The excerpt also described situations where a black individual would do one heinous thing to a white person and then white people would go out into the street and kill 20 black people as revenge. Same goes with blacks having to kill innocent whites to try to get revenge on them. Fighting violence with more violence. An eye for an eye. Leaving the entire city blind to see what they were doing was just making everything worse.
 The amount of fear blacks and whites had for each other and the huge gender and class divides in 18th century England are both caused by the same problems. Division by society through labels. In society we label everyone and everything so it's easier to talk about. These labels just allow some people to float to the top and for other people to stay at the bottom. It almost makes one want to shed society completely and return to nature. In a state of nature we would all be equal and free. Everyone would be the same and we wouldn't have to worry about society's confines. Of course these transcendentalists ideals wouldn't work. We can't all just shed our clothes and run into the forest and start anew. It's human nature to form laws and create society. Soon enough everything would be back to the status quo.
 Of course as time goes on women and minorities become more and more equal. Modern day American is 100 times more tolerant than Chicago at the time, as evident by our black president. I know that change is possible and it happens everyday. I believe it is part of evolution for hate to disappear. As we and our society evolves hate will become less and less.

Tess fallen victim to fate?

By: Audrey T
I think that fate is a really interesting concept that appears in Tess. To me, fate is Hardy's answer to the question "Why, if God is just, would he allow the good to suffer?" It must be that everyone has a set plan that they are destined to follow no matter how good or bad they are. So does this mean that nothing can change one's fate and that there is a plan for everyone set from birth? Or is it that a person comes upon a coincidence in life that leads to another and another, ultimately leading them to a fate they cannot avoid? Tess is extremely good and moral -- almost to the point of sainthood -- yet God still allows her to endure a terrible and unfair life. Hardy even asks, "...where was Tess's guardian angel?" on the night that she was raped by Alec. It seems as if Hardy is trying to draw attention to the fact that people put too much faith in God to control all situations and change them for the better, when, in fact, he is standing by letting bad things happen to people all the time. Throughout the novel Tess can never seem to catch a break. She continues to move on with her life after she is raped and after her baby dies, and even when amazing opportunities are presented to her, like when Angel proposes to her, she sticks to her morals and turns him down; sure that her past has ruined her. It is Tess's persistent faith and strength that causes her to transform from a mere girl into something holier. If Tess's struggles are what make her so holy, then is it God's neglect in her time of need that has made her this way? Maybe God is allowing people to suffer so that they can grow and transcend the harsh realities of the world and not simply that fate dictates one's life.