Freedom (2)

“I dwell in Possibility --” - Dickinson

Dickinson’s sense of freedom was understandably connected to the strict gender roles and oppression of women in her time. For her, freedom is the ability to defy though belief. If someone told her she couldn’t, she would only try harder, feeling obligated to overcome. Instead of focusing on what was being taken from her, (poetic expression, public freedom, etc.) Dickinson would “dwell in possibility,” capitalized in her poem to emphasize the dynamic and subjective nature of both the word and it’s meaning.



“Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago.” - Whitman

Whitman, a free white man, fights against the commonly supported practice of slavery. He believes that all humans are connected and fully equal beings, brought together through common experiences, across time and across space. While freedom in the sense that no man belongs to another, the abolition of superiority and inferiority, should be something natural to all, Whitman further argues that complete freedom comes with the understanding of oneself and the connectedness we have between our souls, each other, knowledge, and nature.


“In the right state, he is, Man Thinking. In the degenerate state, when the victim of society, he tends to become a mere thinker, or, still worse, the parrot of other men's thinking.” - Emerson

Emerson’s notion of true freedom depends on personal experiences, interpretations, and imagination. His vision of the free man, “in the right state,“ can take the words of others, filter through and combine them with his own knowledge and experiences, and create a new, unique set of beliefs. Enslavement on the other hand is a tricky concept, particularly for the enslaved, as they have no means of visualizing their dependence because they are so wrapped up “mastering” another’s words. The bookworm, the most hopelessly trapped man following in the footsteps of others, the “parrot” of another man’s thoughts, fully relies on another human being for his perceived knowledge, intelligence, and freedom. For Emerson, freedom lies within the beholder - the defiant, questioning, creative intellectual.


“My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact.” - Douglass

Douglass presents the most literal definition of slavery amongst these four writers. His resistance and rebellion against the horrors of slavery hold an entirely different kind of weight than that of someone like Emerson, a free white man, due to the fact that Douglass was himself a slave for so many years. Douglass’s multitude of experiences have shown him the true meaning of enslavement, and the direct effect it has on all people involved, slaves and slaveholders alike. Both become de-humanized, dependent, narrow-minded, instinctual creatures. For the slave to become truly free, he must realize his power, worth, and ability to defy, learn, and overcome.