The Balinese Cockfight
“In the cockfight, man and beast, good and evil, ego and id, the creative power of aroused masculinity and the destructive power of loosened animality fuse in a bloody drama of hatred, cruelty, violence, and death” (Geertz 27). Geertzs story is unique because he addresses anthropologists as the audience and educates the audience about the role cock fights played in the Balinese culture in the late 1950s.
“Even when they were trespassers, westering Americans were hardly, in their own eyes, criminals; rather, they were pioneers” (Limerick 120). Limericks story is different than others because she addresses western historians as her audience. She discusses the story in a unique way because she changes its point of view; helping the audience gain a new perspective of the issue.
“I would rather drudge out my life on a cotton plantation, till the grave opened to give me rest, than to live with an unprincipled master and a jealous mistress” (Jacobs 84). Jacobs story speaks out to me because she addresses an audience of people that slavery should have been stopped. She tells a story about how traumatizing the life of an enslaved black female can be. She tries to gain sympathy for what she has been through. The largest difference between the three stories is the audience.
The quote I chose is the quote from Jacobs; it reads “I would rather drudge out my life on a cotton plantation, till the grave opened to give me rest, than to live with an unprincipled master and a jealous mistress” (Jacobs 84). I decided to change the audience to white men of the time period; as they believed that slaves were their “property”. Many slave masters were also sexists. Although this quality is much less common in this age, it still exists in some men. The quote would be inappropriate for this new audience because the author originally wanted sympathy for being a slave and not necessarily for being a woman. The quote addresses her preference to be a slave on a plantation rather than living with an “unprincipled master” and “jealous mistress”. This means that she would prefer to be a male slave. The story was primarily for white, middle class women. Sexist men are practically the opposite; therefore, the perfect new audience.
Perhaps the biggest difference from the other two stories is that Jacobs did not write to well