English 0: Comparison of Essays: Truth's and Staples' Works

This essay provides a comparative analysis of Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" and Brent Staples' "Black Men and Public Space," both of which address the pervasive issue of racial discrimination in different contexts. The essay highlights similarities such as the narrators' experiences of discrimination, the impact on their self-esteem, and their questioning of societal norms and religious beliefs. It also explores differences, including the essays' tones, perspectives (gender and rural vs. urban settings), and focuses. The analysis emphasizes how these essays, though written in different time periods, reflect similar experiences of discrimination and its effects on the black community, ultimately fostering a deeper understanding of the historical and ongoing struggles against racial injustice. The essay also includes a bibliography of the sources used.

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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE ESSAYS

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The Comparisons between the essays “ Ain’t I a Woman?” and “Black Men and Public
Space”
The following essays discuss about the infamous practice of discrimination against blacks in the
nineteenth where the whites discriminated blacks repeatedly on the bases of their races.
Although the essays were written in different time periods but they share some points of
similarities between them. In the “Ain’t I a Woman” essay, woman was continuously
complaining about no-one helping her out which is visible in the texts “Nobody ever helps me
into carriages, or over mud-puddles” while in the other essay “Black Men and Public Space”
men considers, a white woman as his victim because she got afraid for his black looks once
(Sojourner Truth). Both essays discusses about the existence of God, in the essay “Ain’t I a
Woman” The narrator says, “‘cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from?
Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him”
(Staples). The essay genuinely discusses about whether the god discriminates between a black
and white. In the essay “Black Men and Public Space”, the narrator talks about the existence of
such discrimination in the eyes of god, as he felt lonely at one point of time
In the both essays, the narrators are fearsome and worried about their rights. The self-esteem of
both the narrators are badly hampered. In the essay ““ Ain’t I a Woman” the worry and fear of
the woman is reflected in her statement “And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children,
and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus
heard me! And ain’t I a woman”. In essay “Black Men and Public Space”, the statement of the
“Suffering a bout of insomnia, however, I was stalking sleep, not defenseless wayfarers. As a
softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken – let alone hold one to a person’s
throat” reflects the pain and anxiety of the narrator (Sojourner Truth). These similarities in the
essay are depictive of similar kinds of experiences faced by the blacks at different time periods.
Besides the similarities, some differences exist due to difference in places or genders of the
protagonists in the essay.
There is a difference of tone between the essays. In the essay ““ Ain’t I a Woman”, the tone is
more women centric which reflects the day to day sufferings faced by a normal woman but are
very different from the white women. In the essay “Black Men and Public Space” the tone is
male centric which reflects the ego of a man being crushed badly as white woman see them from

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the lens of discrimination (Staples). There is a difference of places of the narrators’ .In the essay
“Ain’t I a Woman” there is a reflection of rural life that is depicted through the statement “I have
ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! Ain’t I a woman? I
could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well”.
In other essay “Black Men and Public Space” there is a reflection of urban life “. I came upon
her late one evening on a deserted street in Hyde Park, a relatively affluent neighborhood in an
otherwise mean, impoverished section of Chicago.” (Sojourner Truth).
These differences and similarities depict the connection between the essays thus developing the
maturity of the understanding about the events. It had developed the understanding that blacks
everywhere suffered from the similar incidents of discrimination that affected them mentally and
physically, the incidents that can only be brought to peace by one’s positive perception.

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Bibliography
Sojourner Truth. "“Ain’t I a Woman." 1 December 2019. /civil-rights-and-conflict-in-the-united-
states-selected-. 6 April 2020 </civil-rights-and-conflict-in-the-united-states-selected-speeches-
001-aint-i-a-woman.pdf>.
Staples, Brent. "Black Men and Public Space." 1 December 2019. blackmenandoublic. 6 April
2020 <.cdn.edl.io/gRYcQlJjaTKmNGvXM9P1yQ7Tj5K1PlQuPU9meVPHkmz4ma0h.pdf>.