A Tale of Two Cities

Little Intro and Thesis Statement:

This is going to be an essay about two authors: William Blake and Frederick Douglass. The theme of this paper is: Blake and Douglass not only depict the awful truth about life in the 18th century but also show hard it was to be a child, the loss of innocence and finding salvation from the cruelty that surrounded them. On the surface, these two novels are dramatically different; a huge factor being one is fiction while the other is non-fiction. However, a closer assessment of both pieces reveals that both contain common themes and ideas.

Life in the 18th Century:

From Douglass and Blake:

Things were very hard at the time for everyone, the blacks as well as the whites.

There was so much poverty and slavery going on at the time.

Loss of Innocence: The loss of Innocence a person may endure while undergoing through horrific situations.

From Douglass:

1: Slavery robbed Douglass of his innocence. He is not sure of the exact year he was born, because shortly after birth, slaves are torn from their mothers, and given a blank life at a new location.

2: He was never allowed the nurturing and playfulness that most children receive in their early sages of life. (Quote).

3: Watching his people get mistreated at such a young age which left him scarred for life. (Quotes).

4: Was not called by his name but rather by "nigger" or anything else.

5: He is let down by the church because none of them could come to his rescue.

From William Blake:

1: The children were very young from the ages of four and higher.

2: They were taken away form their families, especially their mother and fathers and sold. (Quote).

3: The boy was known as "chimney sweeper" or "a little black thing among the snow".

4: The children dream about the church rescuing them, but once they wake up and reality strikes again, the church does nothing to relieve the suffering.

Finding Salvation through the awful ordeal:

From Frederick Douglass:

1: Douglass had this dream inside to not be a slave anymore.

2: Found salvation through learning how to read and write.

3: He finds a name for himself at the end

From William Blake:

1: