Commentary on quotations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Commentary on quotations - Essay Example the rights to equality to black citizens but in modern day America, there are other problems created by the inability that still exists to resolve racial tensions and build more empathy and understanding between races. The quotations from famous works below explore some aspects of freedom and independence for all races. In this extract from a latter, John Winthrop is actually speaking of the privations endured on a ship and the relief that they were able to receive. But in these words that speak of Heaven, a Heaven that can be attained although it is necessary to pass through Hell to get to it, there is an underlying symbolism that indicates happiness and godly ends can only be achieved after much struggle and suffering. The heaven that is described in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, which aims to bring equality and liberty to every individual, can only be achieved after much upheaval and turmoil. This is especially notable in the civil rights movement and the long struggle endured by the slaves in achieving their freedom; they have literally passed through Hell and fought for the equality promised in the Constitution, so that successive generations would not have to endure the privations they did. These poignant words, drawn from the American National hymn, express the spirit of the unity and equality that the nation’s forefathers desired when they framed the Declaration of Independence. These lines clearly state the ownership of American soil is not restricted to any particular race or class, it belongs to every American, irrespective of age, sex or race. The practice of segregation which was practiced in America would therefore rise in contravention to the spirit of equal ownership of land, because it declared certain territories off bounds for slaves. Any practice that seeks to isolate members of particular group within a particular geographical terrain and refuse to let them be free would also rise in