Fee’s Reviews > James > Status Update

I just realized I was wrong about telling people they need to reread Huck Finn by Mark Twain. What we really need to review while reading. This are the philosophers of the enlightenment. Including John Locke, Voltaire, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche.

“There were, 12 of us, marching down the main street that separated the free side of town from the slave side, tin white men in black face, one black man passing for white and painted black, and me, a light brown black man painted black in such a way as to appear like a white man trying to pass for Black.”

Voltaire believed:

If you see the world clearly, you will see that it is often absurd.
The response should not just be anger — but intelligence, irony, and creation.

Reference to Voltaire’s philosophy:the absurdity situation with Norman explaining to James the point of James wearing black face during a performance “ help me understand, I’m to look authentically black, but I need the makeup.”

“Not exactly. You’re black, but they won’t let you into the auditorium if they know that, so you have to be white under the makeup so that you can look black to the audience.

Quote: I love walking on a country road, the king said there’s just something about it, the air, the openness.
“All roads is the same, the Duke said they take you out and they takes you in and they takes you out again”

Notes on Kierkegaard:pg 72 “what would Kierkegaard wish for?” The freedom to be able to choose who he is and what he wants to do without society making those choices for him.

Voltaire: Candide is a satire about a man who is taught that:

“This is the best of all possible worlds.”

Then the character travels the world and experiences:
• War
• Slavery
• Earthquakes
• Cruelty