LITR 4332 American Minority Literature: Lecture Notes

Complete African American literature; midterm preview; assign American Indian literature

Tuesday, 30 September: Complete African American, assign American Indian literature; midterm prep

Poetry presentation: Albert Gazeley, "The Cry of the Native American"

Reader: LeChelle Walker

Poetry presentation: Langston Hughes, "Harlem" & "Dream Variations" (use with obj. 5a)

Reader: instructor

Tuesday, 7 October: midterm exam (in-class or email)

Tuesday, 14 October:  begin American Indian literature

Reading assignments:

• handouts for American Indian literature on "Origin Stories," etc.

• begin Zitkala-Sa, American Indian Stories: "Impressions of an Indian Childhood" (7-45); "The School Days of an Indian Girl" (47-80)

Minority Culture or Literary Style Reader (Zitkala-Sa, American Indian Stories): Telishia "Tee" Mickens

Poetry presentation: Linda Hogan, "November"

Reader: Kirsten Massey

African American language and literacy

Premise: If you're studying "American Minority Literature," it's a given that African American literature will feature prominently.

Question: Why have African Americans been the earliest, most productive, most important minority group in American literature?

Examples: 

Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, first published 1789, same year as U. S. Constitution.

+ Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784), whose Poems was published in 1773.

+ a surprisingly large number of other writers of slave narratives, black ministers publishing sermons, and black poets

Continuing tradition within and outside of "mainstream" American or Anglo-American literature.

African American Writers: A Celebration

Web Resources on African American Literature (excellent compilation from Bluefield State College)

(Why have African Americans been the earliest, most productive, most important minority group in American literature?)

Purposes of literary studies--recent emphasis on "texts" and how they have meaning

But earlier studies of English or Literature emphasized language, how it works

language as basis of culture

literacy as basis of western civilization and democracy

(Why have African Americans been the earliest, most productive, most important minority group in American literature?)

First answer--linguistic & social reasons

Compared to other ethnic groups, Africans had to give up their native languages almost immediately and adopt English (or other new languages in the New World--e. g., Spanish, Portuguese, Creole)

forced adaptation of English & proximity to mainstream culture

that is, when taken from Africa, taken out of settings in which their language was used and tossed onto a ship with other Africans who spoke different African languages; Nigeria: Hausa & Ibo; at that point, forced to pick up English  not only to talk with slavemasters but also to talk with each other

37 Africans of all languages

38 x-converse with countrymen

39 not one soul who could talk to me

40 smattering of English

51 speak English tolerably well, understand everything

65 talked too much English

118 talked too good English

contrast language opportunities for Indians and Mexican Americans

both Indians and Mexican Americans may maintain alternative language groups and therefore have another language to practice--English will be practiced less intensively

any individual may have had to learn some English for trade purposes, "kitchen English," no long or involved conversations but can get by and get job done; "broken language" but a working relationship

but the next night or week that individual might be able to return to a community where others spoke Spanish or the Indian language

However, African American English or Black English is as different from mainstream American English as, say, mainstream American English is different from Australian or British English.

often recognizable or "marked" as variant of English

extreme variants: hip-hop, street talk, authentic black, Ebonics

but . . .

Also many mild variants--compare "family language," class language, church language, elders' language--all with their own special vocabulary and rhythms

Many black speakers are "bi-lingual"; don't speak to everyone the same way; multi-layered; but all people do it as they change speech-communities

Hip-hop artists can shift from performance to white-interview-style, classroom voice

compare Equiano's, Douglass's, and Jacobs's style--"unmarked" because writing mostly for a white audience

book talk vs. street talk; emotion vs. reason

Again, like the Dream rooted in the American Dream, African America is a part of America and a distinct part of America

literacy and liberation / democracy

Many of us training to teach English, or going to work in areas requiring strong language skills, so we don’t need convincing

But constantly have to remind ourselves, our schools, and larger public why this study of literature, reading matters

obj. 5c. To regard literacy as the primary code of modern existence and a key or path to empowerment.  

Why make it illegal to read? > independent thought, interpretation

(When you're reading, no one can see what you're thinking)

American Indian assignments

Monday, 24 October: read handouts for American Indian literature on "Origin Stories," etc.

Poetry presentation(s):

Simon J. Ortiz, “Travels in the South,” UA 278-281.

Reader: Joel Carter

Respondent: Linda Castro

Victora Lena Manyarrows, “Lakota Sister / Cherokee Mother,” UA 286-287.

Reader: Starr Haun

Respondent: Mary Kay Clements

Mary TallMountain, “The Last Wolf,” UA 33-34.

Reader: Rachel Villareal

Respondent: Liavette Peralta

Web highlight (research proposals): Irving Peralta

Monday, 31 October: Zitkala-Sa, American Indian Stories (Foreword by Fisher, v-xx; pp. 7-126, 155-182);

RESEARCH PROPOSAL DUE

Poetry presentation(s):

Chrystos, “I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government,” UA 304

Reader: Theresa Mullins

Respondent: Jennifer Nall

Web highlight (research projects): Linda Sulpacio

Web highlight (final exams regarding American Indian literature): Adrian Holden

Monday, 7 November: selections from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

Read the following selections: "Every Little Hurricane," "The Only Traffic Signal . . . ," "This is . . . Phoenix, AZ," "Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire," " Train . . . to Some Result," "Somebody Kept Saying Powwow," "Witnesses, Secret and Not." Also consider seeing the movie Smoke Signals, based on this book.

Poetry presentation(s):

Peter Blue Cloud, “Crazy Horse Monument” UA 179-180.

Reader: Jennifer Humphrey

Respondent: Linda Sulpacio

Louise Erdrich, “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways” UA 26-27

Reader: Demra Trube

Respondent: Rachel Villareal

Web highlight (research projects): Mark Chapa

Web highlight (final exams regarding American Indian literature): Mary Bel Garza

Easy reading assignment for class after midterm: Handout on American Indian Creation or Origin Stories.

"origin stories" or "creation stories" as keystones or foundations of a culture's values, structures, narratives, goals.

stories = narratives (obj. 3)

Compare in dominant culture the battle between Biblical Creationism and Biological Evolution as the "creation story" or "origin story" for human life. 

Why would people keep fighting so long over which of these stories should be taught if they didn't feel some investment of identity and values?

Therefore, creation or origin stories amount to declarations of values, principles, relationships, identities, story patterns.

Stories imply "social contracts"

Definition of Social Contract Theory

> American Indian creation stories: what kinds of values, experiences, narratives?

Biblical creation story of Genesis is included. Compare and contrast.

Also one of the stories features Columbus, who's an essential figure in the dominant culture's "creation of America" story.

stories = narratives

Objective 3

To compare and contrast the dominant “American Dream” narrative—which involves voluntary participation, forgetting the past, and individuals or nuclear families—with alternative narratives of American minorities, which involve involuntary participation, connecting to the past, and traditional, extended, or alternative families.

3a. African American alternative narrative: “The Dream”

("The Dream" resembles but is not identical to "The American Dream." Whereas the American Dream emphasizes immediate individual success, "the Dream" factors in setbacks, the need to rise again, and a quest for group dignity.) 

3b. Native American Indian alternative narrative: "Loss and Survival"

(Whereas immigrants define themselves by leaving the past behind in order to become American, the Indians were once “the Americans” but lost most of their land along with many of their people. Yet Native Americans defy the myth of "the vanishing Indian," choosing to "survive," sometimes in faith that the dominant culture will eventually destroy itself, and the forests and buffalo will return.)

+ special consideration of American Indian culture:

How does one define "literature" for a culture that was defined less by writing than by the spoken word?

> high number of poetry presentations on American Indian literature.

Not to deny any group's ability to write good poetry or prose, but American Indian literature seems to have an unusually high quality of poetry. Could this be owing to the strong tradition in "oral literature," especially songs, chants, oratory, etc.?

midterm

Advice for all parts

·        Keep an eye on the clock.

·        Relate objectives to texts, but don’t simply repeat objectives and don’t simply quote texts; interpret, explain, explore, connect.

·        Avoid copying out long quotations from either the texts or the syllabus.

·        Don’t be afraid of complications or confusions. Literature represents human realities, and they're a part of reality, so explore and develop them. Beware of simple answers, as simple answers are usually reductive rather than critical and creative. Look at both sides; second-guess your conclusions; summarize what is understood and what remains to be understood.

Midterms read & returned

·        If you take the exam by email, your exam will be emailed back to you with a grade and comment, maybe before class on 24 Oct. (Email midterms and finals are not marked internally unless otherwise noted in comment.)

·        If you take the exam in-class, I will bring your graded midterm to class on either 24 Oct. or 31 Oct. 

Midterm attitudes

Problem of critical thinking for students who’ve taken a lot of Education courses

Education classes: “This is all you need to know,” “Memorize this list.”

Critical / creative thinking 

vs. 

reductive, bottom-line thinking

show and exercise pleasure in thinking / learning / opening to fresh knowledge

vs. 

fear of getting it wrong > "brainlock"  

grading standards

Link to sample midterms on webpage

How to use these samples?

1. You have to make at least one reference to the webpage beyond the poetry presentation selection.

2. Regard the samples as another source of instruction. If you can refer to ideas or expressions there, I'm impressed. Don't think it will seem like cheating. Your development of the material you learned there will be judged by the same standards as your development of material from class instruction.

3. Probably the only way you could go wrong is to lift chunks of someone else's writings from the midterm, with or without attribution. I'll probably recognize shifts to someone else's writing, esp. if I've seen it before.

4. Remember and imitate some of the best qualities shown by the samples, esp.

• inter-weaving of ideas and examples from texts
  

• use of ideas from class with personal expression and variations or extensions

ethnic and gender minority

objective 2a. Is the status of women, lesbians, and homosexuals analogous to that of ethnic minorities in terms of voice and choice? Do "women of color" become "double minorities?"

last week: closed on idea that most Americans are okay with analogy between women and ethnic minorities ( > "double minority")

but more Americans will hesitate regarding analogies between ethnic minorities and gays & lesbians.

"Open and affirming churches" plead that quest for equal rights and status for homosexuals in recent decades is comparable to Civil Rights Movement of 1960s.

But the analogy is often resisted or rejected by black churches who are liberal on ethnic issues but conservative on sexual or gender issues. "We didn't choose to be black, so you can't compare that situation to someone choosing to be gay."

Critical thinking exercise in examining analogy between ethnicity and gender

Reasons: Literary people and literature teachers are full of opinions, but ultimately our job isn't just to tell people what to think as much as it is to find ways to help people think as thoroughly, fairly, and effectively as possible.

+ sympathy for previous generations who underwent similar struggles in different areas

Democratic society as one in which no one's right all the time, and your worst enemy may be right some of the time.

Democratic society, based on talent and intelligence of its people, works best when as many voices as possible contribute, share, and either agree or agree to disagree. 

Objective 1

To define the “minority concept" as a power relationship modeled primarily by some ethnic groups’ historical relation to the dominant American culture.

1a. Involuntary participation—the American Nightmare

Unlike the dominant immigrant culture, ethnic minorities did not choose to come to America or join its dominant culture. Thus the original "social contract" of Native Americans and African Americans contrasts with that of European Americans, Asian Americans, and most Latin Americans, with the consequences of "choice" or "no choice" echoing down the generations, particularly in terms of assimilation or separation.

1b.  “Voiceless and choiceless”; “Voice = Choice”

Contrast the dominant culture’s self-determination or choice through self-expression or voice, as in "The Declaration of Independence."

1c. To observe alternative identities and literary strategies developed by minority cultures and writers to gain voice and choice:

·        “double language” (same words, different meanings to different audiences)

·        using the dominant culture’s words against them

·        conscience to dominant culture (which otherwise forgets the past).

1d.  “The Color Code”

Literature represents the extremely sensitive subject of skin color infrequently or indirectly. Generally western civilization transfers the values it associates with “light and dark”—e. g., good & evil, rational / irrational—to people of light or dark complexions, with enormous implications for power, validity, sexuality, etc. (But see objective 4 regarding “the New American” & racial ideology and practice.)

Review "voice and choice" in African American literature:

choice: 

African Americans didn't come to USA voluntarily (Equiano vs. Bread Givers) 

slavery and segregation denied choices in "liberty and the pursuit of happiness";

limited choices in terms of vocations (see Angelou's graduation); 

denial of choices in terms of partners (Jacobs's girlhood dream of marrying free carpenter)

Equiano's choice of names denied--basic ingredient of identity denied. (Also Marguerite is called Mary in Caged Bird)

Other issues, texts?

voice: 

On passage from Africa to America, African Americans split up from others speaking native language--curbing of native voice (inverse effect: African Americans learn English quickly)

"Muzzle" on African American woman in Equiano

In Douglass, slaves punished for telling the truth, or not allowed to answer slavemaster's accusations; slaves' testimony not admitted in court of law

Literacy withheld from Douglass and other slaves (Jacobs an exception)

Jacobs and Dr. Flint: "No" doesn't mean "no"--"You are my property!"

Marguerite in Caged Bird loses voice after rape.

(These last two examples cross from ethnic into gender territory.)

Discussion Question: How do "voice and choice" apply to gender minorities?

Heterosexual women?

Gays and lesbians?

women not allowed to be teachers if lesbian

limitations on jobs available--military, priesthood

Is gay identity a choice, or is it something inborn?

table on ethnic > gender relations 

+ handout

Answers to question 5 on last class's quiz on Caged Bird

5. What is the relationship between Marguerite getting pregnant and her concerns about lesbianism?

She is conflicted with herself. She thinks her development is a product of lesbianism. When that idea is thwarted, her concerns do not end. She determines she needs a man to figure herself out. That doesn't help either. She becomes pregnant.

Marguerite thought she was a lesbian because she liked her friends' breasts & did not stare out of jealousy, but out of admiration. She was not too attracted to men; so she went out and had sex, proving she was not a lesbian and getting pregnant. She felt justified she was not.

She figure if she got pregnant, then surely she couldn't be a lesbian.

She decided that she needed a "boyfriend" because she figured that would keep her from becoming a lesbian. So she found a boy that she knew and more or less traded sex for a feeling of "true" womanhood.

She was not getting good information about what makes a girl a lesbian, so she decided to investigate her sexuality by inviting a neighbor boy to have sex with her. . . .

Her body was changing, as normal teenagers do, and she was uninformed about these changes. She had also been reading a book about lesbians. I think her having sex (and becoming pregnant) was more about relief in discovering her body was just doing its job.

 . . . In the end, she did not completely resolve this issue with herself, even after she became pregnant.

She thought that if she had sex with a man then she was not a lesbian. . . .

Lesbians can't have children or so she thought . . . .

 . . . she lived her life as a dominant black woman, as many black women raise their children without a male . . . .

 . . . She believed that since she was pregnant she could not possibly be a lesbian.

ch. 35

232 lesbianism

232 confused (comedy)

237 man upstairs x-mistakes

238 needed a boyfriend

239 take matters into my own hands

240 take something from him (cf. Jacobs)

Recall from Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Jacobs has an affair with the white unmarried lawyer and bears two children. She asks for special consideration for the 

500 happy women, whose purity has been sheltered from childhood .  . free to choose the objects of your affection, whose homes are protected by law, do not judge the poor desolate slave girl too severely! 384

501 I knew the impassable gulf between us; but to be an object of interest to a man who is not married, and who is not her master, is agreeable to the pride and feelings of a slave . . . It seems less degrading to give one’s self, than to submit to compulsion. There is something akin to freedom 385

501 condition of a slave confuses all principles of morality . . . . 385

502 slave woman ought not to be judged by the same standard as others. 386

ch. 35

241 x-lesbian (comedy)

244 marry? > that’s that

244-5 Daddy Clidell: pregnant < Eve ate apple

245 totally mine

Conclusions:

Notice how quickly the issues of homosexual identity turned into issues of heterosexual identity!

Regarding homosexual identity: code of silence, ignorance--"If you don't know about it or can't say it, it doesn't exist."

But what if you do talk about it?

Upside: issue becomes related to other issues, capable of being discussed and controlled. Speakers, audience gain power insofar as respectful freedom is upheld. 

Downside: "related" becomes "relative."

That is, "absolute" values become "relative" values.

Instead of "absolute values" such as, "It's evil," "It's simply wrong," or "It's against nature,"

One may say

Critical thinking outcome: What are "absolute values" of civilization?

Free discussion? Self-determination?

or

Heterosexuality?

Annoyance of critical thinking: Rarely get a final answer.

Deliverance of critical thinking: Get to keep talking instead of fighting.

tentative conclusions regarding homosexuality in literature and culture

attitudes may relax as people pass the gender-identity-formation stages (or as their children do)

Is gay identity a lifestyle choice or a heredity issue?

• Another way of framing environment-heredity debate in human development.

• Right-wing evangelicals incline toward "lifestyle choice" while leftists and secularists incline toward "heredity, no choice." (Interestingly, this parallels Creation-Evolution debate somewhat in that evangelicals deny evolution based on genes.)

• Scientific evidence on this question is mixed. Some minor signs or tendencies in brain or neural formation may be associated with gay identity, but there's still at least enough variation among samples to suggest that environment may also be a factor (e. g., sailors and prisoners).

Numbers, statistics, percentages on how many gays & lesbians vary significantly from as low as 3% to as high as 30%, depending on statistical methods, standards, etc.

• Always a statistical minority, never a majority--explainable through evolution?

• Sometimes it seems as though there's a sudden growth in gay identity and awareness, but this is usually the result of a change in society's receptivity or repression toward the gay voice, or the result of an issue that brings the identity to consciousness (e. g., AIDS in the 80s, which for a while led to more consciousness but also led to some repression).

Politically, gays and lesbians are often associated with the left or liberalism, but gays and lesbians may be just as active in right-wing politics.

• The popular association of gays with the left is only an effect of "voice"--that is, the left tolerates and even sometimes celebrates such diversity, so gays and lesbians who are "out" may gravitate to the left for the sake of free expression. But any number of right-wing activists or corporate leaders lead quietly gay lives--Log Cabin Republicans, financial director of Enron, Pres. Bush's association with never-married women (Condoleezza Rice and Harriet Miers, among others--who knows?).
  

• If gay / lesbian identity is determined by heredity, then it will be more or less equally dispersed throughout the population. If a person is "born gay" in a conservative household, s/he doesn't necessarily change overall ideology with awareness of sexual difference

Lesbians tend to be less alarming or threatening than gay men. Why?

• Women have a wider range of affectionate and associative relations than men. Two women living together don't send off flares like two men living together.
  

• For most evangelical Christians, God is male, and even secular conservatives may assume a patriarchal structure to family and society. Therefore for many conservatives, the male form enjoys a special prestige whose penetration or violation amounts to sacrilege.
  

• Again we return to an irreducible problem for expression and reception of homosexual identity: it's foremost (though not absolutely) a sexual identity. Given our society's caution about sex to begin with, then add on a non-hetero angle to sex, and people find plenty of reasons to remain silent and let things work out privately. (The only catch is that privately doesn't necessarily equal fairly.)

If history is any guide, in a generation or so society at large will have adjusted to these changes. We've already made enormous adjustments in the past generation, from a nearly totally repressed consciousness of homosexuality to what can increasingly be described as a working relationship.

But this idea of progress assumes the *analogy* between other minority situations (like the Civil Rights Movement) and this one. Such analogies are sometimes resented by other minorities. Perhaps the differences will be greater than the likenesses and the analogy won't hold.

Web highlight/ Midterms: Linda Castro

LITR 4332, October 10, 2005

The Dream/ The American Dream

Moving through time, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, continues to echo these themes of “The Dream.”  One example is shown in the passages surrounding Maya’s graduation.  She writes, “it was a dream of a day.”  Maya is filled with the excitement of graduating as well as receiving special honors for academic achievement.  Yet she is also filled with a sense of foreboding.  She writes, “something unrehearsed, unplanned, was going to happen, and we were going to be made to look bad.”  It is as if she knows that her dream cannot be fully realized, at least not today.  She also makes special note of the pronoun “we.”  This reflects the group identity related to “The Dream.”  If anyone is made to look bad, they will all look bad as a group.  This is a direct contradiction to the notion of individuality inherent in the “American Dream.”  Sure enough, the white speaker manages to discredit most of the graduation celebration, but not quite.  Near the end of the passage, Angelou writes, “we were on top again.  As always, again.  We survived.”  The dream is a process, always a series of successes followed by failures.  Yet, the failures tend to be followed by other successes, other dreams, realized in increments as the result of resilience and faith. (TNK)

The Dream and The American dream are inseparable in that they intertwine with one another in sharing the same values. The women are not therefore choosing one or the other. All three, Linda, Maya, and Sandra are faced with setbacks, including the color of their skin. In the 2002 class, V. B. explains how the American Dream is characterized by the belief that hard work and following the rules guarantees success. V. B. states, “this belief, however, does not ring true to the ears of the African-American. Time after time, they, too, work diligently and follow all the rules, yet success invariably eludes them.” The Dream thus comes into play as a result of the American Dream being unattainable. Minorities such as Linda, Maya, and Sandra are characteristically faced with many setbacks, yet feel the need to rise again despite them. All three characters are forces into social contracts by the dominant race and culture. Linda and Maya both strive for group dignity and the idea of The Dream encompassing equality for all minorities. All three characters also look towards The Dream as something that will happen someday, although it may seem like a long ways off at the time. In trying to purse the American Dream, these characters develop the idea of the African-American Dream in Literature. [NC]

Double Minority

Along with this, Jacobs had to endure the fears that come along with being a slave mother.  After becoming pregnant, by a free African-American man, Jacobs was disappointed and fearful to discover that she had a girl.  As she states, “When they told me my new-born babe was a girl, my heart was heavier than it had ever been before. Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own”.  Granted, many men would feel the same way about their daughters and slavery, but there is something different, when a mother has endured these atrocities that many fathers cannot comprehend.  Along with these worries, Jacobs seems to feel guilty about giving birth to a girl.  A mother’s guilt is something that many men don’t seem to fully understand. [PN]    

In looking closely at Angelou’s and Jacobs’s stories, I found that both women had a strong African American mother figure to model themselves after.  Both women were able to draw upon that strength in later life and overcome many of the adversities.  Maya’s grandmother instilled in her the idea that although she was African American and a woman, that she could still carry herself with dignity and pride.  This is evident in the scene when Maya’s grandmother stands up and endures ridicule from one of the young white trash girls.  It is interesting to note that this young girl felt able to ridicule and elder African American woman.  Not only was she a woman, but she was African-American so that made her just a little bit lower on the totem pole.  Jacob’s grandmother, in her own right was just as strong to endure slavery and then the risks that came along with hiding her granddaughter.  She urged Jacobs not to loose sight of the idea of freedom and the hope that she would be reunited again with her children. [PN]

The characters Maya and Linda were discriminated against, dehumanized and abused both physically and emotionally. Examples of this include Maya raped by her mother’s boyfriend in St. Louis, her graduation ceremony, when she goes to the Stamps dentist, and when she applies for the streetcar job. Linda was sexually harassed and confined in a small attic, just to escape Dr. Flints and his horrendous behavior. [LC]

 Linda writes, "Slavery is terrible for men, but it was far more terrible for women" because women also had to fear and experience sexual abuse from their masters.

Web highlights

Krystal Gladden

I chose the topic of “double minority”, being black and a woman, because it relates to several compositions we have been discussing, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, I Know why the Caged Bird Sings and Black Girl Lost, which I read before we knew we didn’t have to.

            In coming up with an idea for this essay I found that the topic of the “double minority” that faces African-American women an interesting one.  Many would believe that being a minority has no stipulations or “add-ons” but after reading stories such as Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Harriet Jacobs’ “Incidents in the Live of a Slave Girl”, and Donald Goines’ Black Girl Lost, the realization occurred to me that African American women are and have always experienced the status of a “double minority”.  Not only do they have to overcome the racial barriers and stigmas that come along with being African-American, but they also have to deal with the suppressors and demeaning ideas brought on by being women.

          With these factors bearing down, African-American women have had to face more ridicule, physical abuse, and emotional distress at the hands of white and black men alike.  Beginning with Harriet Jacobs, we see the atrocities endured by this young slave girl. .. After becoming pregnant, by a free African-American man, Jacobs was disappointed and fearful to discover that she had a girl.  As she states, “When they told me my new-born babe was a girl, my heart was heavier than it had ever been before. Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own”…

[PN]