Analyzing Thomas Freneau's 'To Sir Toby'

Words: 905
Pages: 4

1. How does Freneau compare the flower of the Wild Honey Suckle to life? Freneau compares the honeysuckle to the different stages of life from birth to death. He compares the birth of a growing child to the honeysuckle grows to full bloom. Freneau describes the spring is the birth of the flower and fall is when the flowers will die.

2. How does Freneau describe how an Indian warrior is buried? What are some of the specifics of the picture he paints? Freneau describes Indians are buried in a seated position. He writes, “The Indian, when from life released, again is seated with his friends.” He goes on to say, “they do not lie, but here they sit.” Meaning that Indians are buried sitting in an upright position.

3. In “To Sir Toby,” Freneau writes a scathing piece about the evils of slavery in the Jamaican Sugar Plantations. His word choices paint a grisly picture of what life is like here. What are some of the descriptors he uses? Freneau describes slavery as someone being cast into hell when he says, “Cudjoe is branded with Sir Toby’s brand on his chest.” He hears the slaves getting whipped and describes how they are chained together like livestock.

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Having studied Thomas Paine’s work last week, what does Freneau mean in “On Mr. Paine’s Rights of Man” when the first two lines state “Thus briefly sketched the sacred rights of man, How inconsistent with the royal plan! Freneau speaks of his disapproval of hierarchy of the kings ruling the American government and he go on to say, “that king, subsist by war, and wars are a waste: so shall our nation, formed on virtues