Adrianna

I applaud Harding’s “insistence on local knowledge.” The idea that a person can be a “transparent eyeball” (like Emerson claimed) is not realistic; each person sees through his or her own personal interpretive lens. No one can be completely objective. We have discussed this extensively in my Early American literature class, and I think that this realization is one important contribution of postmodern theory.

At first I was hesitant to embrace the idea that marginalized people have a more objective or less distorted view. But then I thought about Frederick Douglass’ narrative and his analysis of slavery. Douglass saw not only how destructive slavery was to the slaves, but also to the slaveholders. The power owners had over their slaves was usually corrupting. Douglass also saw how hypocritical the slave owners were, preaching love and grace on Sunday, while on Monday they were whipping their slaves for insignificant or imagined offenses. Douglass’s view was much more objective, much more realistic than that of his white masters, because of his marginalized status. I think today we have much to learn from feminist writers as they offer a distinct perspective on a male-dominated world.