Argumentation Blog #6: Slave Narrative

     Traumatic experiences in one's life can affect them remarkably, and one of the most traumatic and disgusting experiences one can go through is slavery. Slavery existed in America for a long time and it was not until 1865 when the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified that the slaves became free. Unfortunately the terrors and trials of slavery cannot be erased from one's mind. 121 year old Sarah Gudger describes her lasts memories of her mother and in her description, she mentions that the stars don't shine as bright as they did before. Traumatic experiences get scarred into a person's mind and affects them, most of the time they do not recover.

     The sound of tires screeching, glass breaking, family screaming. The sight of the world spinning. The feeling of glass cutting your skin, tumbling down a hill. A car crash. A traumatic experience such as that can affect a victim. The anxiety and fear of going inside a car can grow inside that person, forever changing them both consciously and unconsciously. There are a number of events that can alter somebody's life, it may not be as extreme as a car crash but they can be just enough to change a person. In Sarah Gudger's case, it was losing her mother to slavery.
     Now, there some experiences may not change a person's mentality, getting scared straight doesn't mean that they're going to change and be a better person. However it doesn't have to be all in the mind. A family member dying doesn't have to be an emotional roller-coaster, but that does mean that one is going to have to live without that person. One may get scared straight and still be the same person, but it can change their relationships with their friends and family.
     Maybe the reason as to why the stars don't shine as bright is because her mother implanted that idea into her brain. Either way traumatic experiences do change people and it's up to the person to decide whether it'll affect them positively or negatively