The Travels of William Wells Brown describes the life of William Wells as a slave, a fugitive and a free person. He underwent immense suffering as a slave before he decided to journey through Mississippi to the North, where he eventually got the freedom he had desired for a long period. Later he on became an abolitionist for the rights of slaves as a free person. The term travels can be used as a metaphorical representation of the life of Wells as a slave, fugitive, and a freeman. A metaphor is a comparison between two unrelated things without using “as” and “like” to make allegory. Therefore, “travels” is a metaphor for Wells’ life experiences, because of the transitions and plans involved in his life, and the distance and patience of his journey to freedom.
This essay explicates the term travels as a metaphorical representation of William Wells’ life as a slave, fugitive, and freeman.
Firstly, “travels” is an apt metaphor for the three phases of Brown’s life. It is worth noting that travelling entails different stages such as an individual move from one point to another. One has to pass through various points before getting to the desired destination in his life. Brown’s life involves significant transitions from slavery, to fugitiveness before he reaches his ultimate point of freedom. For instance, he works as a house servant during his days in slavery. He undergoes all forms of suffering as a house servant because of the tyrannical nature of his master. Later on, Brown is hired out to a slave trader, Mr. Walker. He works in undesirable conditions, because he is given unpleasant tasks such as disguising the ages of other slaves through plucking their gray hair. Furthermore, he decides to escape from his new master as he moves towards freedom. Travels is an apt metaphor for Brown’s life as it represents the gradual nature in which he moved towards his dream of being a freeman and assisting other slaves to also move towards freedom (Brown and Jefferson 78). “Travels” is an apt metaphor because it highlights the difficulties that one may expect as he moves from one point to another. Therefore, “travels” metaphorically represents the transitions in the life of Brown.
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Secondly, “travels” is an apt metaphor for the phases of Brown’s life because of the plans and decisions that took place in his life. Notably, Brown had to make brave and wise plans that would ensure that he successfully reaches his dream of being a freeman in life. In most cases, individuals would always plan for their travels in order to ensure that they do not forget any particular thing that may occur significant in the course of their journey. Therefore, “travels” is a metaphorical representation of the phases in Brown’s life as they all involved a series of plans that would help him to succeed. For instance, Brown plans to overcome slavery by putting in place effective measures that would help him escape towards freedom. This is similar to the manner in which individuals put in place plans that would make travelling fun and a success. The effective plans that he sets ensures that he is able to succeed in his movement towards his ultimate dream of freedom. He employs tricks in his plans in order to complete his movement towards freedom. The processes of planning that were involved at each stage of Brown’s life makes “travels” an apt metaphor to represent these stages.
Lastly, “travels” is an apt metaphor for the phases in Brown’s life because of the distance and the patience that he exhibited in his movement towards freedom. In the course of travelling, the distance may appear long, but individuals have to be patient and effectively resilient. Brown underwent sufferings during his life as a slave but kept on with the urge of moving towards freedom. The distance was long and bumpy, but he did not give up on the urge of moving towards freedom and ensuring that the rights of slaves are addressed later on (Brown and Jefferson 187). He set up plans that ensured him to wait until his journey towards freedom will reach a successful completion. “Travels” is an apt metaphor for Brown’s patience and the long distance as most travelers have in the course of the journey. His movement towards freedom was bumpy but he remained focused and patient as he moved towards his final destination of achieving the required level of freedom.
In conclusion, The Travels of William Wells Brown describes the life of William Wells as a slave, a fugitive and a free person. He underwent immense suffering as a slave before he decided to journey through Mississippi to the North, where he eventually got the freedom he had desired for a long period. After gaining the freedom that he had really desired, he became an abolitionist for the rights of slaves as a free person. “Travels” is an apt metaphor for the different stages that occur in Brown’s life. A metaphor is a comparison between two unrelated things without using “as” and “like” to make the allegory. Travels is an apt metaphor for Wells’ life experiences because of the transitions involved in his life, the plans involved in his life, and the distance and patience of his journey to freedom. Brown goes through the different phases in his life with effective plans and patience that promote his successful move towards freedom.