e author includes several stories of things John Brown did in his life that exemplify his unselfishness. Upon hearing that a family miles away was starving and living in poverty one winter John Brown went to the man with a business offer to help the man because he wouldnt accept just donations. The offer gave the man food and clothing in exchange for his labor the next summer. When the summer time came around, John Brown didnt even let the man work for him. This is showing the good nature of John Browns personality. The author tries to plant this in the minds of the reader and forces them to recognize John Brown as a sane man who followed the Golden Rule. He believed slavery was a war in which a powerful side was holding captive and punishing a much weaker minority. At one point earlier in his life he wanted to buy a slave to give him or her an education, believing that was the problem and reason for their slavery. He thought that educating the slaves would help stop slavery because their ignorance was being used against them as a weapon in the war and education would give the slaves their freedom. Another theme covered by Stavis is how the earlier years in John Browns life included more wealth and feelings of peace. At first he though slavery could be ended in a peaceful mature manner but later on realized this wouldnt be possible. Being a man of solid ethics brought John Brown to the conclusion that killing would be necessary to achieve this goal. He advocated killing in order to achieve and ethical purpose, (page 36) and knowingly and willingly broke the Fugitive Slave Law and urged others to do so. Others accepted this under the belief that a man has the perfect right to interfere by force with the slaveholder in order to rescue the slave. However, it was only after a harsh revelation and conclusion did John Brown realize that violence would have to be used to abolish slavery. He had so much faith in God that he...
