American Literature

Rutherford Calhoun, a freed slave finds himself in the middle of the complicated sociopolitical conflict within the ship, Republic. Because of his many affiliations, being a Black American, a former slave and part of the ships crew as the assistant of Sqibb, the ships cook, he has formed unlikely alliances and connections with the people in ship. Calhoun, being a former slave, is closely associated with the African slaves that the ship has illegally picked up to sell to the American society although being educated he has a certain affiliation with the free men in the ship, especially as he is working as part of the ships crew. His experience in the ship also made him value his affiliation to the American society, being able to become free himself.

Affiliations are connections and relations to the people, but not necessarily blood relations. Affiliations are the common characteristics, values and norms that paves way for people to understand each other. This is how Calhoun was able to identify with the different affiliations he had within the ship. He has various affiliations as, one way or another, he is connected with other people through experience, values and race. This is an important aspect of gaining trust from other people. Trust, therefore, is given to someone an individuals believe that will understand, support and not judge his decisions and perspectives in a point of view that is different from ones own. It is earned by someone who is able to show that he can relate to the person without betraying him. Affiliation is a big part of trust as affiliation shows that one is connected to the other and there is a certain value in that connection.

Calhoun was able to gain the trust of the different groups within the ship because of his affiliation with them. Knowing the background and the connection that he has with a certain individual allows him to activate his affiliation, using it to further establishing connection, communication and, eventually, trust. Calhouns position as the middle man between the different groups in conflict within the ship shows that he was able to come to that position because of his many affiliations, allowing himself to move between, inside and out of the groups, with those groups believing that Calhoun is on their side because of his affiliation with them.

Calhoun, then, represents dualism and conflict as Falcon explains that dualism is a bloody structure of the mind (Johnson, p.98). Calhoun is caught between the different cultures, which incidentally shaped his personality. This indicates that affiliation greatly influences ones identity and beliefs. Ones identity is shaped by blood affiliation with different cultures. Shared meanings and values are passed on from one culture to another, comprising an individuals origins. One has no one origin, as an individual is a mix of everyone else. As such, Calhoun was seen by his fellow crew members as the one who will go his own way, like hes always done, believin in nothin, belongin to nobody, driftin here and there and dyin (Johnson, p.88). This emphasizes that although Calhoun has relations with everyone in the ship, he does not belong to anyone as he has multiple affiliations unlike the other crew members who are white, believing that they are the ones that are true Americans.

Having different affiliations makes it both easy and hard for someone to gain trust from another individual or a group. Easy because it creates a connection between individuals and hard because the other person knows that you are also affiliated with the other side of the group. Knowing who one is talking to, he will be able to determine what affiliation to emphasize, thus, allowing him to gain trust and confidence from the individual he is relating to.