Slavery- Frederick Douglass and Herman Melville
Frederick Douglasss Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, is a raw narration that not only touches human heart but human soul as well. It conveys and illustrates how important freedom is for a person in order to gain self-identity and what oppression does to an individual. The practice of slavery was prominent in the South and everyone is well apprised of the Civil War that followed it. Douglass presents slavery as an abomination of mankind. Slavery robbed mankind of his own identity. Several instances in Douglasss Narrative depict this. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege and My father was a white man. He was admitted to be such by all I ever heard speak of my parentage. The opinion was also whispered that my master was my father but of the correctness of this opinion, I know nothing the means of knowing was withheld from me (Douglass), only emphasizes the fact that the slaves were forced to be ignorant of their own identity.
Slaves were neither allowed to make any inquires to the master regarding any personal information as an evidence of a restless spirit, nor were they allowed to complain regardless the emergency of the situation or justify themselves. They were subordinate souls that lived under constant fear and never knew when they would be punished by their masters.
Masters like Colonel Lloyd owned about three to four hundred slaves and this can be compared to a human being who owns livestock. The very fact that a slave child before its twelfth month was separated from its mother and when Douglass points out that he had met his mother only four or five times and was not allowed to see her even at her funeral only portrays that the slaves were thoroughly exploited by their masters. The masters like Mr. Covey used slaves who were women as breeders to breed more slaves to add to their wealth. Any women found in the company of another man was beaten very badly and Douglasss first horror that imprinted his mind was the assault of his Aunt Hester by the master Captain Anthony for the very cause. Such was the state of slaves who were women
No slave owned their body and the master was free to use it as and how heshe wanted. Most masters punished their slaves without any fault of theirs and brutally abused their bodies physically and their mind mentally. Several instances in Douglasss Narrative prove this. The whipping of old Barney for unreasonable issues horse was slow or did not hold its head high, tarring of the fence so that no slave went and ate the fruits in the garden, killing of Demby by Austin Gore just because he hid himself in the creek and hadnt come out when Gore gave a call validate the cruelty of the masters. Emotionally drained, Douglass states that, thus the guilty perpetrator of one of the bloodiest and most foul murders goes unwhipped of justice, and uncensured by the community in which he lives. The killing of two slaves by Mr. Thomas Lanman, killing of another slave girl by Mrs. Giles Hicks just because she was slow to go near Mrs. Hickss baby when it cried, killing of an old slave by Mr. Bondly because the slave had trespassed his property and had fished for oysters and Douglasss own assault in the hands of Mr. Covey prove how inhuman and mournful a slaves life was. They were frequently whipped when least deserving, and escaped whipping when most deserving it (Douglass), amplifies the fact that a slaves life was solely dependent on the mood of the master. It was under the masters discretion when and how he could suppress the slave.
No law could question the actions of the masters. The masters made the law. They easily escaped by stating that the slaves were unmanageable and thus they had to resort to violence to teach other slaves a lesson. Teaching the slaves was unlawful and no slave was to be educated. The school that was started by Mr. Wilson for the slaves was soon shut down by the community. Any slave who struck a white man was killed as per law. No slave could testify against a white and that was the law. No law sheltered the life of the slaves and It was a common saying, even among little white boys, that it was worth a half-cent to kill a nigger, and a half-cent to bury one (Douglass). Thus, we can clearly understand that society was divided on the basis of color. Racism was prevalent in the South and it poached the law to that extent that secularism and democracy had no stand against it.
Slavery as we know is equivalent to bondage as the slaves were treated no better than animals or in certain circumstances we can say that they were treated worse than the animals. Douglass provides us an explicit picture of the lifestyle of a slave
The slaves received, as their monthly allowance of food, eight pounds of pork, or its equivalent in fish, and one bushel of corn meal. Their yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts, one pair of linen trousers, like the shirts, one jacket, one pair of trousers for winter, made of coarse Negro cloth, one pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes the whole of which could not have cost more than seven dollars.
Most of the slave children from seven to ten years old were seen naked as their clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts per year and if that failed they went naked till next allowance day. The food for slave children was served in a common tray and they ate like many pigs devouring the food and only the strongest ate the most. Douglass recalled the cold winter that he spent as he had nothing but a linen cloth on and he was forced to sleep in a stolen corn bag. Douglass states that, My feet have been so cracked with the frost that the pen with which I am writing might be laid in the gashes. Such was the living condition of a slave
Slavery harassed the slaves emotionally and left them bereft of any humane emotion. They who were scared to voice out their opinions were used to such severe hardships that meager physical violence or hardship was a part and parcel of their lives. Slavery for Mr. Covey a man known to break slaves had its own advantage and disadvantage for Douglass. He made him work all throughout the day and sneaked up on those who rested and whipped them. Douglass was so exhausted and emotionally broken down that he wanted to end his life and began to doubt in the existence of God. He confounds this by stating that, I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, and the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died the dark night of slavery closed in upon me and behold a man transformed into a brute Something changed Douglass something gave him the spirit to fight against Covey and his men. It was this fight that became a turning point in his life. He began to believe in his manhood and the confidence that was dead in him began to surge to life. His want for freedom began to grow immensely, for he states that, He only can understand the deep satisfaction which I experienced, who has himself repelled by force the bloody arm of slavery (Douglass). Another repercussion of slavery that we can comprehend is violence that outbreaks and the want for freedom that burns ones heart, mind, body and soul.
If violence was one way to gain freedom, Douglass used knowledge to gain it. Educating a slave was against the law and with the few alphabets that his mistress Sophia Auld taught him, Douglass fought his way through, going through several hardships, be it bribing the local boys or practicing writing on the walls, he learnt to read and write and was finally able to read The Columbian Orator, a dialogue between a master and slave. He learnt the meaning of the word abolitionist and planned his escape.
Escaping the clutches of slavery and having enough confidence to write this narration, Frederick Douglass hesitated to mention the names of the people who taught him, helped him escape or the means that he used to escape the brute called slavery. Power corrupts man and the slave holder who got the taste of dominating and controlling anothers life was affected and controlled by this evil called slavery. Douglass also brought about the squeamish and ill practices of the churches of the South that supported slavery. The slave holders who visited the church became even more confident in their sacrilegious acts that they named confidently called it religious. Using irony and expressing his views sharply, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass portrays the condition of a slave who used knowledge to gain his freedom and upon reflection at one point did feel that death was better than slavery.
The enigma that Benito Cereno by Herman Melville weaves is truly astounding. Staging its characters in the most mysterious way and portraying the still image of slavery in its scene, Benito Cereno unfolds the repercussions of slavery. It highlights the violence used by the slaves against the oppression called slavery. The central theme of Benito Cereno is racism. Was it racism that gave rise to slavery or was it slavery that gave rise to racism- the point is moot when we read Benito Cereno as racism or slavery-both gave rise to violence.
Slavery existed all round the world and we get a clear picture of this when the ship named San Dominick from Spain reached the coast of St.Maria. Amasa Delano, of Duxbury (Massachusetts), the Captain of the ship Bachelors Delight, compassionate towards the plight of the ship, upon inspection found out that it was, A Spanish merchantman of the first class, carrying negro slaves, amongst other valuable freight, from one colonial port to another (Melville). After meeting Benito Cereno, Delano concluded that he was half-lunatic and lost in his cloudy languor. The condition of the slaves in San Dominick was no better than any slave and upon closer look, Delano states that, In one language, and as with one voice, all poured out a common tale of suffering in which the Negresses, of whom there were not a few, exceeded the others in their dolorous vehemence (Melville). Shipping of slaves was a common practice that was followed and they were treated nothing more than animals. The brutal way in which they were chained and the unhygienic way in which they were led, resembled a horde of cattle shipped to another place. The death rates of the slaves were very high. With their self-respect mutilated and subjected to scorn and difference, the life of a slave was truly exploited by their masters who owned them.
The servant wore nothing but wide trousers, apparently, from their coarseness and patches, made out of some old topsail (Melville) proves that they were given only limited clothes to wear and had to be satisfied and were always under the masters iron fist. Several instances portray the treatment given to the slaves as the story unfolds. Delano is surprised by the liberty that the slaves on the ship San Dominick enjoyed and taught that if Cereno perhaps had more energy would have controlled his slaves and managed them in a much better way. The very fact that the slave boy on the ship when assaulted a Spanish boy was left unpunished by the captain was a source of great concern for Delano and he mentioned Had such a thing happened on board the Bachelors Delight, instant punishment would have followed (Melville). Adding to this, Delano believed in keeping his slaves busy and occupied. To emphasize this fact we can quote Delanos words,
I should think, Don Benito, he now said, glancing towards the oakum-picker who had sought to interfere with the boys, that you would find it advantageous to keep all your blacks employed, especially the younger ones, no matter at what useless task, and no matter what happens to the ship. I once kept a crew on my quarter-deck thrumming mats for my cabin, when, for three days, I had given up my shipmats, men, and allfor a speedy loss, owing to the violence of a gale, in which we could do nothing but helplessly drive before it.
Delano, an American for whom slavery was an institution, was even more surprised by the privileges that Cerenos slave servant Babo. More adept to good conduct, he seemed to take care of his captain very well. Delanos offer to purchase Babo for fifty doubloons, adds to the fact that slaves were considered inferior to the whites and their life was controlled and dominated by their masters. They lived according to their masters wishes and abided by the confounded rules laid by them. Their masters wish was a command to the slaves. However, he was perpetually surprised by the presence of Babo next to his master even without the masters request that was strictly against the slave rule and Babos bold and confident attitude did surprise Delano and on one occasion he expressed his irony thus, Ha, Don Benito, your black here seems high in your trust a sort of privy-counselor, in fact(Melville). The ease at which Babo conversed with his master annoyed Delano. Delano was equally awed by the tyranny in Cerenos treatment of his slave Atufal and wondered if Cereno was truly a captain.
Delano narration of another instance of the punishment and ill treatment that slaves had to endure when he states, The trampling of the sailor by the two Negroes a piece of insolence passed over without as much as a reprimand (Melville). This emphasizes the fact that the slaves were otherwise not so bold and were subordinate to their masters always. Last but not the least, when Delano mentions, The cringing submission to their master, of all the ships underlings, mostly blacks as if by the least inadvertence they feared to draw down his despotic displeasure(Melville), he is thoroughly surprised and is unaccustomed to such behavior of the slaves. These instances only established the pathetic state of a slave.
What unfolds in the end of the story is the therapeutic resolve of the slaves to slavery. The approach that they used to gain freedom was violence and not knowledge. Babo and the other slaves had captured the Spanish ship and had held the Spaniards captive. Babos attempted murder on Cereno and ultimately his death in the hands of Delano only demonstrated the violence that the slave had resorted to, to gain his precious freedom. It ultimately tells to the entire world that slavery- a dreaded social disease if not treated, will procure more and more criminals to the society. Slavery and racism produce violence.
Having experienced slavery firsthand Fredrick Douglass represented the oppression and elucidated the effects of slavery in the most heart-touching, soul twitching sense. The sense of emotional turmoil felt by a slave and the cause and effect of slavery on ones approach towards life and finding freedom eventually through knowledge is the central theme of Fredrick Douglass Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Benito Cereno on the other hand by Herman Melville, is ambiguous in it approach and controversial in its support to anti-slavery ideals. In spite of it depicting the social scene of the slaves and the consequences of slavery it portrays slaves as rebels who use violence to achieve freedom. Both the works written only few years before the Civil War, prove that Douglass and Melville were contemporaries. Both tell the readers the direction in which the country was leading and very loudly blew the horns for the forthcoming Civil War.
Although Douglass portrayed the social conditions of the slaves and their want for freedom in the most non-violent way, Melvilles description of slaves as rebels only subtly pointed out the fact that regardless the approach to slavery the country was headed to internal conflict between the North and the South. It was time that the society was uprooted of the evil called racism that gave birth to slavery. All in all one can now understand how freedom is important and these works provide a great example for mans struggle for freedom.
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment