Casey Deans 10592737
Carayon H2700
Slavery Assignment
The Devil You Know
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave & Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl are two autobiographies which reveal the many dehumanizing methods used to strip slaves of self-identity. The efficacy of the slave-holder's methods is both challenged and supported by the lives of these two people. The procedure of brutalization and animalization of human beings which the American slave-holders used can be segmented into two main areas, the physical and emotional. The investigation of these autobiographies has a beneficial effect of enlightening the reader to the absolute disgustingness of slavery and the righteous goodness of freedom.
Both the competency and the inefficiency of the institution of slavery are presented by these two accounts of slaves. The effectiveness of slavery's dehumanizing methods is admitted when Frederick Douglass states, "Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, 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!" (Douglass, 71) Harriet Jacobs also testifies to the power of these methods when she denies herself the sweet release of death many times throughout her life. Release from the shackles of slavery would not come from death and the "cheerful spark" would be resurrected into a mighty daybreak whose light would expel the dark night of slavery. The inadequacy of slavery's "breaking me [slaves]" is displayed by the transformation that occurs after slavery. Frederick Douglass illustrates that he is not only a human but a wonderful human with the following statement, "Sincerely and earnestly hoping that this little book may do something toward throwing light on the American slave system and hastening the glad day of deliverance to the millions of my brethren in bonds--faithfully relying upon the power of truth, love, and justice, for success in my humble efforts --and solemnly pledging my self anew to the sacred cause,-I subscribe myself," (Douglass 119). Harriet Jacobs also shows us that slavery is powerful enough to make her wish for death as a substitute but not powerful enough to break her human spirit forever. She displays her personhood when she reacts to prejudice aboard a train, "My answer was that the colored servants ought to be dissatisfied with themselves, for not having too much self-respect to submit to such treatment; that there was no difference in the price of board for colored and white servants, and there was no justification for the difference of treatment. I staid a month after this, and finding I was resolved to stand up for my rights, they concluded to treat me well. Let every colored man and woman do this, and eventually we shall cease to be trampled under foot by our oppressors." (Jacobs 340) The dehumanization methods of slavery are effective but temporary as they only last until release is granted through manumission, escape, or freedom through death.
The first and most obvious main area in which owners robbed their slaves of humanity was the physical cruelty of slavery. Wm. Lloyd Garrison lists the many forms of physical abuse, "As if whips, chains, thumb-screw, paddles, blood-hounds, overseers, drivers, patrols, were not all indispensable to keep the slaves down, and to give protection to their ruthless oppressors!" (Preface 10) Slaves were informed that they were chattel and when they behaved in any way which was not as livestock should behave they were whipped, kicked, beaten with sticks, or abused until they began to behave as a thing not a person. Starvation created a sense of animalistic feeling that they were sub-human brutes. Their beastly status was further enhanced by their appearance. The ability to cover one's body with clothes is a universal trait and although other cultures have a small amount of clothing, it is their choice to wear very little. They are often influenced by the climate rather than a lack of desire for individuality. The slave, however, is given no choice in his clothes and subsequently his appearance. This has the effect of making them appear beastly and indistinct from one another. The only factor in their life in which they could judge their standing among one another was not how much food they have, work they did, or clothes and objects they possessed but rather the status of their owner. This created a mental state which Frederick Douglass describes, "They [slaves] seemed to think that the greatness of their masters was transferable to themselves. It was considered as being bad enough to be a slave, but to be a poor man's slave was deemed a disgrace indeed! (Douglass 33). They are physically treated as animals to the point they believe in their animal state and deny their natural rights.
The second main area of the process of subjection to slavery is the mental or emotional tactics the slave owners employ. The strongest emotions a person has are those related to family. The degree of intensity is great with familial emotion making it the hardest feeling to remove. Harriet Jacobs describes this emotion with great detail and imagery when she responds to the possibility of her daughter being forced back into slavery, "This it was, more than any thing else, that roused such a tempest in my soul...I thought of what I had suffered in slavery at her age, and my heart was like a tiger's when a hunter tries to seize her young." (Jacobs 366) This love and sense of family and the effects of the owners destruction of those feelings is shown when Harriet Jacobs father responds to the question asked by his son, "You both [mistress and father] called me, and I didn't know which I ought to go to first." "You are my child," replied our father, "and when I call you, you should come immediately,..." (Jacobs 136) The slave's family was attacked first by frequently having many families separated by the selling off of children while at a young age. The slave's uniqueness was attacked secondly by depriving him of the knowledge of his birthday and true name. The slave was also objectified by being given the label of "nigger" in substitute of a name. An entire paper could be written on that labeling and the disastrous effects it had and has on the human population. The mental effects of sexual abuse and sexual harassment are far more devastating than the physical effects and for that reason I place them in the area of emotional and mental abuse. These abuses were in my opinion the vilest and most revealing of the sociopathic hideousness of slavery and are best summarized by Harriet Jacobs, "The slave girl is reared in an atmosphere of licentiousness and fear. The lash and the foul talk of her master and his sons are her teachers. When she is fourteen or fifteen, her owner, or his sons, or the overseer, or perhaps all of them, begin to bribe her with presents. If these fail to accomplish their purpose, she is whipped or starved into submission to their will. She may have had religious principles inculcated by some pious mother or grandmother, or some good mistress; she may have a love, whose good opinion and peace of mind are dear to her hear; or the profligate men who have power over her may be exceedingly odious to her. But resistance is hopeless." (Jacobs187) By destroying the sense of family, self, and ownership of sexuality this "peculiar institution" (Jacobs 179) confiscated the feeling of being a human being.
The slave owner aspired to transform a man into a beast. This unnatural sacrilegious act was only temporarily successful. By sharing their stories of escape from a life of physical and emotional abuse Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs expose the contradictory nature of the self titled "masters/mistresses" who were slaves to their own wickedness. Witnessing this abominable institution through the authors' eyes is truly educating and allows us to learn more about our past as we prepare for the future.
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