Friday, September 6, 2013

Conditions of Enslavement and Resistance Movements

After reading both "A Slave Tells of His Sale at Auction" and "A Slave Girl Tells of her Life," briefly comment on how the theme assigned to you is exemplified in the readings.  You will have more time to discuss your theme at length in class.


Corporeality (of the flesh) of slavery/Value of the human being vs. value of the flesh -- Dean, Josiah, Zion, Tommy

Mind-control of slavery/importance of withholding information from slaves -- Andrew, Osaro, Nick, CJ

Master/Mistress-slave relationship/Sexuality of slavery -- Jake, Anni, Lauren

11 comments:

  1. After reading "A Slave Tells of His Sale at Auction" and "A Slave Girl Tells of Her Life," I believe the theme assigned, master/mistress-slave relationship/sexuality of slavery, is exemplified in the readings because in both of the stories the slaves account for how they are treated and viewed in the master or mistress's eyes. In the second story the mistress-slave relationship is harsh. The master degrades and tries to corrupt the mind of the fifteen year old girl, while the age difference did not matter or count in the eye of the master. Although in the first reading the master-slave relationship is also one of cruel and indifferent feelings. When the slave questions where his mother went no one will inform him. After he is sold the relationship between his master changes and becomes much more harsh, because his new master beats non-obliging slaves with a wooden board. Both stories are of bad relationships between slaves and their masters. Sexuality of slavery does play a role in the second reading when the slave sees two sisters playing, one of white decent and one of black. She sympathizes for the black girl because she is innocent and does not know the future of her life.

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  2. "A Slave Tells of His Sale at Auction" and "A Slave Girl Tells of Her Life" are both clearly centered around the value of the flesh rather than the human being. In both passages they are each valued for what their flesh can provide to their masters. In the auction, his flesh becomes valuable for its ability to do manual labor and work while in the other, her flesh becomes valuable as a mean of sex. At no point in either of these stories do their value as human beings become a variable. They are to be used as tools; means to produce and provide. If the human being aspect were to enter the equation it would become much more difficult for people to commit such atrocities because they would then begin to be able to relate to these "subhumans".

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  3. After I Read "A Slave Tells of His Sale at Auction" and "A Slave Girl Tells of Her Life," I noticed that that the main common theme showed was how the slaves were treated and thought of by their Master. Understanding how the master feels and believes in their slaves in these readings, is accurate to suggest that the price of a human being is not that much greater than the value of basically their flesh. In "A Slave Tells of His Sale at Auction", Watson explains that, "The auctioneer was busy examining the slaves before the sale commenced," which created an picture of something similar to what people do when they window shop. It also showed me how much strength and age was important to the masters. Another example, in "A Slave Girl Tells of Her Life," Jacob's described how, "My master told me I was his property." This showed how intimidating and controlling a master treated his or her slave. It also shows how little power the slaves actually have.

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  4. Both “A Slave tells of His Sale at Auction” and “A Slave Girl Tells of her life,” are filled with dread. The master, in both stories likes to show dominance in every aspect of a slaves life. The master wants the slave to know that no matter where they run the slave will always be found. These sadistic masters want to take what little the slaves have and make sure they know that they are the masters’ property. The relationship between the Mistress and slaves, at first, is how any woman would treat her property back then. It is a “normal” relationship, as normal as owning another person can be. Once, the slave turns fifteen the mistress begins to hate and resent the young slave girl for her husband's indiscretions. It becomes a relationship of jealousy. The mistress blames the slave, not her husband for the vile things he does to the child. “A Slave Girl Tells of Her Life” goes on to discuss how just by being born, their life is already filled with darkness and despair.

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  5. After reading "A Slave Tells of His Sale at Auction" and "A Slave Girl Tell of Her Life" it is evident that mind control and withholding information from slaves was apparent in their everyday life. When the girl awoke with her mother missing in the morning, not one person gave her the information she wanted. This shows how even if your friend or an acquaintance asks you about something you cannot say a word because of what would happen if you master found out you told. In the mind controlling aspect, masters would degrade their slaves so much that they would just feel so worthless that they would listen to every word they said. Failure to listen would result in a beating or possibly even death. Overall I think that mind control by abusing the slave was a primary role in the life of a slave.

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  6. In the selections "A Slave Tells of his sale at Auction" and "A Slave Girl tell of her Life", it is apparent that mind control and with holding information from the slaves is establish quickly. In the beginning of the selection about "Sale at Auction" the young man wasn't able to obtain information about his own mother's whereabouts. Also, the slaves were abused by there masters, physical, mentally and emotionally so much that they feel like human beings anymore, The abuse was so constant that they just submit there selves. This tactic that the slave masters used was a monumentally factor into controlling their slaves.

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  7. Both "A Slave tells of His Sale at Auction" and "A Slave Girl Tells of her Life" are clear examples of the value of flesh rather than the human being. Slave traders and masters had no consideration for each slave as a person. They took notice only of what each slave could do to benefit them. In Harriet Jacobs' case, it was her attractiveness. When talking about the horrors of being a slave girl, she says, "If God has bestowed beauty upon her, it will prove her greatest curse." Henry Watson was also subject to these horrors. After having his mother taken from him, he was also sent from owner to owner before being auctioned off, alone in a world that deemed these atrocities acceptable.

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  8. OMG these people are terrible! How can they treat humans like that??

    I am not sure what "mind-control of slavery", but after I read these two stories, I guess that "mind-control of slavery/importance of withholding information from slaves" is what a slave has to face to in his/her life. As a slave, you are fear of everything and your mind is totally controlled by your master. Even you are not fear and you wanna cause a rebellion, one of the the scariest fact that you have to face to is DEATH. I think both stories described what a slave's life looks like in different environments and under different conditions, and I believe that feeling of being mind-controlling was extremely scary and hopeless. Waiting for been sold, looking for relatives with no information, being discriminated... those feelings make a slave feels even worse and make them believe that they should not be treated like a human because they are not "good" enough and they are not the same as their masters. In a word, "Mind-control of slavery/importance of withholding information from slaves" is one of the main reasons that make a slave as a "slave".

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  9. Hariet Jacobs and Henry Watson were slaves. Both told their stories about the cruelty and unfairness in the slave world. Mind control was huge among masters and their slaves. For example, Hariet Jacobs had to bear the insults and sexual exploitation from her master and she could not act back or else the master would tell her grandmother which she was afraid of. An example of withholding information in the slave world was when Henry got better when he was sick and the person auctioning him sent him of to play, but he did not know that he would be sold very soon and away from his family

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  10. "A Slave tells of His Sale at Auction" and "A Slave Girl Tells of her Life" show the reader that the flesh of slaves was more important than slaves as human beings. Slave owners do not care about the slaves rights, feelings, or mental state. However, once the slave trade is stopped slave owners begin taking care of the body of their slaves. Since they are no longer allowed to buy slaves they have to make sure the slaves they have now will be healthy enough to reproduce. Thus giving the slave owner a long supply of slaves. In conclusion, slaves are treated as flesh and not as a living human being.

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  11. After reading "A Slave Tells of His Sale at Auction" and "A Slave Girl Tells of Her Life," the theme "Master/Mistress-slave relationship/Sexuality of slavery" stood out because of the relationship the master had put in place. I say put in place because in the end, its in the master's hands how the slaves life and relationships end up. In the second story the mistress-slave relationship is a bad one. The master constantly degrades her making her feel like less of a human. Not uncommon, but the slave must have some physiological damage because of her inability to respond back.

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