Resistance to slavery

Resistance to slavery is the subject of both Frederick Douglass, in his 1845 autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, and Mary Rowlandson, in her 1682 Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. The two authors had entirely different experiences--but in both of their narratives it becomes clear that the power the slaveholder exerts over the captive's mind is as important as the physical control he or she can exert over him or her. Indeed, it is often control over the mind--rather than the short-term gains of punishment--that is the object of the physical abuse of slaves. This abuse extends not just to whipping, restraining and beating slaves, but to overworking and underfeeding them, providing insufficient clothing and shelter, and creating the inherent stress of being forced to contain so much anger. Even though Douglass' slavery was, barring incredible luck, for life and Rowlandson's was potentially temporary the methods used to subjugate them were similar in many respects. In the long- or the short-term, therefore, it is extremely difficult to force a human being to surrender most of the traits that make him/her truly human. This can be done, but it requires years of intense, unrelenting savagery. The smallest ray of hope, however, can make it impossible to enslave all of an individual's mind, heart, and soul. Rowlandson had some hope from the beginning that she might be ransomed, and she never gave in

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alysis of slaveholder behavior that when it does not come it generates suspense. This happens in the case of Douglass' decision that he will not allow the 'slave-breaker' Covey to beat him any more. Douglass acquires the secret root from Sandy Jenkins and when he fights back against Covey this raises the suspicion that he will claim the root worked. But Douglass rejects the superstition--even though he was never beaten after he received the token--and confesses that he is confused by Covey's retreat. He eventually, however, satisfies the reader when he explains that it was probably Covey's decision to protect his "most unbounded reputation for being a first-rate overseer and negro-breaker" that made him decide not to risk the reputation by making Douglass' resistance public (1794). Douglass sets up the situation in such a way that the reader is induced to examine the man's motives in the same manner Douglass employs. This draws the reader in to the study of the mind and motivations of the slavers and, when Douglass reveals his thinking about the matter, serves as another guarantee that Douglass is the best possible interpreter of the bizarre circumstances of slavery--he understands it inside and out. But Rowlandson faces s

Category: History - R