Presentation of the Figure of the Slave in the Romance Era - Essay Example

? Presentation of the Figure of the Slave in the Romance Era The Romantic era of literature took place in Europe from approximately 1800 through 1850, with some obvious variation across the continent and as early innovators and as people clung to their favorite ways in the face of the new. This was also an age when the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, showing some of its uglier sides. With new technologies, many of the poorer classes lost their employment and life became very hard for the lower class. Slavery was in full effect, contributing to the engine of progress. The factories took over pastures and city blocks, throwing black smoke into the sky and literally changing the color of day. Whether people prospered in this climate or faltered, everyone wished, at some level, for the peace and beauty of an idealized past. As they became lost in the increasingly crowded cities, they began to shift toward individualism. Even though it's hard to find a consistent definition of what Romanticism is, one thing that most agree on is that It was a reaction against the Age of Enlightenment (Hugh & Harmon, 1992). Works of art, literature, intellectual thought produced during this period focused on the imagined world, the world of the senses, and the subjective experience. This element of Romanticism opened the door for individuals such as Robert Southey and former slave Olaudah Equiano to challenge the common beliefs regarding the nature of the black slave and provide fuel for abolitionists to bring about lasting social change. Both men published their influential works within ten years of each other in England. Because Equaino's work was in high demand, it went through a number of editions which were still being popularly circulated. Olaudah Equaino wrote his autobiography The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African in 1789 near the end of his life. He wrote it at the urging of his abolitionist friends who knew his story would have an impact. Equaino took the opportunity to write a whole race's voice into history. "Literacy is the vehicle that enables the slave to determine his own self-image and administer control over the events he chooses to relate while writing himself into history." (Gunn, 2007: 1). Through his ability to quote John Milton and the Bible, important secular and religious books, he surprised the public with its high literary quality and caused many to seriously question what they'd been told. Approximately ten years after Equiano's work was published, Robert Southeby wrote his poem "The Sailor Who Had Served in the Slave Trade." The poem captures the essence of a lost soul dealing with the guilt of his past treatment of slaves, for his failure to recognize them as humans and also God's chosen creatures. By exposing the progression of the lost sailor's great sin, Southeby provides a glimpse into the general attitudes of the British people, showing a strong shift in understanding from the past to Southeby's present. Both works make use of contrasts to combat common beliefs that Africans were a separate species more like animals by showing them instead to have equal or greater intellectual capacity, to have a civilized frame of mind, and to be included within the Christian framework of existence. Evidence of Intellectual Capacity Just the idea that he was able to write his own story, without requiring someone else to transcribe what he said, made Equaino different from many other former slaves whose stories have been immortalized. While all surviving stories of slave experiences are considered valuable: "Their literacy, accompanied with their position as former slaves, provides their narratives with an added sense of authenticity and authority on the subject of the slave trade" (Gunn, 2007: 6), Equiano's was different. He did it with such a high degree of skill that the British, expecting to find a relatively amateur accounting, instead found themselves fully engaged in a thrilling story of adventure and suffering, realizing all the while that Equiano considers himself to be incredibly lucky. "did I consider myself an European, I might say my sufferings were great, but when I compare my lot with that of most of my countrymen, I regard myself as a particular favourite of Heaven, and acknowledge the mercies of Providence in every occurrence of my life" (Equiano, 1789). This shocking statement, made at the beginning of the story and reiterated in different ways within the book, really forces the reader to consider all that this person has been through and take it as truth because of his position coming from within slavery. Simply in writing his narrative with the skill he did, Equiano verified the common abolitionist assertion that Africans were "capable of receiving instruction" because "there is no difference between the intellects of whites and blacks, but such as circumstances and education naturally produce" (Ramsay, 1784: p. 172). By writing his own story with skillful use of rhetoric and imagery, Equiano showed that he was able to compare very well with the intellectual abilities of white people, already being better educated than many of the white men in the factories and markets. While Southeby doesn't give a great deal of insight into the intellect of the black slave within his poem, he does provide his readers with a context of common individual conceptions regarding the intellectual states of Africans among white people. While it is unknown whether either of the speakers in Robert Southeby's poem are white or black, it is common to lean toward defining them as white given the poet's complexion and society. This assumption is supported by the idea that the sailor in the poem didn't really feel what he was doing was wrong until he was compelled to continue flogging the female slave until she was near death. The moment of his awakening doesn't occur until she is removed from the scene: "She could not be more glad than I / When she was taken down, / A blessed minute—’twas the last / That I have ever known!" (85-88). Realizing that the woman had to suffer until noon the following day before she finally gave into the pain, it's possible to wonder whether she actually was glad to be taken down. She might have wished instead to have it over with then and there. After the ordeal of having to flog her while he watched her bleed and twist is finally over for him and the sailor is able to take a breath, he finally realizes the horror of what he's done. Only then does he come to his senses and realize that he just murdered a human woman, but he doesn't really consider her a person until then. Compare this to Equiano's reaction to being kidnapped as a child. Despite being trained for battle all his life, upon being kidnapped and separated from his sister, "I cried and grieved continually; and for several days I did not eat any thing but what they forced into my mouth" (Equiano, 1789), a practice he's already explained was a common form of protest among the peoples he knew. In this comparison, the English sailor is exposed as the more uncivilized of the two. He's learned not to enlist on slave trips anymore, but it took brutally murdering someone before he realized this was wrong. Evidence of Civilization More than just telling his own story, Equiano was very conscious that he was speaking for all slaves who did not have the opportunity to tell their stories. However, he could only truly speak from his own unique experience. In doing so, he painted a picture of Africa that wasn't all that different in terms of civilized society, than England. Not quite as advanced technologically and therefore not as complicated, but still a far cry from the concepts of savage that most white people held. Describing the social structure, Equiano shows himself to have been from a once powerful family, with his father and an uncle considered elders or chiefs which they called Embrenche, "a term, as I remember, importing the highest distinction, and signifying in our language a mark of grandeur" (Equiano, 1789). One of Equiano's older brothers had already been marked and given this status and Equiano himself was destined to become one as well had he not been kidnapped. These chiefs enforced the laws and decided disputes, in most cases by determining a course of retribution of some sort. Some crimes, such as adultery, were punished by death or slavery. He describes marriage customs, living arrangements, interior furnishings, and social customs. "We are almost a nation of dancers, musicians, and poets. Thus every great event, such as a triumphant return from battle, or other cause of public rejoicing is celebrated in public dances, which are accompanied with songs and music suited to the occasion" (Equiano, 1789). There is a highly organized social structure and several customary observations such as honoring the dead and practicing a high level of cleanliness that clearly separates Equiano's real-life Africans from the savage beasts they'd been depicted. Southeby again provides context for Equiano's work as he reveals the social norms within the white civilization. Through his sympathetic and condemning depiction of the sailor's sin, he hints at the bestiality of the white slave traders in a stark contrast to the peaceful protestors in the hold. While the black people taken into the sailor's cargo hold are civilized enough to protest their capture and transportation through passive resistance, the white captain insists the sailor beats them to death for refusing to eat. "The Captain made me tie her up / And flog while he stood by, / And then he curs’d me if I staid / My hand to hear her cry" (Southeby, 73-76). The captain doesn't reserve this abuse for his slaves, either, offering threats and blows to force the sailors to force the slaves to eat. There is no mercy in this society as the sailor tells us, "She twisted from the blows—her blood / Her mangled flesh I see— / And still the Captain would not spare— / Oh he was worse than me!" (81-84). Meanwhile, the others sailors stood by to watch, demonstrating that this is expected behavior in this culture. As discussed above, it is a sign of tremendous personal growth that the sailor now laments his sin. At the same time, it is difficult to envision Equiano's society engaging in such activity. Even though a woman was sentenced to death for adultery, her punishment was forgiven when it was discovered she had a nursing baby and no one was available to care for it in her absence. While Equiano admits that he did not have a very clear memory of everything in his first home, his own personality again comes through as evidence that the African is somehow more civilized and cultured than the brutish white men who would treat a thinking being so poorly and destroy an entire beautiful culture such as the one Equiano describes. Positioning within a Christian Framework It may seem strange to today's readers to see how much time Equiano spends drawing connections between his African roots and calling attention to his current Christian beliefs. This is an important element of his acceptance in British society as well as reflecting his own genuine beliefs and experiences. Through his narrative and his person, Equiano encourages the understanding that all Africans can be converted to Christianity. By continuously showing himself to be a devout Christian in what he does and says, Equiano disrupts "Western modes of thinking, of binary distinctions between epistemological categories such as black and white, or civilization and savagery" (Corley 2002, p. 139). Once he's inside this framework of the Christian world, Equiano is able to show his readers a flipped version of their world simply by showing his perspective. Instead of discussing or defending the heathen, savage African, Equiano shows how it is not the African who is lacking in religious conviction and civilized behavior. "Equiano provides a variation on the trope of the first encounter and assigns Europeans savage qualities" (Hulme 1986). In many cases, the Europeans are brutal, uncaring, inhumane, refuse to attempt to communicate, and regularly violate their Christian laws. However, Equiano's account also carefully balances the brutality and betrayals with kind moments, benevolent gestures, and genuine affection shared with Europeans. Thus, they are not all bad and some Europeans are worth attempting to save. "He not only humanized the African and created awareness regarding the immoral nature of the African slave trade, but he also called the British to live up to their moral responsibility as Christians and member of an enlightened, civilized nation" (Gunn, 2007: 12). From his perspective, it is easy to see how the African, not the Englishman, is the better Christian. Southeby again provides context for Quiano's work regarding slavery and Christianity even if it doesn't really seem like it. Within the poem, the stranger finds the sailor groaning in a hut as he struggles with prayer. The man is terrified to return to the ship, his only livelihood, because he knows the devil will continue to pursue him there. He knows he will eventually end up in hell because of what he did to the slave woman, but he also cannot pray on board because of this same devilish presence. As he tells his story to the stranger, the sailor talks about that moment when he first realized the immorality of what he'd done and recognized it as a sin. I saw the sea close over her, Yet she was still in sight; I see her twisting every where; I see her day and night. Go where I will, do what I can The wicked one I see— Dear Christ have mercy on my soul, O God deliver me! (101-108) By finally equating beating to death of this slave with the murder of a woman and accepting the full weight of that blame, the sailor sends a clear message to his audience that slaves are people too. In making this admission, and in the non-committal, non-comforting response of the stranger, the poem places the slave within a Christian framework in which unwarranted murder of this sort is one of the greatest sins one can commit. Compared to the sparing of the woman who had committed a crime against God and husband back in Africa, this crime is a very stark contrast between faiths. It is significant that Equiano's book ends with him a firm Christian feeling blessed with Southeby's poem ends with a lamenting lost soul doomed to spend eternity in hell. Conclusion Taken together, Equiano and Southeby provide a clear way to look at the prevailing attitudes and beliefs about slaves at that time. They do this by exploring concepts of individual intellectual pursuit, culture and society, and their characters' position within the framework of the Christian church. Equiano proved he was an intelligent individual, capable of expressing himself to the most educated of English society with skill and persuasively, when he wrote his book. He brought into question whether Africans could be trained to be on a par with white people intellectually speaking, which further questioned whether Africans were truly an inferior, more animal species. Although Southeby's sailor hadn't thought it strange that slaves were flogged to death on a regular basis on the slave ships and had to be forced to touch the slaves in order to make them eat before, he changes his mind after the murder. He is a creature of feelings and emotions, acting on base elements of dominance as he follows through on his captain's orders. Similarly, Equiano shows his society back in Africa to be highly organized and quite civilized, including a rich strand of the arts interwoven into daily life, as compared to the brutality and force depicted in Southeby's world. As the two works come to a close, Equiano has positioned the African firmly within the Christian framework, demonstrating that they are highly capable of being converted to Christianity as they already adhere to similar beliefs. By contrast, Southeby's character is unable to find consolation anywhere. On board ship, he is pursued relentlessly by the devil and the haunting memory of the woman he killed. On land, he is found in a shack, separated from society, and still unable to find relief. Southeby's white man has been firmly put out of the church and has a lot of begging to do to earn his way back in. By continuously making these kinds of arguments in narratives, creative works, speeches and elsewhere, the abolitionists were finally able to pass the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. References Corley, Ide. (2002). "The subject of abolitionist rhetoric: Freedom and trauma in The Life of Olaudah Equiano. Modern Language Studies. 32(4), 139-156. Equiano, Olaudah. (1789). The interesting narrative and other writings. ed. Vincent Carretta. 2nd Ed. 2003. London: Penguin. Gunn, Jeffrey. (2007). "Literacy and the Humanizing Project in Olaudah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative and Ottobah Cugoano's Thoughts and Sentiments." eSharp: 10. Hugh, C. and William Harmon Holman. (1992). A Handbook to Literature, 6th ed. New York, Macmillan. Hulme, Peter. (1986). Colonial encounters: Europe and the native Caribbean., 1492-1797. London: Routledge. Ramsey, James. (1784). As essay on the treatment and conversion of African slaves in the British sugar colonies. By the Reverand James Ramsey, M.A. Dublin: T. Walker, C. Jenkin, R. Marchbank, L. White, R. Burton, P. Byrne. Eighteenth Century Online. Gale Group, 2007. Southey, Robert. "The Sailor Who Had Served in the Slave Trade." (1799). Read More