Understanding Slavery - Essay Example

?Understanding Slavery Slave trade started when European countries began exploring of rest of the world. The supportive monarchies in Europe enabled the more adventurous to expand the boundaries of their nations across continents. Slave trade became a prominent and lucrative trade.The prosperity of western countries accelerated immensely because of the slaves that were brought in from the African continent. The passages we are going to analyse throw light on slavery and the plight of people who were considered slaves. If we contrast and compare these passages, we see a consolidated picture of slavery and its implications. Features of Atlantic Slavery 1. The Trans-Atlantic slave trade started because of requirement of work force. African people could survive tropical conditions and diseases and were good at agriculture and maintaining cattle. 2. In the triangular trade, the first stage involved taking manufactured good from Europe to Africa. These good were exchanged for slaves. In the second stage the slaves were shipped from Africa to Europe and the third stage involved shipping of manufactured goods from labour plantations run by slaves to Europe for trade. 3. Initially Portugal monopolised the slave trade, followed by the Dutch and other European nations. The slave trade also crossed the boundaries and extended to America. Many African kings and tribal heads co-operated the Europeans in supplying people from their or other tribes as slaves for the trade. 4. The slaves were picked in large numbers from the African continent, as the survival rate in transit for them was very low. We have to understand these contexts when we analyse the passages given. The first passage is from Voltaire’s novel Candide. Candide is the protagonist of the novel who is trained by philosopher Pangloss to believe in eternal optimism. Pangloss believes that God is perfect and does his best with his creation, the world is perfect. Candide feels strongly at various points in life that he has to abandon this philosophy because it is impractical. However, he continues with his belief. He simply finds it convenient to believe in this philosophy. Candide and Pangloss come across the slave in an extremely agonizing condition, lying on the road when they are in the Dutch country. He is lying at the roadside with only blue canvas drawers to cover him, his one hand and one leg is cut. He is in agonizing pain. When Candide asks him about his condition, he narrates his story. He is working as a manual labour in a sugar factory and when his fingers get caught in the machine, his hand is chopped off. He tries to run away, so he loses his one leg which is the punishment of trying to escape. He speaks about his situation in an almost resigned tone due to excruciating pain he is suffering. Voltaire has sketched the character of his master as evil in any case, but the state of the African represents slaves all over the Europe. He questions the morality and Christian spirit when he speaks about the price he had to pay to put sugar on the table of the white people. He is constantly being told that all human beings are equal in the eyes of God and Christianity, while reality is diametrically opposite to what is being preached. His family worships the Europeans and considers them to be idols. The price at which he is sold by his own family is minuscule, considering the hardship he has to go through in his life leading to his getting disabled permanently. His mother trusts the whites to be gods on the earth who are sure to make her son’s life happy and comfortable. He laments that he doesn’t know if life is fortunate, and thinks his parents are fortunate that they are not present in this country to suffer like him or to witness his suffering. He suffers emotionally because he blames himself for acutely failing to fulfil expectations of his parents. He compares life of a slave to pets and dogs and thinks that his life is even less valuable than that of animals. In the second passage Gronniosaw tells his life story. His story remained under cover for a very long time. He was always a bright child, full of curiosity and keenness for knowledge. When his questions stayed unanswered for a long time, he became unhappy. His sadness came from the quest of knowledge he had. Had he got the advantages of any child in developed countries or even good education within his tribe, his sad state of affairs would have vanished. The merchant taking a note of his unhappy state lured him by painting an attractive picture of the world outside. Gronniosaw readily agreed to go with him. It was a moment of mixed feelings for him. He loved his family dearly and particularly his younger sister. He has stated that had he known that he was never going to see his people again in his life, he would have not gone with the merchant. His mother, out of love for her son, indulged his going away for a while. The merchant promised that he would soon get Gronniosaw back to his tribe. After he reached the coast, Gronniosaw was suspected to be a spy sent by his father and grandfather who were kings of Gronniosaw’s tribe. The king of the rival tribe who wanted to kill Gronniosaw finally pitied him and sold him to the merchant for checked cloth. Gronniosaw eventually met a priest whose family he stayed with for 20 years. He travelled to England; married a white woman named Betty and stayed there. The passage is neither bitter nor happy. It is also resigned in its own way. His love for his family and his mother still stays with him only now he knows he can’t go back to them ever. The promises made to him to lure him away from his people were, of course, never fulfilled. In fact, the same merchant under the influence of his partner thought of killing Gronniosaw. In his biography Gronniosaw narrates various incidences in his life where his life was in danger for many times: he was robbed innumerable times, he and his wife suffered a lot of disgrace, humiliation and racial discrimination. It was very difficult for him to feed his family and support them. He decided to go to England and settle there, as he thought English were an honourable Christian race who believed in God and equality to human beings. When one reads this passage with this context, it is very painful to read or think about the atrocities committed on Gronniosaw for the colour of his skin. Both the passages talk about slavery in different stages of Trans-Atlantic trade of slaves. In case of the first passage, the slave is brought to Europe in exchange of a few coins or possibly manufactured goods. In the second passage Gronniosaw is traded by the king of the rival tribe, which was a significant feature of slave trade from Africa. Both the passages have striking similarities. Both slaves were transported to Europe under some or the other pretext. While one was outright purchased, the other one was given false promises. Families of both the Africans believed in the goodness of the human nature and handed over their family members to them. Worshipping foreigners as gods could take place because of unfamiliarity with them. It is only when both of them came to Europe and America they realised that whites are any other normal human beings, only the colour of the skin is different. Gronniosaw seems to be a bit lucky than the other slave described by Voltaire. The only comforting part in reading Gronniosaw’s account is that he was alive; by and large of his life he stayed with the same master and also found kind and benevolent people in his life that supported him. In case of the other slave, however, life and survival were extremely cruel. The most common element in both the passages is reference to Christianity. Ironically, African slaves found a way to unify and protest against their conditions through Christianity. Africans converted themselves to the religion, because it promised them faith in equal treatment as human beings, allowed them to come together and, most fortunately, allowed them to make their voice heard. It is through Christianity they initiated change and social acceptance for themselves. However, both of them in the passages refer to their faith in Christianity in different ways. Gronniosaw was attracted to Christianity because his quest for God was answered. Additionally, he spent a significant twenty years of his life with the family of a priest who was a devout Christian and was interested in Gronniosaw because of his good moral values. Voltaire, through the portrayal of the slave, however, questions the faith of his fellow white men. “The Dutch fetishes who converted me to their religion tell me every Sunday that we are all children of Adam, whites and blacks alike. I am no genealogist; but if these preachers are telling the truth, then we are all second cousins. In which case you must admit that no one could treat his relatives more horribly than this.” (Voltaire, Candide, pp. 51–2). The language used is not of a slave but of a highly educated individual who possessed high moral values, which is Voltaire’s own. Gronniosaw writes in his own language which clearly indicates his education and displays his high moral values and commitments. Although both the passages share a great deal of commonalities in language, picture of pain and betrayal, they differ greatly in displaying their belief and faith in God. One questions the very existence of God, and the other accepts Him as a guiding spirit; hence, both have resigned to the ultimate authority in their own respective ways. References 1. Voltaire, 1759. Candide. [online] Chapter 19: What happened to them in Surinam and How Candide became acquainted with Martin. Available at: [Accessed 13 December2011] 2. Body-Evans, A. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, A review of the triangular trade with reference to maps and statistics. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 14 December 2011] 3. Overview Essay. The Slave Trade, Slave Resistance, A Caribbean Study. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 15 December 2011] 4. Gronniosaw, J. A. U. A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African Prince, as Related by Himself. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 14 December 2011] Read More