Life Without Rules
Before
diving into Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass, an American Slave I was well aware of how poorly slaves
were treated, but it was not until I read this narrative that I have become
fuming at how slaves were actually treated. I
am curious to know what made punishment by owners and workers so acceptable in
the eyes of society. Was it negligence that was the shining star in this
situation or was it that society knew no other way than to treat men and women
of color in such unscrupulous ways? While reading the book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave I became
outraged at the disciplinary actions that were taken on both the slaves and the
owners throughout the mid 1800s. By reading through this first section of our
readings I have come to notice a common theme, punishment. Punishment was
deemed acceptable more or less under any circumstances the owner or any of the
owner’s associates found possible. Keeping in mind that while all these
punishments were happening to the slaves not one owner was punished for his
actions later. One of the larger instigators of punishment was not introduced
until chapter 4, Mr. Gore. Colonel Lloyd who was the overall owner of the
plantation hired Mr. Gore in high hopes of his persistent cruel attitude maintaining
order amongst the slaves. Mr. Gore was the perfect man for the job. He was
described as “artful, cruel, and obdurate” (65). This plantation gave him room
to exercise all of his powers and show that he was indeed the man to fit the
first-rate overseer job position.
One instance that provided me with a
solid basis on which I could convict Mr. Gore of such hatred and cruelty came
from an interaction between himself and a slave named Demby. After Demby acted
out Mr. Gore was self entitled to punish Demby. Demby was then given a few
lashings, which caused him to surge for the river in hopes of relieving his
splitting pain. Mr. Gore was not too fond of these ideas and took other
actions. “Mr. Gore told him that he would give him three calls, and that, if he
did not come out at the third call, he would shoot him. The first call was
given. Demby made no response, but stood his ground. The second and third calls
were given with the same result. Mr. Gore then, without consultation or
deliberation with any one, not even giving Demby an additional call, raised his
musket to his face, taking deadly aim at his standing victim, and in an instant
poor Demby was no more”(67). This passage speaks so loudly of how vicious Mr.
Gore really is. He has no concern for life, he does not care what the outcome
is if things do not go his way. One would think that from this murder Mr. Gore
would be prosecuted and potentially thrown in jail for such a malicious act.
That is where I am wrong, Mr. Gore is not only free to go about his ways but he
is not even questioned in his actions.
A great way to describe Mr. Gore is
from a passage in the book that explains, “His savage barbarity was equaled
only by the consummate coolness with which he committed the grossest and most
savage deeds upon the slaves under his charge”(66). This sentence was right
before the Demby explanation where he obviously committed a heinous crime that
was deemed acceptable. Why wasn’t this given more attention by Douglass? To me
this is a pivotal point in the story where punishment is clearly given and over
used for such minuscule reasons. Why was Mr. Gore not overseen in a more strict
setting that would keep him on a level of civility that would not be so
disgraceful? It seems that the laws and regulations on slaves were frail to say
the least. From my understanding and critical analysis I have come with the
conclusion that Mr. Gore was to do as he pleased as long as the product
(Tobacco, Cotton, etc..) was being produced at high profitable levels there
would be no reason to worry or pay any attention to the disciplinary actions
that were being taken.
At this point in the book I had to
walk away for a few minutes because I was caught in the emotional state of
being both outraged and confused at what had just occurred to this poor man. I
was outraged at how these poor men were being treated because they did not correspond
to the orders correctly as they were directed to do. The state of confusion was
what really had me thinking, what could drive a man to do such things to these
people? What was the purpose of such cruelty? I dug a bit deeper and started to
think about our class discussions about how these men knew no difference in
what should be happening. It was socially acceptable for all of these actions
to be taking place. Which lead me to think that Mr. Gore was just a major
player in the game that apparently everyone played in. The society at the time
gave proof that not only was this behavior deemed acceptable but also it was
almost encouraged from a neglecting point of view. When I say a neglecting point
of view I am alluding to the people who might have though that slavery and the
punishments were not right but no matter right or wrong they were not able to
speak out and change what was happening.
Although punishment was almost
inevitable to a degree it was apparent that a level of neglect was also
suitably active in the first parts of this book. It is frightening to
comprehend that people were treated the way they were and how little people
reacted to such brutal actions. One of the main themes that I came to accept
was that around this era punishment was acceptable, maybe not by everyone but
no one had the will to say otherwise. Which leads to neglect, therefore can be
traced through this time in our history as a country where not much could be
done to stop any of these actions being taken. It is sad to think how many men
and women were savagely beaten, abused, and murdered through this book, which
only covers a small geographical area. Its painstaking to understand how
ruthless some of the players in this book (Mr. Gore along with others) treated
the slaves. Douglass was able to tell about how cruelty and actions toward his
race were so normal and frequent with such detail and ease that makes plantation
owners and overseers to be the bad guys that they actually are. Slavery was a
dark time in our countries past and the first half of this book is a clear
indication of why.
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