Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Incidents 2

"He told me I was his property; that I must be subject to his will in all things. MY soul revolted against the mean tyranny. But where could I turn for protection? No matter the slave girl be as black as ebony or as fair as her mistress. In either case, there is no shadow of law to protect her from insult, from violence, or even from death; all these are inflicted by fiends who bear the shape of men. The mistress, who ought to protect the helpless victim, has no other feelings twoards her but those of jealousy".
This passage makes me emotional because it makes me put myself in a young slave girl's position and feel how she did. You are not only a slave, but you are a sexual object that is being unjustly claimed without your consent. There is this panic of having no one to turn to, and the people who you would think would find this disgusting and may have sympathy for you actually are just jealous. It's not your fault that a woman's husband wants to form a sexual relationship with you can't help that. The wife knows your a slave and that you have to obey your master.

1 comment:

Katie said...

I think this passage is very powerful. It shows what it was like to be a slave and how you were just considered property with no feeling. If you were a woman who was a slave, then your conditions were much worse. You could be whipped, taken advantage of (sexually), and could be sold at any moment. You could be separated from your mother or child at any time.

I cannot even imagine what it would feel like to be treated like that. If my master took advantage of me, I would feel disgusting and unclean. I would be abused both physically and mentally. Also, I would not even be allowed to talk to anyone about it in fear of upsetting my master. I would not be able to vent my hatred, so it would store up inside of me until one day when it would explode.