A Past Haunting the Present Masterarbeit
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A Past Haunting the Present Neo-Slave Narratives and their Contribution to a More Comprehensive Depiction of Slavery in Selected Works Masterarbeit zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Master of Arts (MA) an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz vorgelegt von Mag. Julia HÖFFERER, BA am Institut für Anglistik Begutachter: Ao.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Phil. Martin Löschnigg Graz, 2020 Abstract It is widely known that historical events play a crucial role in the formation and development of societies. This also applies to slavery and its multi-faceted effects, which continue to haunt the present. In the light of current events regarding the equality of all people, especially in the United States, such an awareness of historical influences becomes even more important. One way this awareness can be raised and improved is neo-slave narratives, a literary genre using the past to talk about contemporary issues. The texts characterise themselves through a strong focus on the use of marginalised voices and through their diversity, tackling questions such as: Whose story are we hearing and whose are we missing? How does perspective influence the perception of inequalities and historical events? To answer those questions, the works revolve around numerous aspects related to the system of slavery, including, but not limited to, the depiction of enslavement and slavery, the constructed nature of race and racism, resistance and communities, as well as literacy and identity. They further address the portrayal of white individuals and the necessity of telling history from alternative and marginalised viewpoints, thereby telling untold stories. Those aspects’ multi-faceted nature sheds light on the myriad of lives affected by slavery, both past and present. This thesis will therefore argue that neo-slave narratives contribute to a better understanding of the workings and diverse effects of slavery due to the use of black viewpoints to achieve a more comprehensive and multi-faceted depiction of history. This will be illustrated by the analysis of four selected novels focusing on marginalised individuals, namely Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing (2016), Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes (2007), Julius Lester’s Day of Tears (2005), and Andrea Levy’s The Long Song (2010). Honey, I said, my life is a ghost story. - Hill, The Book of Negroes (16) Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................1 2. The Question of Voice: Neo-Slave Narratives and the Importance of Empathy, Genre(s), and Structure .................................................................................................................................5 2.1. Never Eye-to-Eye: Of (White) Frames, Empathy, and Victimisation ............................5 2.2. Not So Separate: The Genre(s) of the (Neo-)Slave Narrative ........................................8 2.3. Diverse, Yet Connected: Enter the Selected Works .................................................... 10 3. At the Cost of Humanity: Captivity, Enslavement, and Its Aftermath ................................ 16 3.1. Before Slavery: The Agony of Captivity and the Role of the British ........................... 17 3.2. In the Loop: A Life in Slavery ................................................................................... 20 3.3. Far from Equal: The Fugitive Slave Law and Life after the Abolition of Slavery ........ 23 4. A Natural Condition? Of Constructed Inferiority, Objectified Individuals, and the Fragile Nature of Slaves’ Lives ........................................................................................................ 27 4.1. Natural Inferiority: A Social Construct ....................................................................... 29 4.2. The Worth of Slaves: Objectification and Value ......................................................... 31 4.3. Of a Fragile Nature: The Instability and Lack of Agency of Enslaved Individuals ...... 34 5. The End of Compliance: Resisting Slavery ....................................................................... 37 5.1. Hide It ‘Till You Make It: The Importance of Covert Resistance ................................ 38 5.2. Making a Stand, or: Overt Forms of Resistance .......................................................... 41 5.3. The Power of the Word: Alternative Forms of Resistance .......................................... 45 6. Sharing Misery: Relationships, Communities, and Traditions in Slavery ........................... 48 6.1. Disrupted Roots: Slavery and the Fragile Nature of Families...................................... 49 6.2. Surviving Slavery: The Formation of Communities and a Collective.......................... 52 6.3. Losing One’s Traditions: Slavery and Its Implications for Culture and Language ....... 54 7. From Bondage to Freedom: The Implications of Literacy, Names, and Symbols ............... 56 7.1. Powerful Words, or: The Importance of (Il-)Literacy ................................................. 57 7.2. Stolen and Re-Named: The Connection Between Names and Identity ........................ 59 7.3. Not Just Clothes or Marks: The Role of Symbolic Markers ........................................ 61 8. Good Whites, Bad Whites: The Role of Slaveowners, Sexuality, and Abolitionism in the depiction of History .............................................................................................................. 64 8.1. Good or Bad? The Depiction of Slaveowners and Their Morality ............................... 65 8.2. Physical Violence 2.0: The Threat of Sexual Abuse ................................................... 67 8.3. Blurred Lines: Abolitionists and Remaining Racial Restrictions ................................. 70 9. Whose Story Is It? The Importance of Perspective and Voice in History and Storytelling . 72 9.1. Not in the Past: Slavery, and Its Continued Legacy .................................................... 73 9.2. Running in Circles: Circularity and the Role of Africa in Neo-Slave Narratives ......... 76 9.3. A Myriad of Unheard Stories: The Importance of Storytelling and Perspective for History ............................................................................................................................. 78 10. Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 82 Works Cited and Consulted .................................................................................................. 83 Primary Literature ............................................................................................................ 83 Secondary Literature ......................................................................................................... 83 1. Introduction That, I decided, was what it meant to be a slave; your past didn’t matter; in the present you were invisible and you had no claim on the future (Hill, Book: 206). This quotation from Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes (2010) already indicates the absence of individual choice and liberty in slaves’ lives, which is frequently communicated through slave narratives. While the use of such labour provided the slaveholders with freedom to pursue other ambitions and interests (cf. Davis 2006: 179), it meant facing “a kind of hell on earth” (Andrews 2000: online) for numerous individuals captured, transported, and sold. Numbers estimated at 8.7 million African slaves transported to the New World by 1820 continued to rise even after the slave trade was legally banned (cf. Davis 2006: 80). This transatlantic trade system played a pivotal role during the era of slavery and included the transportation of goods and slaves to and from three main places (cf. Stenou 2004: 50f). Ships arrived from Europe to provide weapons or cheap jewellery and to transport slaves to the US; from there, slave- produced goods, such as tobacco, sugar, coffee, or cotton were brought to Europe (cf. ibid.). The system was not only extremely complex with regard to geographical or economic aspects, but it also asserted England, beginning in the course of the 17th century, as one of the leading slave markets (cf. Walvin 2007: 42, 50). The capture and transportation were horrendous for those deemed to be chattel rather than humas, which can also be seen in the high mortality rate on ships (cf. Walvin 2007: 68f): “Of the twelve million Africans loaded on to the ships, ten and a half million survived to landfall in the Americas” (Walvin 2007: 69). The brutality of slaves’ capture and transportation thus becomes evident. However, these harsh living conditions did not end after their arrival in the Americas: they might become even worse, depending on their specific destination and role. While the exact structure and routines depended on the respective work tasks and plantation types, for instance sugar, tobacco or, from 1790 onwards, cotton, they all shared the provision of forced labour demanded from slaves (cf. Walvin 2007: 95ff). Tasks included, but were not limited to, actual physical labour, transportation of goods, infrastructural work, knowledge regarding crops, or domestic duties, each aligned with similar, yet distinct challenges and difficulties (cf. Walvin 2007: 97f). As a result, it becomes clear that the slave trade system as well as slavery itself had a tremendous impact on the construction of societies across the globe (cf. Black 2015: xi). Slavery therefore it constitutes an essential part